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Fuck.I don’t want him in my head, but the damn man is too astute.
Cobar sits up from his pallet, leaning on his elbow and stares quietly. “We’re going to get her back, and we’re going to make sure she, and our children, are shielded from as much pain as we possibly ca–” His last word is cut off by a hiss of pain, and then we’re all grabbing our heads.
I push my magic forcefully out to the boundary surrounding our lands. The iron demons claws at it, thirsting to get in. Tempted by the life and the beauty in our lands. Lands they wish they could wreak havoc on once more. But power flows from all of us, and the boundary straightens until their attacks feel like little more than an irritant in the back of our minds.
“This will get easier with our mate,” Zane says, clenching his teeth.
We nod. There’s no doubt in any of our minds about that.
Cobar shakes himself, like it’ll shake away the headache pounding in the backs of our minds. “We’ll save her soon and return her to our sides.”
Of course we will, we don’t have a choice. She’s our bride and our future queen. We wouldn’t be worthy of her if we couldn’t rescue her. Besides, she’s Cassia. The girl from my childhood. The one who always made me laugh. The one I begged my father to keep around, to keep her grandmother working for me, and was dismissed. Even though I did the one thing I never did… cried and begged.
I see her as a young girl. Smart. Smarter than me. With the kind of smile that stole my heart and made all others dull in comparison. No matter what courts I went to, no matter the pretty fae I saw, no one compared to her and her smile. She made me… miss her, want her. I… ached when she wasn’t around, and that ache remained until the day I saw her in my room. The day she offered to bathe me.
It’s strange how much I regret telling her no. Maybe instead of all of this, that bath would have turned into her being in my bed, and her being in my bed might have turned into her taking my offer to heart. So that even with the complications, she wouldn’t have run away. Or sought for a dangerous way out.
Maybe. Or maybe the ache in my chest would have gotten worse, and I’d keep needing her at my side, while she needed nothing from me. I don’t know.
“When we get her back,” Zane whispers into the darkness.If, not when, “we’re going to have a different kind of family. One our kids can look back at with pride and love.”
I think of Cassia. I don’t know what our future holds, but I know it won’t be more pain. I won’t allow it. She, and our kids, if we have them, will be loved and safe. I swear it.
The fire crackles near us and embers slip into the sky, revealing everything that the fae hold dear. Nature. The cosmos. Everything that makes us feel small and insignificant. A feeling that intensifies as I think of Cassia somewhere out in the wide world, too far for us to reach. At least, for now.
ELEVEN
Cassia
There’s no sound out here except for the occasional rustling of leaves when a breeze whispers through the trees. It’s a beautiful fall day, and the leaves are golden in the setting sun. The cool air brushes against my skin, and this comfort is a relief: the perfect mix of cold and hot. The Fall Court has to be the most comfortable court to live in judging solely on weather. I close my eyes and take a deep, relaxing breath, enjoying the peace and quiet of the forest.
That peace is shattered by ear piercing screams. Every muscle in my body stiffens. It’s a child screaming, their voice filled with a kind of terror that chills me to the bone. I’m jolted by the sound, and my feet start moving.
Why am I running towards danger?I don’t have time to truly ponder that because I enter a clearing and see a bear. I shuffle to a stop. There’s more than just a bear here. I weave slowly around the trees as the scream comes again beneath the bear. A sound filled with a kind of terror I’m sure I’ve never felt in my life.
Then, I see him. A little boy with auburn hair and pale skin. Blood runs down his face, and the bear’s sharp teeth are inches from him.
The bear’s going to kill him!
I feel like my feet are chained to the ground. I can’t move. The bear is massive and dangerous-looking. If I go to help, chances are we’ll both be torn to pieces, but I can’t just leave this child to his fate.
The boy cries out again, then “father, father, please!”
My gut turns, and I look around.Where is his father?But I see no one. He’s all alone.
In the blink of an eye, three arrows whiz through the air and into the bear. Two hit its back and one its throat. I hold my breath and watch, hoping that’ll be the end of it, and not simply piss the creature off. Its roar turns into a gurgle, then it collapses in a heap, trapping the boy beneath it.
I hesitate, knowing the arrows belonged to someone. Perhaps his father, but certainly someone who has come to help. They’ll comfort him and get him patched up in a way that a stranger like me couldn’t.
Right?
The bloodied child screams again, wiggling until his upper body is free. He tries to free his feet from under the weight of the enormous bear, but seems unable to do so. I scan the forest, but no one is around.
I hear laughter. Faint at first, but as horses approach, it grows louder. A large man with red hair rides up, his head thrown back in laughter, along with the four other men who approach. They’re Fall Fae through and through, from their massive size, to the reckless energy that radiates off of them as a child struggles, injured.
I’m having the hardest time figuring out what’s so damn funny. This child needs medical care. There’s a gash that cuts through his face, nearly top to bottom, and who knew what other injuries I couldn’t see. Beyond that, he’s clearly terrified.
How can anyone laugh at this? And why was he out here all alone?
