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Everett

“Mingled souls breed mangled hearts.

Sometimes it’s best to remain apart.”

An Unseelie Fable, Author Unknown

K erris is gone.

No matter how many times I tell myself those three words, they refuse to sink in. I do not walk back to my barrel-top, I drift. People in the camp stop and stare, but I cannot even lift my head to meet their curious gazes. For the briefest moment, I had everything.

And now everything is gone.

Maybe I acted too rashly. Maybe I should race across the canyon and beg her to come back. Tell her I did not mean what I said. That I would protect her with my own life until my dying day.

But seeing the wolf’s carcass still lying where I felled the beast, its teeth bared in a silent snarl, destroys any thought of reconciliation.

I almost lost the most precious gift I have ever been given. I cannot bear the thought of Kerris leaving me of her own accord.

Of watching her grow to despise and resent me.

This is the way it must be. She lasted two fucking days before her life was in danger. If it had not been a wolf, it could have been a panther or a basilisk. Hell, even Leah is a threat to her safety.

I knew all these things, and yet I allowed myself to believe the lie. To pretend that I could keep her for myself.

Come with me .

For the briefest moment, I allowed myself to consider her earnest offer.

It is not as if I would be losing anything. I no longer have any friends, and all my belongings would fit inside my mother’s trunk.

But then reality hit me like a kick in the teeth.

What happiness could I possibly offer Kerris in Rosehill? I highly doubt anyone would be in search of a hunter. Even if I brought my barrel-top with me, I own no land to leave it on.

My Seelie deserves the sun, moon, and stars, but I am as penniless as the trees in these woods.

So here I stand, alone once again, staring at a wolf as lifeless as I feel.

I want to burn the beast. Actually, no. I want to revive it and kill it all over again. To bathe in its blood and let the crimson flood wash away my rage.

But there is no sense wasting meat when I barely have enough to feed myself for the week.

When I finish gutting the wolf, I tie a rope around its neck and use my pulley to hang it from one of the trees so I can skin it. The pelt would fetch a good price up north, but it would take me three days to get there and three days back—and that is if the rain stays away. The roads are treacherous enough on dry days; in mud, they are downright deadly.

Distant leaves stir, crunching on the barren ground.

I smell my former friend before I see him.

Maddox is only stealthy when he wants to be, and apparently today is not one of those days. He comes to a stop at the edge of the forest and turns his back on me.

His shunning hurts more than it should. I chose this fate for myself, after all.

Maddox and Gryffin still have their lives ahead of them and they would be fools to side with me after what I have done.

“I took her across the bridge, but there were guards,” Maddox murmurs to the high branches, his voice no more than a whisper.

At least Kerris made it safely across the bridge. “Thank you.”

His head falls and he turns ever so slightly, casting a wary side-eye my way. “You love her.”

“I do.”

“And she loves you?”

All I can do is nod. She loved me last night, but I cannot be sure if our newfound affection is strong enough to withstand my sending her away. My heart might be hers until eternity, but she is like my friends. She has a future ahead of her. Any male would be lucky to be chosen by her.

The thought of someone else holding her, someone else loving her blurs my vision and ignites a fire in my blood. What can I do but stand here and burn?

Maddox kicks a clump of dirt with the toe of his boot. I wait for him to say something else, but all he does is sigh and leave me to turn to ash.

* * *

All that remains of the wolf is bone and sinew. Instead of leaving the thing hanging and attracting scavengers, I drag the carcass to the middle of the forest and leave it there. In a few months, I will return to add the bare bones to the perimeter of my camp. If I dry the meat, it should last me a week or two if I ration it. Considering I do not feel like eating anything, that should not be a problem.

Back at camp, I build a fire and cook the meat, so it does not go off. A squeak chirps from the path toward the village, too high-pitched to be an animal.

I catch a glimpse of a carriage moving through the trees. Maddox sits atop his steed, navigating his home through the broken logs and boulders. Behind him, Gryffin leads his unicorn and cart as well.

They come to a halt next to my carriage.

Maddox dismounts, giving the animal’s thick neck a pat.

All I can do is stare as he ties the beast next to my own, offering not a word of explanation.

“What do you think you are doing?” I finally ask.

Maddox shrugs and swipes a skewer from the fire, blowing on the meat before taking a bite. “Moving. Staying in one place too long makes me itchy.”

Gryffin steals one as well, not bothering to blow on it before stuffing the thing between his lips.

“You are moving too?”

He nods.

“Life at camp has been shit without you. Boring as hell too.” Maddox steals another skewer, leaving me with only one left for dinner.

“By all means, help yourself to my food,” I say dryly, blinking through the sudden stinging in my eyes. Must be the smoke from the fire. Yes. That is exactly what it is.

“It is not very good,” Maddox mumbles around another bite. “Needs seasoning.”

“I do not suppose you brought any?”

“As a matter of fact, I did.” He climbs into his carriage, returning a moment later with a shaker. He sprinkles his own skewer with a ridiculous amount before offering the shaker to Gryff.

In his haste, he left the door to his carriage ajar. When I catch sight of a familiar shape, hope stirs in my chest.

I take a halting step forward for a better look. “Is that a jug?”

Maddox tosses a glance over his shoulder before taking my seat as his own. “We cannot get water if we do not have something to put it in.”

The burning in my eyes grows stronger. Curse Maddox and his damn spices.

I do not deserve their friendship or their loyalty, but I will cling to both until my dying day.

Gryffin claps me on the shoulder, and then drops to the ground next to the fire without a word and steals the rest of my dinner.

I am still miserable and despair hangs over my head like a fog, but at least I am not alone.