AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Or we can just hire the servants at the palace,” he suggested, half-joking.
I swatted at him playfully and cuddled back to him, my shoulders pressed to his broad chest, his arms wrapped tightly around my waist as he straddled me from behind.
Every so often, a cool breeze would waft up from the lake, a loon call echoing across to remind us that we weren’t alone out there, but it played to my ears like a symphony, not a distraction.
“This is so peaceful,” I mumbled, taking in the billions of stars overhead.
“Isn’t it?” he murmured, kissing the top of my head. His voice sounded thick, sleepy.
“We’re only staying for a day?”
“We’ll see,” he yawned, his arms loosening around my upper body. “Maybe we’ll move out here.”
I chuckled, but a yawn punctured my own laugh, an exhaustion creeping over me. The glow of the fire began to look hazy as my eyelids drooped.
“Maybe we should get to the tent before we fall asleep here,” I suggested, feeling Jace’s breathing deepen underneath me. Jace didn’t reply, and I raised my head, an odd headiness overtaking me. “Jace?”
His head dropped to the side, face paler than usual.
I shook him lightly. “Jace,” I mumbled, my words coming out thicker and more slurred. My vision grew wavier. As if in slow motion, I turned my head to look for Llyodiver, but my sight was too blurred.
All the others milling around were indistinguishable from one another, the strangers from the Royal Guards.
“Llyodiver!” I called out, but the name stuck in my throat as I struggled to keep my eyes open. The drink in my hand tipped, my fingers losing their function, and the sticky, red juice spilled over the blanket. “Jace!”
I fought to keep my eyes open, to wake up my mate, the understanding of what was happening shocking me to the core.
We’ve been drugged! Ebonleaf! Warlock herb! Lysandra has been watching all along!
I screamed at myself, trying to move my body in retaliation, but the effort was futile. Whatever was in the drinks was far too strong, already dragging me unconscious as fast as it had Jace.
Use magic! Put yourselves in a ring of protection before they can come for you.
But it was far too late for any action. I was incapacitated again. I’d let my guard down, and Lysandra had jumped all over it.
“Miss?” someone called out to me. “Miss, are you all right?”
I couldn’t tell if he was jeering at me or genuinely concerned, if he was in on it or wanted to help. But there was no way to convey that we were in serious trouble.
“They’re out,” I heard someone else say with a low chuckle. “We should get them to bed.”
The world darkened around me, but inside, I still screamed. I feared that I would never open my eyes again.
Chapter 15
Jace
The bitter nut smell of freshly brewing coffee roused me from the deepest sleep I had ever had in my life. Immediately, I reached for Elix’s naked form by rote, mumbling good morning, as I always did.
But when my hands touched an unfamiliar woolen blanket, and my body ached against the hardness of my bed, I suddenly remembered I wasn’t at Goldhaven Palace. I blinked against the hazy dawn light inside the glamorous yurt and stared across the bed for Elix’s sleeping figure.
I lay alone in the bed.
Vaguely confused and nursing a mild headache, I sat up fully, looking down at my clothing. I wore the same tracksuit I’d had on when we’d arrived.
How did I even get into bed?
I tried to recollect the moments leading up to being in the yurt. Elix and I had been lying in one another’s arms by the fire, after a delicious supper of roasted potatoes and vegetables with melted goat cheese.
