Page 44 of Prince of Never

‘Stop that,’ Ethan said, darting us to the right.

‘Stop what?’

‘This isn’t your fault.’

I could never win an argument with him, so I kept my objections to myself.‘We’re going to get caught, aren’t we?’

‘Honestly?That’s the point of the whole game.I’m mostly just hoping we don’t get caught by one of the nasty ones.’

Before I could ask anything else, I heard voices nearby, hissing whispers that cut through the still trees, followed by a wild whoop of excitement.My heart nearly stopped in my chest as panic set in.Whoever the voices belonged to, I didn’t recognise them.Ethan pulled me harder as he sped up, ducking beneath a low-hanging branch, shooting left for a few minutes then cutting right again.He would move faster without me, I realised.He passed between the trees and over the undergrowth with an agility I couldn’t touch.

‘Ah!’I squeaked as I was tugged backwards, losing Ethan’s hand as my dress snagged on a bush that seemed dead, all thorns and spikes.

‘Shit,’ Ethan cursed, as he ran back to me, pulling at the fabric until I heard it tear, coming away in his hands as if it was nothing more than fairy floss.I didn’t have time to lament the fact that my dress was now perilously short because he was tugging at my hand again, pulling me along, his panic beginning to show.If he didn’t have to worry about me, he could be out of danger by now.

‘Ethan—’

‘I told you to stop that.You’re my best friend.There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.’

‘I thought fae couldn’t lie,’ I panted as I tripped after him, my heart pounding hard, my ears straining to catch the sound of someone else nearby.I hadn’t heard the voices again.

‘I’m a half-breed, what can I say?’he said, flashing a mischievous smile over his shoulder.

‘We’ve got one!This way.’This time, the voices sounded much closer.Fear drew fingers down my spine.

‘Damn it,’ Ethan cursed under his breath as he paused and scanned our surroundings, that look of worry marring his beautiful face again.‘I’ll distract them, you run.’

‘Are you crazy?I’m not leaving you!’I said, horrified at the very idea.How could I possibly leave him to face those beasts on his own?They might look like nobility, but if this was what they thought of as a game, then they might be as savage as the vampire that had attacked me all those years ago.

‘You have to.’

‘I don’t have to.Come up with a better plan,’ I snapped.

Movement flickered through the darkness behind us, and I whipped around to track it, wildly scanning the trees.A pair of eyes, a silhouette, two more behind that.I hadn’t been afraid of the fae until that moment as I watched them prowl towards us.I stumbled back a few steps, gripping tightly to Ethan’s hand.

‘Ithoughtit was human I smelled.It seems we’re going to be winners tonight,’ the first figure, a man with a voice as smooth as toffee, said as he circled us.He darted forwards as one of his companions—a woman with her hair shorn close to her head—closed in.She bared her teeth at him.

‘We’re not going to get into the same scuffle we did last year, are we?’the third figure said.The voice of another woman.‘You’re so insipidly predictable.’

The three of them seemed to be too focused on each other to notice Ethan tugging at my hand.‘Time to go,’ he hissed.

‘No!’but my words were cut off by a shriek as he shoved me.I fell, tumbling through a bristly copse of bushes.I didn’t stop there, sliding down a gully, twigs and stones cutting at my legs as I descended.I crashed to the bottom, sprawling inelegantly on the foliage.

‘You’ll pay for that, half-breed,’ I heard one of the women say.There was no way I could climb back up the way I’d come.Ethan!I thought.Worry, gripped me, holding me in place forsolid minute as I tried to figure out how to get back up, but there was no way.

Damn him.

I forced myself to move on, though I had no idea where the hell I was going.Each step twisted the guilt tighter in my gut.It felt wrong to keep going and leave Ethan behind.What if something happened to him?I’d never be able to forgive myself.

I tried to scan the sky, looking for shreds of dawn through the canopy, wishing for sunlight to come and chase away some of the fear shivering beneath my skin.I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to banish the cold that was causing goosebumps to breakout on every inch of bare flesh.How the hell could anyone find this fun?Maybe if the high fae knew what it was like to be hunted, they wouldn’t insist on playing such brutal games.

My feet hurt, with the sorry excuse for shoes I was wearing doing nothing to protect them, and certainly offering no comfort.The strings were rubbing on my skin, raising painful blisters.Tears pricked at my eyes, frustrated, angry tears that clawed at my throat and I wiped them away quickly as the forest seemed to spin around me, taunting me.What was the point in running anyway?I might as well sit and wait for one of the savages to find me.

A shiver ran down my spine.

What would they do when they found me?

A rustling in the bushes caught my attention.

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