Page 63 of Of Nine So Bold

My eyes narrowed. On many occasions, her stubbornness was arousing. But this was not one of them. Now, it only servedto hurt her, and therefore I couldn’t let it continue. “Then allow me to guess. You blame yourself.”

“No, I—” She shook her head but didn’t continue.

Indeed.

“Do you know how many of my people I killed?” I asked her.

That drew her attention, making her look up at me in alarm.

“Hundreds. Possibly more. I stopped counting after a time because I couldn’t stand the pain of that knowledge any longer. But that’s how many of my friends and servants and citizens were turned or left to suffer by the witch. I tried all I could to save them, but even with all my magic and training, I couldn’t change a thing. Those who’d been turned were monsters, and their victims…” I shuddered even now at the memory of their cries. “They were clinging to life. Bleeding out on the city streets or left to die in macabre displays made by the vampires for sport—all with the blood of the turned smeared on their lips so that they would only rise again. In the end, granting them true death was the only mercy I could bestow.”

I reached out, taking her hand. “You feel that you did the wrong thing, letting him die. That perhaps you could have found something,donesomething, that would have changed his end. But waiting only would have prolonged his suffering, and the outcome would likely have been the same. So let me say, from one ruler to another… I understand. I’ve felt that too. But thiswasmercy, princess. Not murder. I saw that magic. I felt the viciousness of that spell. I know for afactthere was nothing else you could have done.”

Her eyes closed. Gently, I pulled her closer, wrapping my arms around her and comforting her in the agony I knew so well.

Moments slid past, and then she drew back, looking up at me. “You’re not breathing.”

“I’ll be fine.”

She was already pulling her hair aside to expose her beautiful neck.

I stilled her hand and shook my head. “I will not feed from you, princess. Not when you need all your strength to recover from all the ordeals you only recently survived.”

Her intent to argue was clear on her face, and I placed a finger to her lips. “I will feed after we rescue Niko. Trust that I have ample experience withstanding a little bit of hunger after thirty years on my own.”

She hesitated, but after a moment, she nodded. “I’ll hold you to that promise.”

My lip twitched. Gods, it was so easy to love her.

Footsteps came on the gravel beyond the rock shielding where we stood. From the sound, I suspected it was Ozias. Given how quietly he could move, he likely only made noise to give me some warning he was there.

It was a thoughtful gesture, one I could respect and appreciate.

“Little mate?” he murmured when he stepped around the large boulder.

With a smile to me, Gwyneira went to him. He drew her into his arms, his much larger body wrapping hers in a hug that couldn’t have been more gentle and careful than if she’d been made of glass.

She was so precious to us all.

“We need to go,” she said as if responding to some unspoken reminder. “I know.”

He nodded, saying nothing. Arms still around her, his eyes rose to me.

His head bowed in a solemn gesture of thanks. I nodded once in acknowledgement.

Keeping her close, Ozias turned and started back toward the others. I trailed after them, noting the new pile of earth andstone beside the road and that the Huntsman’s body was now gone.

Buried by Ozias’s gifts, I suspected, and thus placed out of view so that Gwyneira would no longer be confronted with what her stepmother had done.

As ever, I found myself grateful she had these men.

Some of them in new ways now.

I studied Byron as the others prepared to head out. Did he know his power had become so inextricably intertwined with Gwyneira’s? Did she? Their magic was like two trees that had grown together so closely, there was no way to separate them any longer.

A cold feeling swelled in my gut. That was the problem, though, wasn’t it? They reallycouldn’tbe separated.

Not without killing one or both of them.

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