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E very inch of Teryn’s body was sore, but nowhere more so than his ass. When he’d imagined the Heart’s Hunt, he’d entertained a multitude of ridiculous notions, but mostly he’d imagined, well…hunting. Stalking prey like he was used to. Moving quietly between the trees in search of mythical creatures. What he had not anticipated was five days of hard riding with only an hour or so of scouting the surrounding woods before making camp. No part of their day contained an element of what Teryn would consider hunting .

The first day of the Heart’s Hunt had gone as he’d imagined it would. He’d ridden north until evening, met his allies at the inn Helios had specified in his letter, and—surprisingly—wasn’t betrayed and left with a dagger in his chest by morning. After that, Helios had set them to riding at a brisk pace north into the Kingdom of Khero, leaving the main road on the third day only to maintain the same pace on the hunting trails through the forests. Helios clearly had a predetermined destination in mind. One he showed no intention of sharing with his companions.

Teryn’s eyes unfocused on the fire blazing at the center of tonight’s camp. They were somewhere in northeastern Khero by now, a prospect that didn’t sit well with Teryn. Even though he was a prince, it wasn’t exactly fine manners to go hunting in another kingdom without permission from its monarch. That was yet another thing Helios claimed to have under control. Yet another secret he kept to himself.

With a grumbling sigh, Teryn leaned his head against the trunk of a tree. One glance at Prince Lex wincing as he shifted in his seat on the ground was evidence that he too found the excessive riding a bit much. Helios was currently nowhere to be seen, having stalked off wordlessly an hour ago.

“My bum has been flayed raw, I just know it,” Lex said, adding a wadded-up shirt beneath his bottom, on top of four other articles of clothing and his bedroll.

Teryn let out a halfhearted chuckle. Berol angled her head at Teryn from her perch on his shoulder. His hunting vest was fitted with extra padding on each shoulder for that exact purpose. He reached into his pocket and retrieved a strip of dried venison. After taking a bite for himself, he fed the rest to Berol, who snatched it from his fingers with relish. “Lazy animal,” Teryn said with a grin. “You have the entire forest as your personal buffet and yet you still come to me for treats.”

“I cannot believe you have a peregrine falcon as a pet,” Lex said, eying her from across the fire with a grimace. “Those talons look sharp enough to rip out my throat. And that beak. I’ve no idea how you can feed her by hand and still have a full set of fingers. Those are your original fingers, right? They aren’t constructed of wood by now?”

“You sound like my brother.” Teryn huffed a laugh and gave Berol a light scritch on the side of her neck. “She won’t hurt me, though. I’ve had Berol since she was a hatchling. I found her injured while out on a royal hunt. Father almost didn’t let me bring her home with us, but he figured it would be a proper lesson in death and the futility of fixing broken things. In the end, it only served to prove the virtues of stubbornness in the face of great odds.”

“Cute,” Lex said, though his expression said anything but. He shifted on his seat again, then gave up to recline on his side. “Do you think Helios actually has a plan? Or has he dragged us out here to murder us and steal your bride?”

Mention of Helios had Teryn’s mood turning sour. He’d given the prince the benefit of the doubt during the week leading up to the Heart’s Hunt, hoping he’d eventually share his plan with them. But after more than five full days together, he was coming to regret ever agreeing to their so-called alliance. “I don’t know.”

“Where is he, anyway?” Lex glanced around the camp, then shifted slightly closer to Teryn. A mischievous glint sparked in his eyes. “Should we leave him?”

“The prospect is tempting but far from rational.”

Lex quirked a brow. “Nothing about our situation is rational.”

“Valid point.”

Lex glanced around the camp again before saying, “Our original terms still stand. You know that, right?”

Teryn was relieved to hear Lex still held a greater allegiance to him than to Helios. Although, he still couldn’t figure out how that would do him much good. First, they had to find those damn unicorns. But how were they going to find a single one by riding all day and hunting so little? What was Helios’ plan? Gritting his teeth, he reached into his pocket for another strip of venison, but his hand came away with only a crumpled sheet of parchment. It took him a few moments to sift through his cloud of fatigue before realizing he’d reached into the wrong pocket. Berol nipped at the paper, then gave Teryn a look that conveyed her agitation at finding parchment over treats. To further prove the gravity of such an offense, the falcon launched from Teryn’s shoulder and landed on a branch in the tree above him, sending a shower of cherry blossoms to rain upon his head.

“It was an accident,” he called to Berol, although he couldn’t keep the laughter from his voice. He studied the paper again, smoothing out its crinkled folds until he realized what it was—Larylis’ list of notes. His lips tilted into a grin as he scanned his brother’s scrawled writing.

Unicorns are found deep in the forests. Obviously. Not helpful, thanks.

According to one faerytale, unicorns are drawn to virgins. Weird. Why?

Never mind the last note. I just read another faerytale that contradicts the virgin thing.

Scholars say unicorns have been extinct for over five hundred years. Why are they back? Where have they been all this time?

Unicorns avoid populated towns and cities. Alright. That might be helpful. Be prepared to spend a lot of time sleeping in the woods, brother.

He felt a pang of homesickness then. Not for the first time, he wished Larylis were with him. Aside from the three years Larylis had lived in Selay, they’d gone on every hunt together. Larylis hadn’t enjoyed hunting as much as Teryn did, preferring to admire the flora and fauna, but he had the aptitude to make a clean kill. More so, his company was second to none.

“What’s that?” Lex asked, shaking Teryn from his thoughts.

Teryn refolded the paper and returned it to his pocket. “A letter from my brother. He took notes on unicorns for me.”

Lex’s next question came with a hint of hesitation. “Do you get along with your brother?”

“I do. He’s been my best friend my whole life.”

“You’re lucky,” Lex said with a sigh. “I don’t get along with mine.”

“Why is that?”

Lex’s jaw shifted back and forth. When he answered, his words were ground out between his teeth. “Ben is a sniveling little troll who’s constantly trying to upstage me. He’s three years younger and yet he’s the one who secures an engagement alliance first, and to a proper princess .” He said the last part with clear mocking. “Well, guess what? His proper princess still has baby teeth. She won’t be old enough to wed for at least a decade. Oh, and then he takes over my project to build the stupid wall between Tomas and Norun—” He cut off suddenly, his cheeks having grown red. “Never mind. I hate Ben. Let us not speak of that brat.”

Teryn pursed his lips to hide his smile. “Very well.”

“What did your much-less-annoying-than-mine brother’s notes say?”

“Nothing helpful. Unless, of course, you’re a virgin. If you are, we could test a theory and use you as bait. I saw an illustration in a book once. The virgin princess had flowers in her hair. We could weave you a nice crown of cherry blossoms.” He gave Lex a teasing grin.

Lex smirked and rolled onto his back. “Your tone suggests you assume I am a virgin. So let me enlighten you and say that I am not.”

“Really.” Teryn couldn’t help the note of surprise.

Lex cut him a glare. “I have a lady back home. Is that so hard to believe?”

“Oh, I imagine you’re quite the bodice ripper in Tomas.”

“ One bodice. And quite the bodice it is, let me just say.”

“Is that so? If you’re so taken with her, why are you competing for another woman’s hand?”

Lex scoffed. “You and I both know I’m not competing. Besides, participating in the stupid Heart’s Hunt was never my idea. It was my father’s. If you haven’t gleaned as much already, my father wants his sons to marry princesses. Well, my lady isn’t one. But once I come back with the trade agreement we spoke of, I think Father will finally approve my request to marry.”

Teryn considered that. It seemed like a fair plan. Of course, it all hinged on whether Teryn actually won. “What’s her name?”

“Lily,” Lex said with a dreamy sigh.

“What’s she like?”

Lex waggled his brows. “You recall that water nymph statue? Lily puts her to shame.”

“In what way?” Teryn tried to keep a straight face. “Her silent disposition? Her failure to respond to your touch?”

Lex rolled his eyes. “I meant her shapely form.”

“Prince Lexington wouldn’t know a shapely form if it fell naked onto his lap.” The brusque voice silenced Teryn and Lex as Helios stalked into camp. Teryn felt as if the temperature had plummeted with the prince’s arrival.

Lex said nothing in reply. It was one thing for Teryn and Lex to tease each other. Their exchange of lighthearted jabs was friendly. But there was nothing lighthearted about the way Helios teased. His every word always held a sinister edge.

Helios took a seat by the fire and set to sharpening a knife. “There are no unicorns here,” he said without looking at either of them.

Teryn waited for him to elaborate, but the hope was futile. “What exactly does that mean?”

“It means we ride at dawn. Continue north.”

Teryn curled his fingers into fists. It was always the same answer, night after night with nothing else to add. “Helios,” he said through his teeth, “tell us the damn plan.”

Helios slowly slid his gaze to Teryn. “I’ll tell you the plan when I’ve deemed you worthy of hearing it.”

Teryn shot to his feet, chest heaving with rage. “We are in an alliance. We are not your servants. When we agreed to this arrangement, we conceded to work together. Not for you.”

“I’ll share my intel on a need-to-know basis.”

“No.” It took all of Teryn’s restraint to speak with control. “You will tell us everything you know. Now.”

Helios lifted his brows. “Or what?”

Teryn held his gaze. “Or we’ll leave.”

“You won’t.”

“I will. I am tired of being?—”

“Tired.” Helios scoffed. “Of course you’re tired. You’re too soft. Almost as soft as Lexington.”

Lex sat upright. “How many times have I told you not to call me Lexington?”

“I’ll stop calling you Lexington when you stop dressing in silk shirts. We’re hunting. Not dancing.”

Lex’s fingers went to the silk collar of his stained shirt. Over it, he wore a brocade waistcoat that had grown equally filthy in the last week. “I like silk. It feels better on my skin than linen or leather.”

“Who cares about Lex’s wardrobe,” Teryn said before Helios could speak again. “What matters is that this alliance has become a joke, one I’ll no longer be on the receiving end of. If you need our help so badly, then tell us what you know.”

“Why? So the two of you can cut ties with me and run off to finish the Heart’s Hunt on your own?” He huffed a dark laugh. “Do you think I don’t know? You’ve been planning on betraying me from the start. I’ll not give you the fuel to light my pyre.”

Teryn crossed his arms over his chest and watched Helios through slitted lids. He was only partially right. While Teryn hoped he and Lex could eventually outmaneuver Helios, he seemed to think they had a solid plan to do so. “You must give us something,” Teryn said, keeping his tone level. “Give us a reason to trust you and we’ll return the trust in equal measures.”

A tic formed at the corners of Helios’ jaw, but he said nothing.

Teryn shook his head at the prince. “Is it all a front then? Are you keeping silent because in truth you know nothing? Have you truly seen a unicorn before? Hunted one? Or did you buy that pretty ridged blade from a toy shop?” Teryn waved a hand at Lex. “Pack up. Let’s go.”

Lex’s eyes went wide. “Seriously? Oh, thank the seven gods?—”

“Stop.” Helios held out a hand toward Lex, stilling him. Keeping his glower fixed firmly on Teryn, he said, “I’ll tell you some…things. But I will not share all my intel for obvious reasons.”

“Tell us what you can,” Teryn said with a shrug. “If we deem your information worthy, we’ll stay.”

Helios’ jaw continued to tic, his glare darkening with rage as his knuckles went white around the hilt of the knife he’d been sharpening. Teryn’s fingers flinched, his hand ready to lunge for his sword?—

“Very well,” Helios bit out and finally dropped Teryn’s gaze. “I’ll answer three questions.”

Teryn wanted to argue that three questions wouldn’t suit. They needed to know more. Still, at least it was something. “Where are we going?” he asked. “And don’t just say north. You have a destination in mind, otherwise we wouldn’t be traveling at such a pace.”

Helios glared at the fire as he spoke. “My destination isn’t as clear as you think, but we are heading north, for that is the only place we’ll likely find unicorns. I haven’t been surprised that we’ve yet to come across any on our travels, which is why we only hunt briefly before making camp.”

“How do you know there are no unicorns south?”

“Because Duke Morkai has hired hunting parties to keep all unicorns contained in a specific area.”

Teryn blinked a few times, surprised both by what he said and the fact he’d said it. It was the most detail he’d gotten out of Helios yet. Teryn pondered the information. Duke Morkai was said to be the second most powerful man in Khero, the first being King Dimetreus. While Teryn didn’t know the duke personally, he understood that the man had great influence with King Dimetreus. He opened his mouth to ask another question, ask how Helios knew this and what the duke’s intentions were, but Teryn was on his third and final question. He’d have to pick something that couldn’t be answered by his own reasonable deductions. If he had to guess why the duke was herding the unicorns to a specific area, it would be because he sought to gain a monopoly on them. If unicorns were truly alive and flourishing, it made sense he’d try and capitalize on that. So Teryn chose a different question.

“How did you come by that blade?” Teryn nodded at Helios’ hip where the strange dagger was sheathed.

Helios set down his knife and took out the weapon in question. The white blade caught the light of the fire, sending the dagger sparkling. This was only the second time Teryn had seen the dagger, and he wasn’t any less awed than he’d been the first time. It served as a reminder of why he’d been immediately convinced of its authenticity. This simply wasn’t a normal blade.

“A year ago,” Helios said, “my father was gifted a pelt by a hunter claiming it belonged to a unicorn that was found at the southern edge of my kingdom. He claimed he’d tried to gift the horn as well, but it crumbled to ash in his hands when he removed it from the dead creature. Father dismissed the gift as a hoax, but a few months later, our spies learned of rumors about unicorns being spotted in the Kingdom of Vinias. I forged a treaty with the King of Vinias, gaining permission to hunt his lands. The rumors proved true. We caught several of the creatures just north of the border between Vinias and Khero, but like the first hunter had claimed, every attempt at removing the horn rendered it useless. We knew it was possible, for there were unicorn horn items being sold at exorbitant prices by a merchant in eastern Khero. So I sent men to find the merchant, then his supplier, and… ask nicely for the information I sought.” His lips curled into a smirk as he shifted the dagger this way and that, sending it glittering again. “I took this from the next unicorn I found. It was, unfortunately, the last unicorn I ever saw for Duke Morkai had taken control over the hunt by then.”

Teryn stared at the white blade, biting back the flurry of questions that sprang to his lips. He was relieved to finally know something , but it still wasn’t enough. “I take it you have no intention of telling us how you finally obtained the horn without it turning to ash.”

Helios gave Teryn a curt nod. “Right you are. You will know after we find our first unicorn.”

Teryn gritted his teeth. “In the meantime, we head north until we hit this specific area and hope we find a unicorn?”

“A unicorn,” Helios said, sheathing the white blade, “or one of the hunting parties.”

“What exactly does that mean?” Lex’s voice held a tentative edge, congruent with the skin prickling at the back of Teryn’s neck.

“I’ve already answered four questions. That’s one more than I agreed to. I’ll tell you more once we enter unicorn territory.”

Teryn bit the inside of his cheek and returned to his seat under the tree. What he really wanted to do was pummel the man until he spilled everything else he knew. He wasn’t sure that was a fight he’d win, regardless of whether the pummeling in question was verbal or physical. Helios had kept his promise to answer three questions, and he’d given more information than Teryn had expected. He doubted further threats to abandon their alliance would earn him more answers. And as for a physical confrontation, well, Helios was taller than Teryn, something he could say of very few people. He was bigger too. Broader. Longer reach. Teryn was trained in the art of combat and swordsmanship like any proper prince, but he’d had little practice against someone like Helios.

“Satisfied?” Helios stood and began laying out his bedroll. When Teryn and Lex said nothing, he turned a smug grin on them. “I admit, it would have been precious to see you try and leave this alliance. The two of you make the most pitiful pair. Prince Teryn, you do realize your little friend here was raised on a velvet cushion, right? He probably doesn’t know how to lift a sword.”

“I know how to lift a sword,” Lex said, although his expression suggested he strongly preferred not to.

Helios faced Lex, arms crossed over his chest. “I’d like to see it. Come, Lexington. Show me what you can do.”

“For the last time, don’t call me Lexington?—”

“Enough,” Teryn spat through his teeth. “Both of you.”

Helios rounded on Teryn, but he froze as Berol glided from the branch to Teryn’s shoulder. It seemed Berol was ready to forgive Teryn for the parchment mishap. Helios eyed the falcon, some of the smug confidence draining from his expression. Finally, he said, “Get some sleep. You’ll need it.” With that, Helios turned his back to them and settled onto his bedroll.

Glaring at Helios’ back, Teryn reached into his pocket—the correct one, this time—and pulled out an enormous strip of venison. Berol accepted it as well as a hefty dose of scritches. “Good girl,” Teryn whispered. “If he tries anything in the middle of the night, scratch his eyes out.”

Berol tilted her head, but Teryn had no doubt the falcon would come to his defense if needed. It almost made him wish Helios would try something. If only Teryn could be so lucky. Instead, Teryn knew that when he awoke, Helios would still have both eyes, and he’d have to face yet another day of nonstop riding. At least this time he knew relatively where they were going—and the reasons behind their destination.