Hart and Hunter

Chapter 39

Ch. 39: Julian

"Stop!"

My shout makes the cavern ring like the inside of a bell, startling everyone. Thankfully, it has the intended effect, and the two fae taking aim at Ingrid and Freya turn to look at me along with everyone else.

All attempts at hiding abandoned, I stand in full view at the edge of the crevasse, one of Rhiannon's knives held to my own throat. My hand shakes and the blade is razor sharp. A trickle of blood from an accidental cut adds credence to my self-directed threat.

Darragh appears as comically surprised as everyone else but recovers more quickly.

"Ah, there you are," he says, as if pleased to see me. "Like father, like son, I see."

As he'd revealed his plans, I had scanned the room from the shadows, searching for an escape, but there were two armed fae guarding the only way out — not counting the chasm in the floor. Meanwhile, the longer he talked, the more obvious it became that I couldn't let myself fall into his hands. Finally, I'd spotted one of Rhiannon's knives, abandoned where she'd dropped it near Halloran, and a desperate solution had presented itself to my mind.

Snatching up the knife, I'd been creeping closer to Darragh, keeping to the shadows around the pillars, when he'd finally reached the end of his little speech and moved on to the demonstration phase.

With Ingrid and Freya in mortal peril, I'd acted without conscious thought and turned the blade on the only person within reach: myself.

"Stop, or I'll do it. I swear."

Darragh smiles easily, as if amused by the antics of a child, but the tension in his stance betrays his alarm.

"Go ahead," he says. "End yourself. You're not the only leanan sidhe here."

"Rhiannon will never help you," I say, glancing at my grandmother for confirmation. "She'd rather die."

She nods firmly, a look of fierce determination in her amethyst eyes.

"I'm sure she would," Daragh agrees, "and so she shall — along with everyone else here — if you fail to cooperate."

"And what if I do cooperate? You'll let everyone go home? Somehow I doubt it."

"You and the alpha are all I need. I've no use for the others. If you surrender, they may leave unharmed."

"What about the children?"

"The children are the skinchanger's business, not mine. Take them if you like."

"And what happens to them after Spring Lakes becomes ground zero for your supernatural disaster?" I shake my head. "I can't let you do this."

I tense my muscles and dare a glance at Dane. As his mate, I know that this is the worst thing I could do to him, but I'm out of options and out of time. I don't want to die, but as I'd listened to Darragh outline his crazy scheme, I'd finally understood the dilemma my father had faced. To my own surprise, I find I share his conviction: better to put myself beyond all reach than to let a madman use me for harm.

Dane sees and understands this as our eyes meet, and every layer of his heart is laid bare in his face: fear, pain, and the kind of love that will never die.

"Julian..."

The sound of my name on his lips is a sweet parting gift, and I shut my eyes. One swift, determined motion, and—

"The children!"

Startled, I open my eyes and see Halloran leaning forward, staring at me with a burning intensity.