Page 3 of A Hunt So Wicked
The words cycled through my head on repeat.Selected. Roaring Isle. Recurrence. Royals. Wife.
All eyes were on me as I lost my blessed mind. I laughed so hard that I had to bend at the hips and rest my palms on my knees. Tears built in my eyes because, oh Goddess, what kind of prank was this? I bet some of my students were behind it, especially after the comments made less than half an hour ago.
“Miss, are you alright?” another guard asked, dismounting from his horse.
I straightened and fanned my cheeks. “Oh yes, I’m fine. That was highly entertaining.” I glanced around, looking for signs of Sophie or Sarah but came up empty.
“Evie,” my father said sternly, earning my attention. The look on his face was anything but jovial. I glanced quickly at the guards and noticed they were all stone-faced, not even a hint of a smile on a single one of their faces. My stomach began to roll as reality set in. My eyes locked back on my father’s and that’s when I realized, this wasn’t a prank.
“No,” I whispered.
One of the guards scoffed. “Did she just say no? To beingselected?”
“Has that ever happened before?” another asked as they looked at each other in utter disbelief.
My head felt like it might explode from the way my thoughts were firing rapidly, twisting in circles like a cyclone. “I can’t leave. I take care of my father and I’m the only teach—”
“Declining the invitation isn’t permitted. You will be joining us in the morning at first light. It’s a day and a half ride to the Pale Shores, and being late won’t be tolerated,” the head guard barked, making my own temper flare.
I stepped toward him, but my father’s hand encircled my wrist. “Did you not hear what I just told you? I’m not going. I cannot leave for some silly, egotistical social event!”
The guards ignored me completely. “We’ll be spending the night in the schoolhouse. You will be out here, ready to leave in the morning, or I will come inside and get you. Your choice.”
I attempted to wiggle out of my father’s grip but he tightened his hold. “Let’s discuss this inside, Evie,” he whispered.
“There’s nothing to discuss!” I shouted and yanked my arm free of his hold. The guards were already halfway to the school. My anger quickly faded into concern when my father sucked in a sharp breath, and I turned back to look just as he stumbled. Moving quickly, I slid under his shoulder and wrapped my arm around his back, helping support his weight. He hated when I did things like this, but he was my dad and I would always be here for him, no matter what.
“I’m fine, Evie,” he muttered and attempted to shoo me away.
“You pushed yourself too far. I’ve never heard you so angry,” I panted out as we crossed the threshold of our cabin.
He escaped me and hobbled over to our well-used kitchen table, sinking down onto an equally well-worn wooden chair. All of our furnishings were handmade, either by him or me. As I grew, I wanted him to teach me how to build things. With no siblings, I wanted to do everything he did and just as well, too. I sighed and followed him, my feet silent on the hard dirt floor. I had woven a few rugs, but those were in our bedrooms, and any time I had brought up making one for under the table, he told me not to waste time or resources on something that would just get dirty and be impossible to keep clean. Our home wasn’t perfect, but it was ours, and I loved it.
I glanced at him, finding his face was pinched in pain, a look I was all too familiar with seeing lately. I got to work stoking the wood in the stove and putting on a kettle of water for tea. Some medicine would do him some good, but unfortunately, it wasn’t ever enough.
“Evie,” he spoke, clearly wanting to discuss the royal assholes who were in my school at that very moment doing Goddess knows what. Oh, food would be good for him. I could whip up some cheese sandwiches and—
A loud thump had me jumping and spinning to look at my father. His fist was curled on the tabletop, and it was the first time I noticed he had a piece of paper. I assumed it held all of the information regarding The Hunt.
“Father, you need to calm down. I’m making your tea,” I said calmly, feeling unnerved by his drastic personality change.
“Fuck the tea!” he roared, and I stepped back suddenly, bumping into the counter. Embarrassingly, tears welled in my eyes. He had never, not once, raised his voice at me. When he lifted his gaze and saw how my hand was covering my mouth and the way my eyes glistened with unshed tears, his face fell, and his shoulders slumped.
“Oh, sweet girl. Forgive me. I’m sorry I raised my voice, but Evie,” he pleaded, and I rushed to him, taking my own seat and grabbing his hands. I frowned when I felt them shake.
“What are we going to do?” I breathed, my panic finally showing.
He inhaled deeply and exhaled even deeper. We didn’t have many windows, so we relied on oil lamps for light starting in the late afternoon. Once the sun began dipping behind the trees, it got dark inside quick. Shadows bounced around the house, courtesy of the lamps, and it was perhaps the first time I noticed how deep the lines of age were getting on his handsome face. My heart squeezed as I was once again reminded of the harsh reality of death.
“You need to leave here. Run away. Go south.”
My eyes widened. “Have you gone mad? I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying right here with you!”
“You don’t understand. Those guards won’t leave without you, and trust me, no promise of wedding a royal or quintarian gold is worth being sucked into their webs,” he spat, his distrust of anything royal coming through in spades.
My thoughts came to a halt.Quintarian gold?I slid the paper that was crunched up, courtesy of my father’s fist, toward me. He was ranting now about politics and all of the flaws in the realm as I smoothed out the paper. My eyes scanned it quickly.
By Royal Decree of the four remaining kingdoms of Quintaria; Volos, Oberon, Ekpen, and Faolan, You, Evelyn Quinn, have been chosen to participate in this year’s Recurrence celebration. This is an honor of the highest degree, as all chosen maidens will travel with a royal guard escort to the Roaring Isle to oversee The Hunt and meet the eligible royals in want of a wife.
