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I was sure it was important, but I didn't fucking care. One step out and I instantly knew I had made what was clearly the worst mistake of my life. Trying to take on an entire building of Synians was nothing compared to me trying to scale a mountain on a four inch wide outcropping.
I was an idiot. I'd rather face the Synian.
"Lying fucking Synian!"
Yep. Not going back, I was about to get my stubborn ass killed.
I took one step when the wind that was whipping at my hair changed, the biting chill turning to something warmer, gentler, and that was clearly trying to keep me upright rather than rip me from the grey stone and send me hurtling to my doom.
Elliot.
"Are you not even going to let me throw a hissy fit in peace?" I asked into the wind, sure that I heard a chuckle in response.
Great, so he wasn't going to leave me be. Which I should be grateful for since it meant I wouldn't accidently cyclone myself off the edge of a cliff, but it was so much harder to pout when you had an audience.
I did my best to ignore him and went back to scaling the side of the mountain, grateful when the tiny path flattened out to a wide outcropping. There was even a path that disappeared into the trees.
"Perfect. You stay here. I'm going to go yell at some trees and pretend they are Parris's smug ass face." Another chuckle, and the warm wind swirled around me as I stomped my way into the forest. No, he wouldn't leave me alone, because of course he wouldn't.
"Fine! But then you will have to watch me piss on the ground! And Poop! I'll probably poop!" I yelled into nothing like the crazy person I one hundred percent was at this point, and that time the hot wind vanished.
Victory is mine. You just have to threaten poop, good to know.
I continued my stomping, fully aware that I was throwing a temper tantrum. Except, the more I walked, the more that strange tingling magical feeling from before took over. It raced over my skin and pooled in my heart, it buzzed against me, pulling me forward.
Pulling me toward something I knew I needed.
Yes, running into an unknown Fae forest was about as smart as trying to take on the Synians, but I couldn't stop myself. It was as though my body had a mind of its own.
No, as though something was pulling me closer.
Someone.
A man stood between the oaks as though he owned them, his tall body lean and muscular in all the ways that the Synians were not. His eyes were a startling purple color, set against fair skin and silver hair that stretched to his waist. Hair and eyes just like mine.
For a moment I thought it was Jett, but this man's body was too lean, even if he was as tall. This man was one hundred percent a Fae.
"Jaide," his voice was like glitter, and just enough to break the spell that had been pulling me forward. I froze in place, my feet suddenly feeling exceptionally heavy. "I was worried I wouldn't get to see you, and after your brother spoke so highly of you, too. He was so sure that I would never find you, that he had hidden you. And yet, here you are." He looked me up and down, his eyes dancing with a smile that straightened through my spine in all the wrong ways.
He looked at me like something to eat, even more than the Synians had.
"Who are you?" I said after a minute, my knees shaking as I tried to take a step back. Whatever had pulled me forward may be gone, but I was stuck in place. Frozen underneath his purple eyes. "What do you want?"
"I want you to rise to what you were meant to be. Jett told me of your strength, so I want you to prove it to me." He reached out to me like I was just going to take his hand and let him guide me into oblivion. Yeah, no thanks.
So maybe requiring that my personal body guard slash wind shifter stay behind wasn’t a good thing.
"Why would I prove anything to you?" I snarled, trying and failing to take another step back. "Why would I want to?"
"Because if you want to keep those mates of yours, if you want to face the monsters that are coming for you, you are going to need power, and I am the only one who can give that to you."
Mates. Monsters. They seemed one in the same after what I just left, but I knew where the lines were. I already knew what monsters he was talking about. And, I knew who he was.
"Healynas." He didn't answer me with more than a smile.
"Your power unlocked all on its own, it seems. But you do not know how to use it. I gave your brother the knowledge he needed and he opened up a void I had spent centuries keeping locked up. It was quite frustrating. I will not make the same mistake with you."
"I don't understand." It made sense that Elliot worked with this guy, neither of them liked to answer anything and seemed to think riddles were an appropriate form of conversation.
