I drop the blades just as I duck between the bushes. The crowd cheers dully until they’re nothing but an echo in my mind. At first, the forest is silent. Nothing but the sound of my heavy breaths. My eyes burn with unshed tears.
I look up to find the dark thicket around me. My hands are clean. My blades are still strapped to me. A shadow catches my attention. I whirl around. A few feet away, between the trees, stands a human-sized black snake. It wears a face that’s young and old at the same time. Human, but the eyes…they’re snake.
“You.” I breathe out the words.
Me, Lorca purrs inside my mind, amused.
You’re responsible for this?Anger rises inside me.What the fuck?
A slim black forked tongue peeks through the rose lips of the trickster god materialized. My skin crawls with unease.
Testing the waters, Lorca says.
I thought we had a deal, I say.
Indeed.The trickster god doesn’t argue. It only further frustrates me.It doesn’t prevent me from pushing the boundaries.
It chuckles inside my mind.
I hadn’t thought Lorca would try and interfere with my journey. It’s my mistake. I assumed the presence in my mind was as far as it would go until I fulfilled my side of the bargain.
I grew too comfortable with the enemy inside my own head.
Lorca cackles again. Its tail brushes over my mind.The only enemy in your head is you, Phoenix Wildarrow.
I ignore their words.Where’s Jax? What did you do to him?
The snake cocks its head to the side.I’m not the only god roaming these forests.
I blink, and the snake in front of me is gone. Lorca has vanished from my mind, too. An owl hoots somewhere. Another hoot. A bird chirps somewhere close behind me.
Gods damn it!
Kazh has said Lorca’s not the worst of the damn spirits of the gods.
I need to find Jax. I can’t…I can’t lose him.
I close my eyes and take a couple of deep breaths. His heartbeat is strong in my chest. I open the door and reach for our bond. It’s not as fuzzy as before. Slippery, though.
Jax used it before to track me down.
I will do the same.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
JAX
The soft chirping of birds rouses me from sleep. A gentle breeze caresses my cheeks.
Wait.
It’s not a breeze.
“Good morning, sunshine,” a familiar voice drawls.
The sound of her voice is music to my ears. I could listen to her speak and sing all day long.
I smirk and reach for her without opening my eyes. She gasps as I throw her into the bed with me and roll over so she’s beneath me.
