Steal the Sun (Thieves #4)(55)

“Then I’ll probably attempt to cover up your death,” he admitted with a straightforward stare. “It would do your vampire no good to kill me in revenge. It wouldn’t bring you back and it would only kill my host, who was against this plan in the first place. I would survive. You’ll agree that if that scenario happens, it’s better for everyone if the vampire never knows what truly occurred.”

“I hate you.”

“That’s a sad occurrence since I actually find you to be quite interesting,” he said seriously. “I think you could be important. You could do more to bring our people together than anyone else. The Unseelie will find you fascinating and the Seelie will eventually accept you because they need Devinshea’s magic. You could be a conduit between the two faery worlds. Now be still. I don’t wish for the rope to harm your skin.”

He fell silent as he continued his work. He tied a long length of rope around a tree opposite me and gracefully climbed up its trunk. Though I couldn’t see what he was doing, I watched as the tree shook and I thought about my quandary. I had to hope that the Hunter was as good as he thought he was or I was in deep shit. That ogre would make a beeline for me. It struck me as odd that the ogre had made its way this far without the Seelie army noticing his passage. Maybe I didn’t understand the geography of the sitheins.

“How far are we from the door?” I asked quietly.

The Hunter dropped to the forest floor again and adjusted his ropes. “We’re deep in Seelie territory. Like the Unseelie, the Seelie built their palace far from the door. It’s a defensive strategy. You don’t want an army to be able to come through the gates and immediately attack your stronghold. You want advance warning.”

“Is the gate guarded?”

“Of course. I had to go through much security to be able to enter.”

“Yet someone got through with an ogre?”

He thought for a second. “That does not make much sense, Your Grace. I follow your line of thinking. You believe someone from the Seelie is working with someone from the Unseelie, and this is the way they managed to bring in the ogre undetected.”

“Let me make myself clear, Hunter.” I was going to put my theory out there. If I got eaten, I wanted someone to know who to send the dinner bill to. “I believe that the Duke of Ain or someone close to him is working with someone from the Unseelie. It’s the only thing that makes sense. He controls the lands surrounding the gateway. It’s his army that allows passage from the Unseelie sithein. How else would they get an ogre through the gates and deep into Seelie territory? Someone wants a war and they’re willing to work with the enemy to get it.”

“Then we are dealing with traitors on both sides,” the Hunter agreed, his eyes dark. I wouldn’t want to be the traitor because I was betting the Hunter had plans for him. “It’s an astute observation. I will speak to my king about it.”

“Your king doesn’t want a war?” It wouldn’t be the first time a ruler used subterfuge to get the war he wanted. Propaganda and misdirection were the games of kings.

“No. He’s adamantly against it,” the Hunter said firmly. “He believes Devinshea’s ascension is a sign that all of Faery has a chance at renewed life. Like the Seelie, many of the Unseelie have faded over the last hundred years because our fertility is gone. We need children to give our lives meaning. It might be different if the priest was someone else, but the Unseelie believe Prince Devinshea will treat them fairly.”

“He might not if you get his goddess and unborn child eaten by an ogre,” I said sourly.

He sighed. “I won’t let you be eaten. Please relax. All we have to do now is wait. If you would like, you should feel free to scream. I believe that might attract the creature. Crying might have the same effect.”

“I’ll take a pass.” I wasn’t about to help the damn thing find me. I would be quiet as a mouse if I thought the ogre would ignore me.

I stood there with my hands tied behind my back as the Hunter took his place hiding behind the large tree with the ropes he’d secured earlier. I wasn’t sure what those ropes were supposed to do but I hoped they did their job and caught the ogre in a stranglehold. The Hunter kneeled down and settled in like he thought it might take a while. My hands already hurt. The next time I had to deal with something like this I would be much more careful about the wording of the oaths given to me.

I saw the Hunter stand quickly, though he made almost no sound. He’d heard something and every muscle in his body was primed for action. Every muscle in my body was worried about becoming an entrée. I listened intently but couldn’t hear what had caught the Hunter’s attention. My eyes roamed the dimly lit forest and finally I saw a woman in white appear from the tree line across the pond.

I relaxed since she was obviously not an ogre. From my viewpoint, I saw a woman with platinum blonde hair and a white dress that did nothing for her pale complexion. Girlfriend needed some color or at least a spray tan because she was all kinds of washed out. She sort of floated along the ground, and I gave her points for grace. It took a lot to walk through the forest in a long, flowing gown and not trip all over the place. There was an odd air of fragility that clung to her, and I started to hope that maybe the ogre would eat her first.

“Good evening, Hunter,” she said in a strange singsong voice. She paid no attention to me or the dogs, who looked at the woman curiously but obviously didn’t see her as a threat.