Page 7 of Hunted

No way was I going to kiss this man. We weren’t in a fairy tale, and I didn’t have the time to wait. I slid my hand across his jaw to his mouth, covered it, and pinched his nose shut.

CHAPTERTHREE

Valerian grumbled, mumbled, squirmed, and then his eyes shot open. I released his mouth as soon as he was awake, placing my hands on his chest to keep him from hitting his head on the low, sloped ceiling just above his bed. “It’s me,” I said, “You can relax.”

Valerian’s eyes were wide and as bright as diamonds. “What—” he gasped “—was that about?”

“I had to wake you up,” I said.

“You couldn’t have asked?”

“I did. You were snoring…”

Valerian took a moment to compose himself. He scanned the room we were in. It was small, and a little cramped. The only light came from the lamp on his bedside table, which also illuminated all of the boxes and supplies shoved against the opposite corner of the room.

“Where am I?” he asked. “What did they…”

“My grandmother zapped you to sleep…” I said.

“Shewhat?”

“She also stopped you from hitting the ground hard, brought you up here, and made you soup. I probably wouldn’t betooupset about it.”

Valerian rubbed the side of his head. “So much is happening right now.”

I nodded. “I know. Take a deep breath, then sit up slowly, and have some soup. It’s really good.”

He sat upright, slowly, watching his head and his antlers to make sure he didn’t bash them. It took a moment for him to get his bearings, scanning the soup, the room, then my face. There was something about his gaze that felt… strong. Intense. It made me want to look away, not out of repulsion, but out of fear.

It was weird.

“We’re on… Earth…” he ventured.

“We are,” I said. “In my grandmothers’ house.”

“And this is a… safe place?”

“The safest, I think. It beats sleeping in an Arcadian cave with monsters about.”

“Right…” Valerian paused. He then took a tentative sniff of the air. “We aren’t dying.”

I frowned. “Dying?”

“The air is poisonous here. Maybe your grandmother-witch has powerful protective wards in place keeping us alive.”

“I… poisonous?What?” I shook my head. “Did my grandmother’s spell zap the sense out of you, or what?”

“That’s what I’ve been told about Earth. That the air is poisonous here, and that this is the place where goodness and civility go to die.”

My eyes widened. “Wow. Where did you hear that?”

Valerian shrugged. “Around,” he grunted.

“Well, as someone who partly belongs to this world, I take offense to that. The air may smell bad to us, but it isn’t poisonous. And my grandmothers have taken you in, given you a warm bed, and put food on the table. I would say they’ve been good to you.”

He shook his head. “Princess, I didn’t mean to—”

“—it’s fine. And I’m not a Princess. Not anymore.”