Chapter 15
The hunters laughed, taking swigs of their wine flasks. They tensed on their horses and grabbed their reins in their leather gloves.
Everyone looked to the Dark King as he rode into the hunt at the last minute. His entourage was impressively grand. His guards wore the crimson and black colors of the Kingdom of Midnight. Crimson and black banners whipped in the wind all along his procession.
The king himself was hard to see, since he was shielded by so many guards. Cinder could mostly see his black armor with the crimson royal sigil on his chest.
Marching ahead of him was a line of beaters whose job it was to flush the quarry to make it easier for the hunters. They were boys mostly, thin and proud to be leading the king’s procession.
Cinder’s heart beat to the rhythm of the
