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“You’re coming with me?” My spirits lift. The idea of facing the fae king alone made me shudder. Levi understands the people of Frostacre better than anyone in the family.
He loops his arm through mine as we follow the others back into the forest. “Do you really think I’d leave you to face him alone? He cursed my family. The guy’s a major dick.”
I smile at his assessment, never expecting those words out of my mild-mannered friend’s mouth.
The surrounding forest differs from the ones near the cabin. Tall pines stand close together, while shorter bushes pepper the floor, making it difficult to see too far ahead. Animals and birds alert us to their presence with squeals and the occasional flutters from the bushes. Darkness creeps along the ground, providing perfect shadows for a predator in hiding. Every noise has me on edge as my fingers grip a dagger in my pocket, ready for an attack.
“Chill, Mari.” Bastian falls back to walk beside me as Levi walks with Grayson, but I can’t help but notice his attention remains on the woods. “The Supes won’t bother us at this time of day.”
“And what about the beasts?” I hold my dagger in front of me. When I was a child, my father told me stories about giant cats and wolves roaming the forests of the wilderness.
“You mean the ones I eat for breakfast?” The corner of his lip lifts as he looks at me to gage my reaction.
I stick my tongue out at him. He should know better than to mock my fear. In my short stint in the wilderness, a werewolf killed someone right in front of me, a vampire tried to attack me, and a fairy kidnapped me and poisoned an innocent fae.
Out of view of the others, he slides a hand along my lower back, reassuring me.
“I’m more concerned about Cirrus. What if I’m not able to distract him, and he senses the three of you?” Flashbacks of Quinn flattening Levi with the touch of his hand still rattle me.
His hand slips from my lower back to my hip, squeezing before he releases me. “You worry too much. There’s what…” He holds up his hand and counts out each finger. “Five of us and like hundreds of them? No problem.”
Bastian’s lighthearted approach to my upcoming appointment with the king of the Unseelie Court does nothing to ease my worries. Without a miracle, there’s no way the five of us will make it out alive.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Alittle past noon, stone cottages pop up with a canopy of trees still shading the road from high above. A man watches us as he adjusts his horse’s saddle. Two children squeal, chasing one another and crossing the path a hundred yards ahead of us. Chickens peck at feed in the grass. They ignore the five strangers walking past them.
We cross over a bridge with a babbling brook beneath it, leading into a town made completely of stone. Small cottages and two-story buildings make up Tenny Rocks. A wooden sign creaks on a storefront, hanging by a nail and squeaking every time the breeze blows. Unlike the man with his horse, the people in the town don’t appear bothered by us, going about their everyday lives.
Grayson leads us to a building with a sign reading “Tenny Rocks Inn.” Light blue shutters line each window, giving it a homey feel. A fenced-in courtyard stands to the right where customers sit at tables talking, eating, and drinking. Fiddle music drifts from somewhere behind the structure, playing a familiar tune I heard once-upon-a-lifetime ago.
I follow Bastian into the inn, grateful to interact with humans who aren’t Avrenians or my family. Their life in the wilderness reminds me more of the way I grew up: each person has an assigned task and carries it out so the society can continue.
“Say nothing about where we’re going,” Bastian says so quietly, I almost don’t hear him, before greeting the innkeeper. “Good afternoon, Katiana.”
She scowls at him, empties the bag of credits Grayson sets on the counter, and pushes one at a time to the side with her finger as she counts. Katiana is a woman almost as large as Bastian. She wears a white apron over her flowered dress, her dark hair tied back beneath a kerchief, and sports a bit of a mustache on her upper lip. I never want to meet her alone in a narrow alley.
Without looking up, she scoops the credits into the bag and mutters, “I should take this money and throw you out on your ass, Bastian Hale.” She draws phlegm up her throat and spits it onto the floor by his feet.
“You stupid wench.” Bastian draws a dagger and dives at the counter. “These are new boots.”
Grayson and Evie pull him back as Levi plucks the dagger out of his hand.
“You know how he is, Kat.” Grayson shoves Bastian’s arm to the side. “All brawn and no brain. Pay no mind to him. We’d like your penthouse suite.” He leans over the counter and pecks the monster of a woman on the cheek, then puckers his lips in an irresistible pout.
Cheeks flushed, Katiana fumbles for an iron key on the wall, unable to resist Grayson’s charms. “One of you will have to sleep on the floor. Two beds are all I’ve got.”
“You’re a gem.” Grayson pats her on the cheek after taking the key from her. “Remind me to save you a dance at the River Walk tonight.”
The unhealthy shade of red continues to flame over the innkeeper’s cheeks. She places the bag of credits below the counter. “You’re… you’re going to be there?”
Evie shakes her head, turns, and climbs the stairs.
“Wouldn’t miss it, darling.” Grayson gives her one last look at his pearly whites before following his girlfriend upstairs.
The penthouse suite is quite cramped for three grown men and two women. Besides the beds, there’s a rocking chair, a small cabinet with a washbasin, two bedside tables, and a tiny window letting in a sliver of light.
Levi strikes a match from his pack to light an oil lamp. “I can take the bed on the floor.” He kneels to unroll a thin mattress resting against the wall. A cloud of dust lifts from the ancient material as he beats his hand against it.
