The Onyx Vial (Shadows of The Nine Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

don’t want to keep it. But it’s clearly important to you. So, let’s call it a show of faith,” she reasoned. “You’re a danger to us.”
    “I’m—”
    She held up her hand. “You also clearly don’t understand what is and isn’t safe around here. You’ve put yourself in danger twice and us in danger once, walking into that pack of wolves. And now that the Huntsmen think you’re… impersonating the prince? I don’t expect they’ll let that go.”
    She had a point.
    “Even if you’re trustworthy—and I’m not convinced you are, given the lies you’ve told and the—”
    “What lies?” Tehya asked.
    “—and the information you’ve omitted,” Ariana finished, before turning to her. “Isn’t it obvious?”
    Hunter bristled. What could Ariana possibly have deduced in so short a time?
    Tehya pursed her lips in a little frown. “Not to me.” She turned her vibrant green eyes on Hunter, something like hurt in her expression. “ Are you lying to us?”
    He wasn’t sure if it was the look on her face or her obviously trusting nature, but he wanted to reassure her, to explain that he was scared and lost and overwhelmed, to tell her everything that had happened to him in the last twenty-four hours so she would understand.
    He wanted to trust them—they’d saved him, after all—but he had already made so many mistakes, he couldn’t make any more. What if he was wrong? What if— what if, what if? It doesn’t matter , a little voice in his head interjected. He had to trust someone at some point. Why not the girls who had just saved his life? The girls who clearly did not want anything to do with the Huntsmen but to be far, far away from them. “Not… intentionally,” he admitted. “Well, I mean, yes, it’s intentional. But not for the reason you probably think.”
    “No? What reason, then?” Ariana prompted.
    Before he could respond, a soft chiming drifted through the trees.
    The girls locked eyes, their faces suddenly tight with concern.
    “We need to go,” Tehya said, her voice low.
    Ariana cast her glance back to him, brows narrowed. For a moment, she just stared at him. He shifted his weight between his feet. Finally, she sighed through flared nostrils and said, “Fine. We'll discuss this on the way.” She turned on her heel and stalked toward the trees.

Chapter 3
     
    Killian closed the trapdoor in unison with the screeching of a firework, disguising any sound the hinges might have made, then carefully re-covered the door with the bedding in the empty stable. The party still raged on, heedless of the looming dawn. Only a night had passed. And yet, so much had happened, it felt like weeks. He dug for the necklace in his pocket. His fingers retracted the moment they grazed the sticky, blood-coated metal, the image of his mother's lifeless eyes knifing into his mind.
    He willed the memory—and the feelings—away. He didn't have time for them.
    Thick, muffled footsteps alerted him to the presence of a guard. He stood, pressing his back against the unused stable door.
    The footsteps slowed.
    He held his breath.
    The footsteps stopped.
    Killian's heart climbed up his throat. The trapdoor was part of a secret tunnel system even his father didn't know about—he was fairly certain. Unless he gave the guard cause to look, the man should pass right by the stable without a second thought. Had he been wrong? Did his father know about the tunnels?
    The footsteps resumed.
    He didn't move until the sound grew distant. Then he let his breath ease slowly out of his lungs and twisted to peer through the slats.
    The lights of the celebration threw everything in the wide space between the stables into sharp relief. The fireworks whistled, paused, then cracked and crackled. Flashes of color erupted and waves of light coursed through the barn, giving him a clear view of everything he'd face beyond the stable door, including the guard's face.
    His wide, flat nose was unmistakeable. Magnus—his father's