by Page Morgan
Tobin held out his hand to me. “Come outside.”
So he can say goodbye.
I felt a hollow throbbing in my limbs as we walked out the back door, Tobin closing it behind us. I stared at the meadow, furious and heartbroken and ready to scream.
“There’s no place for me now. Not within the six empires,” he started to say. I couldn’t speak around the boulder lodged in my throat. “Ever, look at me.”
I couldn’t. I didn’t want to. The moment I did, I’d break, and there would be no stopping the tears.
“I never wanted to hurt you,” he said, and there they were: hot pricks against my lids, fogging my vision. “I’ll find you when I can.” He touched my hand and threaded his fingers through mine. Then raised my knuckles to his lips. “If I can.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep my chin from wavering. My throat ached, and I couldn’t say what I wanted to: that I’d wait for him to find me. Years, if it took that long. I’d wait forever, even though the chances of returning from the Silent Ranges were improbable. But I managed a nod, and it seemed to be enough.
Tobin started walking, pack shouldered, chin tucked down. I watched his back as it shrunk, moving past the barn, the paddocks, then disappearing into the woods. He didn’t look back.
As I stepped into the kitchen, the heat from the oven nearly choked me. Lael lifted her eyes to mine, and when I shut the door, she looked away, chin quivering. He was gone, and she knew it.
“Let’s be ready to go before the hour is out,” my father said, his voice less gruff than usual. He hadn’t snapped at me in days.
I’d explained to him about the mirror, how the golden frame had absorbed my mother’s soul and trapped her within the glass. When I’d seen her inside that prison, I’d sensed something wasn’t quite complete about her. Her soul had withered. It had grown weaker and weaker every time she’d denied the emperor what he wanted to see. And without a body to return to, like I’d had, there had been nowhere for her to go once freed. Shattering the glass had ended her. And though I knew in my heart that it was a mercy, grief still made me breathless whenever I thought of her.
The relief that Frederic was finally gone couldn’t even pierce it. At last, the man my father had hidden me from my entire life was dead. And yet when I looked at my father, I couldn’t see his relief either. Only sadness.
And still, we were running. Still going to Pendrak, taking on new names, and hiding. We were giving up everything. And I’d be forever waiting—for Tobin to return and somehow find me. For me to begin my life.
Well, I’d been waiting long enough.
“No.”
The word flew from my mouth as soon as my mind formed it. Father blinked, his brows pulling together. “No?” he echoed.
Lael uncurled her legs and set her feet on the floor, alert eyes on me. I shook off all doubt, every lingering thorn of fear. “I’m not going to Pendrak.”
“Ever—”
“You were prepared to send me into the Silent Ranges on my own. You knew it would be better than living in a prison. Frederic’s not here any more, but that’s what Pendrak would be.”
He sighed and turned his back to me as he rubbed his neck, agitated.
“Lael needs her brother.” I glanced at her, at the awe and hope in her eyes as she sat forward. “I need him. And I need you, too. She said she knew you’d protect me. Mother, I mean...” He sent me a sharp, desperate glance. I wished he’d been able to see her, too. Hear her voice. “So, please...come with us.”
Because we were going. With or without him.
He threw his hand down against his hip and faced me. “You’re not afraid? The Silent Ranges are dangerous.”
“Of course I’m afraid.” I raked a hand through my short hair; my palm was cold and damp. But the idea of the ranges didn’t scare me as much as the ever-growing space between where I stood and where Tobin was. “I’ll face this fear. I won’t hide from it. That’s not living.”
My father’s expression softened. His eyes were sad and tired as he came to me, his hands rooted in his pockets. Slowy, he nodded.
“I don’t want you to hide, either.” It was how he’d lived these last sixteen years. He had to be exhausted. “I never would have let you go into the ranges alone, Ever. You know that, don’t you?”
I hadn’t known. Just like I hadn’t known whether or not he’d try to rescue me from Yort. But I did now. I saw it so clearly. And that never would have happened, if not for Tobin.
I reached for his arm and closed my hand around his elbow. “Let’s get our things.”
Lael stood, still hesitant. “My brother moves quickly. If we’re going to go...”
“I can find him,” I said, my heart already surging forward, out the door and through the meadow. I could practically already see Tobin within the surface of the mirror shard, tucked away in my pack.
I would always be able to find him.
We left a note on the front door of the tavern, asking someone to care for Nessa, and then we packed what we could for supplies and led Hilda into the woods. We were gone within the hour, just as my father had wanted, only our course took us toward the foothills of the ranges. I used my mirror to show me Tobin’s route, but Lael had been right: He moved fast, like a shadow through the forest.
The sun had dipped below the treetops, and the elevation had been steadily increasing into the base of the mountain range when the flames of a campfire flickered over a knoll of rock. It was Tobin’s. I didn’t need my mirror in order to be sure.
I climbed ahead of my father and Lael, ascending the knoll first. I emerged onto an outcropping, heart rapping madly in my chest. There was no one there, just a small fire.
And then a husky laugh. “I hoped that was you following me.”
Tobin stepped out of the shadows, tucking a blade back into the sleeve of his jacket. Of course he would have heard us coming. In that moment, I knew I’d made the right choice.
“You were?” I asked, breathless from the climb—and from the slow grin stretching over his lips. But then it faltered, and he shook his head.
“I don’t know what to expect out here, Ever. I don’t know if I can keep you safe.”
“Us,” I replied, gesturing down the rocky hill. “My father and Lael are on their way up. And we’re in this together now, so we’ll just have to keep each other safe.”
His smile inched back into place, and it felt like daylight struggling to hold on in the sky for just one more minute. “Then I suppose I should kiss you before they get here.”
I didn’t hesitate. I ran to him, threw my arms around his shoulders, and pulled him close.
And I was never letting go again.
Acknowledgments
One day when my daughters were young and on a Snow White kick, I was watching the movie with them (for the gazillionth time!) and wondered: What happened to the huntsman when the queen found out he’d tricked her? He’d been given an order, and he’d refused to carry it out. I wasn’t interested in Snow White’s escape or the prince’s magical kiss anymore—I wanted to know what happened to the huntsman.
So, I sat down and wrote his story. It didn’t take long to get a first draft done, however it’s taken years to finally be ready to share my version of the huntsman with readers. There have been so many people who’ve encouraged me to keep going with this project, to keep revising and believing in this story. To my countless critique partners, my agent, a few generous editors, friends, and family members who’ve helped shape this book—you know who you are, and I thank you.
Also by Page Morgan
The Dispossessed Series
THE BEAUTIFUL & THE CURSED
THE LOVELY & THE LOST
THE WONDROUS & THE WICKED
MARCO’S STORY: A NOVELLA
About the Author
Page is the author of THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE CURSED, THE LOVELY AND THE LOST, and THE WONDROUS AND THE WICKED, young adult gothic thrillers critically acclaimed by Booklist, Publi
sher’s Weekly, Kirkus, School Library Journal, VOYA, and The Bulletin. Page’s novels have been an IndieNext selection, a Seventeen Magazine Summer Book Club Read, and a #1 Amazon bestseller.
She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and their three daughters, an English Pointer, an arrogant cat, two boring bearded dragons, a one-eared bunny, and a bunch of chickens. You can visit her at www.PageMorganBooks.net
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Page also writes adult historical romance under the name Angie Morgan. Find out more at www.AngieMorganBooks.com
