The Dark Huntsman: A Fantasy Romance of The Black Court (Tales of The Black Court Book 1)

by Jessica Aspen

  The left hand path seemed more inviting and open, the trees and brambles gave it more space, and there was even a little light coming through the canopy of leaves. But the narrow, crowded right-hand path seemed more familiar, even if it was dark and gloomy.

  She turned and looked the way she’d come. For just a moment, she was tempted. She could just go back and be Logan’s for the rest of the year—available when he wanted, left alone when he found her inconvenient. But if she did that, how could he ever respect or love her?

  She’d slept with him, but she didn’t really know who he was, if he understood her, or if he even cared. And how could she trust him when he felt he could just sneak out without taking her with him, without any sort of discussion? This was her family they were trying to save. Her life.

  And his life would be better with her dead.

  She faced forward, resolved to keep going. But which direction? The open, clear path that could be a trap set by the forest? Or the right-hand path that set her teeth on edge with its narrow, forbidding entrance framed by overhanging branches?

  Centering, she drew on her own inner magic and probed the stone. The touch of the sapphire was a cold and alien power that had no agenda, but sent back an inquiry of its own.

  What did she need?

  Trina thought of Logan. How he’d been so considerate of her when she was crying over her family. How incredibly beautiful his eyes looked when he was deep inside her. How she exploded with heat when he kissed her.

  The stone grew hot.

  She began to walk down the more open and inviting left hand path and the stone cooled. She reversed direction and headed down the gloomy, right-hand path and the sapphire grew hot again. She whispered, “Thank you,” to the stone for playing hot and cold, just like when Aunt Theresa used to hide presents from the three of them at the Winter Solstice.

  Memories of running around the house on Solstice Eve, looking for presents with her giggling cousins, flooded her. The stone cooled into a chunk of ice in her hands. She closed her eyes. Even the stone couldn’t help her find her own life. Taking a deep breath, she thought of Logan instead, and the gemstone blazed.

  Hot and cold, the stone guided her quickly to the unambiguous rockslide that hid the entrance to the tunnels. Ravens flew into the air, flapping and cawing their alarm. She held the stone in front of her, ready to open the tunnels and praying she could find Logan once she was inside.

  A knot formed in her throat.

  What if this didn’t work? She had to know if Logan was really on her side, if she was infatuated with someone trustworthy, despite his heritage. She was sure, if he hadn’t had something to hide, he would have taken her with him. That is, if he cared at all.

  Letting the sapphire swing on its chain, she stepped toward the rock. A raven dive-bombed her, its sharp, yellow beak slicing next to her eye as she screamed and threw her hands up in defense.

  Gritting her teeth, she swatted at the enormous bird, and it flew off, its fellows launching into the air, all coming for her. Trina fought her way forward through the cloud of shrieking clawing feathers and touched the rock face where the door had opened the night before. Nothing happened. The birds continued to attack, pecking at her eyes, snatching at her clothes, her hair, her face. Everything but the stone.

  Her throat tight, she grabbed the sapphire and thought hard about how the entrance looked as she ducked another bird intent on tearing a chunk of her scalp. She pictured how the stones had re-formed for Rinnal into a gaping hole. Seconds became a minute, and then two.

  “Open please!” Desperately hiding her face in her arms, away from the sharp beaks and batting wings, Trina put all her will into the plea. The ground trembled. The birds flapped. There was a hesitation in the air, and the stone-fall rearranged itself into the dark, gaping mouth of the tunnel.

  Trina ran inside, the cloud of birds wheeling into the sky, cawing their rage as the rocks shuddered closed behind her. She lit a lantern and again followed the hot and cold of the now glowing stone. Feeling one careful step after another, she kept in mind the pebble Logan had thrown into the dark that had bounced off the rock walls, forever on its way to the bottom.

  Without another person to talk to, she lost all sense of time. Step, step, step. Think of Logan and feel the stone’s response. Step, step, step.

  An eerie, echoing cry sounded to her left. She jumped to her right, her foot slipping on an edge as the cry reverberated through the tunnel. A fresh, cold breeze startled her. She dropped the lantern, the light going out as she pulled her foot away from the deep hole. Shaking and shivering, she tried to relight the lantern without any success, finally giving up and depending only on the cold blue glow of the sapphire.

  After what seemed like hours, she reached a dead end.

  She clutched at the burning stone and begged the blank wall to open. Nothing happened.

  She tried again and again, the air growing heavier and thicker in her lungs as she turned and faced section after section of the wall, hoping one of them would open. She sank to her knees, gasping and panting for air, frantic thoughts of Logan returning to find her starving skeleton clutching the sapphire in bony fingers.

  Slowly, she regained her sanity and asked the stone where the entrance was, it burned bright into a shadowed corner. She aimed the stone into the corner and the rocks shuddered open.

  “Thank you, Goddess,” she said and ran into the bright sunshine, grateful to her bones that she’d gotten out. The sapphire burned her skin, guiding her through a brighter section of the forest. Beyond a screen of brush, she heard Logan talking.

  Trina tiptoed closer and peered through the screen of bushes. In the center of a small clearing, she spied Logan and a tall, thin, man. This was a true Tuathan elf, the kind she’d glimpsed once or twice and run from.

  “Enough of your excuses, Huntsman,” the green man said. The way the green-skinned fae jabbed his long, elegant fingers in Logan’s face, combined with his odd choice of a tuxedo for the woods, reminded her of a malevolent grasshopper. “We need results.” He arched both long eyebrows up, his forehead wrinkling. “Her majesty needs results.”

  “I’m working on it.”

  “You know that isn’t good enough for her majesty. She needs the MacElvys dead…immediately.” Standing directly in front of the taller, more slender man, Logan’s mixed heritage and solid, muscular build gave him a more human appearance.

  If only she couldn’t hear what he was saying.

  “I have a lead, but it will take time for it to come to fruition. All hunts have their challenges and this one is no exception,” he said. His stance seemed relaxed, but his hand hovered by the sword on his waist.

  “You’re not taking this seriously enough. If you fail this time, she will not simply imprison you.”

  “I didn’t fail.”

  “She doesn’t see it that way. What the queen sees is that once again, you are half the man that your father was, lacking in honor and failing in your responsibilities. It’s to be expected, considering your heritage.” The green man sniffed.

  Logan tensed. “You can insult me all you want, but my mother was just as much elvatian as my father was. And far more honorable.”

  “She wasn’t Tuatha De Danann.” The fae looked down his long stick of a nose. “You’ll never be one of us, no matter how hard you try to overcome her blood.” He waited a beat as Logan’s fingers twitched.

  Trina held her breath, wondering if Logan would pull the sword. But when nothing happened, the elf continued. “There’s still an opportunity to earn the queen’s respect back. If you can convince me that you have the wherewithal to do the task, I might be able to hold her off.” His voice lowered. Trina leaned in, trying to hear his near whisper. “Tell me, boy, why did you fail to kill all the MacElvys at that last location?”

  “They were tipped off, gone before I even got there. I killed the one I found.”

  Trina gasped. Both men stilled. She held onto the sapphire and willed them
to overlook her as her frozen heart beat too loudly in her ears.

  Had Logan killed one of her cousins? Had one of them returned looking for her?

  Shock kept her immobile as more poisonous words dripped from her fae lover’s lips. “I told you, I have a lead,” Logan said.

  Was he speaking of her? Had she given him the trail? She had taken him to the gypsy camp. Now would he hunt down and kill the rest of her family?

  “Why did you not release your hounds on the scent at the house? Why did you burn it so thoroughly that there’s nothing now to track?” The man leaned into Logan’s face. “Why have you continued to fail?”

  Logan stood firm under the other fae’s examination, his shoulders and neck stiff with leashed aggression. “I followed her majesty’s orders. She told me to burn it.”

  Trina’s heart twisted.

  He had burned her home on the queen’s orders, not to protect her. She held still, clutching the talisman of Rinnal’s sapphire, praying it would keep her hidden. She had to get out of here and escape, while she had the chance. She’d been stupid and trusting. No longer. Now she would strike off on her own and truly escape Logan. She carefully began to work her way backward, away from the two arguing men.

  “You’re keeping me from the hunt, Haddon,” Logan said.

  Haddon! She stopped. That was the name that Mariella Boyd had given her. The name Logan had assured her wasn’t a lead and yet, here he was plotting with him to ensure her family’s demise.

  “I must go,” Logan said. “You may tell the queen that it will take time, but all will be resolved.”

  “Resolved! You always did mince words.” The fae’s lips twisted. “I told her you were too weak to be her huntsman, but no, she said you would take after your father. He, at least, was a ruthless killer, a man who truly deserved the title.” Haddon stepped away from Logan. Behind him, the mists of a portal formed. “You had better try harder to live up to your father’s reputation, or you will not have time to create your own. The queen will not spare you again unless she thinks you are useful.”

  He headed for the purple mist, turning back when Logan spoke again.

  “Where is Prince Kian, Haddon? He was not at court and I haven’t seen him since my release.”

  “Hoping he will intercede for you?” Haddon sneered. “Don’t count on it. He’s in his own private prison, waiting on the queen’s pleasure. If I were you, I would worry more about my own head than the prince’s. The queen won’t kill him, but she certainly won’t hesitate to kill you if you fail again.” He stepped into the fully-formed gate, and the mists swallowed him up.

  Logan slumped. Trina had a brief urge to go to him and take away that defeated look, but her heart hardened. He’d used her. She needed to go. She stepped backward and a branch snapped. His chin rose and he looked straight at her.

  Panicking, she eased away from the protective screen of bushes. She needed to get away. Hoping the stone was doing its job and he hadn’t actually seen her, she looked down for anything that might give her away. Something brushed her aura. Something close and dangerous. She lifted her head and looked into the gleaming eyes of one of Logan’s huge hounds.

  A tight gasp escaped her. She stopped being careful and ran for the tunnels. Cursing her heeled boots, she darted around a tree and slammed into Logan’s hard chest.

  “I could hear you from the moment you stepped out of the tunnel,” he growled, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking. The hounds pooled around them. “What were you thinking? You’re just lucky Haddon isn’t a hunter.” He let go, his fierce eyes pinning her in place.

  “I…”

  “Shh. What if he left a spy?” he hissed, holding a finger to her lips. “Search!” he commanded. The hounds had barely melted into the underbrush when Logan grabbed her arm again in a bruising grip. “Come, you will be safer inside.” She resisted, dragging her weight. Cursing at her slow pace he scooped her up and carried her to the tunnel entrance. Without hesitation the stones opened and she was dumped on her backside in the dank interior of the tunnel. “Don’t move,” he growled.

  The stones slammed over the entrance and she was shut into the darkness.

  She grabbed the sapphire and wished hard for light. The familiar blue glow sprang up and illuminated the tunnel. Before she could stand Logan and the hounds were back. She struggled to rise against the tide of huge dogs pushing past her into the small space. Her chest tightened and she reminded herself to breathe. Just breathe.

  “What were you thinking?” Logan’s furious eyes reflected the sapphire’s magical glow. “I left you safe in bed and here you are under the queen’s nose.” Logan grabbed her arms.

  His body shook. She shrank within his grip but she would not let him intimidate her.

  “You’re only using me to find my family, then you’ll kill us all!”

  “What would make you think that?” His arms dropped to his side, his anger dropping from his face, leaving only stunned confusion. He backed away from her, nearly hitting the opposite wall of the tiny rock chamber.

  “I heard you telling him you had a lead. Do you think I will help you slaughter my family?” She clenched her fists at her side. “Who did you kill at the house? Bryanna, Cassie?” The thought of her beautiful cousins dead and burned formed a lump of betrayal in the back of her throat.

  “Is that what you thought you heard? I did tell him I had a lead. Have you ever tried to lie to a fae?” His eyes sparkled with fiercely controlled anger. “No. I can see that you have not. Well, let me tell you, you can’t. We smell lies. It’s even more difficult if you are one yourself. We cannot lie.”

  “What does that mean? Everyone lies.”

  “No, the fae do not. Or I should say, we can, but we have to be tricky about it. Everything that leaves my mouth has to be the absolute truth. It’s a part of our magic. None of the true fae can lie.” She inched away from him, backing step by careful step further into the depths of the tunnel. He caught hold of her hand.

  “So you are betraying me!” She tried to pull away from him, but he held her fast.

  “No, I am not.”

  “You either were lying to him or you are lying now to me!”

  “Listen to me Trina,” he said. “I cannot lie, but I can dissemble. I can say enough of a selected truth that he will believe me. I told him the truth. I have a lead, but I left out that I have you.” His words rang loud in the tunnel. “And I have no intention of turning you over to the queen, or of killing you.”

  She stopped struggling. “Look at me and tell me you are not going to kill my family.”

  He let go, straightened to his full height, and held her eyes with his. “I am doing my best to save you, your family, and myself from the wrath of the queen.” She couldn’t look away as magic twined around them and his words poured out. “You have my word, as Logan Ni Brennan of the Fir Bolg and as the Huntsman of the Black Court of the Tuatha De Danann, I have no intention of killing you, nor your family.”

  Under his gaze, steady as truth, her anger deserted her. But there was still one fact left.

  “If you can’t lie, then who did you kill at my house?”

  “I killed a doe, and presented its heart to the queen. I have risked my life and this is what you think of me?” His words spat out like bullets. “I have had to walk a very thin line for you.”

  “You didn’t wake me up, didn’t say good bye. What was I supposed to think when I followed you here and found you sneaking around behind my back with that sleazy elf?”

  “I left you sleeping.” His body seemed to release, the tension draining out as he sighed and brushed a few escaped strands of long hair back from his face. “You looked so comfortable and it had been a difficult night. I saw no reason to wake you. I couldn’t bring you here to meet with him,” he said, looking tired without his anger to support him. “I don’t expect you to understand the politics of my situation. I may be hundreds of years older than you, but I am very young compared to the majority of
those at court. I have few contacts, and fewer still that I trust.”

  “Why did you meet with him? Isn’t he the enemy?”

  “Yes, he’s the enemy. But if I don’t look like I’m doing something, the queen will demand my head.” A twinkle started in his eye and his lips began to slide up into his now-so-familiar teasing grin. “And I rather like my head.”

  She couldn’t resist smiling back. “Men!” She laughed. It echoed off the rock walls as Logan swept her up in his arms and spun her around the tight tunnel, the hounds fleeing to press against the sides. She wrapped her arms around him, buried her face in his neck, and inhaled his smoky scent.

  He hadn’t killed anyone. He wasn’t turning her family over to the queen. But could she really trust him the way she wanted to?

  Logan put her down and led the way into the tunnel.

  “Did you ask Haddon about Aoife?” she asked. At least she was sure now that Mariella had been wrong. Creepy, green Haddon wasn’t someone to rely on in their search for clues to the queen’s vendetta.

  “No. I have no confidence in him at all.” He strode ahead, casting frequent looks back, almost as if reassuring himself that she was still there. “Haddon has never been anything but the queen’s man. I’ll start my search for Aoife tomorrow.”

  “You mean we will start our search tomorrow.” He stopped and turned to face her so fast she bumped her nose into him and stumbled.

  “I won’t risk exposing you. If I find her, I’ll bring you to her. But only if I deem the odds acceptable.” He placed a finger lightly on her lips. “Remember, this is your first hunt, and you are unfamiliar with the ground we must cover. If I’m to serve your interests, I need to be focused on the hunt and not on protecting your sweet ass.” He grinned again, his arm swooping behind her to swat her on the backside.

  She snorted at his bright eyes and high-handed attitude and decided to leave it. For now.

  “So, if I’m to understand your decision making process, you expect me to simply follow your lead in this hunt and stay home. You need to explain some of what has gone into your decision.”