Page 12 of A Court of Darkness
“Then there is the matter of your punishment.”
I can feel the eyes of the other hunters settled squarely on my shoulders. My entire body warms as fear washes through me.
What will he do?
What will he do?
What will he do?
“A hundred lashings,” he declares.
Slowly, I close my eyes, trying with all my might to keep my composure. Out in the forest, there is no one to help me. There are no healers to make sure any lashings would stay clean and uninfected. A hundred lashings could keep me down for far longer than... I only open my eyes when Merrick speaks. “Father, she is royalty.”
“Breaking the law is breaking the law.”
“She already bears enough punishment living out in the wilderness, working as she does,” My brother pushes.
“Then would you take her punishment?”
Silence.
“That’s what I thou—”
A chair topples to the ground, fallen to the momentum of Casimir’s quick movement. He stands, bold and daring at the table. “I would.”
My neck nearly snaps with the velocity at which I whip my gaze to him. No words can manage to make it up my throat. I can’t challenge him, ask him not to, or so much as thank him.
“Then shall it be done.” The king grinds out.
The quiet whispers aren’t quiet enough. The hard eyes of our king assess his murmuring guests before he rises from his seat, huffs a breath, and waves a hand before storming back to the head of the table. Merrick hovers at the throne, looking down into the now-empty seat that will one day be his.
I shake my head at Casimir and begin trailing down the steps to the three who are waiting for me. It takes a second before I hear Cameron ungracefully following after me.
“Violence.” My back stiffens from the sound of my mother’s gentle voice. I haven’t heard her say my name in far too long. The sound of it seems to break right through my chest to pierce my shattered heart. Another piece lost to the void inside of me. “Stay for dinner tonight.”
I release a small pent-up breath before continuing away from her. It’s hard to look at her. Hard to even speak to her. So I don’t do either.
I keep it all caged up inside. Right where it belongs.
“Come, mother,” Merrick whispers, no doubt pulling her away to save face.
The men of the Wild Hunt hold a much more careless posture than they did when my father was staring down on them.
“We finished here, Princess?” Nollix asks, folding his arms across his wide chest.
The use of my title isn’t something he normally taunts me with. It sets me on edge. It makes me want to slap him for such low name-calling.
Instead, I hold his gaze as I jar my shoulder into his. The stirring of emotions in me is so intense, the rest of my body feels as though it has gone numb. It saves me from the pain of the contact. The response of my storming magic releases on impact, sparking like an electric shock. He hisses but takes a step back.
Nollix’s heavy steps echo behind me, his palm grips my wrist, but Carver pulls him away and whispers, “Do you really want to have a pissing contest with the most powerful woman in the Court of Darkness? With her family, herbrothers, all watching? We get it, your dick’s bigger than hers. Let’s move on.”
The deep blue in Nollix’s eyes flashes with restrained magic, turning the pretty color into a darkness that threatens to black out the whites of his eyes. The evil that lies hidden away within him flashes through his inky gaze. What Nollix doesn’t tell people is that he has got demon blood in his veins. Half Fae, half Demon. It makes for a dangerous man.
I wait for him to make his decision.
When the tension in his body relaxes, and Carver’s hand falls away from his friend’s shoulder, I walk away from them.
This is how our lives have been; Nollix and I circling each other, waiting for the other to make a move and lash out, while Carver works hard to keep a sense of peace within our little group.
