Page 153 of Hunt Me

“Vampirism suits you.”

It sounded like a compliment, but Matilda knew better. She met his gaze without answering.

“I almost didn’t recognize you. The huntress who built her reputation preaching honor while collecting coin for every vampire she beheaded.”

Rain streamed from his hair, tracing the sharp lines of his face before dripping from his chin.

“You used to stand in taverns telling anyone who would listen that vampires were a plague upon the world.” He chuckled to himself. “And now look at you.”

The settlement square grew strangely quiet. Even the wounded seemed to fall silent as Lykaon’s voice echoed through the wounded village.

“You abandoned your humanity the moment it became inconvenient.”

Luka’s expression darkened, but the prince paid him no mind. His eyes remained fixed entirely on Matilda.

“You spent years hunting vampires, then decided it was easier to climb into a king’s bed, wear a crown, and forget every principle you ever claimed to believe.” He smiled with satisfaction. “Where I come from, there’s only one word for that.”

He allowed the pause to linger.

“Hypocrite.”

The word clung to the air like thick smoke. Lykaon had expected outrage, or perhaps shame. At the very least, an attempt to defend herself. Instead, Matilda simply looked at him while blood from the healing cut on her forearm slipped down to her fingertips before disappearing into the earth.

Then she laughed—not loud, not mocking, but just enough to make everyone present believe she’d gone mad. Enough to make Lykaon’s confident smile falter.

“Are you finished?” His brow creased in frustration, and his Adam’s apple bobbed with an aggressive swallow. “You are confused,” Matilda stated.

“How so?”

“You have me confused with someone who owes you an explanation.”

“How can you be a leader if you abandon everything you stand for?”

Matilda shook her head with a smile. “My leadership is of no concern to you. And someone such as yourself cannot judge me.”

His smirk returned. “Someone such as myself? Expound.”

“Someone who is rife with disloyalty. Beta David,” she reminded him. “He was loyal to you, even when you sent him on a suicide mission. You abandoned him.”

“He knew the risks,” Lykaon spoke.

“He was loyal to you, and even in death, he deserved to be honored by you. You didn’t seek out his body to return to his home. You barely waited before you struck his name from the register and passed all his worldly possessions to your new beta. I am not you. Because despite who I lay with, despite whose surname I carry, and despite the children I bear, I will always stand with my people,” Matilda preached, pounding a fist to her chest.

Lykaon glared at her through narrowed eyes. “They are not your people any longer.”

Matilda stepped toward him, boots sinking into the mud.

“That is not for you to say. I hunted vampires because vampires murdered innocent people. I never hunted vampires just because they were vampires. I hunted killers.”

The prince’s smile tipped cruelly. “And now?”

“And now you are the killer who has my attention,” she replied firmly.

Lykaon glanced briefly toward the villagers gathered behind the guards. Hybrid children peeked nervously from doorways, clutching parents who were frightened to death. He returned his attention to Matilda.

“Is that a threat, Queen Matilda?”

The guards’ hands drifted toward their sword hilts, ready to strike if necessary. Matilda casually waved them off.