Huntsman by Cambria Hebert
49
Earth
You know,I always thought I’d end up in a place just like this. A place with watchtowers, armed guards, and high walls topped in barbed wire.
Since I was conceived, crime and violence were a given. Venom surely flooded my veins. Even still, I was careful. Meticulous even in protecting myself and eventually those around me.
Regardless, I knew the odds of me ending up locked away were in my favor.
Grumpy. Crass. Cold. Just a few words that described me. All of them were true. In fact, those might even be too kind.
Despite it all, I wasn’t the one in the hideous orange jumpsuit. I wasn’t the one being led by armed guards and escorted into a chair behind a large glass shield. The old-school phone on the wall had one of those spiral cords.
They shouldn’t allow those here. They make perfect weapons.
She was the last one to enter the visitation room. Even though she’d been locked away for many charges, including murder, she walked with an air of superiority and arrogance. I mean, really, I’d be impressed if I didn’t loathe her.
Her hair was styled. Nails painted. And I was pretty sure, as she perched on the chair on the other side of the glass before me, her lips were stained with lipstick.
Clearly, Audra White’s money had influence even behind bars. And it wasn’t her appearance that proved it. These details just hammered in the truth I’d already known.
Her eyes flicked to mine as though I were a peasant she deigned to share her time with. In truth, I knew this little impromptu visit likely caught her off guard. For all her riches, popularity, and once-high rank over New York City elite, she was now nothing but a shunned jailbird.
And oh, how angry that made her.
We regarded each other for long, quiet moments.
I know you called the Black Rose. I spoke through my eyes.
So what if I did? She was haughty even in silence.
You don’t have the power to take me down, so you called someone who did.
I’m not so powerless. After all, I figured out your true identity. Huntsman. Her eyes boasted that she did indeed find out what no one else had ever been able to.
She was so arrogant it never once occurred to her that prying into my secrets would only put a target on her back.
I spread my hands, palms up, gesturing to the room in which we sat. But here you are.
Her stare narrowed into thin slits, and her nostrils flared. Oh, the amount of control she must have been exerting to sit there and not explode. The woman was a live wire, a firework just waiting for a match.
She’d made it abundantly clear that, even from her jail cell, she would try and take me down. Take us all down.
And that I would never allow.
My family closed ranks around me. They buried secrets, lied, and accepted me even though I didn’t deserve it.
Virginia loved me. With her eyes open.
They protected me, and now it was my turn to do the same. A villain’s protection was absolute. There was no limit to what I would do to ensure the safety of those I loved.
And the people who threatened them? Poisoning guaranteed.
Leaning forward, I plucked the phone off the wall, holding it up to my ear.
She held out for a moment, maybe trying to exert some power she didn’t have. I sat there bored, waiting for her to finish her game.
Eventually, she picked up her line, holding it gingerly against her ear. “Why have you come?” So haughty.
“I brought you a gift,” I told her, motioning at the guard behind her.
Her mask of indifference slipped, surprise flickering in her stare. “What?”
Her thin frame flinched when the guard brushed her shoulder as he placed the large wicker basket on the counter in front of her.
“How lucky for you the warden here allows gifts.” I spoke into her ear.
The guard melted back against the wall, and Audra’s wide stare wavered between me and the basket, which was piled high with shining red apples.
“I know how much you love a good apple.”
Panic flared in her expression. The hand holding the receiver against her ear tightened. “What have you done?”
I kept my face innocent. Polite. “I’ve brought a thank-you for everything you’ve done.”
My eyes turned flat, and I allowed the true depth of my anger to show. The phone in her grasp shook. Genuine fear slurped all the color from her cheeks.
I spoke quietly into the line, keeping my voice even and flat. “You never should have touched her.”
Confusion flickered in her eyes. “Ivory?”
“Sending scum after a girl in a wheelchair is low. Even for you.”
Realization dawned. She sat forward in the chair. I saw her lips move, but I didn’t hear her voice because I returned the receiver to the wall.
I stood from the chair and turned my back. Her conceited self-importance was suddenly gone. The glass rattled from the way she pounded on it, begging for my attention, pleading for me to come back.
I left her like that and walked away.
Not once did I turn back.
I promised Neo there were no loose ends.
And now there weren’t.
Two weeks later…
Ivory lowered the cell from her ear, her milky white skin taking on a translucent tone. “Oh my.”
Neo’s fork clattered against his plate. One arm went across the back of her chair, and the other wrapped around her middle, curling around her hip. “Princess? What’s wrong?”
She placed the phone on the table, swallowing thickly before her ultra-blue eyes lifted to Neo.
“Th-that was the warden at the state penitentiary.”
“That’s where your stepmother is, right?” Fletcher asked.
“She—she’s dead.”
Virginia gasped.
Reaching over, I cupped the back of her neck lightly with my palm. She sank into the touch, clearly comforted by it even though her eyes remained on Ivory.
“How awful! I’m so sorry, Ivory.”
Ivory was quiet a moment, her body leaning into Neo. Her red lips parted. Then she glanced at the family sitting around the table. “It’s all right. I mean, it’s not like she and I were close.”
Not close = the woman tried to kill her. More than once.
And yeah, maybe I tried to help.
“It’s okay to be upset,” Ethan said, concern darkening his features. “All of us would understand.”
Everyone nodded. Except for me.
“Ethan says it’s okay to be upset when someone evil gets hurt because it just makes us human,” Fletcher told her.
Ethan rubbed his hand over Fletcher’s hair, smiling slightly. Thoughts of Fletch’s mother darkened my thoughts, but I shoved them away. Killing that woman would only hurt him more.
“I’m not upset. I’m just surprised is all.” Her eyes turned a little guilty. “And maybe just a little relieved.”
“What happened?” Beau asked.
“He didn’t say. Just that she was found dead.”
“Will there be an investigation?” Ethan inquired.
She shook her head, shiny black locks swinging. “I don’t think so. She’s just… gone.”
Silence blanketed the family breakfast. Everyone sat unsure of what Ivory might need.
Virginia’s hand went to my thighs, her delicate fingers tucking between them. I gave the nape of her neck a light squeeze, brushing the pad of my thumb along her pulse point.
Suddenly, Ivory’s chair scraped back, and she padded around the table, stopping beside me. I glanced up, noting the tears shimmering in her stare.
Thin arms wrapped around my shoulders, and her hair brushed my cheek. I froze, completely taken aback.
“Now would be a really good time to finally hug your sister back,” she whispered against my ear.
I swallowed an odd feeling in my chest.
Virginia tugged her hand from between my legs and patted my thigh. I glanced at her, unsure what to do, and she lifted her eyebrows.
Ivory was still locked around my shoulders, and I tore my gaze from V to look at Neo. He smiled lightly and nodded.
My arms slid around her as I angled to pull her into a hug. She was soft and small like Virginia, but she didn’t set my pulse racing. She didn’t make me want to bury my face in the side of her neck and inhale.
But there was warmth. Comfort. Connection.
Ivory and I started out as a princess and a huntsman, and along a long and winding path, we found ourselves here as brother and sister.
As family.
“Thank you, Earth,” she whispered.
“I didn’t do anything,” I told her.
“I know.”
I hugged her a little tighter.