Page 69 of Hunted
I shut my eyes. “There was a witch… a crone in my dreams. She told me she could get me out of the Selection if I only gave her a happy memory.” I opened my eyes and looked at him again. “So, I did, and then everyone forgot about me… and about you.”
“About me…”
“I didn’t know we had a fate bond. I didn’t know this would happen to you, Valerian. I didn’t mean to ruin your life as well. Please, forgive me.”
Valerian’s face was ice cold, his eyes hard, and sharp. He didn’t speak. He didn’t seem to have an answer for me. Instead, he simply stared at me, leaving me to wonder who he saw standing in front of him… the woman Fate had bound him to, or the bitch who stole his life.
“Thirteen days,” grumbled the monster.
I gave it my attention again. “What?” I asked.
“Undo what you have done. You have thirteen days.”
“But… wait! I don’t know if that’s enough time!”
The creature began to recede, shadows enveloping its already shadowy body. I stepped toward it, calling after it, trying to get it to come back, but it was gone in moments, the darkness entirely evaporated. I found myself standing on a snowy field, bathed in starlight, staring at the spot in which the creature had been standing seconds ago, hoping for the first time since I first laid eyes on it that it would come back.
“It’s… gone,” I breathed.
“Amara,” grandmother Helen called out.
I turned my head to look at her. She was standing next to a silent, shimmering circle of blue light, with edges that sparkled and glittered. The portal had opened. Arcadia was waiting for me, and the sands in the hourglass had already started to fall.
CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE
The creature was gone, but my heart was still pounding. I couldn’t think straight, couldn’t keep two thoughts strung together. I wasn’t sure whether to look at Valerian, or my grandmothers, or at the portal, my eyes fluttering from face to face while my feet rooted me to the ground.
Arcadia was waiting, the blue portal glimmering against the night. All I had wanted since I got here was for this moment to arrive. Now that it was here, I found myself hesitating—and it was because of Valerian. He had just discovered the truth of my crime, or at least part of it, and the way he was looking at me now… I hated it.
I hated it because I couldn’t read it.
“Come quickly, child,” said Helen, “The portal won’t stay open forever.”
I took a tentative step toward her, but my legs felt heavy, like they were made of stone. My heart continued to hammer inside of my chest, making my head feel far too light and my chest far too tight. I felt like everyone was waiting for me, like the entire weight of my world had finally fallen on my shoulders, and it was too heavy for me to carry alone.
“I’m so glad the creature is gone,” Evie said, brushing her forehead with the back of her hand. “I’ve burned through every last one of my sigils. At this rate, we’ll end up walking back to London.”
Pepper reached into her dress and pulled out a little book. There was only one page left, but on it was a mark I recognized. It was the same mark I had seen on the floor of the storage room into which we teleported. “I always have one on me,” she said, with a sly grin, “For emergencies.”
“Let’s save that for now, sisters,” said Helen, reaching out to me with her hand. “We have more pressing issues to tend to right now.”
I walked up to her, going past Valerian, who was as stoic and unmoving as the creatures we had been battling a moment ago. My grandmother was waiting for me at the eye of the portal, a kind smile on her face, one hand stretched toward me. Her smile softened further, and she angled her head to the side. “Why are you crying, my dear?”
I hadn’t realized that I was.
I wiped my own tears away quickly. “It’s… nothing.”
“That doesn’t look like nothing.”
I shook my head. “I think I just… I’ve finally realized the damage I’ve caused. The people I’ve hurt. I’m so incredibly sorry.”
My grandmother’s eyes moved slightly to the side of me, and across from me. I had barely noticed that movement, which meant no one else had. She had glanced at Valerian, but her attention returned to me in an instant.
“We all make mistakes, dear,” she said, “Whether human, or fae, or anything else… the greatest lesson the universe teaches us is, sometimes, we all fail. We all fall down. Do you understand?”
“I do, but it’s just… I didn’tonlymake a mistake. I was selfish, and reckless, and what I did is probably unforgivable.”
Grandmother Helen’s smile brightened. She placed a hand on my shoulder. “You recognize you made a mistake, and you are clearly heartbroken about it. Forgiveness will come…” her eyes fluttered over to Valerian again, only the expression on her face now was stern, and firm. “Fromallthose who wish to offer it.”