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My stomach drops with our descent, and then finally, the ground comes up. I fall to my knees, digging my fingers into the soft grass as I heave, bile the only thing coming out. “Just kill me already,” I groan.
Someone touches my back gently. “Not a chance of that, dear.”
I know that voice.“Heelean?” Hopeful, I look up and into the kindest golden eyes I’ve ever seen.
“Good to see you, lass.” She gently rubs circles on my back with one hand then offers me a green leaf with her other. “Eat this. It will help ease the nausea.”
I don’t question, just take the thing and put it in my mouth. The minty leaf immediately begins to work, and the muscles in my stomach finally stop spasming.
“How did you escape?” Rafferty asks.
“Not happy to see me, then?”
He sighs. “Of course, you know that’s not true.”
Heelean smiles. “I know, dear. It appears that when you killed Lloren, the spell work binding me to my tower collapsed as well. I left shortly after I imagine you did, been looking for the two of you everywhere. Wasn’t until Fin here put out the word that I hoped to find you.”
“We cannot stay here long,” Fin says. “We need to get moving.”
“Why do we keep going everywhere? Surely they aren’t tracking us.” My words are barely above a whisper, and all three fae turn toward me.
“They can track our magic,” Fin explains. “Which is why I left you both in the water. In doing so, I was able to trick them into thinking we’d, left then looped back to get you again.”
“Ember nearly died. She is not fae.”
“I got that after I pulled you back out,” he retorts, then turns to me. “I truly am sorry, Your Majesty.” He bows, and I want to hurl all over again.
Especially when I note the darkness in Rafferty’s gaze. Something Heelean seems to pick up on, too, if her expression is any indication.
“Please, just Ember. Not Your Majesty, or Queen. I’m neither of those things.”
“Yet,” Fin replies with a hopeful smile. “Meena believed we’d find you. That you and Raffe—”
“Hush, Fin. Can’t you see the girl has been through enough?”
“Yes, mother.”
“Mother? This is your son?”
“Oh, no,” she chuckles. “Not in blood, at least. Finley was very close friends with my Fearghas, though, weren’t you?”
“Thick as thieves,” he replies. “Now, can we get moving?”
“Yes.” Rafferty looks to the sky then to the tree line. “Why in the bloody hell did you bring us here?”
“Where are we?” I ask, turning in a slow circle. To be honest, it looks exactly the same as everywhere else we’ve been.
“We are standing in front of the Cursed Forest.”
Snorting, I turn to Heelean. “You guys literally have a forest that is called Cursed?”
“That we do,” she says, darkly. “And it is exactly as it claims to be.”
“Then why the hell would we go in there?”
“Because it’s the last place Taranus will look for us,” Rafferty explains, even as he glares at Fin. “It’s rather brilliant, really.”
“We need somewhere to hide, at least, until Taranus loses our trail.”
