Page 76 of The Hunted

He had what he wanted.

Didn’t he?

SEVENTEEN

Arelle

SOMETHING ROUGH and dry scratched against Arelle’s back and legs when she shifted in her sleep. Turning over had done nothing good for her, if only because sunlight spilled over her face and had her clenching her eyes shut even tighter than before to shield from the sudden color that filled her dreams.

No, she wasn’t sleeping anymore.

And the dreams hadn’t been that good, anyway.

Though the lump of ground she’d slept on felt somewhat cushiony even with the scratchy dryness, it crunched under the weight of her body rolling again. She tried to pull her legs closer to her middle, the same way she would with her tail and fin in her sleep, but the telltale clink-clink of chains that fetched up finally had her opening her eyes.

She breathed deep.

Dirt.

Hay.

Fur.

Wood.

Dust danced in the stream of sunlight coming in through a slated window. For longer than she cared to admit, she watched those dancing specks as she relived the day and night before. The grunt of an animal had her tilting her head just enough to see the brown speckled horse that rooted its wet nose against her opened palm lying on a bed of hay.

Another shuddering exhale left her lips.

The horse’s lips jiggled against her skin with his next snort. It almost felt like a hello, and despite her current situation, Arelle couldn’t help but smile at the animal. She had only seen them from afar before. Running along the tops of cliffs while she’d stayed a safe distance away in the sea.

They were as big as she thought.

Just as beautiful, too.

Keeping her one hand out for the horse to kiss again, if he wanted, Arelle sat up straight in the crunchy hay. She wanted to cross her legs, but a glance to the side at the chain that led out from a link on the wall kept her shackled at both ankles.

Memories of the night before flooded her mind the longer she stared at the chain. Oh, the landwalkers hadn’t touched her. They’d not even hurt her, really. They also barely spoken to her at all when they’d delivered her here in pitch-black darkness.

She wasn’t sure how far from the sea she was, but did it matter when all she needed to do was close her eyes? There, she could see it. Breathe deep and taste it. It felt like they’d traveled for miles before finally stopping, but she knew if she followed the sounds in her heart and mind, it wouldn’t take long for her to find the sea.

Except she couldn’t do that at all.

She had all of three feet of chain to move, and as it were, in her sleep she’d rolled herself far from the wall where they’d left her until she’d had no more room to move. Even the cloak had managed to come undone and did little to protect her from the rough ground covered in the horse’s hay.

Another snort from the horse had Arelle looking his way. The beast wasted no time tipping his large head down to nudge her hand before doing the same to the top of her head. If he understood she sat there naked and confused, the horse didn’t show it.

She had to laugh at that.

“A beautiful sound, that.”

The voice had Arelle scrambling up from the floor in an instant, pulling the cloak with her as though she might use it as some kind of shield. A completely, utterly useless shield. She didn’t even bother to check where his voice had come from first. Not that it mattered. Once he’d spoken and she knew he was there, she didn’t need to search for him.

She just knew.

Her back hit the wall of the stall, splinters of wood biting into her skin as the cloak hung from her clenched hands. She found Eryx leaning against the wrought iron gate of the stall on the inside. Somehow, he’d managed to get inside the stall. Probably when she had still been sleeping.

How long had he watched her?