#evil hunter

Five quick slashes of the blade; two to his sides, two to his pectorals, and one lined neatly across his entire torso itself. All these gashes caused him to spit up some blood, feeling himself grow steadily weaker as he succumbed to his injuries somewhat. As he's crouched still in pained disability, the lady of the astral clocktower approaches nearer towards his direction. She displays both of the blades that first caused this calmly at both sides, with all the aura of a highly skilled hunter. She looked magnificent doing it as well, but the hunter figures he'd best not spend his possible final moments thinking in lust. Once close enough for her blades to reach, she begins raising them, her mouth agape as she thinks up some words to offer this sorry individual.

"I'm afraid the road ends here, your journey, and the trails it left behind in your pursuit of furthering it, will die with you." she says.

He should take this moment of opportunity to heal himself, that would be the practical decision. But if the hunter were to describe himself as anything, practical would not be his most ideally befitting title, and he has a better solution. One that will both challenge and cure him of any and all wounds he's suffered.

And so, out of the blue to the lady of the astral clocktower, the hunter pounced upon her before she could deliver the finishing strike; knocking the blades from her grasp and sending her tumbling to the dusty grounds beneath, exactly underneath him. In her moment of shock, she remains stunned for long enough that he can take a lead elixir to improve his resistance to anything she may attempt from below. As expected, she struggles almost instantly after finishing his elixir, and he finds it rather difficult to keep her down and pinned to the ground. He tries his hardest to reach for his belt buckle to loosen it up along with his buttons, but he keeps having to put both his hands back onto her shoulders to keep her relatively down. Her incessant shrill grunts of discomfort and fury are not pleasing to his ears either, in fact, he thinks he's had quite enough of it.

"Pipe down would you?! You're making it very hard to dispose of my pants!" he snaps.

His words born of anger seem to hastily bring an end to her struggling, as well as her grunts of displeasure. The hunter sighs a breath of relief, as he takes this opportunity with cautious ease to finally rid his crotch of their confinements. He does it slowly, keeping a watchful eye on the lady of the astral clocktower for any sudden movements or shifts in demeanor. But currently, she's staring at him like a timid deer facing a monstrous bear, which the hunter found to be quite... pleasurable.

"Oh, don't look at me like that dear prey o' mine. You're getting me all excited already..." he said.

With his pants and undergarments finally lowered, his penis rose to a fully erect state against the chilly night air. He clutched it in hand, giving it a stroke or two to keep it going as the lady of the astral clocktower only seemed to become more and more flustered by the minute.

"Wh..." she exclaimed, stammering before pausing to briefly steady her next words carefully.

"What in the name of the great gods is wrong with you??!" she continued.

The hunter didn't immediately answer her roaring question of concern, instead slipping his hand from just under her bosom down to her thigh, stroking it tenderly and sensually. She gasped into his touch, the realization of where this encounter is heading hitting her fully over her head. Her reaction made him snicker, as he bent himself lower to even out the distance between both of their faces a little.

"You may make me a worse man... but I certainly can make you a better woman." he sinisterly replied.

Before silence could fall over the lingering air of tension, the hunter quickly found a fist connecting into his nose. His head recoiled slightly from the force of it, causing him to snicker after wiping his hand across to visibly witness the results of her jab. It was blood, but a weak amount, which was great news for him. The elixir's effects had taken place and he figured it was time to stop frolicking around the bush. So he initiated their soon-to-be proper intercourse by grabbing the sanctum between her legs, causing a moan mixed with feelings of shock, offense, and subtle enjoyment to escape from her mouth. He slowly, harshly began dragging his grip along over it, seducing the contained orifice through her pants through a barbaric touch. The lady of the astral clocktower seemed to be momentarily distracted by such a feeling between her legs, blushing from cheek to cheek with what seemed to be embarrassment.

"Stop it!" she yelled.

Another flinging of fists occurred and two more jabs were landed upon the hunter's face, which surprisingly seemed to only make him that much more giddy. But there was a ferocious anger settled behind that mask of glee, and she could tell he was planning on fully indulging that anger by serving it out onto her. She continued to resist, even attempting to throw a few more punches. But it was no longer halting him, and it wasn't a matter of time before he managed to get her pants lowered as well. With a finger curled inside of her undergarments, and her thighs closing together instinctively out of slight terror, she tried a different approach at getting him to stop.

"W-, Wait! You're a hunter aren't you? That means your duty lies with exterminating your so called "prey" right? If that is the case, then why not save this for after we've battled?" she said.

Her hopes that this would stop him were short-lived, as the hunter immediately tugged her undergarments down to her ankles, slipping himself under them, back between her legs and above her swiftly. With the suddenness of his movements her legs accidentally slipped apart, creating an opening for him to go venture into. With his cock in hand, he stuck it in as frighteningly quickly as he managed to remove her pants and undergarments before slipping back into place. Watching this made her experience a wide arrange of emotions very quickly, much too quickly in fact. Her brain hadn't even gained enough time to process how fast her heart was beating before the beautifully horrible sensations of his penis nearly reaching her cervix were thrown at her with full force.

"Goodness~!" she whimpered.

It was very painful, it had been the longest of times since her vagina had been properly stretched for a workout of this magnitude. His dick was so long, it fit so far into her within each thrust that she swore it made some kind of physical imprint into her belly. The air was filled at this point with nothing but her pained, slightly pleasured cries of agony, alongside the hunter's quieted, depraved huffs and grunts toward each thrust. She throw another punch at him, and then another, and tried again but that time it had been blocked, and she had faced very painful repercussions for it. Once again swiftly, his middle and index fingers lodged themselves deeply into one of her many stab wounds gifted by him. She cried out in pain as he slowly drove them in and out of her, while simultaneously thrusting deeply into her.

How horrible of a experience this was, she felt like doing nothing but crying. But with time, after his barrage of sadistic torment had passed significantly, she came to accept her fate. It didn't feel good, but she accepted it nonetheless.

"Perhaps, this is my punishment... what I deserve for all my crimes. For all I've done. For all those I've massacred..." she woefully said.

That obnoxious, gleeful grin of sadistic malice finally perished from his face, and he momentarily stopped thrusting into her, seemingly to catch his breath. Unbeknownst to her however, he felt bad, incredibly bad as a matter of fact. His wounds leaked with his blood, and one of them erupted violently, causing him to groan out in pain. She looked at his expression, attempting to understand what he was thinking. It didn't take long for her to figure out what he felt from her words of self-loathing.

"I'm sorry." he suddenly said.

Although confusing to her, a moment of peace and tranquility finally befell her after many minutes of torment had passed. Until his wide, wide smile returned with a vengeance. Now, she was immensely confused.

"Hmm, that didn't take very long... I'm almost disappointed. But oh well, would you like it better now?" he gleefully stated.

She stared blinkingly towards him.

"Wh... What?" she exclaimed in her state of confusion.

He bent down again, leaning his face closer to hers once more, their noses mere inches apart from touching.

"I'm asking if you would like me to make you feel good or not." he said.

Despite everything that's happened, it still took the lady of the astral clocktower a moment to determine the meaning of what he was offering her, causing her blush to return upon discovery.

"I... I..."

"Too long." he interjected.

He immediately began thrusting into her at full throttle again, landing harsh, speedy strokes inside of her clit as she was once again thrown into an array of emotions far too quickly. Each connecting of their crotch felt like hellfire once more, and her throat was getting tired of having to moan so much. She even felt something leaking out the corners of her eyes, then the roof of her lower eyelids. Oh dear, was she actually crying now?

This clear display of his brutality would surely get him to stop again and contemplate his actions once more; but unlike previously, he seemed more encouraged this time around to keep going.

"Stop~!!" she shrill whimpered.

The hunter was breathing like a maniac as he sluggishly brought his speediness down to a slower level. Good, she thought in that moment, she could actually read what was happening much more clearly now that her brains weren't being mercilessly fucked out from her skull.

"Is this good for you my lady?" he suddenly inquired.

She was surprised to hear that he was actually showing proper concern for her wellbeing, considering he had the nerve to make her cry just for not answering swiftly enough for his liking. She groaned in anger and disgust.

"Bastard..." she snarled.

He snickered again, playfully malicious.

"Aha, I take it being done in such a brutish way had it's effects on you yeah?" he remarked.

She had a strong urge to spit on him, but held it inside. But after giving it some more thought, she changed her mind and spat up to his face. His eye closed from the saliva splashing onto it as the majority of it landed over his cheek. He continued to snicker with that obnoxious smirk still on his face.

"So, I'll ask it again. Is this good for you my lady?" he questioned.

His changes in attitude and voice alarmed her, everything about this man was peculiar and strange. But when she thought about it, he had shifted to a much more likable pace, one that didn't absolutely shred through her insides. She hated to admit it, even just internally, but it did actually feel good to her.

"Mmf... better." she said.

After experiencing such brutality, this was a nice and welcome change. She hadn't experienced sexual pleasures like this in quite some time, so she was enjoying refamiliarizing herself with such feelings. He seemed to know exactly the way she liked it too, the impacts coming in at a nice, timely length. She couldn't tell if that was frightening or arousing, but she supposes the combination of both moods was quite thrilling. And as it continued like this, she finally began moaning her ecstasy; not fear, not pain, but pure ecstasy. The hunter himself had been enjoying this from the very beginning, toying with his prey was always an arousing perspective for him; but this, this was special.

He only slightly tested the waters by speeding up his thrusts and impacts a little, something she seemed to accept with open arms. Her body swayed tantalizingly into each stroke he made within her, and he instantly felt the subtle sensation of precum leaking from his moistening dick.

"How is that my dear?" he asked.

She stared daggers at him before digging two of her gloved fingers into the biggest gash across his chest. Hearing him squeal and react painfully was like music to her vengeful ears.

"Who told you that you could stop calling me your lady?" she questioned domineeringly.

The hunter realized quickly that he was losing total control over his prey, which set him straight somewhat.

"Apologies my lady... you're beautiful, my lady..." he said.

The compliments brought something of a smile to her otherwise cold and deadened face.

"Such a polite gentleman..." she flirted.

Seeing how she was moving now resembled movements only a dom was capable of making, a realization that both aroused and terrified him. The hunter refused to ever submit to any of his prey, but he can't help but feel how erotic it is to bare witness to. He groans in arousal as his heartbeat crescendos significantly, a sign that he's very close to arrival. Just as the lady of the astral clocktower begins seeking to take control away from the hunter, he climaxes while still inside of her, the final impact connecting rougher than anything thus far as he unloads his boundless pleasure inside of her. She moans breathily upon his arrival, unlike the sickly grunting noises he makes, his warm sticky semen flowing through her vagina and past her cervix. It feels deep, and her body feels so stimulated that when she cums, it's barely noticed by her.

“Okay then, now how long does it take to wear off?” he said casually as Willow slowly opened her eyes, half believing she was caught in a dream.

“What?” She managed to say as she remembered how to breathe.

“The curse.” he reminded her as though it was obvious, adjusting his gloves. “Last time, I made the mistake of succumbing to your charm which allowed you the opportunity to return the curse back to me when I… prolonged my original return attempt.”

He cleared his throat, the memory of the moment making something tighten in his chest. Willow felt similarly inflicted, knowing that when he referred to his ‘original return attempt’ he was talking about impulsively kissing her back when he saw her last. It was an impulse he could not apply logic to so it must be the result of a curse.It was an impulse Willow would hardly associate with a curse.

“But I need to ensure I’ve tried everything to rid myself of this ‘love’ thing.” he finished. “So, how long should it take? Was the transfer successful?”

“Oh Titan,” said Willow, snapping out of her trance. “You’re still on this? Is that really why you came all this way?”

“Well no, I also came to bring you the bucket of dirt you left behind,” he said, gesturing to her pale safe in the ground by the railing. “Which is not something I ever thought I’d say, but ever since you cursed me with the ability to love, I-erk!”

Before Hunter could finish his theory, he toppled over in pain. Willow reached forward to catch him, her eyes quickly finding the source of the pain, his arm was bruised and covered in large, fresh scars.

“Hunter, what is this?”

“Just an… on the job hazard?” he offered unconvincingly.

“Oh Titan Hunter, this looks really bad,” Willow winced, adjusting her hold on him. “Come lie down so I can clean you up.”

She led the boy inside and gently placed him on her bed. She knew the sight would send her fathers into a spiral, but she didn’t linger on that in favor of helping Hunter. She knew he would never ask for help, so she needed to insist. She worried what would have happened if he had stopped somewhere else before coming to see her. A part of her had to assume he came here because it was the only place he felt safe enough to express his pain without the threat of it being worsened.

Willow wordlessly got to work addressing the wound. She was no Viney, but between flyer derby, her experience with carnivorous and thorny plants, and multiplied Boscha incidents Willow had gotten pretty good at aiding an injury. He had hastily tried to cover it, making it look worse than it actually was and he watched with bated breath as Willow carefully rolled up his sleeve and delicately cleaned his arm. Despite the throbbing pain from his arm, he felt calm watching the way she focused. The way she stuck her tongue to the side as she concentrated and the way she wrinkled her nose as she held his arm close to ensure she did not worsen the pain.

She could feel his eyes on her, glued to her expressions rather than her actions. They had never had such a prolonged silence between them. It managed to feel comfortable and unnatural at the same time.

“Also for the last time, I did not curse you.” She said at last, picking up their conversation from before as she wrapped a bandage around his bicep.

“Huh?” Hunter said, before realizing what she meant. “Oh, fine then, gave me-.”

“I didn’t give it to you either!” She insisted with a laugh. “You’ve always had it, you just… didn’t have a reason to use it I guess.”

“Well whatever it is, it’s inconvenient and I would like it to stop.”

“Well if that’s how you really feel, then a step in the right direction might be to stop stalking me,” offered Willow, as she summoned another aloe plant. “Or recruiting me, whatever you tell yourself it is.”

“I would, but the curse makes it-.”

“Not a curse!”

“Okay fine, whatever,” said Hunter, continuing. “The point is, ever since I realized I loved you things have… changed. ”

Ever since I realized I loved you.

His wording made Willow feel lightheaded, in spite of herself. Yes, she had used the word to describe why she had kissed him, but she wouldn’t have said she was in love with him. They were teenagers! They had crushes! They liked-liked! But Hunter didn’t do anything halfway, when he believed something he fully committed to it. He didn’t have phases, he didn’t know how. Everything was so extreme with him, and up until now that has only been about dire and serious things. But maybe she was a dire and serious thing to him.

She could tell the idea was still terrifying to him.

“Also even if it was a curse, I don’t think the counter curse would be so simple.” Willow said, knowing very little about curses and only slightly more about love. “It’s not a bad thing to care about someone, it’s a normal part of life.”

“My life has never been normal,” scoffed Hunter, leaning against her headboard. “It’s not supposed to be normal. That’s why I had to make sure I did everything to get rid of it before I- ah!” He hissed and pulled his arm away from Willow as thought she had just submerged his arm in the boiling sea. “What is that?”

“Well, I’m not on the healing track so it’s more to stop infection,” said Willow, grabbing his arm again to press the collection of leaves down as he struggled to release his arm from her grasp. “When I’ve applied enough pressure, we can put it in a sling. It just might make the ride home a little uncomfortable.”

She saw the way his eyes shifted when she mentioned him leaving and she couldn’t tell if it was because he didn’t want to leave her or if it was because he didn’t have much to return to.

“I’ve been reading about grimwalkers.” Willow said as casually as though she had been reading about butterflies when she saw he did not have the strength to compose a snarky response. She hoped some small talk might be able to distract him from his injury and whatever else was plaguing his mind. She also hoped to find out who was to blame for his state, though she has her suspicions.

“Really?” said Hunter, going to sit up but being hindered by the throbbing pain in his head. He tried not to let the pain show on his face but Willow knew.

“Yeah,” she said, not looking up from what she was doing so they could both pretend she wasn’t aware of how the pain affected him

“And uh, w-what did you find out?”

“Well the first thing I found out is that there’s not alot of factual books about grimwalkers,” she said, ripping up the leaves from the plant she had summoned and mashing them in her hands. “It’s mostly urban legends.”

“Well it’s like I said, we’re taboo,” Hunter said somewhat smugly. He allowed his ego to distract him from the lingering pain he felt. “We’re rare, so of course there’d be little documentation on us. We-.”

“So if you’re so rare and unknowable, how is it that Belos is so sure you’re meant to be evil?” Willow asked, having the inquiry ready anticipating his arrogant response.

“Well, he made me so It figures he would know-.”

“Well, my dads made me and they don’t know everything about me,” Willow cut him off again. She intended to make progress with this conversation. “They didn’t even know I wanted to be on the plant track.”

“They named you ‘Willow’ and didn’t know you wanted to be on the plant track?” Hunter chuckled, though it slightly hurt to do so.

Willow shrugged playfully, summoning another vine as she continued her project. “Anyway,” she went on. “There are things they want and expect and think I’ll be sure, but at the end of the day I’m the one who decides that stuff. You can’t know everything about anyone right away, even yourself. People grow and change constantly.”

“Not grimwalkers.”

“Really?”

“I’m sure that much was in your reading,” said Hunter dismally.

“It was,” She confirmed, moving his forelock away from his face to observe his bruises and see his eyes better. “But you’ve disproven that loads of times.”

“Like when?”

“Like when you saved me,” she said quickly as though she had been eager to remind him. “The Golden Guard I met weeks ago wouldn’t have done that, at least not without holding it over my head. But you didn’t, so you must’ve changed.”

“I don’t think that-.”

“Or you haven’t changed and you’ve just been secretly sweet this whole time,” teased Willow. “Either way, it goes against this ‘grimwalker code’ or whatever you wanna call it that you’re so obsessed with upholding.”

“But I do hold it over your head,” Hunter pointed out, trying to sit up to face her as he made his case, but the pain in his abdomen set him right back down.

“Do you?” said Willow, not convinced. “Or do you just need an excuse to see me again?”

“I… uh…”

“The books also say grimwalkers can’t feel pain,” her eyes drifted from the new injury on his arm to the permanent ones on his face. “Don’t try telling me that’s true.”

“We don’t feel it the same way,” he said quietly. “We can endure more.”

“How would you know how you’re supposed to feel pain?” asked Willow. “Is that something the Emperor told you so you wouldn’t think he was a monster for hurting you? Because you thought it would be worse if you were someone else?”

“It’s not my job to question the Emperor,” he said with conviction. “It is my job to serve him. I’m simply paying my dues.”

“Are they the same ‘dues’ I would pay if I joined the coven?” Willow asked. “Is that…” she stopped herself, as the questions and answers sprouted at the same time. “Is that why you’ve stopped trying so hard to recruit me?”

“No! The Emperor would never hurt you, I would never let him!”

“Well how can you be so sure?”

“Because I’m taking your place!”

Willow’s eyes widened in shock. “What?”

“I… okay don’t be mad,” he started, sitting up as straight as he could manage and Willow could tell she was about to be made furious. “The Emperor noticed that I’d been… distracted. So I told him I had found a new recruit that I was excited about, and that I desperately wanted… for the Coven. I told him how amazing and strong and talented you are but he said it was foolish to waste so much time on one recruit so I needed to either force you into the coven or move on. I told him I couldn’t do either because I…” Suddenly he couldn’t say it.

“You told the Emperor about me?” Willow asked softly. “Is that why…?” Suddenly she couldn’t say it.

But she needed to.

“Did he do this to you because you told him how you feel about me?”

He casted his eyes away from her, but she knew it was true from the way he hesitated. He acted as though having feelings for her was a minor inconvenience but in reality he was risking his life to be here right now.

“It was a misunderstanding,” he said softly as though a simple misunderstanding always ended in potentially broken bones. “I needed him to know I was serious,” Hunter said softly. “I know he would have a hard time believing it but eventually we struck up a deal: you would be spared from the usual trials recruits endure to join the coven if we got married.”

“What?”

“OW!”

Willow looked down and saw that in her shock, she had applied a little too much pressure to his arm. She eased up and whispered a series of apologies as Hunter recovered, trying to act as though it had been nothing. Willow had a harder time acting like it was nothing, considering she was pretty sure the Golden Guard had just proposed to her.

“Did you just.. when you say ‘mar-‘ um…” she pretended to clear her throat, not sure how to approach the matter. “W-what… are you saying?”

“Well, I’m saying if we got married then you could be in the Emperor’s Coven without the grueling trials and I wouldn’t be so distracted trying to recruit you. Plus you would share my status. It’s a win-win.”

“Hunter that’s… that’s a lot.” Willow managed to say, feeling flowers beginning to bloom in her hair. “You’re not suggesting that we get married… now, are you?”

“Well, not right now,” he said. “There’s no legal officiates, but yes that is what I came over here to propose.”

Propose.

The Golden Guard has just proposed to her.

“Oh my Titan,” Willow whispered, her face hot. Had it been anyone else, she could dismiss it as silly teasing. But she knew Hunter well enough now to know when he was ready to commit to something. She knew it was impossible and impracticable and too soon and so many other things but nevertheless she felt her face start to flush.

He had just discovered love, how much could he really know about marriage?

“It’s just that, I’ve been reading about love and all the books end in marriage or try to strive for marriage and that basically locks the love in place so it’s not a distraction anymore!” he explained proudly. “It’s the perfect solution!”

“There’s a lot I think you’re brushing over,” said Willow, trying to hide the blush trying to creep onto her face. “I mean, first of all we don’t even know each other that well!”

“You know me well enough to kiss me,” Hunter pointed out. “And all the books say that is a symbol of true love.”

“Yeah, fairy tales maybe,” Willow laughed nervously.

“Well yes, they were written by fairies but fairies tend to be very knowledgeable.” Hunter stated.

“I mean, secondly we’re only 16, it’s not legal for us to get married.” Said Willow. “I mean, our brains are still developing.”

“But our hearts aren’t,” said Hunter simply, as though quoting one of those trashy romance novels she and Amity used to giggle at when they were younger. “You can’t apply logic to love.”

“It seems like you’re still trying to,” laughed Willow. She never thought she’d be in the position of denying a proposal, especially from the head of the Emperor’s Coven. “But what I don’t get is how could the Emperor be so okay with this? I mean, if he believed that you couldn’t feel love or be loved and then you tell him all this and he’s just totally on board for planning a wedding?”

She wondered exactly what stories had composed his research. She tried not to focus on the possibility that he had pictured a fairy tale wedding with her probably an awesome elaborate fluffy ball gown. He gave his whole self to everything he did and she was confident that if her answer had been different, he’d be sharing an itinerary with her right now.

“I told you, I’m the Titan’s miracle,” Hunter said simply. “Each time Belos makes a grimwalker he makes them better and stronger so it stands to reason I am the best. He’s learned from the mistakes of the past so maybe.. this is a reward. For being the best.”

“So… I’m a reward?” she said playfully, raising her eyebrow.

“No, not you exactly but the way you make me feel, the way I feel around you.”

Something about him saying all this without a twinge of irony silenced the logical side of Willow’s brain and made her knees weak. She knew turning down his proposal was the right thing to do and she would do it no matter what but was it wrong that it made her chest feel as though it was full of wild butterflies?

“I think… he would use me against you,” said Willow quietly, finally finishing addressing his injuries. Despite the whirlwind fantasy Hunter had attempted to rope her into, the reality of why Hunter sat in her bed being bandaged caught up with her. His celebration of love had been ill received and he had to fight for it, but Willow was not so sure he had immerged victorious. But she had to be thankful he had immerged at all.

“What?”

“Hunter, you are strong and brave and smart. If what you say is true and grimwalkers get better every time he makes one… he must realize that means they’re harder to control each time too. If fear for your own safety isn’t enough to control you then he needs to find a new source of fear.”

“I’m sorry, I stopped listening after you stopped complimenting me,” said Hunter in a playful tone, unaware of how to navigate a deep conversation if he wasn’t the one making it deep.

“Hunter, I’m serious,” said Willow, gently nudging his shoulder. He winced at the action, but not in a way where the pain was surprising. She traced the new scar on the side of his face and gently cupped his jaw, rubbing her thumb against his cheek.

“Well… so am I.” he said firmly, taking her free hand in his and feeling overwhelmed by its subtle calluses and chipped nail polish. Soft and tough, just like everything about her. A marvelous contradiction. “I’ve been thinking about other things I was told I could never do because I was a grimwalker or because it wasn’t the Titan’s will. The Emperor has never lied to me before, he always includes me in his lies. He knows I’ll follow and obey so I don’t see why he would say I can’t feel this way unless he truly thought it was not possible.”

“If he told you to stop feeling this way, do you think you could?”

“I don’t think so,” Hunter admitted. “I’ve tried. I’ve tried just about everything I can think of. But as confusing and hard and distracting as this cur- feeling is… I’ve grown fond of it. I’ve grown fond of you.”

“Maybe that’s why then,” said Willow, never tiring of his accidental compliments. “Because this is something about you that he can’t control.”

“What do you mean?”

“You said grimwalkers are hard to kill,” Willow recalled. “So how did the past grimwalkers…” she couldn’t bring herself to say it, she was afraid she knew the answer already.

“They didn’t follow orders,” said Hunter simply, it was a fact Belos had never tried to hide from him. “They went against his plan, and he couldn’t have that.”

“What orders did they break?” Willow asked cautiously.

“He… never mentioned…” Hunter trailed off quietly, realizing this detail for the first time. He had been realizing more and more lately how few questions he actually asked the Emperor.

“Do you think that’s because it was an order he gave them or because it was an order he didn’t?” Willow asked. Hunter offered her a look of confusion as she pressed on. “Hunter what if when he told you that couldn’t feel or be loved, he wasn’t saying you’re unable to, but more… he forbids it.”

“What? No! No, it’s because he… says love makes you weak a-and grimwalkers don’t have weaknesses-.”

“Well, does it feel like a weakness?”

“No… it feels… like a rush, like adrenaline.” he said, trying to find the right word. “Like warmth and excitement like something powerful-.”

“More powerful than him?”

“I don’t… I don’t know.” He said softly. “Maybe? I mean I broke protocols and curfew fully knowing the consequences, but… I would risk his wrath to see you smile?” He realized the words as they unfolded, perplexing him all over again. The feeling was demanding and overwhelming and confusing but the one thing it wasn’t was weak. The Emperor was supposed to have all the answers so surely he knew the side effects of love, surely he knew the uses and purposes. It wasn’t adding up. “Why… would he think it’s a weakness?”

“Because it was easier to tell you it was impossible than to admit it was something he could not control,” said Willow. “So he needs a way to weaponize it. He will find a way to make it a weakness.”

A fatal wound from a blunt dagger took longer and hurt worse, that much Hunter did know.

“If you don’t want to marry me, you can just say so,” Hunter tried to joke after a few seconds of silence. This was not how he had envisioned this evening going. He had thought he would be leaving either absolved of his curse or with a fiancée, not with a new fear sinking into his mind.

Maybe two fears: the fear that the Emperor would use his love against him accompanied the fear that his love may not be returned. So much of what composed love seemed to also compose fear.

But it was more than that. He wanted her to replay their conversations back in her mind before she fell asleep, just as he did. He wanted to hear every detail about her day, even if it was hopelessly uneventful and mundane. He knew these things were pointless and unproductive, but he wanted them only from her. He wanted to be around her without needing an excuse, because he was quickly running out of those.

She managed to see right through him, not because he was invisible but because she saw him in a way that he felt. With eyes that did not roll up the sky counting the seconds until he’d leave or eyes that wandered to anything else with a sigh of disdain, no she saw him with wide, kind, and forgiving eyes. Behind glasses crooked and smudged with lingering mud and leaves, her eyes cast a spell that convinced him that so long as he was in their sight he was something more than what even he saw in the mirror.

But was that how he made her feel? Maybe she was just better at concealing and understanding it than he was. But nothing he did seemed to be right, he either worried her or inconvenienced her or failed to impress her. How could he expect her to love him when all he seemed to do was introduce danger into her life?

“Hunter, I’m worried about you,” she said, interrupting his thought in a fragile tone he had never heard her use before. Look at what’s he’s done to you, she thought. Because of me. You let him do this to you because of me?

“I… I didn’t intend to make you feel that way,” he said, clearing his throat. “I guess… maybe grimwalkers don’t feel love because we’re no good at it.”

“Nah, I think that’s just being a teenager,” Willow said with a faint smile, sensing he needed a break from his dismay. “But you’ve had a really… eventful day. Why don’t you get some rest and we can talk some more after you’ve regained your strength. I’ll see if I can find something to lessen the pain while you sleep. Or wait, maybe you shouldn’t sleep because you might have a concussion? Hold on, let me message Viney to see what I should do.”

She wasn’t worried about her dads coming in and asking a hundred questions. She wasn’t worried about the Emperor potentially targeting her. She wasn’t worried about the blood and mud he had brought into her pristine comforter. No, she was worried about him. Maybe it wasn’t as intense and complex as the inkling she inspired in his ribs, but it was real and genuine.

Lack of an ulterior motive was a foreign concept to Hunter, but the way Willow subconsciously adjusted the pillow behind his head to support his neck better as she crafted her message was when it really clicked for him. It was love. Maybe it was small, maybe it was messy, maybe it was spark compared to his inferno but he would take any version of it from her that she was willing to offer. He would no longer run from it or try to negotiate a way to make it fit into his bleak rigid world. No, he would face it head on trust that it would not crush him.

“Okay, she says you should be okay to take a nap as long as your heart rate is regular.” Willow read from her scroll. “Oh shoot, she doesn’t know about the grimwalker thing. Do you have a heartbeat? I mean, sorry, a regular heartbeat? Sorry, was that okay to ask?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Uh, I mean no? I mean, it was okay to ask but I’m actually not sure?”

“Well, I’ll just have to keep an eye on you then,” she said, getting up to pull up a chair to sit beside him. Hunter secretly wished she had remained on the bed beside him, missing the subtle warmth from her knees curled up against his.

“Um, if I may…” he started. “Um, I don’t think I thanked you for… allowing me to inconvenience you.”

“Well, I owed you one,” she said sweetly, knowing there was more he wanted to say.

“Right,” he said, knowing what she was referring to. He had no problem vividly remembering the day that essentially flipped his entire world upside down. The version of him she had first met would never consider thanking anyone, let alone be in a position that it would be necessary. But grateful did not begin to describe it, this feeling that exploded and evolved and twisted and grew. He didn’t know if it had changed him or chipped away at him but either way he was better off now because of it. Despite the things about himself he was starting to question or regret, the way her peridot eyes sheltered him had not changed. His mind was made up. “And, if I may, could I offer you a gesture of… thanks?”

She knew exactly what he was referring to, using her own wording against her. She couldn’t help but smile, surely he wasn’t still convinced this was a way to transfer his ‘curse’, right?

“I told you, kissing me won’t make your ability to love disappear,” she said softly, resting her elbows on the pillow by his legs and shaking her head endearingly. But something about the way he caught her gaze now held something different. Something had shifted in his crimson eyes that reminded Willow of a crisp fall day lured Willow forward into a familiar force field. It was certainly not the result of a concussion, but when his hand touched her check she knew that it was every bit as serious.