The Forsaken King

But I didn’t have to, because Huntley’s ax cut him down.

The guy collapsed to the snow in front of me. Klaus had vanished.

Huntley stood in front of me, out of breath, blood dripping to the snow from his wound. “You came back.”

Still couldn’t believe it. “Yeah…”

His eyes pierced mine, intense like usual, but without the all-consuming hatred.

“What…what are those things?”

“The Teeth.”

It was nice to get an answer to a question for once. “When I said the word blood lust…the guy looked like he exploded in his breeches.”

“That’s what they eat. Blood. The purer, the better.”

“And I’m guessing mine looks pretty pure?”

“I think they were interested in you for other reasons.” His hand went to the dagger, and he prepared to yank it out.

“Whoa, hold on. If you pull that out, you’ll bleed to death—”

He yanked it out with a grunt, revealing a black dagger coated with shiny blood. He let it fall to the snow. “I heal quickly.”

“Not quickly enough.”

His pale skin slowly started to flush, like the blood was returning to the places where he needed it most.

“How…how did you do that?”

“I told you. I heal quickly.”

It was the first time I’d spoken to him as a man—not my kidnapper, not the asshole who would throw me down if I talked too much. “If you’re feeling up to it, escort me to the entrance to the cave. I can find it on my own, but it’ll probably take me much longer alone.”

His intense gaze remained fixated on me, his blue eyes still as he absorbed my appearance.

I guess that was my answer. “Alright, then.” I turned away, headed north.

“You’re coming back with me.” His deep voice wasn’t full of unbridled anger anymore, but it did possess the kind of command that Father could never replicate.

I stilled and slowly turned around. “You’re joking, right?”

He stared me down.

“If I hadn’t come back, you’d be dead. You know that, right?”

His chest rose and fell with his breaths, his eyes so focused they didn’t blink.

“Tell me that you know that—”

“If I hadn’t come after you, you would have been raped by every single one of them—and then eaten.”

“But you didn’t come to save me. You came so you could have the honor of killing me yourself. That’s not the same thing, and don’t tell me you’re too barbaric to understand the difference.”

His hard stare ensued.

I shook my head, feeling like a goddamn idiot. “I told myself to leave you…told myself it would be a mistake not to—”

“Then you should have listened.”

“Wow…” I shook my head in disbelief. “That’s the kind of man you are?”

“Just like your father.”

I was tempted to grab my sword, to fight to the death because I’d rather die out here than go back there. “No, you aren’t. If your only purpose is to emulate the person that you hate, then they’ve won. They haven’t just taken your past, but your present and your future. They’ve taken your identity. You’re better than that. And if you aren’t…you should want to be better than that.”

His blue eyes were motionless as he listened to my speech, giving nothing away, not a single thought. His ax was still in his hand, the edge of the blade still dripping with droplets of blood from his final foe. “Why did you save me?”

My body’s automatic reaction was to take a breath because the question was so perverse on my ears. I’d taken a gamble—and made the wrong bet. Now I had to pay the price for my foolishness. “I…I don’t know.”

“You don’t know why you forfeited your escape? You don’t know why you risked your life fighting the Teeth to save me? Such an act of bravery…and without a reason?”

“There is a reason… I just don’t know what it is.”

His stare darkened, like that was unacceptable to him.

“I guess it’s because…I can tell you’re a good man. Not to me. But I think you would be…if you didn’t consider me your enemy.”

A gust of wind passed through us and ruffled his short hair slightly. His cloak billowed in the wind. But the rest of him was immobile, like a mountain. Throughout our travels, the shadow on his face had darkened, getting deeper and thicker, becoming a beard. But it was gone because he must have shaved once he went to his cabin. Whether he had a beard or not, his appearance was terrifying, his features so hard—except for his eyes.

“I really am sorry about what happened to you.”

His jaw tightened slightly, as if that just made him angry.

“I’m gonna go now…” I turned around and began my trek.

When he didn’t say anything, I assumed I was home free.

But then his voice followed me. “I can’t let you go.”

My boots halted in the snow, smashing it down and compacting it under my feet. My eyes stung from the cold, and I could feel how dry my nose had become just from being out there for a couple hours. My frozen heart sank into my stomach, thinking about how worried Ryker would be, how terrified my father must be. They would never know what happened to me. They would never know how I was killed…if I was raped…if I suffered.