Page 71 of Bound to Three Fae Beasts

Seeing him approaching, clearly searching for me, made me bolt down the wall. A large tree stood at the corner, and if I could get there, I knew there was a small hollow beneath the roots where I could slip into yet another secret tunnel.

Just as I reached the edge of the wall, my hold on the skimmed form slipped. It was too late to stop myself and I threw myself forward. I was fully human as I slammed into the leafy branches of the tree. A sharp stabbing shot up my thigh as I flailed, trying to grab something. Twigs and leaves broke off in my hands as I dropped to the ground.

The air was driven from my lungs. Pain flashed through my back and stomach, then settled into my chest so deeply I couldn’t breathe. I struggled, trying to regain control of my body, but nothing would move.

“Azriel?” Seb’s voice called. Then he cursed, and the next thing I knew, he was leaning over me. One of his hands pressed to my sternum and a warmth spread from the spot. Great, even when I was dying, I had to feel this way?

The warmth soothed the pain, and I realized it was magic. He was healing me. When I could finally pull in another breath, he pulled back.

“What happened?” he looked up, then back down at me. “Were you climbing the tree?”

That was a better explanation than I was on the wall, which I’d never be able to do if I wasn’t a cat. “I was trying to get away from you.”

Seb helped me sit, then leaned back on his heels and narrowed his eyes at me. Oh, he was glaring at me? After stalking me for the past few days, he was going to glare?

I started to try to stand, but fresh stabbing pain stopped me. I glanced down to find a sizable branch sticking into my calf. The sight made my stomach lurch and I had to look away, breathing deeply to keep myself from vomiting.

“Give yourself a moment to rest,” Seb said, shifting himself down. He started to gently probe the area where I’d been stabbed. “It’s not deep, but it will hurt to pull out.”

“How did you find me, anyway? I was invisible,” I added. I had yet to hold onto invisibility for any length of time, but it was good enough.

Seb glanced up at me again. “You can turn invisible. That explains it.”

“Explains what?”

“Why I couldn’t see you. You should know that your scent isn’t masked when you’re invisible.” He tapped his nose. “I sniffed you out. Your scent … has been all I can think of since the Assay.”

A shiver went down my spine and sat in my belly. The way he said it, low and intense, sounded like a confession.

He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and folded it into a triangle, then flipped it over a few times so it was a long, thin bandage. As he wound it around my leg and the stick, securing it in place, his hands were steady.

“What did you use on me?” He didn’t look at me when he asked the question. “What did you to do to me so that I can’t stop thinking about you? Why is your beast form so similar to mine? What did you do?”

Despite the accusation, there was an undercurrent to his words, almost like a plea. It made the shivers grow stronger inside of me. His hands remained on my legs, sending warmth into them. The pain eased, even with the stick still lodged in my calf.

“I didn’t do anything. At least, not on purpose,” I whispered.

Seb pulled back from me. “Not on purpose?”

His voice hardened, and I had to fight back a flinch. No, I hadn’t skimmed his form on purpose. I hadn’t started to have these feelings on purpose. I didn’t know what any of it meant. If he was going to start accusing me of using magic on him, I wasn’t going to listen to it.

“That first time Lotmas made us duel, you accused me of pulling a trick on you,” I said. “I don’t know where that spark came from—” I realized too late that the spark might not have been what he was referring to. I grimaced, then pushed on. “And I don’t know what trick you were talking about. So, if this is just going to be a continuation of that, you can leave me alone. I don’t know.”

He rubbed his hands over his face, never breaking eye contact with me. “Because you’re half-fae.”

I huffed, annoyed that he had to bring that up again.

“And you were raised among humans. You know nothing about our world,” he continued.

“I’m not sitting around here for you to insult me,” I ground out, and started to pull myself to my feet.

Seb leaned forward. “Azriel—”

“That’s Miss Azriel. If you insist on your title, I’ll insist on mine, as unimpressive as it is,” I spat at him. I used the tree to leverage myself onto my feet. The throbbing in my calf worsened, but I tried to ignore it, despite how my vision started to sway. I wasn’t too far from the Alegro room. If I could get there… “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go do some homework.”

Seb straightened. He gestured for me to walk.

I hesitated. Was he going to follow me? I rolled my shoulders back and took a step. My leg buckled out from beneath me instantly, but Seb caught me before I’d fallen very far. He swept me up, one arm beneath my butt and the other around my shoulders. I threw my arms around his neck out of instinct.