Page 90 of Hunted

I tightened my arms around Paul’s still warm body. I’d seen enough death to know there was no saving Paul now. He had hung on longer than most, long enough to tell me he loved me and try to warn me.

But who should I not trust? Did he mean Ace? Orion? Or…

“Let him go,” Orion said. “He’s dead.”

“You think I don’t know that?” I snapped. I looked at my best phaaning friend standing in the doorway. Her gaze on the blood-soaked floor, her shoulders drooped and folded inward.

“That was quite a shot.”

Sley bit back a sob and threw the bow to the ground. “Oh, Emi. I’m so sorry.”

She rushed over to me and leaned forward, arms wide as if to hug me, but she hesitated at the last second. Her gaze dropped to my brother, still in my arms, and instead of a hug, she rested her hand on my arm and squeezed.

“I thought… You said he betrayed you. I thought I was saving…” She gulped and stopped talking. She stared at me and for once she looked unsure of what to say. “Why don’t we get you cleaned up?”

I didn’t care about the mess. I didn’t care about her or Orion or their feelings. My dead twin lay in my lap in my arms, his blood pooling around us as the heat of his body faded. I couldn’t save him. He was truly gone.

Orion stood stiffly to the side, a trickle of blood running down his neck.

My familiar had padded over to lay on the blood-soaked floor beside me, her head resting on her paws.

Ace stood behind me, a silent wall of support.

“I don’t want to let him go,” I said.

“I know.” She squeezed my arm again. “But you need to.”

I shook my head.

“Let us help you.”

“But Paul…” I couldn’t leave him on the floor in a pool of his own blood.

“Let us worry about Paul,” Ace said. “We’ll take care of him.”

“It’s over now, Em,” Orion said. “He can’t hurt you anymore. He can’t hurt anyone.”

What? How could he say that? Orion spoke with such finality, like all our problems were now solved and this chapter had ended.

But I still had so many unanswered questions. Who was the third head of the snake? Was it Orion, Sley, Ace, Queen Titania, or someone else? Or was the naiad messing with me? What was the true extent of my powers? How was Mab my mother when the war ended so long ago?

Before I could say anything to Orion, Nala shot to her feet and growled. Her whole body vibrated as she faced the entrance of the cabin.

An old woman with a wrinkle-lined face stood in the open doorway. The hood of her long maroon cloak cast shadows across her face, but I’d recognize that piercing blue gaze anywhere.

“You have other things to worry about,” Hecate said.

Ace swore under his breath.

My arms tightened around my brother. The old hag didn’t know what she was talking about. What could be more important than my brother?

“You have a unicorn to kill.”