Ever the Hunted Read online

  Contents

  * * *

  Title Page

  Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Map

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Acknowledgments

  Sample Chapter from EVER THE BRAVE

  Buy the Book

  Coming Soon from Erin Summerill

  About the Author

  Connect with HMH on Social Media

  Copyright © 2016 by Erin Summerill

  All rights reserved. For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to [email protected] or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.

  www.hmhco.com

  Map illustration © 2016 by Jennifer Thermes

  Cover illustration © 2016 by Martin Schmetzer

  Cover design by Lisa Vega

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

  Names: Summerill, Erin, 1978– author.

  Title: Ever the hunted : a clash of kingdoms novel / Erin Summerill.

  Description: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, [2016] | Summary: Seventeen-year-old Britta Flannery is the outcast daughter of a bounty hunter who must use her powers to track her father’s killer in a world of warring kingdoms and dangerous magic.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2015039038

  Subjects: | CYAC: Fantasy. | Magic—Fiction. | Revenge—Fiction. | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Love & Romance. | JUVENILE FICTION / Fantasy & Magic. | JUVENILE FICTION / Action & Adventure / General. | JUVENILE FICTION / Mysteries & Detective Stories.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.1.S853 Ev 2016 | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2015039038

  ISBN 978-0-544-66445-6 hardcover

  ISBN 978-1-328-76700-4 paperback

  eISBN 978-0-544-86812-0

  v4.0518

  To my dad, who accepted my kidney and, in return, taught me about sacrifice and love and healing

  Chapter

  1

  TO SURVIVE THESE WOODS, A MAN HAS TO BE strong as the trees, Papa had said. The memory is a whisper compared to the attention my cramping stomach demands.

  I try not to think of him or my trembling legs as I dust my boot prints from the path with a broken branch. Every starved scrap of me begs to stop and hunt here on the foot trail in the Ever Woods. Only the danger of getting caught propels me onward, boots stumbling over rocks and dirt.

  Weak as I am, I won’t make it through the craggy Malam Mountains to where King Aodren’s land edges the lowlands. It’s a two-day walk. Two long, grueling days. Spots dance in my vision. Seeds, I need food. Papa’s old training spot will have to do. The king’s guard, the eyes over the royal city of Brentyn, aren’t likely to catch me there. Through a pinched, rocky canyon, the remote site has only been used by Cohen, Papa’s former apprentice, and me. A spasm racks my insides, and the decision is made. To the practice clearing.

  The sun’s halfway to its peak when I stumble into the glade. Heady, sweet pine scents the brisk air. The leaves on the white-barked quaky trees around the nearby lake glow like embers, fiery gold and auburn against the evergreens. The sight is a warm welcome home.

  Though starved and here to hunt, I cannot stop myself from finding our tree and tracing the carved names: Britta & Cohen.

  Nor can I swallow the emotions that lump in my throat.

  Since Cohen left last year to work for the king and Papa was killed two months ago, I’ve kept the pressing loneliness mostly at bay, managing it in little pieces. But this morning, it’s like isolation up and walloped me in the face.

  I swipe a sneaky tear away and ready an arrow to my bow.

  My body resembles a freckled skeleton for how thin I’ve become. Not much will change my paleness, but catching a squirrel or grouse will satisfy my hunger. Something to strengthen me. Later, I’ll bag a larger beast. Winter’s not far off, and I desperately need a decent kill to trade for lodging. The king’s guard will soon seize my land—​no, Papa’s land—​now that my mourning is over.

  Bludgers will be pounding on my door in a couple days, foaming at the mouth over my cozy, one-room cottage. I pull back on my bowstring, testing the pressure, needing to shoot something. Anything. To keep a Malam tradition—​home isolation for two months of mourning—​I nearly starved, and now must break the law, since no one brought food after Papa died. Never a kindness for me—​Britta Flannery—​daughter of a Shaerdanian and, therefore, an outcast.

  A year before my birth, the king regent closed the border between Malam and Shaerdan. Since then it seems all of Malam contracted amnesia; nobody remembers the good that came from the neighboring country. Once, we prospered from Shaerdan’s trade and relied on Channelers’ healing salves. Now we shun them for their strange Channeler magic. We fear what they can do.

  With a huff, I push down the anger and focus on the hunt.

  That’s when I discover the print of an elk hoof, two half circles with pointed ends. The moisture puddling inside the tracks reveals that the elk was here recently. My pulse quickens at the promise of a good catch as I stand stiller than a tree to listen for the elk’s movement. Birds whistle; leaves swish. All normal sounds of the Ever Woods, but something is off. That something abruptly tugs inside me, and an invisible finger skitters unease up the back of my neck.

  I’m not alone.

  My eyes ricochet from the branches to the shrubs to the sky, seeing everything and nothing. I spin around, expecting to meet the red coats of the king’s guard, and only find pine trees. I bite my lip. Swipe ghostly blond strands of hair out of my face.

  Who else could be here?

  No one dares hazard a hunt in the king’s Ever Woods. Hunting is only permitted where royal land ends near Lord Devlin’s fiefdom. That’s two days west in the Bloodwood firs or three and a half days south. On a rare day, poaching will get a man whipped or tortured. Most days, death.

  I clench my bow and push myself to search for signs of an intruder: broken tree limbs, prints in the soil. It’s frustrating to abandon the elk hunt, but safety ensures survival—​Papa’s first lesson.

  An hour of combing the underbrush passes before the strange sensation disappears. Which in a way is more unsettling, since my instincts have never led me astray. Perhaps hunting without Papa has me on edge. Perhaps being alone—​

  A shadow shifts a few lengths ahead.

  I dash behind a rotted trunk. My fingers contract and relax around the bow’s well-worn grip. Flex. Release. Papa would clap my ear for acting like a skittish girl. Stay in control, he’d say. Focus is a weapon as much as your bow.

 
I draw a breath, slow and calm, and force myself to lean away from the decaying wood to get a look.

  Whatever I was expecting to see, it wasn’t a six-point bull elk. A king of the forest, he struts into the glade. Proud shoulders, sturdy haunches. It takes a beat to remember this elk means my survival. From where I’m crouched, the angle makes for a tricky shot. One knuckle-width too high or low will hit bone or cartilage, seriously wounding but not killing. Torturing, if my aim is off.

  I shoot. The arrow thunks deep into the bull’s chest, impaling the vitals in a killing blow. The elk starts, jerks to a run, staggering a few steps before his eyes roll white. He thuds to the needle-covered ground.

  I stare blindly at the beast, my bow arm falling to my side. A touch of sadness, a trickle of unworthiness beats through me as blackbirds flap out of the branches. An absurd reaction for a hunter, I know. His husky, labored breaths echo around us, to which I whisper shapeless, calming words as the beast accepts death. The life left in the animal struggles, a ravaged soldier fighting his way off the battlefield, having no hope of survival.

  My hunter’s instinct always recognizes the cusp of passing. The awareness you possess is a talent only the best hunters develop, Papa said. Except, how can it be a talent when it’s only ever felt like a curse? I give the elk a quick end, slitting his throat.

  My grip tenses over the intricate etchings on Papa’s dagger, my knuckles a match to the ivory handle. I force the blade to the animal’s belly to begin gutting and quartering. Stick to the task. Cut through the fur. Slice the skin. Roll out the innards. I’m good at pressing forward, always moving onward.

  While some elk is curing and drying, other pieces roast over a small fire. It’s the same way Papa prepared the meat from my first kill ten years ago. He laughed when I took a bite and grimaced from the gamy taste. Nothing better than this dinner right here, he’d said. Because you caught it. Now I know you can do it again. His praise didn’t come as often as his lessons. When it did, I treasured every word.

  I chew the last sinewy bite and pull my threadbare blanket from my satchel. The cloak of night cinches around the forest. Chilly air sneaks through the blanket’s weave and nips at my arms. And still, the evening is better than any I’ve had since Papa passed. Stomach sated, I settle onto a bed of needles. If only he could see me now, surviving on my own.

  Sleep steals me away in seconds.

  I’m standing outside. Behind me, the coarse stones and thatched roof of my cottage are stained bluish black from the night.

  Stars sprinkle the sky like salt spilled across a well-oiled table. My hair, which is usually bound in a braid, falls past my shoulders, a veil of pale blond that shines silver in the moonlight.

  Where our pasture meets the Evers, something moves. It’s the shape of a young man.

  My eyes narrow, and then I smile. Since the incident, he’s only come once—​earlier that day he traveled the half league from Brentyn to visit our cottage. My heart gallops as I force myself to walk to where he stands in the shadows until the darkness swallows me whole. There, his whispery breath breaks the stillness.

  Hair the rich color of soil after a rainstorm. Sharp hazel eyes. A face too handsome for the angry scar that mars his cheek. The guilt is overwhelming as my fingers itch to trace the shiny red mark. I want to touch him and tell him how I feel about him. How he owns my heart.

  All that comes out is “Cohen, I’m sorry.”

  The howling wind wakes me. Cohen vanishes, replaced by the gray shaded trunks and the pine limbs stretching above like specters. I curl my legs in tight and cinch the shoddy woolen blanket snug around my shoulders. The dreamt memory has left me disoriented, and it takes two inhales and two exhales to ground myself. To calm my pulse.

  When I was twelve, Papa no longer took me on regular bounty hunts for King Aodren. Alone in the cottage, I felt the quietness eat at me. I pretended the creaking woods or my own breaths were other voices. Company to pass the night. Ridiculous, but it helped me fall asleep.

  Those old tricks won’t work tonight. Not when Cohen’s face lingers in the darkness. Always, I see his scar first—​an injury suffered weeks before he left. Starting just under his eye, it leads to the strong line of his jaw that’s covered in sparse sable scruff, because at eighteen, when we were last together, he was too boyish to grow a full beard. Perhaps that’s changed now that he’s twenty, two years and a pinch older than me.

  I like the idea of an older, rugged Cohen. More than I should admit.

  A year and three months have passed since Cohen completed his apprenticeship and became one of the king’s court, taking up the title only my father, my grandfather, and all Flannery men before them held. As one of the king’s two bounty hunters, Cohen is allowed to travel through Malam’s fiefdoms and cross the borders. It’s unimaginable to me. I’ll never have the chance to leave Malam.

  When Cohen left without a goodbye, I hoped he would visit. Except he didn’t return; not even for Papa’s wake.

  Using the heels of my hands, I try to rub him out of my mind. A useless endeavor. Cohen has taken up too much space in my heart and head for the last five years to dismiss so easily. As always, my thoughts turn to his long absence. And I wonder if he never returned because he realized there’s no future for us.

  As the king’s bounty hunter, Cohen is in a league above commoners. Ten leagues above me. Like Papa, he’ll be revered for his position in the king’s court. He’ll be considered nobility and be given lands. And if he chooses, he’ll marry the daughter of a lord.

  A noble marriage, let alone any union for that matter, is about as likely for me as the king himself proposing. I snort at the idea.

  All that came with Papa’s honored title, home, and land returns to the king, since Papa has no living relations except me. And I’m ineligible to inherit. Though my parents married in Shaerdan, the law only recognizes unions made before a priest of Malam. Before they could do so, my mother was accused of selling secrets to Shaerdan and killed.

  In the law’s eyes, I’m illegitimate. To most of Malam, I’m Shaerdanian. But to some, the gossipmongers in Brentyn, I’m a traitor’s daughter.

  None of that matters to me, though, because like my father, I’ll always be a Flannery, and I can take care of myself.

  At sunrise, I walk to the crystal-clear lake and splash water on my face. Brisk morning air fills my lungs and prickles my skin. It isn’t until I’ve patted dry with my tunic that a disturbance along the muddy shore seizes my attention. Fresh boot prints. A man’s—​by the size of them.

  I leap to my feet, spinning wildly to search the clearing. Like yesterday, nothing stands out. Nothing more than evergreens and the glassy blue water spread beneath the cloudless sky. Even so, there’s no question now.

  I’m not alone.

  Chapter

  2

  IT ONLY TAKES A FEW MOMENTS TO THROW together my pack and to shove strips of cloth-wrapped elk around my bow and blade. A pile of elk cuts remains on the edge of my camp, but there’s no room left in my bag. I groan and curse the leftovers. But I cannot carry it all. Nor can I risk returning.

  I glance at the lake. At the boot prints.

  An arrow of fear zips through me.

  The lucky forest animals will get to devour the remainder. I quickly fasten a gray woolen skirt over my trousers and adjust my tunic, belting it at the waist like the style worn by most townswomen. Balancing the heavy bag on my shoulder, I dart out of the clearing, eyes peeled for any signs of movement in the trees and undergrowth.

  Autumn bites the air as I hurry down the mountain.

  Brentyn’s royal cathedral sits like a stone watchman, its spires snaked in green ivy and piercing the sky. A sullen viol harmony drifts through the stained glass. It clashes with the market sounds: commoner chatter, shouts from traders, creaking carts, cooing church birds. I hide in the cathedral’s shadow and smooth down my braid. I’m restless and anxious, as always when coming to town. Today, though, with boot prints on my
mind and poached meat burdening my bag, the usual nerves feel more like a bout of winter ague.

  Something at the far end of the square has drawn the crowd’s attention. People shuffle closer, filling in the square like pigs in a pen when the slop is served. On my tiptoes, I stretch to see what has everyone’s interest. My insides twist harder.

  A woman is in the pillory, wrists and neck captured in the wood planks. Dried blood clings to her broken lip. Agony is written on her tear-stained and dust-caked face as she shifts her weight from one filthy, swollen foot to the other. A ring of dirt surrounds her—​a ritual believed to draw out a Channeler’s power.

  A farce is what it is. If a woman draws water from a well thought to be dry, she’s a Channeler. If she walks through a storm and doesn’t catch a sniffle, it’s black magic. All the real Channelers fled to Shaerdan, where their magic originated, twenty years ago during the Purge.

  Channeler magic is devilry in its darkest form, a scourge sent from Shaerdan . . . Those inflicted must be cut down and their powers eradicated. I read the Purge Proclamation once, found it in Papa’s books. The Proclamation didn’t start the mutual hatred between Malam and Shaerdan, but it certainly sealed it. In Shaerdan, Channelers are revered.

  There’s nothing to be done for the woman. The guards will decide her fate. Still, it’s challenging to pull my eyes away and to not selfishly worry that an accusation will be made against me now that Papa’s gone.

  I clutch the satchel’s straps, fingernails biting my palms, and search the crowd three times over. Leather coats, earth-colored tunics, blackened trouser cuffs, sweeping skirts. None wear the royal red. The king’s watchdogs aren’t near the pillory or in the market. For the time being, they’re letting the townspeople torment and shame the woman into submission.

  While skirting the market, my bag hangs from one shoulder, as if full of feathers and not elk. The last thing I need is questions. I’ve every right to shop at the market, but no one likes to be seen consorting with the Shaerdanian girl. My trade opportunity is limited to Mr. Tulach, the only merchant who willingly did business with me when Papa wasn’t at my side.