AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You sure?” Noel asked with a frown. “We can find something else.”
She shook her head. “There’s… some sort of feeling with this one I can’t quite explain. Something that my magic keeps drawing me to. If I’m going to bet my life on any single item, I feel like this one is as good as any.” Cy shoved herself to her feet. “Let’s go.”
46
GREY
Grey kept close behind Noel and Cy on the way back out through the ruins, clutching the fae-dagger box close to his chest. Noel’s ticket to freedom. In his arms. He worried the inside of his cheek and gripped it tighter when he noted Noel’s blade still held at the ready. At least that explained why he wasn’t trying to hold his hand again, even though Grey’s heart had sank when he hadn’t even tried on the way out.
The box, the iron dagger, Noel being on high alert—they were all rationales for Grey chew on and tell himself there was an explanation for every intimate action that inevitably resulted in nothing. After all, they were just trying to keep each other alive, right? His chin dipped against the side of the box, his gaze downcast until he bumped into Noel and stumbled backward with his heart pounding in his chest.
“S-sorry,” he said. “I wasn’t looking ahead.”
“You’re fine,” Noel said over his shoulder, hoisting up Grey’s bag to pass off to him. “If you could toss the box in yours for now, that would be ideal.”
He nodded, despite Noel still being turned and hopping on the bike. Grey quickly crammed the box inside and climbed on at the rev of the engine, wrapping his arms around Noel and closing his eyes. Focusing on his breathing to eliminate the pulse pounding in his ears turned impossible. The wind tickled his hair as he rested his cheek against Noel’s back and listened to the rush of the world falling away behind them.
No raven cries or ravenous faerie wolves. No pink-eyed fair folk with her razor-sharp grin nipping at their heels. No Reign and their taunting temptations for him to give up. For once, he could feel the freedom creeping ever-closer, but even that left him with so many more questions than when he began the trek for his Calling.
When the bikes pulled off of the main trail, Grey opened his eyes to the foggy cover of trees while Cy asked Noel for the map again.
“Why?” Noel’s face scrunched up in confusion as he handed it off.
“Because I saw a spot on it yesterday that I’m pretty sure is the only fair folk shrine left in-tact since it’s used by the Grand Capital. If we’re going to sacrifice anything, I promise you it’ll have to be there.”
Noel scoffed. “There’s no way in hell they’ll let us near that thing. We’re better off facing the two that are after us now and handing everything over.”
“Yeah, and what about me?” Cy scowled. “Look, Noel, I know you might want to just throw everything at them and be done with it, but there’s a reason why these places were erected. If we don’t do this right, they might spit in our faces. We need to make these deals as formal as fucking possible or else they’ll find a loophole to get us and the things we’re trading for free.” She waved the map at him before unfolding it on the handlebars.
Noel shifted and drummed on his knees. “So where is it? If it’s in the Grand Capital, we’re pretty much fucked.”
She shook her head. “It’s underground. That’s where they tend to dwell in our realm, so it’s dug into the other side of the mountain, facing the city. There’s a pilgrimage for it and everything.”
“And how do you know so much about this?”
Grey glanced up to Noel’s weary look.
She forced a heavy, begrudging sigh through her nose. “Because,” she said evenly, “I used to live in the slums outside of the Grand Capital. You hear a lot of shit over there, especially with all the fae-worshiping zealots…” Her fingertip landed on a point on the map right as she tilted it for Noel to see.
Noel raised his shoulders and bit his lip. “Do you happen to know how often it’s occupied?”
Cy pushed away some of her hair and folded the map back up. “They only use it weekly I think. Outside of that, it might be lightly guarded, but if we distract them or disguise ourselves as spoiled Grand Capital brats, we should be able to get in. No problem.” She half shrugged as she passed the map back.
“How the fuck are we going to get Grand Capital clothing without stepping foot in the city?” he asked, tugging the map from her hands. “I think our only option is to distract the guards, but even that’s risky.”
She sat a little straighter, her eyes lighting up. “But they wouldn’t bother guarding it at night. No one goes out at night unless they have a death wish right? That’s why we’ve been braving it. There’s no point in guarding the shrine if no one would be crazy enough to head straight into the single place most influenced by the fair folk in the dark.”
Hope welled up in Grey’s chest, even before Noel started to nod. “That… could work.”
“And,” Cy said, grinning, “we have someone that’s able to see in the dark.” She winked, and Noel huffed out a short breath of a laugh. “So, think we can make it by nightfall to end this?”
47
NOEL
Noel tried not to rock back and forth as he and Cy refilled the bikes. Every passing second turned into agony, especially knowing that they were right at the finish line. He stole a glance over at Grey, hunched over on the steps of the same cursed fuel depot he’d been taken from mere night ago, a glove on his lap as he examined his hand. Whatever had been there, he quickly covered up by the time Noel discarded the fuel can by the door. Going inside with the growing stench of decay didn’t sound like an experience he wanted to endure yet again.
“Are you okay?” Noel asked as Grey got up and dusted himself off.
