Page 83 of Secrets and Ruin

“In a perfect world.” I whispered, wondering how long I had been crying.

Landon dropped the sword and the next thing I knew, he was holding me as I started to sob. The only thing that knocked me out of my grief was the sounds of hounds growing louder in the silence left by Rainer’s death.

“Oh, shit,” Landon whispered, pulling me away from the body. Once he stopped, I pulled back and turned to see what was happening.

The hounds were running, spectral and fast. Above the body of Rainer Brandt stood a spectral version of him, his back turned to us. He bowed as the riders followed their hounds. It was like a wave as they ran over him.

When the wave was gone, so was he.

Moments later, I looked up, watching dawn bring the light back to the Black Forest.

The Hunt was over.

34

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Landon and I couldn’t move very quickly as we struggled to get to the path, hoping nothing else decided to try us before we could leave.

“Here!” Adalni called, waving from the sunlit path thirty feet from us. “This will lead you home.”

Landon tensed, and I touched his arm.

“Do you trust me?” I asked him.

“After everything? Yeah, I trust you,” he said, relaxing. “You’re family. Got to trust family. At least our family.”

Smiling weakly, I led the way to Adalni. She gave us space as we limped onto the path.

“Nikolaus and the other one are well ahead of you on the same path. You might catch up with them before nightfall. You still have some distance back, but as you get closer to his home, it should get safer for you.”

“Thank you,” I said graciously.

“It wasn’t what we agreed on, more help from me, but it feels right to do,” she said, lowering her head. “Thank you for freeing me from the mistakes I made as a scared and angry child.”

Giving her a similar bow, we started walking home, Landon and I holding each other up. I knew Landon and I would catch up to Niko and Dirk, but I wasn’t going to rush and hurt myself. I was tired and knew Landon was the same, never trying to hurry me. So long as we kept this pace, we would be fine.

I knew we would be fine until I saw a man on the path, walking toward us. He once had red hair but no longer. It was now platinum blonde. His familiar face was gaunt, and there were bags under his eyes, something I didn’t expect from a fae. I figured they always looked perfect.

“Jacky Leon, it’s been some time,” Prince Cassius of the Fae greeted as he gave a small incline of his head. He didn’t come within ten feet of us, but that didn’t stop me from smelling the alcohol. He was cleaned up, but he had clearly been in the bottle before someone asked him to come here.

Still doing that, huh? Poor guy.

“It has,” I said, nodding slowly. “Landon, this is Prince Cassius. Prince Cassius, this is Landon Everson, Heath’s son.”

“We’ve…been in the same room before,” Landon said, nodding. “But it’s nice to see a familiar face.”

“I bet. On to why I’m here. I have a fast way for both of you to get back to the home of Nikolaus, son of Hasan. They have already been collected. I’ve been walking for three hours to find you two. You are really out here. Bad place to be injured and stumbling around.”

“Paths are safe,” I told him, pointing to the path he was standing on. He was fae, and I was told the paths were protected from fae. “Or I was told they were.”

“They probably are,” Cassius mumbled, shrugging. “Fae in places like this follow very strange rules. Let’s go.”

“How is this going to work?” I asked, stumbling after him, letting Landon hold me up as he tried to walk in step with me.

He pulled out a cell phone and texted someone.

“My brother, obviously,” he said, not looking at us as he spoke. “He’s gotten stronger, but he needs an anchor, and I’m his favorite anchor.”

---