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As we go deeper into the cavern, I realize that along the walls steps have been carved into the stone. As I glance up, I see that nestled into the walls of glowing crystals are little caves. It almost looks like seeing the side of a beehive…well, for bees that can’t fly. There has to be twenty or thirty little caves, and based on the light radiating from them and the curtains covering most of the entrances, I get a sense this is where the beasts live.
“Cool,” I whisper under my breath.
Fluffy lightly touches my arm and gestures with his head to keep going. Where he touches me, it feels strangely warm. I look down, blinking at his fingers so lightly pressed against me.
He draws his hand back in a rush, as if I was bothered by his touch.
The truth is, I’m not sure if I was. But Iamconfused.His touch was almost…nice.
I push the thought away with anger. Rayne was my mate. My only mate. And he’s dead. No other man will ever make me feel the way he did. I will die alone, clinging to the love I feel for him, just like most fae who lose their mates.
My shadow beasts move forward in the direction Fluffy had indicated. We walk around the shadow beasts near the fire, all gazes drifting to me as their strange language goes silent. My beasts take me to a tunnel lined with more of the crystals on the walls, and this time they’re hurrying a bit ahead of me.
They probably know this is the last place I’m going to try to escape from. And they’re not wrong. I try to keep up with them until they lead us past a cave, and then I pause near the entrance and stare inside. There’s a man lying on the ground under a blanket woven from vines. He’s a warrior, big with long hair the color of honey and a body like the oak outside. Tall. Big. Broad. Unconscious. He’s not simply sleeping, but I don’t know why I’m so sure. His breaths come slow, not fatigued or labored, but not natural either. Maybe like he’s in a trance.
“Magic? A spell?” I whisper the questions to myself.
Tiny comes back to me and lifts a brow.
“Follow you, got it, got it,” I say with a sigh.
He leads me to a seat near, but not quite beside, the man’s head. I can look at him, and I’m close enough to touch him, but I keep my hands curled at my side. My gaze moves over the room. This looks almost like an archaic hospital room. There are shelves all over the room with little glass bottles filled with different herbs and liquids. And the scent in the room is definitely herbal too.
Daddy goes to one of the shelves and pulls several bottles down. He pours little bits from different bottles, then takes a stick and smashes them all together in a shell, before adding a small amount of liquid to the mixture. He carries the shell over to the fire, and sets in on a rock in the center. Within seconds, the liquid starts to smoke. The others move, and they form the points of a triangle around the large seashell before Daddy picks it back up.
Isn’t it hot? And why the hell is it smoking?
I can’t see the inside of the shell, but their heads bow over it, and they appear to be in deep thought or prayer to whatever deity they pray to.
It’s strange. At that moment, I’m absolutely fascinated by them, this place, and the unconscious man. This all feels like a puzzle I can’t quite figure out, but I’m determined to solve. So even if they weren’t between me and the door, I still wouldn’t have run. I’m invested now. I have to see, at least, this part through.
A flash of super dark smoke rises from the shell, and a gasp slips past my lips as I lean forward, trying to figure out what the hell is going on. The beasts have joined hands, and they chant a strange humming sound punctuated by a grunt. More smoke rises and I can’t look away, not even when Fluffy hands me the shell. There’s a liquid of some sort inside of it and he motions to my mouth and lifts the shell toward me.
“You want me to drink it?” I give a glance at the dark brew, then give it a sniff. The drink neither looks nor smells like something I want to drink. “No.”
But he holds it out again, arms extended, nods, and pushes it toward me.
“No thanks,” I say slowly, narrowing my eyes.
In response, Tiny and Daddy come up behind Fluffy and cross their arms, all leveling me with a look I easily recognize. This is the same look one of my dads would give me if they were one hundred percent certain I needed to do something, and my dads weren’t going to bend. Like if I refused to go to school, or if I climbed up too high and they wanted me to come down.
For some reason, the look makes something inside of me calm. My stepdad never gave me this sort of look. One minute he’d be sitting on the couch flipping through TV channels, and the next he was breaking my ribs. People who gave looks like this wanted to give you a chance to do the right thing on your own.
But if I ignore this look? I have no idea what would happen next, because I always obeyed my dads when they were the only ones who pulled out this look.So, do I really want to find out what the consequences are for disobeying? Here? With these three huge men?
Nah.
“Fine.” Not because I want to, but because Ihaveto.
I stare down at the smoking liquid and swallow hard, willing myself to just get it over with. Reaching out, I take the shell. Instantly, a vibration moves through my hands, and I almost drop the shell. Somehow, I manage to cling to it, then lower my head andreallystare at the liquid. My thoughts feel strange. My mind has locked onto the liquid, and it’s like nothing outside of it exists.
A force, not part of myself, compels me to bring the shell to my lips. A force I’m powerless to say no to. And before I know what I’m doing, I’m drinking it.
It tastes acrid, like smoke smells, but I consume every drop of it and swallow even when I only want to spit it back out. My stomach rolls, my head swims.Damn it, I’m probably going to die.I need air, to breathe deep and fill my lungs with as much oxygen as I can manage to pull in. But the walls of the cave waver, like a flag in a breeze. They snap and distort, and fear and anguish burn through me.
My chest heaves as I stagger, then fall into the wall.
One of the beasts grabs my hand and pulls me through the cave to a tunnel that leads deep into the darkness. I try to pull away. The last thing I need to do is to get stuck in the dark with this big guy, but the blonde leads and the other two each grasp one of my arms in their cold hands. Or maybe they feel so cold because my skin is on fire. I can’t tell because I’m no longer in my body but watching from above it.
