Page 74 of The Hunted

It wasn’t the cloak that surprised her, really.

More who it belonged to.

“Deliver her to the estate I chose.”

Eryx’s words cut through the air, and by the time Arelle looked his way again, he had already turned to leave the wharf.

But without his cloak now.

It covered her.

• • •

Eryx

“As you wish, Prince,” Corval called behind Eryx.

He didn’t bother to turn to respond to Corval because he knew he didn’t need to. All his orders would be followed without question. The little mermaid would be delivered to the estate of his choosing before the night was over, and kept where she couldn’t run until he was ready to deal with her—although he still had no idea what he planned to do to her now that he had her. Everything he’d dreamed up seemed … not quite enough.

“They won’t lay a hand on her,” Mattue assured as they walked the wharf to the end where a horse was already waiting for Eryx to mount. “She’ll be in perfect condition, of course.”

Eryx grunted under his breath. “I already know.”

“Thought you may want the assurance nonetheless.”

“I want a dry bed and a good meal.”

After that, he could decide other things.

Things about her.

The young boy waiting by the tacked-up horse kept a tight hold on the reins and didn’t offer them to the prince while Eryx stopped to pull the riding gloves from his pants pocket. Mattue took his silence and stillness to mean he still wanted to talk.

Perfect.

“She’s quite … she may be dangerous. Do you think you should have someone guarding her when she’s at the estate with you and the servants?”

Eryx chuckled a dry sound. “Not likely.”

“Did you see what she did to those men?”

“Perfectly fine, yes. They’re foolish and lazy. She probably saw it, too.”

“Prince—”

A commotion started back on the wharf. Yelling from the men, and the swish-swosh of rope being moved. He didn’t need to look back to know what was happening. Corval’s men were likely beginning the process of moving the mermaid—he still didn’t know her name and that bothered him for reasons he couldn’t explain—into a cage where she would stay until they delivered her by horse and carriage to an estate not far from here.

He expected her to die there.

By his hand.

Soon.

And yet, he couldn’t say she would.

That bothered him, too.

“What did he mean?” Eryx asked, lifting his gaze to meet Mattue’s after fitting on his gloves. “Corval, I mean. The others wouldn’t stop staring at her. One made a comment. Corval, though … he called her quite worthy.”