From the edges of her vision, she caught motion, Zara’s fingers gripping the bars, Gavril’s shoulders coiled and ready, Rachel standing at the far back of her cage, eyes flaring green in the dim light.Aphid hadn’t moved, but tension rolled from the fae’s form in subtle waves.Every one of them prepared for something to go wrong.
And it would.Because whendidn’tit?Kara had an extensive amount of examples of things going wrong since Peri and her merry band had entered her life.So, she should be prepared for anything.Unfortunately, she was still sure there were surprises that life was going to smack her in the face with, and it would most likely feel like being hit with a shovel.Something to look forward to, no doubt.
“Do not worry, he will be here.”The Troll King lifted one enormous hand toward her cage.The bones in his wrist cracked audibly as he extended a finger thicker than her wrist.
Nick lunged.The clang of iron on iron exploded through the chamber, and the entire line of cages rattled.His cage door bowed under the force, the bars leaving dents in his palms.“Don’t.Touch.Her.”
The sound carried enough menace to make three nearby trolls snarl and step back.
The king paused, turning only his head to regard Nick.For a long, stretched heartbeat they simply stared at one another, predator to predator, the space between them pulsing with violence waiting for permission.
Then the Troll King smiled.And sweet hell, it wasn’t friendly.
“Such loyalty,” he said, voice nearly a purr.“It will make this more interesting.”
Kara’s stomach dropped.Yeah.Thatword again.Never good.
“Define interesting,” she said quickly.“Because I feel like your definition and mine are wildly different.”
He ignored her.Which was rude but also, at this point, entirely on brand.
His gaze swept over the rest of the cages: Wadim with his historian calm, Zara tracking every movement with a low growl in her chest, and Gavril’s jaw flexing as if he was counting down heartbeats.Aphid didn’t even bother to mask his distaste; his silver-blue irises were bright enough to cast faint reflections on the iron bars.
“You come into my realm,” the king said, raising his voice so it filled the cavern, bouncing off the wet walls, “speaking of peace.Of alliance.”He bared teeth the color of weathered ivory.“And yet you bring chaos with you.”
Kara blinked.“Excuse me?We literally just got here.”
“No,” he said, snapping his gaze back to her.The impact felt physical.“You brought it with you.”
The words hit harder than they should have, slicing clean through her smart-mouth armor.
She frowned.“Okay, now that just feels personal.”
But something had started to shift.It was under her feet at first, subtle as a heartbeat beneath the earth.Then a hum followed, low and strange, brushing butterfly-light against the edges of her senses.Magic, but wrong somehow.Suddenly, a fae male appeared, flashing into the cave, apparently not having the same issues that Aphid had.His bright, green eyes collided with hers and narrowed as he stared her down.
Her breath snagged.She heard Aphid’s voice, probably attempting to interact with the fae but she couldn’t distinguish what he said.She was too busy focused on something just beyond…
There it was again.
That feeling.
Her hand dropped to her stomach without conscious thought, palm flattening as if she could press the sensation out of existence.The hum thickened, threading through the air, the cages, the very bones of the cavern.It wasn’t just her; she could tell by the way dust stirred along the floor and the torches guttered.Not a surface-level wrong.A deep, pulsing wrong.Like something was being drained.
Don’t react.Don’t react.Don’t?—
“You feel it, don’t you?”
Her head snapped up.
The Troll King’s gaze had sharpened to a knife’s edge.His nostrils flared, tasting the air between them.It wasn’t the King who’d spoken.It was the fae.And he looked like heknewsomething.
Crap.She forced a shrug.“Feel what?The overwhelming urge to redecorate this place?Because yeah, we should definitely start with the cages.”
Several trolls shifted, shoulders bunching, deep grumbles rippling through the dark.
Nick made a strangled noise that might have been a laugh if it weren’t layered with threat.
The Troll King didn’t share the joke this time.
