Page 82 of The Huntsman's Heart
Leaning in, I snatch his dagger and pull it from the sheath at his belt. Then I shut my eyes as I thrust it home.
Alaric grunts. He bends forward in pain, dropping my wrist.
I duck and roll away, but more guards have pushed inside the room, blocking me from getting to the queen.
I run for the mirror, but a slim young guard steps into my path.
I leap forward, throwing my shoulder into the belly of a tall gruff guard, making him double over. The second man I knee in the groin, and he wheezes and drops to the floor.
Two more approach, weapons drawn. There’s not enough room to move, and the ones behind me are up on their feet again.
The first sword pierces my side. I gasp. The guard—a tall man with a scar across his brow–withdraws the blade, but hiscompanion plunges his into my belly, and I shudder. I stumble back, but the guards behind me add their weapons, and I’m stuck like a pig on a spit.
Alaric pulls the dagger from his belly and drops it to the floor with a clatter.
I have moments to escape him. I yank myself free of the guards’ blades, twisting until they tear through skin and cloth. Then I pull the last from my body and turn it on its owner, stabbing him clean through the heart before he can react. I didn’t want to hurt them. There’s only one person I came here to kill, but she is out of my reach.
The guards weren’t ready for me to keep fighting. Their eyes widen in fear. Bright red blood spurts from the dying guard as I drag the sword out of him and plunge it into the next man, the young guard, whose green eyes are framed with dark lashes. His mouth opens in a choked cry as the sword slices into him and blood bubbles erupt from his lips.
“I’m sorry.” I blink away tears. I cannot stop now.
I look around for Melantha, but she’s nowhere to be seen.
A hand catches my broken, aching wrist with impenetrable force. “Cut it off,” he growls. “Do whatever you must.”
“No,” I whisper, horrified.
Alaric grabs my other hand and drags both behind my body, holding me firmly, and though I fight and stomp on his feet, he will not let me go. The queen’s power is too strong.
“Behind the mirror,” I tell him through a sob. “Your heart.”
He jerks, his body tensing, and starts toward the mirror.
Melantha reappears in the doorway. “She must be destroyed. Take her to the square and tie her up to a stake. Make sure she cannot escape.”
And just like that, Alaric turns again with a groan and carries me out into the corridor.
My hands and feet bound, Alaric sits me on a wooden bench, glancing away as he straightens and goes to work building the pyre. Slowly he gathers firewood and stacks it against the base of the wooden structure until a tall pike sits in the center of a mound of fuel.
I do not know how much time has passed. Clouds hide the sun. A crowd gathers. Palace guards circle the square and hold them back, but they keep coming until they are pressing shoulder to shoulder in a ring four, five, six deep, their eyes wide, leaning toward each other to whisper in hushed voices.
“Is it really the princess?”
“I heard she died.”
“That thing is not the princess. It’s an imposter. Look how pale her skin is.”
“I heard she raised the wights. Is she a witch?”
“I say she’s a monster from the Gloamwald who’s taken the form of the princess.”
On and on it goes until it forms a torrent rushing through my ears.
All of a sudden the noise dies and the crowd parts. In places, the guards have to force people back to make a clear path for Melantha. The queen has dressed herself in a long purple dress with gold trim. Her cloak is hemmed with white fur, and on her head she wears my father’s crown. The rushing in my ears returns, but this time it has nothing to do with the voices of the townsfolk. Anger surges within me until I tug on the ropesbinding me, longing to jump to my feet to find a weapon that will serve to drive into her cold heart.
She looks down her sharp nose at me, then turns to the crowd. “Today we have captured the witch responsible for the wights that have plagued our town. Today we end this and restore peace to our lands.”
The cheer from the crowd chills me. How easily she’s used this for her gain. Made herself look like their savior. It eats at me that her words are true. I am responsible. In coming back here, I brought this on them.
