Page 62 of Of Nine So Bold

The queen’s cold, contemptuous snarl filtered through my mind. “You still won’t win.”

With a shriek, the last ribbon of the spell flew apart and evaporated like smoke dissipating in sunlight.

Leaving nothing behind.

I shuddered, withdrawing my power carefully, and opened my eyes. The princess stood nearby. Byron too, and both were alive. Across from me, the demon glared at the Huntsman like he was daring the spell to return.

A rattling gasp left the cursed man. Pain was etched deep on his burned face. The agony of the dying.

But gratitude mingled with the anguish in his eyes.

An ache throbbed through me, one that had nothing to do with the spell or the queen.

I knew that look only too well. The look of the dying, grateful to be released from their pain. I’d seen it on so many faces in my own country when I ended their suffering because it was the only thing I could do.

“Thank you,” the Huntsman whispered to the princess.

Gwyneira nodded. “Please. Where can we find our friend?”

His body shuddered again, his gaze moving away from her to turn toward something in a distance that only he could perceive. “Eliantra. There are mines hidden by magic in the hills south of the village, ten miles west of here.” A ragged breath made his chest shake. “Look for a dead tree. And then a pond. The entrance… is there.”

His eyes started to lose focus. “Forgive me, princess. I shouldn’t have left you to die.”

Gwyneira shook her head. “You left me tolive,Huntsman.There’s nothing to forgive.”

Despite his pain, a smile drifted across his burned and ravaged face. “You will be a good queen.”

A rattling breath escaped his chest.

And then he went still.

I looked over at Gwyneira as the last of his heartbeats came to an end. Tears shone in her eyes, and my soul ached for her.

I knew this pain too.

Pushing to her feet, she turned away. “We should go.” Without another word, she walked away from everyone.

Her men glanced at one another, some unspoken communication passing between them. But I didn’t bother attempting to follow it.

Not when I suspected what she was telling herself right now.

With a brief nod to Ozias and Dex, I followed her. “Princess.”

“I’ll just be a moment.”

“I’d rather you weren’t.”

She stopped, but still she didn’t look toward me. “What?”

My mouth tightened as I came up beside her. “If I may?” I gestured to the rocks beside the road.

Confusion furrowed her brow, and frustration was there too, but she followed me all the same. Once the rocks were between us and the others, leaving only her mate and possibly the demon able to hear our words, I continued. “Might I ask what you are thinking now, princess?”

She looked away, not meeting my eyes. “We have more important things to worry about right now. Niko needs us to?—”

“Princess.”

She fell silent. “It doesn’t matter.”

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