Page 118 of Mirror of Malice
Driscoll let out a war cry and flung his dagger at the creature, missing. “Oh, shit,” he said.
Jillian let her flying stars go. They swiped the Huntsman’s face, then circled back to her, and she caught them.
“Wow, that was impressive,” I said as I dodged a swipe from the Huntsman’s arm.
“I got it!” Driscoll yelled from behind us. “I found my dagger.”
“Great!” I jabbed my sword at the Huntsman’s leg to no effect. “Can you use it?”
“I could really do without your snark right now.” Driscoll drove the dagger into the Huntsman’s calve, where it got stuck. He yanked and grunted, but the dagger wouldn’t budge.
This was a disaster. The Huntsman reached out a hand, and before I could jump away, it snatched me in its grip. I wriggled and pushed at the wooden fingers curled around me, but it was no use. I’d been caught.
“Let her go!” Jillian yelled, launching her throwing stars, but they glanced off the Huntsman’s chest and fell to the ground.
“No, you are not taking her from us!” Driscoll latched onto the Huntsman’s leg, getting dragged as the Huntsman took a step.
“Just leave me,” I said, the Huntsman raising me higher and higher until I was eye-level with it.
I glared at the creature. “My father created you, used his magic to make you, and this is how you repay him? By working for his killer?”
The Huntsman grunted, then sat me on his shoulder. I stilled, looking down at Jillian and Driscoll.
“What is happening?” Driscoll asked, hands now on his hips.
The Huntsman reached down and grabbed Jillian, who gave a shriek as he sat her on his other shoulder.
“I am so confused,” Jillian said.
The Huntsman reached behind him and plucked Driscoll from the ground, setting my friend next to me.
Then he turned and began stomping toward the castle.
We all looked at each other, bewildered.
“Okay, crazy theory, but I think the Huntsman is helping us?” Driscoll said.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree.” Jillian leaned over. “He didn’t hurt us.”
“Maybe my stepmother ordered him not to,” I countered.
The Huntsman stopped and kneeled. We all screamed as we clutched tight to him.
He reached his hand back and yanked the dagger from his calf, then handed it up to Driscoll.
Driscoll blinked a few more times as the Huntsman stood and continued on his way toward the dark castle that loomed in the distance.
I stared ahead. We would find out soon enough if the Huntsman was friend or foe.
Chapter Fifty-Five
We arrived at my stepmother’s castle, the iron gates surrounding the courtyard rising high over our heads. The Huntsman punched the gate door and it swung open.
Driscoll gulped from beside me as the hedge maze loomed in front of us. We knew all too well how deadly that maze was. We’d watched person after person get crushed, eaten, impaled by it over the years—until Penn, the only one I’d ever seen successfully get through it.
I wouldn’t think of the king of thieves, not right now. He was back in Mosswood Forest, probably planning his next mission. Maybe this time he’d pick a new princess to betray. Maybe Seraphina, now that she was no longer cursed. I thought of him gazing at Seraphina the way he had me, of him kissing her like he had kissed me, him naked over her. My fists curled at my sides, and I suddenly wanted to punch something. Good thing I’d be seeing my stepmother soon.
Jillian let out a shriek as the first hedge rose up, twisting and curling its thin branches, its black leaves rustling as it formed into a giant snake.
