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Flora Avias
The Periculian Forest, next morning
Isat up with a groan, gasping when I rolled forward and nearly fell off the tree limb beneath me. Thank the elements for my protruding stomach holding me back. I took a chance and looked down, swallowing bile when I couldn’t make out the forest floor below. My eyes slowly adjusted to the low light. The forest was so thick, I could scarcely see anything else but tree needles hanging over us in clumps that spanned the width of my mate’s wings. Where were we? I spun in Derrick’s arms. His legs and wings hung limply over the branch, the back of his head pressed against a massive tree trunk as he quietly snored. Dried blood matted his hair and stained his clothes. I picked more needles out of my tangled hair and brushed them off my smock. My smock? Why was I wearing tattered and coarse peasant clothes? I looked at my pale, freckled arm. This was not my skin. I was in a human’s body. A pregnant human. Hopefully, the girl whose body I mimicked was somewhere safe. I wondered why Derrick wasn’t disguised as someone else, but I briefly remembered changing him back after we’d snuck out of Tobias and Chara’s estate.
I shifted back into my body, the action taking several painful minutes. Shifting skins had been so much easier before my pregnancy. I smoothed a hand over my distended belly, regretting that after over thirty years of wedded bliss, I’d finally fallen pregnant in the heart of the darkest time in my country’s history. I regretted bringing my daughters into this world. Like me, they’d be hunted forever until my twin destroyed them, or they destroyed her.
I sniffled, wiping a fat tear off my cheek. Then I cursed when another needle poked my backside. I plucked the needle out of my skirt, alarmed to see it was as big as a blade. I swallowed back a knot of panic, for only the heart of the Periculian Forest had such large trees. It was also where the trolls lived. The primitive giants were known for eating humans and Fae alike. Why had Derrick flown us here?
I tensed when I thought I heard a man moaning somewhere below us. An icy tendril of fear wrapped around my spine when memories of yesternight slowly filtered into my mind. We’d narrowly escaped after Malvolia’s mages had killed Lord and Lady Inferni. I bit down on my knuckles to keep from crying out at the loss of our dear friends. What would happen to Chara and Tobias’s young sons? I wouldn’t put it past my evil sister to kill the children. And we’d just left them there. Guilt gnawed a hole in my gut as I struggled to recall what had led up to the attack.
I turned back toward my mate, shaking his shoulder. He woke with a start, smoke pouring from his fingers. He blinked at me a moment, and the smoke slowed to a trickle.
Derrick, what happened?I asked him through thought, afraid to speak aloud lest some predator hear us.
The look of hatred reflecting in his eyes turned my veins to ice.Malvolia found us.
My chest constricted so tight, I struggled for breath.Marius?
The hatred in his eyes turned to despair.Gone.
Biting down on my knuckles, I stifled a cry.No, he can’t be!
Derrick clutched my shoulders, his eyes hardening to stone.Flora, Malvolia got to him. It’s just you and me.
Marius couldn’t be gone. I refused to accept it, not when I still felt the pull of his soul to mine. I gave my other mate a pleading look.He can’t be.
Flora, you have to accept it. We need to flee far from Malvolia’s reach.He rested a warm hand on my belly.I must keep you and our children safe at all costs. It’s what Marius would’ve wanted.
I wanted to smack that look of pity from Derrick’s face.Why? Why would my sister do this to us?
His eyes lit with flame.Because she’s a wicked bitch, and if the prophecy is to be believed, one day one of our daughters will make her pay for her cruelty.
I grasped Derrick’s arm when another moan echoed through the forest.Who is that?
Frowning, he squinted at a branch below us.I think it’s the mind spinner.
I followed his line of sight, surprised to see an old man with a gray beard laying across one of the lower branches. Though it had been a few decades since I’d last seen the mage, I was still shocked at how much he’d aged compared to his brother.What happened to him?
I don’t know.Derrick scrambled to his knees as his wings snapped open.We have to get away from here.
I clung to him after he helped me to my feet.What about Thorin?
My mate swept me into his arms, a task that was getting harder the more my belly grew.He can crawl back into his hole for all I care.
Derrick, he was my friend.I clutched my throat, a wave of guilt washing over me.I think he saved us.
Derrick grimaced.Then he’ll understand why I need to get you to safety.
Before I could protest, Derrick flew us from one branch to another while ducking under thousands of sharp needles. I wanted to stop him, to tell him that we had to save my friend, too, but some deep-rooted voice warned me that Thorin was an even bigger threat than Malvolia.
* * *
Thorin
The Human Lands, deep in the Werewood Forest
Two months later
