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Fife just chuckled and reached for me, pulling me into a gentle hug. I went stiff at first, but when no pain or death followed, I relaxed against him, wrapping my own arms around his slender waist, feeling the surprisingly firm body beneath his clothes. He was warm and real, and he smelled like strong magic and some sort of spicy herb. And I absolutely refused to suck in a surprised breath when his magic-filled aura sparked against my own. "See?" that beautiful voice whispered in my ear, his silky black curls tickling my cheek. "Still alive."
I wanted to sigh at the way his nearness lit me up inside. My blush was still present as I pulled back, guilty at the way I'd wanted to linger, to enjoy being in this gorgeous man's arms. "Okay, I'm convinced," I said with a grin, refusing to comment on his earlier observations. "But what in the world are you doing wandering around out here alone?"
He arched a black brow at me, and his expression was once again filled with wry humor. "One could ask the same of you, mistress."
I sighed. "I was spying on the teams. Keeping tabs on how the last challenge was progressing." I held up a hand before he could tell me how dangerous that was and how I shouldn't have been in the woods alone. "I had magical protections, and my pooka. I have a healthy respect for the forest and the spirits that dwell here, and I was equipped with the same emergency flare charm the team leaders were given. It should have been perfectly safe. Or…at least an acceptable level of unsafe."
His bright green eyes watched me patiently, and I got the feeling that he already knew what I was about to say. "I wasn't expecting the danger to come from people. I was attacked. A group of males cast some sort of spell on Balefire, knocked me in the head, and left me alone in the forest to die." I threw my hands in the air and glared at the trees around me. "And the forest has been thwarting every attempt I've made to get back to the capital all day long! I swear it herded me here!"
I dropped my arms to my sides as I considered that for a moment. Had the Untamed Wood been trying to push me toward Fife all along? Maybe it had been protecting me after all, leading me to a friendly person. A highborn with powerful magic who probably stood a far greater chance of surviving if we were attacked by hostile creatures….
"It seems we've both been victims of the same sort of trouble," Fife said, shaking his head. "Since you've been spying, you'll know we were looking for moonsilver plants?" His voice was filled with humor, rather than accusation, and his eyes twinkled at the mention of my spying ways.
At my nod, he continued. "We found them. But they won't bloom until tonight's full moon." He gave me a shrug. "I can hardly fault you for taking what you considered a calculated risk in your duties to your employer, since my team and I were doing the same for the people of Elfhaven. We decided to risk spending tonight in the forest so we could return with some of the flowers. It seemed like the right thing to do. If we returned empty-handed, or with just a few leaves for proof, we might win the challenge. But what of the people who would sicken or die between now and when the royals were able to harvest the flowers? We decided we would stay and harvest them, risk returning late for the chance of saving lives with the harvest."
I nodded again. I had guessed that was what they would choose to do if the flowers weren't ready yet. The men of Raven team were too noble and selfless. Of course they would try to help as many people as possible, even if there was some risk to themselves. And they were in a group, so the effects of the wild moon might be less—or at least they stood a chance of keeping each other from getting into too much danger. Maybe.
"I understand," I said with a wry look of my own. "I would expect nothing less from Raven team."
He smiled at my praise, but his expression grew serious as he continued. "We were looking for the best place to make camp and wait out the moon madness when we were attacked. They cast a pooka spell on our mounts. We couldn't dismount as they bolted. We were held in place by magic that took too long for me to break. As far as I can tell, we were all carried in opposite directions and flung off. My griffin kept going after it dumped me." He shook his head. "I have no idea where it is now. Poor thing."
A pooka spell. I wasn't sure exactly what that was, but it sounded like it made the regular mounts behave like a wild pooka, who would often play tricks on the unsuspecting by shifting into horse form, luring a rider onto their back, then taking them on a wild ride to frighten and disorient their victims. If the magic my attackers had cast mimicked a pooka's wild ride in a normal mount, it was no wonder it affected Balefire in strange ways. It must have backfired somehow, but it still messed with his magic, made him take on all his animal forms at once.
"Assholes," I muttered bitterly.
Fife chuckled. "I agree. I was trapped on a spooked horse all night, unable to dismount, being battered by tree branches, and fearing every leap would be the one that finally took us over the edge of a cliff. I've spent most of today looking for my teammates and failing, hoping all the while that it's not because they're dead. Believe me when I say that I would really like to meet the people who did this."
Magic flared in Fife's brilliant green eyes, and for just a moment I swore I saw swirling violet markings appear on his face. I shivered in response. Something told me Fife was stronger than anyone knew. And I got the impression he had a temper hidden under those distractingly pretty looks.
I hoped I never angered him enough for that wicked ire to be turned toward me. But I secretly hoped he got to meet the idiots who attacked us. I wasn't usually such a bitter, vengeful thing, but it had been a long couple of days, and I was fed up. I wouldn't care in the least if he murdered the idiots who attacked us.
"You haven't been able to find the others?" I said tiredly.
Fife gestured behind him at a large rock, where it looked like he had ground up something green and painted sigils for a spell. That was probably where the herbal scent that clung to him came from. "I've been getting confusing results. But now I think I understand why." He smiled a genuinely cheerful smile then, and it was breathtaking. "It was trying to lead me to you. I think the forest and the magic here wanted us to find each other, above all else."
I shook my head. "If I hadn't just spent all day being manipulated by the woods myself, I might say you were crazy. But given my recent experiences…I think you're right." The forest had been trying to protect me. So much that it was messing with Fife's spells.
He tilted his head a little, studying me more intently, as if something had just occurred to him. I was about to ask him what he was thinking, but he turned away suddenly as the sigil he had painted on the rock flared to life. "Ah! See. Now that I've found you, the spell is working again."
He went and pressed his palm to the glowing symbol on the rock, and I watched in fascination as he transferred it to his own skin. When he lifted his hand, the rock was clean and unmarked, but brilliant green light glowed from his palm. "This way," he said as he headed off into the woods. "Let's find the others before it gets dark."
He glanced over his shoulder at me, and I met his eyes, knowing my own worries probably showed plainly on my face. Before it gets dark. Before the moon rises, he meant. Before every one of us lost our damned minds in this forest. I had meant to find their team this morning, make sure they were doing well, then hightail it out of the Untamed Wood well before moonrise. Fife’s green eyes bore into me, and I thought he would speak, but he seemed to change his mind at the last moment. Turning away again, he strode off, trusting me to follow.
A shiver of something lit through me. A premonition, maybe. Though I didn't usually get them, and I wouldn't know if that was what the feeling was until it was too late. I hurried after Fife, drawn to him like an unwary traveler to a will-o'-the-wisp, uncaring that he might be leading me right into danger. Much as I had with Bach during our previous encounters, I felt safe with this male. As if this was where I was meant to be.
Chapter 30
The spell on Fife's hand seemed to work similarly to the one I'd had on my ring to help me locate the various teams of competitors, except he turned it to his teammates with pure will and personal magic. It was incredible to watch, and I couldn't help but think how handy it might be, having a skilled magic user around with these sorts of tricks up his sleeve back home in Larkwood.
The luminous symbol on his palm glowed brighter in one direction versus the others, and he used it like a compass to guide us. "It seems Adder is closest," he murmured, eyes and attention on his spell. I kept pace with him, hoping we could find the others before the sun set. Already, the golden glow that filtered through the canopy of trees was taking on a deep orangish tint. We didn't have long before we'd need to hunker down somewhere and hope the wild forest around us didn't go entirely mad under the moon's influence.
I glanced down as I stepped over a fallen log, then looked up to ask Fife if he could tell how far away Adder might be. But my words caught in my throat as my eyes snagged on the vision before us. Fife had moved ahead of me as we made our way through a narrow spot on the suspiciously convenient deer path we were following. He came to a halt quicker than I did, and I bumped into him from behind, my hands coming up to grip his shoulders to steady myself. He didn't seem to mind my almost running him over, or my clinging to him. Which was fortunate, because I didn't seem to be able to move.
There on the path in front of us was the beautiful white stag I had seen before. The creature regarded us silently for a moment, then tossed its head and stepped off the path, the way opening magically before him as the dense underbrush parted. He looked back over his shoulder at us, then took another step, as if beckoning us to follow.
"He looked after me last night, I think," I murmured, afraid to break the spell of the forest around us.
"Then he's most likely here to help," Fife replied softly, a bit of humor slipping in around the awe in his pretty voice. "Though I doubt we have much choice in the matter either way."
