Page 58 of Blood So Brutal

“I’ve wondered that myself,” I admitted, “but I’d guess this is where the queen hid during the war.”

Huntyr didn’t seem affected by my words, just craned her neck upward to look at the crumbling stone, taking in the walls, taking in the debris. “You mean my mother?” she asked. “This is where my mother would have hid.”

I shoved my hands into my pockets and leaned against the wall near the entrance. My eyes locked onto her every movement, traced her body, memorizing it. “This is her throne, after all. But her bones aren’t here, which makes me think she would be up there fighting with her people until the very end.”

Huntyr approached the iron-clad throne. It was black as night, somehow still untouched by dust, even as the entire underground area drowned in it. She reached up and traced a finger against the long armrest, following the line up to the sharp, gate-like headrest of it.

It was the throne of the blood queen, hidden here all these years.

“Does your father know this is here?” she asked.

“No.”

Her eyes slid up to meet mine. Shock, questions, doubt. “Why wouldn’t you tell him? I’m sure he’d love to have the blood throne in his possession.”

I shrugged, holding her gaze. It was the same question I asked myself for years. “It didn’t feel right. The throne isn’t his.”

Her chest rose and fell, her face grew serious. “Tell me more about her,” she said. “What was my mother like?”

Hells, her eyes were so hopeful, so innocent. It took her weeks to even accept the fact that she was a vampyre. She had been through so much, yet she still had so much to learn about herself. “I never knew your mother.”

“But you’ve heard stories of the blood queen.” It was a statement, not a question.

“Yes, I have.”

She stepped closer. “Tell me.”

I looked away as I let my mind wander. I heard stories of Huntyr’s mother from when I was a child, from when the war ended and her death was declared. Many of the stories came from my father, but I heard other stories too. Whispers around the town. Legends, even.

“The blood queen was the fiercest warrior of these lands. She was brutal, a trained killer. Nobody stood against her, not even the king of fae.”

When I finally looked at Huntyr, she stood with wide eyes and brows drawn together, waiting.

I continued. “But she was the protector of the people. She was a force to her enemies, but she was the mother to all who lived here. She took care of the weak, defended them. I heard stories of her working with the hungry ones, trying to find a cure, trying to prevent her people from losing control.”

“A cure for the hungry ones?”

I shrugged. “From what I’ve heard, she was trying to find a way. She couldn’t stand it when someone who grew up in her kingdom became one of them. It devastated her every time. They were her people, afterall. I’d imagine that would be gut-wrenching to watch.”

Huntyr took a half-step forward. “Did she ever find a way to cure them?”

“Not that I know of, no. But she was one of the few willing to try.” Hells, anyone else who claimed there could possibly be acure for those creatures would have been laughed at. My father would have made sure of that.

Her gaze flickered to the floor. I pushed myself off the wall and closed the distance between us, using my finger to lift her chin. “The blood queen was brutal and treacherous, Huntress, but she cared about her people. She would do anything to protect them, anything to unite them.”

“The fae killed her,” she said, eyes watering. “Your brother told me that the fae killed all the vampyres who lived here, not just the hungry ones. It was a massacre.”

I cleared my dry throat. “He’s right.”

“And I—” She ripped her chin away from me and turned, running her hands down her face. “I spent my entire life doing the same damn thing.”

“Hey.” I chased after her and spun her around, both hands on her shoulders. “You were protecting your town from the hungry ones. That’s different, Huntress. That’s not the same thing as slaughtering good people because you are afraid.”

“Isn’t it, though? I killed everyone he told me to, Wolf. Everyone. There were even times when I—” She stopped herself as tears welled in her eyes.

“I see you, Huntress. You don’t have to feel shame around me. You don’t have to feel guilty for things you’ve done in the past.” I took a breath to calm my heart that now beat rapidly, shaking my bones. “You don’t have to prove to me or anyone that you are good. I feel you.” I slid my right hand down to her chest and felt the harsh thud. “I feel this.”

I waited for her to swat my hand away, but it never came. My thumb touched her skin just above the neckline of her shirt, and I swear, my entire body reacted to it, electrified from that single brush of skin against skin.

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