-Prologue-

“Bring me the Hunter,” Duchess Derevene said, her tone as cold and commanding as a hail storm. Those in the room immediately went to comply; Derevene wasn’t a woman to disobey.

Yvo stiffened, already feeling bad for the Hunter. The Duchess only called upon him when she had particularly challenging or unpleasant tasks she wanted completed. She called for him because of his skill, and because of his obedience.

After all, the Hunter would do anything she ordered him to, just in an effort to gain her approval and acknowledgement.

Yvo had seen it for years, her treatment of the young man - she never failed to manipulate him, tricking him into thinking that this time, she would be proud of him.

And every time, without fail, the Hunter would comply, only to be crushed by disappointment eventually.

“Here he is, my Lady,” an attendant said a little apprehensively, feeling uncomfortable in the Hunter’s presence. Yvo couldn’t blame him - the Hunter was, after all, a tall and intimidating man with a dark aura and presence.

He wasn’t someone to be messed with.

Unless, of course, you were Duchess Derevene, in which case, you had the Hunter wrapped around your finger.

“Martin, how lovely to see you again,” she purred, glaring at everyone in the room, getting them to leave, except for Yvo, whom she didn’t even spare a glance.

The Hunter’s expression stays blank and hard, he knew Derevene wanted him to do something. He’d learnt long ago that she didn’t actually care whatsoever about him.

“Duchess,” he said quietly, his voice low and emotionless. The Duchess reached out a hand, snatching Yvo’s skinny arm, pulling him closer to her. “Martin, I have something I’d like you to do…something I’d like you to find.”

The Hunter stared blankly at the woman, waiting for her to continue. “You shall take Yvo with you, he can locate it - my fallen angel.”

The other man visibly went rigid; after all, everyone knew how important fallen angels were. They were beings of incredible power, who disobeyed the Archangel’s orders, and were tossed to Earth.

The Duchess probably wanted to sell this unfortunate soul to some other rich noble. After all, her funds were beginning to run out, and her lavish lifestyle needed something to help finance it.

Every time there was a new fallen angel, all the Diviners began to work overtime. This one was the reason Yvo hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in far too long. He was the personal Diviner of Duchess Derevene, and much to his own pride, was considered one of the best in the nation.

The visions he saw of the fallen angel would help lead them to it. Or at least, Duchess Derevene was certain Yvo’s powers would lead them there.

“Martin, if you successfully bring back my angel, I will publicly accept you as my son. You’ll no longer be Martin, the Hunter. No, you’ll be Martin, Duchess Derevene’s true first born son. Now how does that sound?”

Yvo wanted to slap the bitch - how dare she continue to use his weakness against him? The one thing the Hunter wanted, was a loving family. The love of his mother.

He never asked to be your illegitimate son, Yvo thought to himself, feeling so much anger towards her, on the Hunter’s behalf.

The Hunter bowed his head, dropping to one knee. “Yes, Duchess. I shall bring you back the fallen angel.” Yvo wanted to scream at him that the Duchess would never actually accept him, that this was all just a lie, like all those other times she offered him false hope.

She was truly a top-grade bitch.

“Wonderful, what a good son you are,” she purred, teasing him with the prospect of a possible future she held the key to. How could the Hunter have not realised that this was just another way for her to manipulate him?

The Duchess pushed Yvo forwards, and he struggled to keep his balance. It would be great if she could not treat him like garbage too, but that was clearly too much to ask - she treated everyone like the shit on her shoe.

Little did she realise, that the only real little shit in this room, was herself.

—————

“So, do I have to call you ‘the Hunter’ for this entire trip, like I have been referring to you for the past God knows how long we’ve known of each other?” Yvo asked, stroking his fingers through the mane of his horse. She was truly a beauty.

The Hunter didn’t even reply - he was a man of few words, and when he did speak, it was often so quietly that it was challenging to hear him.

Yvo rolled his eyes, struggling to climb onto the beast - he was a Diviner, a human messenger the Archangels used to convey messages to the humans through. He wasn’t cut out for this ‘adventuring’ business, he just got visions and shit.

And this crap? The whole dangerous ‘I’m going on a mission to essentially kidnap an angel’ thing? This was what mercenaries did. Or, people like the Hunter, who’d made names like that for themselves through hunting down all kinds of people, and things.

“The Hunter it is then. I’m Yvo, which you probably already know. And that’s Y-V-O, not E-E-V-O, although it sounds like that.” Yet again, not even a single sign of a reaction from the Hunter.

Great, this is going to be such a fun journey, Yvo thought to himself.

The Hunter finally glanced up at him, his black hair shining in the sunlight to look almost like a deep blue, the way blackbirds’ feathers do. His silver eyes were so void of emotion that Yvo was beginning to wonder if the 27 year old man actually possessed feelings, or if he got his heart of stone from his cruel mother.

Yvo would only begin to see Hunter Martin’s true emotions once a third person joined their motley crew. And this person, would come in the form of a fallen angel, cast out from the heavens above.

An angel, who would shake Martin’s world to its very core.