Ash by Malinda Lo Read Free Book Online

her shoulder in a thick braid. “We come bearing new meat in return, of course, for a drink or two.” The men behind her cheered loudly and thrust forward into the room, one of them carrying the head of a stag, its dead eyes glassy, the tongue hanging out of its slightly open mouth.
    Visibly shaken, Lady Isobel cal ed for Beatrice to attend them, and Ash wondered if it was customary in West Riding for the hunt to come in like that, al bloody and fresh from the kil . But Beatrice came forward without a word and led two of the men and their haunch of venison into the kitchen. The man with the stag’s head began to go into the parlor, but the huntress caught his arm and said something to him in a curt, low tone of voice, and he looked sheepish and took the head outside. The huntress saw Ash then, standing with her back to the wal . She must have had a stricken expression on her face because the huntress smiled at her and said, “I’m sorry if my boys frightened you. They mean no harm; they’ve just been in the Wood for too long.”
    “I’m not frightened,” Ash said, although she had been, just a little. “Did you hunt all day?”
    “Yes,” the huntress said, pul ing off her cloak and beginning to yank off her thick leather gloves. “But it’s al right if you were afraid,” she said with a sideways look at Ash. “It’s smart to be afraid of things that smel of death.” She came closer to the girl and bent toward her, putting a firm hand on Ash’s shoulder. “Just don’t be afraid to look them in the eye,” she 49

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    said with a grin, and then ruffled Ash’s hair before moving on into the dining room. No one else had paid the slightest attention to her al night, and Ash felt as though the huntress had suddenly cal ed her into being. She slid out from her corner and went after her, watching as the huntress took a seat at the long table with one of her men and a masked reveler dressed as a queen. When they saw Ash standing hesitantly nearby, the man asked, “Whose child is that?”
    The huntress looked over at her. “Come and sit with us,”
    she said.
    The woman dressed as a queen smiled at her and asked,
    “Are you hungry?”
    Ash shook her head but came and sat next to the huntress as Sara poured wine into their goblets. “Where is your costume tonight?” the huntress asked. Al around them the guests were dressed as princesses or lords, their masks glittering with garnets and plumed with feathers.
    “I do not have one,” Ash answered.
    “Poor thing,” said the masked queen. “She needs cheering up.”
    “You could tell her a story,” the man prompted, looking at the huntress.
    The masked queen said, “Yes, a story a hunting story!”
    The huntress grinned and asked Ash, “Is that what you’d like?”
    Ash colored, but said, “Yes, I would.”
    “Very well, then,” said the huntress. “I will tell you the story of Eilis and the Changeling. Do you know that tale?”
    Ash shook her head.
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    MALINDA LO
    “Eilis was one of our earliest huntresses; King Roland cal ed her to service when she was only eighteen, and many people questioned whether she was ready to lead the Royal Hunt,” the huntress explained. “The same year that Eilis was chosen, the Queen gave birth to her first child, a girl. But on the morning after the princess was born, the Queen went to suckle her child, and she would not eat. Days passed and the princess continued to refuse her mother’s milk, and yet she did not weaken. Instead, her skin turned a curious golden color, and she seemed to grow at an astonishing speed. The greenwitches were consulted, and they concluded that the princess had been stolen and replaced with a fairy changeling.”
    “Fairies and greenwitches,” said the masked queen. “This is a fairy tale, not a hunting story.”
    The huntress covered the woman’s hand with her own and said, “Patience. There wil be hunters.” She looked back at Ash and continued: “The King and Queen tried