Page 30 of The Hunted

Who had time for that?

“The point, if you wouldn’t mind,” Eryx said dryly.

“Right,” Corval replied, placing his hands flat to the map and meeting Eryx’s gaze. “We’ve found our hunts are more successful when we sacrifice a catch from the previous hunt to use to draw them out.”

That was interesting.

“How?”

In the corner of the room, Mattue seemed more interested in whatever scroll he’d unrolled to look over in his hands. Eryx didn’t care for the man’s distraction when they were trying to do business. At the same time, he liked it more when the man let him do the talking.

Win some, lose some.

“Different ways,” Corval explained, shrugging his broad shoulders. “But typically, their calls will draw the mermaids out.”

“Their calls.”

It wasn’t even a question.

Corval tipped his chin down in agreement. “Yes. They seem to recognize familial calls … maybe it’s the magic in their blood or just a thing about their species. You’ve heard of the thrall, haven’t you?”

Eryx cleared his throat. “When they bleed, you mean?”

“That, yes.”

“Heard of it, of course. Everyone has heard the stories of when a mermaid bleeds. Never been close enough to one when they bleed to experience it myself, however.”

Corval raised his brow at Eryx’x reply. “Everything you’ve ever heard—believe it and then some. When the creatures bleed, even the air feels like it changes.”

Huh.

“I tend to think,” the man continued, “that their blood calls to their kind, too, but I’ve not been able to prove it. It would certainly add a lot to the hunts, if I figured out exactly how to use it properly.”

“I bet.”

And Eryx didn’t care at all unless it would bring in his mermaid.

“Back to the hunts I’m funding,” Eryx said, pointing at the map before going back to his same, stoic posture with his hands folded at his middle. “And how this relates to that, if you wouldn’t mind.”

“Right, well … they’re getting smarter, and trickier. Even this season’s hunts have only brought in a small handful at most with each trip.”

“More dangerous as well?”

Corval grunted under his breath. “That, too, yes.”

Of course.

It would be stupid to think the merpeople would simply allow their kind to continue to be hunted without adapting to the situation in whatever way they could. Undoubtedly, one of those ways would be to fight back.

“We’ll pull a male from the latest catch for the next two hunts,” Corval explained, “and use him to draw in whatever others we can. The season isn’t over yet, Prince, and we still may catch your mermaid before the storms return.”

That was his hope, too.

Not that he cared to admit it out loud.

Through the window of the shack where the shutters had been opened wide to overlook the sea, Eryx stared at the rather calm waters. The smell of the sea was still thick in the air, and he swore the scent alone was enough to have his neck pulsing with the beats of his heart. Ever since that night in the water, he’d become acutely aware of his closed gills and just how often they liked to make themselves known.

Sometimes, he even craved the sea.