Hidden Huntress
Page 140

“He will keep you safe,” Anushka whispered to the infant, clutching the girl against her chest. “He will change everything to keep you safe.”
And the words that went unsaid, but which I heard in her mind: I promise to protect you.
Anushka plunged me directly into the next memory. She walked through the streets of Trollus, her newborn clutched tightly against her chest. The city was not destroyed, but it had suffered much. Massive boulders rested on the crushed remains of homes, fountains and statues cracked and broken from fallen debris, and dust hanging thick in the air. Far above, the rocks shifted continually, the groaning and grinding incessant and sickening.
But worst of all were the bodies. They lay in the streets or protruded from the rubble, rot and decay caring no more if they were human or troll than the rocks had. The stench was incredible, and she knew nothing was being done to dispose of the bodies – none could be spared. She could practically taste the pestilence in the air – knew that it was claiming more victims with every passing day – but she’d brought the child with her anyway. She hadn’t dared leave her alone when there were rumors of humans scouring the streets like dogs, searching for anything, anything, they could eat.
She found Alexis standing alone in front of the palace, wearing the same clothes he’d worn the day the mountain fell. His hair was lank and unwashed, face smeared with grime. Little tracks of sweat cut through the filth, and his entire body was tense with strain. “Alexis?”
Dull eyes shifted to her. “You shouldn’t be in the streets. It isn’t safe.”
“I know.” She whispered the words, although she didn’t know entirely why. “But I wanted to tell you myself that you have a daughter.” She held the child out to him, but he turned his head away. Hurt sliced through her, and she hugged the baby tight. “What do you want to name her?”
Alexis grimaced, the first reaction I’d noted from him. “She’s half troll – she’ll name herself and tell you how she wishes to be called when she speaks. You know that.”
Anushka had known that, but also that trolls gave their children baby-names until the child was old enough to communicate its wishes. “What do you think of Lily? Or Rose?”
His lids drifted shut. “I think you should not allow yourself to become attached.”
Anushka flinched.
“Go back to your manor and lock yourself in. I’ve enough to worry about without you wandering the streets.”
She went.
I wanted no more of this. I knew what she was doing, why she was showing me these memories. Anushka wanted me to see what the trolls had done so that I would hate them like she did. So that I’d understand why she’d cursed them and turn against Tristan. Not because she had any intention of sparing my life, but because her desire to inflict as much hurt as she had suffered was insatiable. I struggled, trying to extract my mind from her clutches, but she would not let me go.
“You will see, and you will know,” she whispered, and threw me back under.
She was down to her last candle. Lily squalled in her arms, refusing to be soothed and unaware of the danger of attracting unwanted attention. I could feel Anushka’s heart as though it were my own, leaping and skittering in her chest with every scream and crash from outside. Worse was the sound of skirmishes outside the windows. The crack of bones and the thud of impacts against flesh. The dull thump of bodies falling to the ground. The rustle of fabric against stone as the corpse was dragged away to be… My mind recoiled at the things she had seen through cracks in the curtain.
There was nothing left in the house to eat, and all that remained to drink was wine, mixed with the stagnant water she’d drained from the fountain in the courtyard. Yet she knew she was lucky, because for the humans and half-bloods outside, it was far worse. Thirty thousand soldiers had returned for Alexis’ birthday, and once the task of holding up the rock had been organized into shifts, they’d eaten and drunk all there was to offer. The riverbed was bone dry; the few streams of water that made it through the rock were snatched up by the trolls with the most power.
For that was the way of it. The most powerful took everything, raiding the city stores and taking all, killing anyone who dared try to stop them. A pure-blooded troll could go weeks without food or drink with little effect, but they did not want to go without. So they dined on fresh bread daily, while those who needed it suffered, starved, and died. And the fey did nothing to help, all of them fled back to Arcadia or to wherever their fickle hearts desired. What care had they for creatures destined to die anyway?
A fist hammered against the door.
“Shhh, shhh,” Anushka whispered to the baby, trying to silence her. She knew a hundred spells to use against trolls, but all required planning, stealth, and one ingredient she did not have. If they came after her directly, there would be no stopping them.
The fist hammered again. “Anushka!”
“Alexis!” His name came out as a sigh of relief. Flying down the stairs, she jerked open the door and flung an arm around his neck. “You’re here!”
“Wait outside,” he ordered whoever had accompanied him; then he backed Anushka inside.
“Stones and sky, you stink.” He pushed her gently away from him.
“Alexis, there is barely enough water to drink, much less to wash with.” And yet he was the kind of clean that only comes with a bathtub full of water. I noticed it, and so did she.
“Never mind.” He was studiously looking anywhere but her or the baby. “Pack what things you need – I’m moving you to the palace.”