He hobbles towards the door, and I shuffle behind him, keeping close.
Stan stomps after us, and the ground shudders beneath his sheer weight. “And don’t even think about coming back. Ye're barred, ye hear me? I never wanna see yer face in me tavern again!”
Tegwyn opens the door, and he doesn’t even bother looking back. “I’ll be crying myself to sleep.”
Stan mumbles more expletives, glad to see the back of us, I bet, and now we finally leave his accursed tavern.
The moment we’re outside, I round on Tegwyn, placing my hands on my hips. “What on earth was that outburst all about?”
He doesn’t look at me again, keeping his eyes ahead as he ambles towards the trees. But he hardly makes it two steps before he trips, face-planting the ground. “Fuck! That floor comes up fast.”
I kneel beside him, offering him my hand. The faerie regards it strangely, peering up at me with raised brows. “What is that?”
I sigh. “My hand. I’m helping you to your feet. You know, beingkind…unless kindness is a foreign concept for you?”
He sniggers, gripping my hand, and my heart hammers when his claws prick my palm. “Ha, clever.”
I help him to his feet, but he stubbornly pushes me away, insisting on walking himself. “I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not. What happened in there? What did he do to you?”
Tegwyn leans against the trunk of one of the giant redwoods, the mighty behemoth dwarfing him.
He eyes me curiously, a smirk growing on his impish face. “Why? Were you worried about me?”
I stammer, “N-no. I just—”
Before the sentence leaves my lips, he’s upon me, pinning me to the tree behind me. I don’t think he means to corner me; it’s a genuine misstep. Off-balance, he can barely walk straight.
Now, as close as we stand, I can smell the pine and woodsmoke on his breath. “Don’t fear, little Ivy. I’m Fae, I heal fast.”
We gaze into each other’s eyes, and I can’t rid the image of him dying from my mind. I don’t know what he must see on my face because his own countenance cracks, and then he moves away. “I’ll be all right. Luckily, that bald bastard stopped him in time.”
My eyes sting, and I can’t explain the emotions that come over me. I almost saw him die, and it disturbed me.
Even now, his eyes have lost their wicked shine.
“What did he do to you?” I whisper.
Tegwyn narrows his eyelids, scrutinising me carefully, looking for the right way to explain.
“Please, I can handle it.”
He sighs, breath clouding as he stumbles through the forest. “He stole my lifeforce.”
My heart cleaves in two. “Your lifeforce?”
“That’s right. If I had been human, I’d have died in seconds. He only took a few centuries from my lifespan, so there’s no need to worry. Fae live an awfully long time.Fartoo long, for my liking.”
I pause, and he glances over his shoulder. “Ivy?”
My heart pounds. Lord Valent can steal someone’s lifeforce by merely touching them? But he had touched me...
Does that mean…?
I shiver.
“W-whatwashe?”
