Page 124 of Blood So Brutal

“Just Huntyr,” I corrected. His eyes widened and I instantly regretted the correction, but he wasn’t offended. Not in the slightest. His gaze glistened with a pride that made my knees weak. How could someone who knew so little about me support me this much?

“I see them both in you,Huntyr,” he added. “They would be proud of you. They would be proud of everything you’re doing to fight.”

I shook my head. “I’ve been gone for so long. Sometimes it still doesn’t feel real. I feel so disconnected from them.”

The man reached for my free hand and squeezed it gently between both of his. “Look around you, child. Look at all the people who love you. Look at all the people who are fighting for you.” My throat tightened, but I looked around, taking in the hundreds of people littered throughout Scarlata, surrounding the fire, sharing food. “Let this place reconnect you,” he said. “Let this place remind you of who you were born to be.”

Rummy and I lay back on the roof with our feet dangling over the edge, exactly like all those nights in Midgrave. The clouds that typically covered Scarlata during the day disappeared, leaving a beautiful sea of stars glittering above us.

I took a deep breath, sucking in the smell of Rummy’s leather jacket and smoke from the fires below us. “I never thought I would see you again,” I whispered.

Her hand found mine in the darkness and squeezed hard. “Please. You can’t get rid of me that easily,” she joked.

I smiled, but my stomach clenched. Any words in my mind vanished at the thought of actually losing her.

My body had been in fighting mode since we left the wedding. Since before that, even. I had been in shock for quite some time now, still deciphering everything that happened to me. Tous.

But I was alive. Rummy was alive. Wolf, by a fucking miracle, was alive.

And apparently, the entire fallen blood kingdom was alive, too.

“Hey,” Rummy said, turning her head to face me. “Don’t lose it now, Hunt. You’re so close to being free. Keep it together until then, okay?”

A fist tightened around my lungs. “I’m trying, but hells, this all feels like a fever dream sometimes.”

“I can’t even imagine what you’ve been going through. Being held captive by that crazy bastard while you were transitioninginto a vampyre?” She huffed a breath. “You deserve an award. You really do.”

“I thought they were all losing their minds at first. It wasn’t until the cravings started to hit me that I believed I might actually be one of them.”

A few beats passed.

“You’re okay, though, right?” she asked. Her voice sounded so young, so vulnerable. The fierce, tough friend I knew rarely showed this soft side. “I mean, you’re doing okay with everything? With who you are?”

I shut my eyes and squeezed them tight. I couldn’t look at Rummy, couldn’t look at the fear and worry I knew would be lingering on her face. I couldn’t look at the stars, either. They were the same stars Rummy and I used to stare at when I was a lowly, magicless fae in Midgrave.

“I’m surviving,” I admitted. “Wolf’s been helping me get through it. Without him, I—” I stopped myself before my voice cracked and took a long breath to settle the rush of emotions that followed. “I’ll get through this. These people are counting on me now. That’s what I have to focus on. I’ll figure out the rest of it later, once these people are safe.”

She squeezed my hand again. We remained like that for minutes—maybe hours—before I finally asked, “Do you really think they would be proud of me?”

“Your parents?”

I nodded.

“I don’t doubt it for even a second.”

“I never really questioned who my father was. I grew up with Lord, and even though I knew he wasn’t actually my father, he felt like one to me. It’s actually a relief hearing that my real father wasn’t a monster.”

“Lord was nothing but a pest, Hunt. The fact that you turned out so amazing after everything he put you through isa damn miracle. You are the daughter of greatness. You’re a good fucking person, and I know both of your parents would be beaming with pride if they saw you.”

Tears threatened my eyes. “You honestly believe that?”

She moved beside me, reaching into her leather jacket and pulling out a new flask. “Well, they might not be proud ofthis.”

Hells, I loved Rummy.

We spent the next hour laughing and talking about our lives, passing the flask back and forth as we reminisced on our late nights in Midgrave.

The two of us came so far. We endured so much together. I hated that Lord dragged her here for leverage, but I was so fucking happy she was here with me.

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