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ChapterEleven
Vori pushed past the fear and frustration choking her.Catching the killer would have to wait.Perry’s safety from this so-called queen’s guard came first.
“What now?”He sounded far too calm facing down the warriors.
She didn’t wait for the sister of a pretender queen to spout off more orders.“We go to the castle.”
“Highness, the witch, your consort—can he keep up with our goblin speed?”Mykata sounded as though she knew he couldn’t, as though she would take any reason to shove Perry through the portal.
“I’ll bring him.”In her goblin form, Vori could carry five of him, and she’d still be faster than the guards.“If my consort agrees.”Because she needed his consent.He’d claimed to accept her green skin, but they hadn’t practiced touch.Maybe they should’ve.If she could’ve pushed past her fears of seeing her father in her goblin reflection.If they’d had more time.If they’d had fewer enemies to outrun and plots to stop.
“Why not.”Perry sounded over-it-already bored.“I’ve crossed realms.What’s one more adventure tonight?”
This man.Her consort.Her husband.She couldn’t have chosen better.“It might be fun.”
“Then I’m definitely in.”No one would miss the naughty insinuation in his voice.
Not wanting to risk his powers sparking in front of the guards, she stretched her hand toward him and waited.They had to make being a true mated couple look real.“Let’s show them how it’s done.”
Perry took her hand and pulled her close in a lover’s embrace.“Ready when you are.”
His words, his actions rocked her.She breathed in the scent of him, soap and man and the buzz of lightning before a storm.The crackle of energy lay just beneath his skin, racing toward her without displaying anything more than an electrical tension between them.An almost tangible sexual tension.
Which was part of their “pretend couple” act.
The excitement fizzled.He’d been so convincing, she’d forgotten this was all fake.Not that she could risk an actual attraction to her temporary husband.They had enough complications without the added worry of a one-sided chemistry.
Mykata tipped her head toward the deepest part of the woods.“The western gate of the castle—”
“I remember how to get home.”Vori wouldn’t let this goblin treat her like less than a golden-born princess.Giving up anything now might cost Perry his freedom, his life.
“Of course.”Mykata didn’t sound the least bit chastened.
“Try to keep up, Captain.”Vori twisted so Perry’s chest pressed against her back.She pushed down the sensations that tickled along her skin and told him, “Don’t let go.”
He hugged her tight.“Never.”
Vori threw herself into a sprint, keeping her hold on Perry and angling so that he had no choice but to be carried along.Warmth flooded her at the steadiness of his touch on her goblin green, but she told herself it was only the run, not heat surging through her at finally having someone outside her adopted family accept her goblin side.
The wood streaked by in long flashes of white and gray, desolate spindly trunks of the trees that had once been massive and majestic.She slowed when the cliff’s edge where the earth gave way to the river below, where her mother had been stabbed, where she’d fallen to her death.The rushing waters had always been a drowning roar, but now they were silent as if in tribute to their dead queen consort.She couldn’t stay here, or she would lose herself in grief.
Racing even faster, dry ground crunched beneath her feet.She slid through the slick rot of fallen leaves.The stink of decay and decomposition stung her nose, bitter and caustic.The stench grew the closer they came to the castle.Whatever was killing the woods, its center lay at her former home.
Within minutes, they stood outside the heavily fortified walls that guarded the castle’s back gate.
“That was superhero levels of awesome,” Perry said against her ear.“So much better than teleportation.”
“When did you—?”The truth hit her before she finished the question.“The Revelare.”
“The mother of all demons doesn’t exactly travel commercial.”He didn’t let go, wrapping his arms around her—solid and strong.“You okay?”
She inhaled, taking in the dry ground and rocks where crops had grown and animals had roamed.“A lot has changed.These woods had songbirds, animals, spirits.Now, it’s so quiet.”Except for the hollow creak of dead branches.“This world is dying.”
“Your realm dying doesn’t seem like a strictly science situation.”
“Magic?”
He stepped beside her, glanced at her face, and frowned—hopefully not from remembering what she looked like.With him sounding so excited about nearly flying over the ground, she’d almost forgotten she was in goblin form.Almost.
