I bit into another berry. Its decadent flavor coated my tongue, but once again, my attention returned to the warrior. A flash of his lips crossed my mind. The way he’d kissed me. The delicious way he’d smelled.
But I shoved those memories off as quickly as they came and instead focused onwhyI’d met him at all. It made no sense that Kole was this deep into the Wood when no unrest was occurring.
But I quickly brushed that thought off, too, and finished eating. My concentration needed to be on traveling as fast as I could.The Stone. Find the Stone.That was what mattered. Not Kole Swordwielder.
I crossedinto Stonewild Kingdom in the late afternoon. Since Whiteolf wasn’t overly far from the border, it hadn’t taken as long as I’d feared it would to reach it.
And the second I crossed the border, long before any signs appeared noting the new kingdom, magic alerted me. Heady power filled the invisible barrier that separated Mistvale from Stonewild. Land that had once bred mental powers now birthed shifters.
I tried not to feel uneasy about traveling into a new kingdom, and I reminded myself of the promise I’d made to myaunt. Stay safe. Be smart. Don’t alert others to my arrival. And I intended to make good on that promise. Given that Stonewild wasn’t overly welcoming to fae from other kingdoms, it was best that I did so.
I traveled steadily for the entire day and did my best to stay obscure, but twice in the afternoon, I witnessed several altercations between other fae, and in the early evening I was positive that two males were following me.
Once I realized that, I zoomed along the road as fast as I could, then crashed into ahideabims,using the illusionary plant to hide.
Thankfully, that worked, and the two creeps passed by.
I kept up my swift pace for three full days, and other than the two bastards that had tried to kill the wildling mother and the two creepy fae who’d been following me, the worst thing I’d had to deal with was a nasty rash that had sprouted on my skin thanks to the hideabims bush I’d hidden in. But at least the two creepy males were long gone.
I rubbed the lock of Goddess Nuleef’s hair as early morning moonlight illuminated the road in front of me on the morning of my fourth day. Sleepiness made my eyes heavy, but my fingers moved over her hair in a rhythmic pattern. It’d become a habit to caress it. For whatever reason, I found the action soothing.
I settled in for another long day of traveling, and felt thankful that my rash had finally cleared which made sitting cross-legged tolerable again. But abruptly, goosebumpssprouted on my skin. Just as fast, a low growl rose from the Wood.
My carpet continued on its course, but I grew stock still.
The growl was distant, not at the road’s edge, but my magic instantly went on high alert. Even more so when I realized that was theonlysound I’d heard. The Wood had gone entirely silent.
Not good.
Automatically, my hand slipped into my boot, and I pulled out my dagger. Using my magic, I stretched my senses out around me to assess the area more.
Dozens of consciousnesses strummed back to me. Wildling fae and animals were everywhere, some sleeping, others awake, but all of them weresilent.
Another growl came, but it was quieter than the first, as if whatever had made that sound, had moved farther away.
I stretched my magic more, and the second I did, I alighted on a complex consciousness that was clearly siltenite and...familiar.
My brows scrunched together as Kole Swordwielder’s magic pulsed faintly toward me. He was out there, right now, deep in the Wood. And from the feel of it, he was moving steadily away.
“What in the realm?” I whispered.
Apparently, the warrior hadn’t retreated to another area of the kingdom after all. Instead, he was still in the Wood, still near where I traveled.
I recalled how he affected me when we first met. My response to him had been so heightened, sovisceral. I’d been certain the Stone had begun to affect me adversely, as it’d done to Abel, but since that time I’d returned to acting normally. My thoughts had cleared, my responses had been what they’d always been, but now...
My breath caught in my throat, and my magic tracked him, memorizing his signature flavor that made following his location easier, but when he moved over a mile away, I stopped my curious stalking.
He was obviously doing something. What, I had no idea, but just as fast, I realized that the sound of the Wood had awoken again. Wildlings chattered. Birds tweeted. Animals snuffled and moved along the forest floor.
The sun crested the horizon, and I finally calmed my magic completely.
Still, I was stumped and slightly concerned at my vivid interest in the warrior. I needed to keep my thoughts clear if I was to save my uncle.
Frowning, I hurried away and continued my travel north, knowing that Kole Swordwielder was falling farther behind me, and I tried as hard as I could not to wonder what the Imperial Warrior was up to now.
On the eveof my fifth day traveling, a bitterly cold wind descended from the north. I’d been steadily following the seekerill’s direction and could only hope I was on the right path, because one thing had become entirely apparent. The seekerill wanted me to go north. Far north, it would seem. Which meant cold and snow.
However, the one saving grace was that most fae weren’t searching where I was. I’d inquired with several wildlings the previous evening to learn what they knew, and among their far-reaching chatter, I’d learned that most siltenites were scouring the eastern shores for the Stone.
