Chapter Twenty Six

Emily's POV 

“You can keep him in the backyard of my house,” he said and I jumped up happily. When I noticed what I was doing, I stopped jumping and caressed the cute rabbit in my arms.

“You hear what Fayne said? I can keep you in the backyard. We'll be together.”

I heard a sound in front of us causing me to avert my gaze from the rabbit to In front of us where an antelope was walking while sniffing the grass for a bite to eat.

Fayne pulled forth his bow and arrow and shot the antelope's side. The antelope immediately started to limp away but Fayne shot its leg and it started bleeding out, then it lost its consciousness.

“That's it, we have meet for the day.” I said.

Fayne went to grab the antelope. He pulled out the arrows from its side and leg before swinging the antelope over his shoulder.

“Let's go.” He told me and we headed home.

When we went back, Fayne went to the kitchen to butcher the antelope while I sat there on the kitchen stool swaying left and right.

I stared at the rabbit in my arms thoughtfully.

“Hm, I think I'm going to name you Grey.”

Fayne turned to me for a second before continuing to work on the antelope.

I smiled as I stared into the rabbit's grey eyes but then a thought crossed my mind which made me sad.

“What if I separated this little guy from his friends and family? That's so cruel of me…”

Soon, Fayne began to roast the antelope. He turned to me.

“But what if Grey was alone in the woods and his family has already been killed?”

I smiled, knowing Fayne was saying this to comfort me.

“You're right.” I said, bringing Grey closer to my chest.

“Come and eat.” Fayne gestured to me as the antelope was done.

I walked over and took a bite.

“Hmm, it tastes very good. If you work as a chef, you'll make a lot of money.”

Fayne smirked but he said nothing more. After eating, I grabbed some carrots and legumes and fed them to Grey. Then I went to the backyard and left him there to rest and have some alone time.

I went back to Fayne in the kitchen and saw that he was cleaning up. 

“I can help you,” I said, not wanting to feel bad about myself for not helping. But when I walked over, he was already done.

“So… in what way can I help you next?” I blinked.

Fayne turned to me.

“We need to talk to each other about the hard questions.”

“We… do?” I questioned and he nodded, pointing at my stomach.

“I shot you right here. You should be mad at me but you aren't.”

“That's because you took care of me all through so that must show that you regretted it. Thankfully my body is strong so I was able to get through that.”

“Just like that?” Fayne said to himself thoughtfully.

“Yes, I don't really hold grudges. Instead I'm grateful to you for bringing me here, it's the first time that I've ever had peace in so long.”

I looked at Fayne and smiled, while touching my chest. “This heart has been broken so many times. The men I had in my life did not treat me the best and so I had to be strong by myself all the time. But with you here, I don't even have to do anything. I can just be. And I'm grateful to you for that. I've never met a man like you. And I don't want to, you're the best…” I trailed off, because it was beginning to sound as though I was making a confession.

Fayne smiled.

“What about you, don't you have anything to say?”

“I’m a hunter. That's what I do. It's not a good job because I'm on the front lines a lot of the time and I have to make hard decisions…”

“Do you work for the human King?” I asked.

Fayne hesitated but then he nodded. “How do you know?”

“When I met you, you had a lot of men behind you. It's not something an ordinary hunter could possibly have.”

“You're right, I guess. My good skills caught the eye of the king and he gave me the title as his hunter.” Fayne said and I sighed.

“Why are you staying here in this house though. Shouldn't you be at the palace tending to the king?”

Fayne smiled. “When the king was about to make me his hunter, I made a clause that I would not have to be under his watch all the time. That's why I can stay here with you.”

“Ohh,” I nodded. That made a lot of sense.

“I'm not only here for leisure though. I'm waiting for one of my fellow hunters to report to me about something.”

“And what is that?” I asked.

“He sent me a letter saying he caught the berserker causing trouble in the human lands. Then he asked me to meet him. Somehow we lost contact and I was about finding him when I met you.”

“Oh,”

It was then that I realized that the first man to save me was probably the fellow hunter Fayne was waiting to hear from. I wondered if he knew that the day he met me, he could've seen the man that he was looking for had he not turn around with me.

“His name is Luke.”

I nodded. So that was his name.

“He's kind to a fault and that is why I worry about him from time to time.”

“But do you think a berserker really exists?” I asked and he nodded.

“Yes,” Fayne said.

I tucked the strands of hair behind my ear and sighed. I remembered when I was a berserker, I didn't kill anyone but the humans must have caused chaos under my name and maybe Luke must have known that.

“It may not be the berserker causing trouble, you know?”

“Many people have died already, if it's not the berserker who killed them, then who would do something as inhumane as that?”