Page 2 of Ira

“It sounds like you’ve got it all figured out. What do you need me for?”

“Evidence. A witness. Something concrete, Meera. What we’ve got isn’t enough. The missing piece is you.”

My heart was pounding in my ears. “How did you even find out about me?”

“As is always the case, you weren’t the only one, and of course, there was a paper trail. There always is. That’s how I know aboutyou, and how I know that whatyouknow is valuable. You were there at the beginning.”

Ah. So there had been other impressionable young Hunters who’d followed in my wake. Weird that it made me feel less special to know I hadn’t been the only one, even though I actively despised him.

Perhaps my self-esteem hadn’t recovered as much as I’d thought.

“I don’t have anything of value to tell you. It’s been years.”

That wasn’t entirely true. I had literal receipts, though I wasn’t sure what my chances were of actually accessing them. There was a lot that I remembered that I could point them to if I was brave enough to open my mouth. If I could just shake off the shame that clung to my skin like oil no matter how hard I scrubbed at it…

I shivered despite the sticky heat inside the bar. No. I couldn’t do it. I’d brought this on myself, I’d probably sendmyselfto prison if I spoke up. And I couldn’t help but think of my mom and sister—despite the fact that it had been eight years since I’d seen them. Hadn’t I caused them enough embarrassment? It had probably taken them this long for their reputations to even somewhat recover. To rehash all of that now would be selfish of me.

Then again, they’re still in Denver, and you’re in Albuquerque, a quiet voice in the back of my head said. The voice that had always struggled with the unfairness of it all. Who’d wanted vengeance, even knowing it would never be possible.

“Just take the card,” Adela said firmly. “You don’t have to do anything with it, but don’t throw it away. Maybe one day, you’ll be ready.”

She was clearly frustrated, and I understood why. I’d be frustrated with me too.

But even with eight years of pretending to be human under my belt, there was still a not-insignificant part of me that feltsomekind of loyalty to the Hunters. Or at the very least, a strong mistrust of humans instilled in mebythe Hunters.

Even though the Hunters had betrayed me, just the idea of speaking to Adela felt like a betrayal to them.

“I’ll hold onto it,” I rasped, picking up the card and sliding it into my back pocket, fully intending to put it in my box of important documents that sat on the top shelf of my closet and never look at it again.You’ve caused enough trouble. Your father would already be ashamed of you. Keep your head down, and don’t bother anyone.

It was a lonely strategy but also a successful one. Or at least it had been up until now, when Adela Cooke had walked through the doors of this sticky, dreary bar and ruined the illusion of solitude I’d carefully constructed for myself. The illusion of being a regular overworked, underpaid, drowning-in-debt, twenty-five-year-old woman. Ahumanwoman.

Boring. Forgettable. Invisible.

Now, the panic that I was always barely keeping at bay was back in full force, and I had no idea what to do with it. Last time this had happened, I’d channeled it all into running away and building a whole new life for myself.

Suddenly, that didn’t seem like the worst idea.

Maybe running away would be the answer to all of my questions.

Chapter 1

AFEW WEEKS LATER

“I’m going to get myself one, you know.”

I glanced at Andrus, positioned on the other side of the archway to where I was standing, at the entry to the royal wing of the palace. We were usually stationed here together, and I assumed it was penance for some terrible thing I’d done in another lifetime because I couldn’t imagine much worse company.

“One what?” I asked, suspecting I already knew the answer.

“A Hunter, of course.” He scoffed as though it was ludicrous that I’d even had to ask. “There’s a few here now. I’m going to get one for myself.”

“Ex-Hunter,” I corrected, since that was the term they seemed to be going by nowadays. Privately, I hoped they’d come up withsomething that distanced them a little more from their Hunter counterparts in the human realm. “You’ll have to clarify what you mean byget one. They aren’t objects to be collected.”

Andrus’s shadows flickered in irritation. “Obviously. I will court one. There are plenty to choose from. I’ll take my pick.”

Hardly. The queen’s sister, Astrid, had brought a few through to the shadow realm with her, but some had already left, unable to transition comfortably to life here.

Only four single ex-Hunters remained: Astrid, Tallulah, Verity, and Meera. And of those four, only three of them were considered mate material. They had the pick of the shadow realm available to them—I imagined at least one of them would choose the king’s brother, Prince Damen. He was widely considered the most desirable, eligible male in the realm now that King Allerick was taken. Perhaps the chatty one—Verity? They both had cheerful dispositions.

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