Page 6 of Hunted

Tallin nodded. “I was tasked with keeping you safe from the moment you were born, an agreement sealed under Fate’s watchful eye, in the presence of the Frost Stone of Windhelm.”

Mother Helen smiled. “A powerful pact indeed.”

“It took a moment for me to remember who she was. At first, I didn’t. But it started to come back to me as the hours passed.”

“Will that happen to anyone else?” I asked, “Like… my parents?”

“Who is to say,” said Helen. “For all we know, the spell unraveled itself all on its own. That you were hunted by a creature of Fate itself suggests there were at least some complications in her spellcasting.”

“That still doesn’t explain Valerian’s involvement in all of this,” Tallin said. “I’m wary of him.”

“I don’t think he was involved,” I said.

“You probably shouldn’t trust him, though. I don’t trust him.”

I glanced at the door to the room he was being kept in. “I don’t,” I said. “In truth, I don’t even know him… but he helped me get here.”

“You mean, he helped you get stranded here. It sounds like getting you out of the picture is exactly what that crone wanted.”

“He’s stranded here, too.”

“Is he?”

“We could settle this quickly,” Pepper said. “All I have to do is pour a little potion into his tea… he won’t be able to lie to us.”

A moment of quiet moved through the room. Pepper, with her bubbly round cheeks and half-moon spectacles, looked absolutely devious right now. Everyone was stunned. “Perhaps at some point,” Helen said, “But I do not think we need to resort to drugging the Fae just yet.”

“Say the word,” Pepper whispered, her eyes flashing mischievously.

“I’ll go and talk to him myself,” I said, after a moment. “I should be the one, anyway… he’s a stranger here.”

“Just remember,” Helen said. She was about to reach for me with her hand, but she held back. “Be careful, Amara.”

I smiled at them. “I will,” I said. “I like to think I’m a good judge of character. And if I feel like he’s not being truthful, we’ll do it Pepper’s way.”

Pepper nodded, her eyebrows wagging.

“Very well,” Helen said. “We have prepared some food for him. Perhaps you would like to take it to him and wake him up? He may be somewhat… groggy.”

I nodded and stood. Pepper handed me another steaming bowl of chicken soup. I took it and brought it to the door of the room Valerian was sleeping in. It was a spare room which, until now, had been mostly filled with boxes containing unused sewing supplies. Most of those had been pushed aside, and a small bed had been shoved into the corner of the room.

Valerian lay on it, snoring slightly. I set the bowl down on the little end table next to the bed, then sat on the edge of the bed itself. For a moment I only looked at him, admiring the shape of his jaw, the whiteness of his hair, the shape and color of his antlers. He looked… royal. Regal. Even in a deep, snoring sleep, this Fae looked good.

I reached for his hand. It was warm to the touch, but entirely flaccid. I decided to reach for his face, then, letting my palm rest along the curve of his jaw.

“Valerian,” I whispered, as I leaned over him.

No reply.

Only snoring.

“Valerian…wake up,” I persisted.

Nothing.

I thought about exiting the room and asking my grandmothers to wake him up. I didn’t want to bother them, though, and there had to be an easy way of doing this. What was it they did in all those books my mother used to read to me as a child? Hadn’t Snow White been woken up with a kiss? Come to think of it, there wasalwaysa woman, and she wasalwayswoken up with a kiss.

Ugh.