Page 11 of The Hunted

“It’s dark, the storm is here, and it’s the safest time for us to be out,” Arelle assured, heading for one of the waterways. She’d sing for her sister, and no doubt, Poe would call back, so they could easily find each other in the large orchard. “Don’t worry, okay? We just have to be fast and careful, that’s all.”

Glancing back at her little sister, Arelle saw Coral’s nod and figured that was good enough. They were here. What would be the point in turning back now? It wouldn’t be worth very much, especially if their father found out that they disobeyed him, tricked their guards, and came to the forbidden lands.

Slipping into the mouth of one waterway canal, Arelle listened in the wind, ready to call for her sister. Before she could even open her mouth, a noise whipping through the trees had her perking her head higher. The water in the canals was maybe six feet or a little deeper—certainly not enough for her to stand straight with her fin to the canal floor and still have her head above water.

“Coral, wait,” Arelle snapped, still trying to come higher out of the water to hear that sound better. “Listen.”

“What?”

Coral spun a fast circle in the water, making more noise than she needed to. Because of course. Arelle said nothing. She simply waited. It would come again, that noise, if it was what she thought it was.

And then there it came, with the next rush of wind, as clear as day. It sounded familiar, and then it didn’t. Angry, scared, and violent. That’s what her sister’s call felt like. It had Arelle’s anxiety picking up with the fast beats of her heart and made her want to turn right around and leave.

Was that—

“Is someone here?” Coral asked.

“Someone is here with Poe.”

Because that’s what she could hear. Her sister, but something—someone—else, too. That was the only reason why Arelle decided to chase the sound. Poe was out there in the orchard, and she didn’t know what was happening to her. But something was. It would have to be for her sister to let out high-pitch shrieks like that.

“Arelle!”

Coral’s terrified shout echoed behind her, but Arelle kept moving forward through the waterway. She didn’t think she had time to stop and explain but she shouldn’t need to. Coral was just as capable of hearing the same thing she was. She could have told her sister to stay back, but instinct kept her swimming as fast as she could to get to the source of Poe’s screeching.

The noise became louder to Arelle’s right, and when she had the chance, she slipped between an opening in the waterways for another canal. She hadn’t expected to be so close to the source of the noise, but when she broke the surface of the water … it was there that she found it.

A mess.

Chaos.

It all happened so fast, and she didn’t have the time to react, even if she had been able to take in the sight before her. Of her sister’s hands wrapped tightly around the throat of a landwalker—a man—where she had him pinned to the ground. Maybe it was the shock of his position, but her sister was substantially smaller than the man, yet she didn’t give him an inch. The woman a few feet away edged closer, hands out to grab … something. The man, or her sister, Arelle didn’t know.

It was the shriek the woman let loose, the violent familiar call of their people that had Arelle snapping back in the water. The violet eyes of the woman flashed before she sprang forward, barreling into the side of Poe and sending her older sister toppling off the man.

Arelle’s heart jumped into her throat. “Poe!”

“Help her!” Coral screeched.

She would have.

Except Arelle didn’t have time.

The slapping, flailing arms and legs of her naked sister and the other woman—who had eyes like them and sounded like they did—tangled together before they slipped off the embankment and into the canal. Under the water they went, and Arelle followed just as fast.

But not before looking up.

Straight at the landwalker.

She took a second; a single deep breath.

He had hair like the darkest skies.

Eyes so blue.

A sea of blue.

Even in his terror, scrambling to the side of the embankment with blood dribbling from his busted mouth, the strong lines of his face seared into her mind’s eye. He was, by far, one of the most handsome men she had ever seen in her life.