Page 50 of What Hunts Inside the Shadows

“You could ask your mate,” I inserted, shrugging off his hand. If he wanted to be territorial, he would need to do so in a way that didn’t dismiss me.

One of the men stepped forward from Adelphia’s group, and I recognized him from when we’d sat around the fire eating cake. He moved toward me as if he meant to touch me, but Adelphia held out a hand to stop him, catching him in the chest. “I do not suggest that,” she said, swallowing as her gaze fell to Caldris once again. “We met Estrella on Samhain. She stumbled upon our ritual in the woods before the Veil dropped, and she joined us in our worship.”

Caldris tilted his head to the side, stepping away from my body slightly so he could look down at my face. “You participated in a ceremony worshiping the Old Gods?” he asked, his lips twitching in amusement.

“Shut up,” I said, rolling my eyes at the satisfied way he puffed up his chest in response to the new knowledge. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I’d merely been curious; it wasn’t out of some grand act of faith the way it was for the others.

“It would seem your hatred for my kind does not go as deep as you would have me believe, my star. If you would like to worship me, I can tell you exactly how to—”

He coughed when I slapped his chest with the back of my hand, the chains of my shackles rattling with the motion. “Do not eventhinkof finishing that thought.”

“Too late,” he said, reaching forward to grasp my chin. He tilted my face up, dropping a soft kiss to my parted lips and risking my fury. The moment his lips touched mine, my irritation faded away.

“It’s up to you, Estrella. Are they trustworthy?” Holt asked, interrupting the moment so that Caldris pulled back with a glare. I flushed when I realized that Adelphia monitored the interaction carefully.

“Yes, I think so,” I said, looking through the group. There were several people I didn’t recognize, but I believed Adelphia’s intent was pure. She wouldn’t do anything to knowingly harm the Fae Marked and what they represented.

“Thank you, Crown Princess of Winter and Shadows,” Adelphia said, lowering her head to me respectfully. She turned to Caldris, dropping into a curtsy that looked incredibly uncomfortable in the snow. “We would be happy to pledge our loyalty to the Gods of Old if it suits you, Caldris, God of the Dead, Crown Prince of Winter and Shadows.”

I snorted, in spite of my best instincts, brushing off my curiosity of just how Adelphia had come to know enough about the Old Gods to recognize Caldris. “Please don’t. His ego is quite large enough, thank you,” I said, ignoring the glare Caldris leveled at me.

“I’ve no need for anyone to pledge their fealty to me,” Caldris said, his voice tentative as he slowly turned his gaze away from mine. “I merely wish to co-exist peacefully.”

“Unfortunately that is not possible in Nothrek; not for some time now. We’re seeking sanctuary and safe passage to Alfheimr. Once the Veil fell, we were all cast out from our villages and hunted down like dogs. Many of our brothers and sisters lost their lives in the escape. Might we be able to travel at your side? We won’t make too much fuss.”

“Just more mouths to feed,” Aramis said, the first words I’d heard him speak near me since his cowardice the day before.

“Attitudes like that are exactly what contribute to the Fae’s reputation,” I argued. My voice was hard and unforgiving. “If you hope for any humans to believe that you Fae are interested in peace, then you have to start by showing them. Turning away those who are friendly will not accomplish anything but to alienate those who could have been allies.”

“Aramis is far too young to remember just how powerful belief can be,” Holt said, quirking a brow at the younger member of the Wild Hunt. “The Old Gods were once more powerful than they are now. They were forces to be reckoned with, because the humans believed them to be the Gods of legend.” Aramis quieted, pursing his lips together with a scowl.

I was most definitely not his favorite person.

I wondered if it was because I’d stabbed him multiple times, or if it was just an issue he took with my personality. It hardly mattered either way.

The man was a dick.

“You may travel with us,” Caldris said solemnly. He pulled the dagger from his sheath, holding out a hand and cutting along his palm. The knife dragged over his flesh, parting it to reveal a steady stream of blood as he allowed it to drip onto the snow at our feet. “But you will swear a blood oath not to harm any of the Fae Marked.”

Adelphia took the dagger from his hand, cutting along her palm without hesitation. It hardly seemed fair, knowing that Caldris’s wound would heal within a few moments while hers would take days. She made her cut more shallow, allowing a single drop of blood to drip on top of his. One by one, the rest of her group followed suit.

When that was done, Caldris raised his hand to my mouth. I rolled my eyes, turning down my nose at the healing wound on his palm. “You haven’t washed your hands since this morning. I will not be licking your hand.”

He grinned as if I was amusing, shoving his sleeve up and slashing the blade across his wrist.

Blood poured onto the snow to prove his point as he lifted it to my mouth, touching it to my lips as I drank what the heart beating in his chest pumped out.

I supposed that would work.

18

ESTRELLA

Adelphia strolled at my side, her presence calm and soothing. Caldris had only begrudgingly allowed me to walk alongside her and the others chattering about their lives, which must have been wholly interesting for Adelphia to recognize Caldris on sight.

“How do you know so much about the Gods? About the Old Rituals?” I asked, staring down at the bag strapped across her chest. I suspected the skull of a God rested inside it, something I couldn’t see the older woman parting with.

“We come from a village that resisted the New Gods as long as they could. Eventually the King sent his Priests and Priestesses to convert our people by force, but by that time we had already hidden our forbidden texts and artifacts in a safe place. The people of our village have done what we can to preserve that knowledge over the generations that have passed since,” she said, nodding her head as we continued along the snowy ground. “It was how I was able to recognize your mate.”

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