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“What happens if I do?” I hissed.
“The hunt will become forfeit and you will leave here without the jewel.” She smiled slightly, surely hoping I would break the rules and end up with nothing.
“You will have a ten minute head start, at which time anyone who wishes to may hunt you. If they kill you, they get the crown as well as the jewel.”
“That’s bullshit,” Scion barked. “This isn’t an official hunting night. If you kill her, the crown goes to me as her mate. No one is winning the right to be the queen.”
Cassinda’s expression soured. “You robbed us of the chance to fight for the crown on our own hunting night. Now you are trying to skirt the rules?”
“No, I’m telling you what the law states,” Scion said dangerously.
“A law which will no longer apply to us if we choose to become our own nation.”
“It’s fine,” I said quickly. “I agree. If you kill me, you get the crown.”
Scion made a noise of protest and Ambrose pulled me back to look me in the eye. “This isn’t wise,” he muttered, ignoring the fact that Cassinda could certainly still hear us.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said firmly. “Idris is in the capital right now thinking he’s doing the same thing. Someone is always trying to take the damn crown.”
“Right, but this would be a legal capture,” Scion muttered. “It’s not a coup. It’s essentially the same as what you did.”
“Then I won’t lose,” I said flatly, turning back to Cassinda who was smiling.
“You’ve got more nerve than I expected,” she said.
“Maybe,” I agreed. “Maybe it’s that I’m stubborn. Or maybe it’s that I fully intend to kill you before you ever lay a hand on me.”
“We’ll see about that.” Her face turning pink from anger, she turned and pointed at the skyline once again. “Do you see that mountain in the distance? If you wish to win by crossing theboundary, it is near the top. Otherwise, you will have to survive until sunrise.”
“That’s fucking insane,” Scion interrupted again. “That mountain is three times further than the standard boundary, and climbing to the top is nearly impossible.”
“Ah,” Cassinda said grinning. “But In Nevermore we begin the hunt at midnight, not sunset, due to the fact that our sun sets so early and unpredictably. That makes the hunt only seven hours at most, and we have to have a way to compensate for that lack of difficulty.”
“Is that true?” I asked.
Scion looked unsure but Ambrose nodded.
Shit. My strategy in the hunts had always been to run for the boundary. If I had to fight all night long that changed things significantly.
I glanced at Scion. “It’s alright. I’ve never had you to help me before, and we both know you could take down this entire crowd at once if you wanted.”
Scion nodded once, then set his jaw, still glaring at Cassinda.
I half expected Cassinda to try and tell me I wasn’t allowed to have help, but she said nothing about it.
“Wait!” I asked her quickly. “What about the jewel?”
“What about it?” she snapped.
“Aren’t you going to give it to me? To defend?” It was hard to keep the distain out of my voice.
Cassinda smiled, and reached up to undo the top button of her heavy coat. From beneath the fabric she pulled a diamond the size of a walnut hanging from a gold chain. “I’ll take care of it for now.”
I pressed my lips together, nodding. I didn’t trust that woman, and didn’t think it boded well for us that she had the jewel. Still, there was very little to do but wait and see.
As with my previous hunts,there was a certain amount of nervous standing around that happened before the event could actually begin. I wished desperately that I knew the time, to know how much longer we had to wait, but no one seemed willing to share it with me.
Finally, when I thought I might freeze to the ground where I stood, a low horn blew in the distance. I looked up, expecting to see the haunting figure of the hunter who wore the same deer skull mask that Ambrose had appropriated for his role as the Dullahan. Instead, all I saw was a fire burning far in the distance.
