Page 55 of The Fearless Witch

Chapter 24

Malakai

Humans were fascinating. And not just them—everyone who lived in this giant, gray, and noisy world had such fortitude and tenacity that I couldn’t help but admire them.

I’d never spent so long outside of my grove. On the fourth day, I was starting to feel the effects of being here for so long—the weakness, the yearning, the apathy. On the seventh day, came the pain. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be—I had heard tales from others who had been stranded and suffered in an unbearable agony that only increased with time. But all I felt was a dull, frustrating ache.

A soft flutter of wings pulled me out of my thoughts, and I looked up to the owl perched on the branches of the nearby tree. The sky was a dull shade of blue, bleeding into magenta with the dusk approaching, but as it had been for days, the forest was quiet. There was barely anyone patrolling on the edges of Roman’s territory, their forces concentrated around the camps. It was a smart move, the ward would have warned them if the witches came.

I had taken it upon myself to keep an eye on the outside world since there seemed to be nothing else for me to do. I didn’t mind them disregarding my presence or not asking for my opinion on their plans—they knew me as the Fae prince who came drunk to meetings and whose people rarely got involved in anything, even if their support could save lives. I hadn’t earned the right to voice my opinion. I was surprised I was even invited to their little assemblies, but I suspected that was more out of politeness. So the least I could offer them for their hospitality was to watch their backs before my body withered from the lack of magic to sustain it.

The owl cooed, and I frowned.

“Which way?” I asked. Its giant eyes stared at me unblinkingly until, finally, it turned its head west. “Thank you.” I nodded before heading that way. I didn’t run, the bird hadn’t seemed all that concerned, so there was no immediate danger coming this way. Still, I let my senses sink into the ground, listening to its whispers and tells.

It was much harder to do it out here, where the trees and the earth were hardly alive. But they listened, and they replied, compelled by my power.

‘More, more,’ they whispered, urging me forward. ‘Humans. Fire. Blood.’

A cold shiver ran down my spine. Blood. Could it be that they were hurt? Or that they ran into one of the shifters and hurt them? I had already exited the safety of the ward and the others knew better than to venture beyond its protection without a good reason. Roman’s security measures protected the place from other dangerous creatures with malicious intent, but humans and vampires could still enter. The first I doubted he considered a threat and the second… magic did not work on them, so there were very few things that could stop them.

‘More,’ the earth whispered, its roots repositioning themselves as if to point me in the right direction. ‘North. Blood.’

With every next step, their voices grew louder, urging me on. I smelled the blood before I saw the people, but it wasn’t until I caught the sharp, sweet scent of magic and earth that I stopped. The realization shocked me as much as terrified me. This wasn’t a shifter’s blood or a human’s. It was Fae’s.

My movements were soundless while I maneuvered between the trees and low bushes, drawing closer and closer to the source. A female shriek had me freezing in my tracks, the sheer agony in it making my skin bristle. Before I knew it, I was running, my clothes catching on brambles and shrubs and tearing off with a loud noise.

‘Death is near,’ the ground whispered, its voice quipped with sorrow and a strange sort of anticipation. ‘Feed the earth… feed the earth…’

I staggered from between the trees, eyes going wide at the sight before me. There were three of them, humans judging by the smell, but not the kind that I’d heard liked to camp in the woods to connect with nature. Tall, broad, and dressed all in black, they stood out like sore thumbs among the beautiful meadow with blue flowers and knee-high grass. Most of it was stomped, and a large section was even burned to clear space for their camp.

Blue blood was smeared everywhere, the stench of it making my insides churn.

I didn’t see the Fae at first—I was too focused on the hunters who rose to their feet the moment they spotted me. Surprise was etched onto their faces, but it lasted only a second before they grinned.

“Well, boys, we might be the luckiest people alive. Not one, but two of the pointy ears in just two days,” one of them said, spitting on the ground. “This one has no wings either. Pity.”

“He’s High Fae,” another smirked, unclasping something from his belt. The flames of the fire slid over the shiny blade and he grinned. “We’ll gain a lot of benefits if we can get him back in one piece. It has been decades since they got one of those at the Headquarters.”

The smile of the first widened, but the third one sneered.

“The ward has been up for over a week, so if he’s here, he hasn’t been to their grove. He’d be dead in a few days, tops. I’m surprised he isn’t already.”

They exchanged a quick look before nodding in an eerie unison. When the first one moved, he bared his teeth, half of which seemed to be made of metal. I frowned, balling my hand into a fist. I didn’t want to hurt other living beings, regardless of their race, but if they had one of my own with them… I wasn’t leaving without them.

“I guess we’ll have to do a few experiments here, boys.”

Disgust squeezed my throat, followed by an all-consuming anger.

“I’m afraid I’m not in the mood for experimenting,” I said flatly, glancing at the whimpering heap behind them. With their bodies blocking the view, it was hard to see much of her, but I spotted blue hair and a torn dark brown tunic. “I’m going to ask you politely to return my people to me. Otherwise, I’ll be forced to hurt you.”

The three hunters burst into laughter while I took the moment to study them closer. They had to be shifter hunters, judging by the silver knives and guns they carried, but the runes on their skin suggested they had some protection against magic too. Most Order members specialized in hunting only one type of creature, but some branched out in more.

Not that it mattered. The hunters of my kind were not too big of a threat to us since they couldn’t enter a grove and weren’t familiar with even half the Fae that dwelled there. And they were most definitely not equipped to deal with me.

“Is that a no?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. The body at their feet whimpered again, rolling to her side and exposing her back. The air whooshed out of my lungs as I stared at the old scars where her wings must have been cut off, now newly reopened along the visible part of her skin. Her flesh was mangled, hanging in pieces while blood seeped from the wounds.

There weren’t many Fae that could survive this kind of mutilation. And only one in my grove.

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