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“He’s with them?” Rafferty asks, stepping forward.
“Oh, yes.” Fin’s sadistic grin bears no joy. “He is tracking us with them. Should we finish them off? From what I hear, you could do it with a word.”
Rafferty goes completely still. I don’t know how, but even from where I’m standing, I can feel his nerves, the turmoil rushing through him. Which, of course, makes no sense. Why the hell can Ifeelhim? “I cannot do that.”
“I heard the rumors of what you made Joaquin do in that forest. They spread through Faerie like wildfire. You could take him out with a single word, Rafferty. One word and this whole thing is over.”
“No.”
“Why the bloody hell not?”
“Because I will create something much worse than Taranus if I continue accessing that magic.”
“What?”
Rafferty steps forward, his hands clenched into fists. “Me.”
“Time to go, boys,” Heelean says, stepping between them. She gestures for me, so I move toward them as well, and she touches both Fin and Rafferty. “Put your hands on them.”
I do, and the world falls away.
Fourteen more times we move that way. No one speaks a word as we land, walk for at least a mile, then leave again. Over and over again.
Whatever herb she’d given me managed to last for most of it, but as the ground returns beneath my feet once more, my stomach heaves.
“We must walk now. The Cursed Forest does not allow any magic to be used within its boundaries.”
“Cursed Forest? We’re back here?”
“We are.” She loops her arm through mine and guides me into the tree line. The moment we step into it, she shivers.
“What is it?”
“The trees and ground here are full of iron. It is why we tend to avoid it.”
“Iron.”
“Fae cannot tolerate it. The iron blocks our magic.”
“So why are we here? Isn’t it dangerous?” I glance back at Rafferty, who is lingering a few yards behind me.
“It would be far more dangerous to not be in here right now.”
“Will it help him?” I ask, hoping she understood.
“For a time. Though the dark magic will eventually eat away at the last of his soul.”
I gasp, recalling the few times I witnessed Rafferty losing control. If he were to be permanently out of reach, he would be unstoppable. Especially since he can force anyone to do whatever the hell they want with little more than an uttered order.
“Do you fear him?” she asks. When I don’t respond, she taps my hand. “He cannot hear you in here, lass. The iron blocks our enhanced senses, as well.”
“I’m not scared of him because I’ve seen so much worse.” The truth behind those words surprises even me. If I’d met Rafferty before Taranus, I can’t say for sure that he wouldn’t have terrified me. A man, who is basically solid muscle, running around with the ability to force others to follow his every order? Absolutely terrifying.
No matter how sexy he is.
But compare the above to a man who will kill just as soon as smile, who forces a woman into marriage, only to rape her because he thinks she will make him king?
Very few monsters scare me worse than Taranus.
