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Despite all the work I’d done with Endora to overcome the trauma of living with an abusive psychopath, I still had leaps and miles to go.
But I had to remind myself that Zen was not Agnan, and I would never live that life again. Now I had my mate.
What the hell did I know about mates? My experience with relationships had been strictly toxic. I only knew what Agnan had shown me, and none of that had been healthy. He had not been a lover or a father, but a guard who controlled and manipulated.
We fell back into a comfortable silence between us, the music playing lightly in the background until Zen’s phone rang.
“The Royal Guards,” Zen explained. “They’re looking for me.”
I eyed him. “Didn’t you tell Endora to handle them?”
“I did, but she’s obviously not doing a very good job. I have to turn off my phone and place a blocking spell on it, or they’ll track it.”
I didn’t argue. The plan wasn’t to be gone very long, anyway. By the time they assembled a team to come looking for us—or rather, for Zen—we would be on our way back. Endora could hold them off for a few hours.
“Will they alert Cyndella if you’re gone?” I asked as an afterthought.
“Not if they want to keep their jobs,” Zen snorted, pulling off onto one of the country roads. Even in the light of day, I recognized it.
We were getting closer now, and my pulse rushed at the sight.
In the light of day, the Locaza Forest was no less threatening, the trees just as dark and ominous, despite the almost overpowering sound of birdsong ricocheting through the trees.
Zen parked in a different spot this time, and I asked him why.
“Endora told me about another entrance, one that’s more accessible,” he explained.
“Accessible to what?”
He shrugged. “I have no idea, and neither does she. She only knows what she saw in your probe.”
“I still don’t understand how she saw any of this,” I moaned, climbing out of the parked black SUV.
“I’m not sure I understand how an enchantress’ powers work, either, Miri, but I do know that Endora is the best in Silverhold. I have the utmost faith in her visions—or whatever this is.”
Again, I wished I shared his confidence, but I didn’t speak my doubts aloud. Instead, I accepted one of the backpacks he had stored in the trunk, and together, we headed through the black tree line toward the forest interior.
Something loud chittered tauntingly nearby, another identical call mocking it.
“Lyrebirds,” Zen told me without slowing his gait. “They sound like chainsaws.”
“Not very aptly named, are they?” I muttered, glancing around for signs of movement.
But all the animals, loud as they were, remained well hidden in the shrubbery. I could feel their eyes on us, their animus at us being in their space.
“Is this triggering anything for you?” Zen asked after we’d walked for a few minutes.
I stopped in place and looked up, sunlight spilling through the tops of the impossibly high treetops. The tips of the black pines seemed to have leering faces, and for half a second, a fleeting spot of déjà vu rushed through me.
“Maybe?” I offered tentatively. “These trees…”
“What about them?”
But the moment had passed, and now I had nothing. I shook my head and bit on my lower lip. “I don’t know.”
“That’s okay. Let’s keep going.” He waved his hand, adjusting his own knapsack, and continued up the path.
Endora had been right about this entranceway. There was a decent pathway to allow us to walk without chopping through the brush with the machetes that Zen had brought along, just in case.
