Page 206 of The War and Deceit Series omnibus

His body trembles with pain as the plants continue to grow and wrap around him, lifting him from the ground, yet he still doesn’t say a word. His eyes flick over to mine, and I suddenly realise what’s happening. He’s having a flashback, he’s reliving his years of torture.

I have to stop this.

“Stop,” I tell the plants, my voice cracking with emotion, yet nothing happens. If anything, they seem to be spurred on by my fear and pain, swathing around him further. Eldrin’s head falls back, his eyes going wide, and I know he’s not here with me anymore, his mind lost to the terror of his memory. “No!” The word is dragged from my lips as panic flares in my chest. Almost as if in time with my heartbeat, I see a thick vine snaking up his torso, and I know without a doubt it’s going to wrap around his neck. The forest is trying to protect me from the threat, and if I can’t control it, Eldrin is going to die.

I’m still sprawled on the ground, so I get onto all fours, and with tears rolling down my cheeks, I dig my hands into the mossy ground. Slamming my awareness into the forest, I demand it listen to me. “Stop!” I command, the power in my voice making the hair on my arms stand on end. Instantly, the plants freeze. “Let him go,” I continue, the ground beneath me shaking, but I ignore it, focusing on the motionless elfsuspended above the forest floor. Slowly, the vines unwind and drop him, retreating into the ground. Fighting the need to run over to him, I wait until the forest has settled in my mind. My heart is still pounding, and although I’m terrified of what nature did to him, I know it was only because of my doing. “Thank you,” I whisper before pulling my awareness away, feeling the gentle caress of the forest against my mind.

Yanking my hands from the dirt, I run over to Eldrin’s groaning form. He’s lying on his side, his golden hair covering his face so I can’t see if he’s awake or not. His clothes are slashed from the thorns, and his bronze skin is marked and bleeding. I kneel at his side just as he sits up, his eyes narrowing on me as I reach out to touch him, but I don’t let that deter me as I lean over and examine the wounds on his chest. While there are many of them, they don’t appear to be too deep, other than the one on his right shoulder. When I pull back to look at his face, I realise how close I am to him. Sitting back on my heels, I avert my gaze, unable to meet his as shame runs through me. “Eldrin, I’m so sorry—”

“Well done,” he interrupts, his voice gruff.

Confused, my eyes shoot up to his, forgetting my shame in my surprise. “What?” I don’t think he’s ever praised me before, and he appears just as uncomfortable giving it to me as I am receiving it.

“You accessed your abilities,” he says simply. In fact, he sounds angry that he’s even having to explain, like I should know this already. “I told you to use your advantages. You’re never going to beat me with weapons.” Groaning, he leans forward and presses the heels of his hands against his eyes. I watch him with a frown. His behaviour is completely out of character for him. I would expect him to be furious at me—after all, I just stabbed him multiple times with plants—but he’s congratulating me? Did I break him? Eldrin has never been the type of instructor whohas been quick to praise. But here he is, talking about training, whereas my mind is stuck on the fact I could have killed him.

I can feel his gaze on me, and I suddenly realise I’ve been staring at my dirt-stained hands. I look up and meet his golden eyes. “You’re strong, considering you are only a quarter elf though,” he ponders, his eyes narrowing on me, and I ready myself for him to berate me. “And not subtle. At all.”

I stare at him in stunned silence, waiting for the reality of what just happened to hit him. Except it doesn’t, or he doesn’t seem to care what I just did to him. Am I really any better than those people who hurt him all those years ago? Or the queen? “That’s your complaint?” My voice threatens to break, so I push my anger into it, not wanting him to see how much this has upset me. “That I wasn’t subtle?” I have to work really hard to keep my tone even, but the leftover fear from thinking that I was going to lose him is making me angry. “I nearly killed you!”

He snorts. “Hardly,” he drawls, but his eyes are still examining my face carefully.

I’m torn between shaking him and pulling him into my arms and hugging him. My jumbled thoughts are a mess, my chest aches as my bonds twist, and my mates feel my distress, trying to reach me through our connections. I know I should reach out, soothe them, but my whole focus is on the pained expression of the scarred elf in front of me.

“I thought—” My throat constricts, cutting off my words as I think of the reality of what almost just happened. If that’s how these plants reacted to me in need when I called for their aid, what would it be like in the wood elves’ forest where the trees were sentient? “I thought I’d killed you. I could never live with myself if I had done that.” My voice is a whisper now, and I can’t hide my emotion from him anymore. His expression softens as he sees the pain on my face. He reaches out slowly towards me, as if worried I might shy away from his touch, but when I don’t,his finger brushes my cheek with a feather light caress, wiping away the tears that still cling there. When he pulls away, I release a breath I hadn’t realised I’d been holding, my head a little dizzy, whether from lack of air or from his touch, I’m not sure.

Kneeling on the mossy ground, we continue to watch each other warily, neither one of us moving or making any indication that we should go. Something has changed between us, and I’m not quite sure what. He’s covered in wounds, and I know we should go back, get him checked over, but I don’t want to break this moment between us—whatever this is. Besides, then that will mean admitting to everyone exactly what I’m capable of, and I’m not sure I’m ready for them to know. For them to look at me like I’m a monster.

However, eventually, my sensible side wins out. I can’t leave Eldrin in pain just to save my ego. Shifting my weight, I look down at my hands and then back up to his face.

“I triggered you.” It’s a statement rather than a question, and if I wanted an answer, I would have been disappointed since he only glances away, his jaw tightening. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know that was going to happen.” I gently place my hand on the back of his, one of the only places free of wounds from the thorns that had torn his skin. His head spins back around with that unnatural fae speed, and his eyes narrow on my hand, but he doesn’t pull away. After a few seconds, his gaze flicks up to mine.

“That’s why we’re training,” he replies, his hand turning over briefly so his fingers twine with mine before pulling away with a wince. “To discover what your strengths are.”

My hand tingles from our contact, but I frown as he presses a hand to his side with a hiss of pain. “Are you okay?” Worry courses through me. The cuts seemed to be mostly surface wounds, only the one on his shoulder had worried me a little more, but his reaction concerns me. I should have insisted that we head back straightaway rather than wait.

Waving me off, he starts to push up to his feet. “I’m healing already,” he grumbles, wincing as he tenderly rolls his wounded shoulder. Glancing down at his chest and now ruined shirt, he glowers at the offending fabric before grabbing it between his hands and tearing it off. My eyes briefly roam over his bare chest. He’s covered in scars, but that does nothing to take away from his incredible physique. He’s got a warrior’s body, all toned muscles and tan skin. Although it’s currently stained with blood and peppered with half healed gashes. Reaching up, he pokes at the still oozing wound on his shoulder with a grimace. “Let’s not try the nature stuff again today though.”

Realising I’ve been watching him the whole time from the ground, I quickly stand up, brushing the bracken and dirt from my leggings, pretending that I’ve not just been staring at him the whole time. Looking away, I walk to the nearest tree to stretch out my legs, but really, I want an excuse to put some distance between us. My fingers brush the tree as I pass it, and I immediately fall to my knees as a wave of feeling washes over me.

“Clarissa?” Eldrin calls out, and he’s at my side in a heartbeat. His palms hover above me, but he doesn’t touch, his eyes glued to where my hand is pressed against the tree.

The world seems to spin around me as something taps on my awareness. I don’t think it means me any harm, but there is a sense of urgency there. Throwing caution to the wind, I decide to risk it and open my consciousness. At once, the plants of the grove enter my mind. Like before, they don’t have a singular voice, but more like a hive mind with overall feelings rather than formed words. However, that doesn’t stop me from understanding what they’re trying to tell me—a warning. Thanking them with my thoughts, I pull my hand away and screw my eyes shut for a moment while my awareness settles back into my mind. I can feel Eldrin starting to lose his patiencebeside me, his low growl rumbling through my chest, and I know I can’t leave him hanging for much longer.

“Something’s coming,” I whisper.

Eldrin’s growl stutters for a second before starting up again with vigour, and I feel him move closer, no doubt into a defensive stance, misunderstanding and thinking we’re under an immediate threat. “What do you mean?” His voice has deepened with his anger, and I can feel him preparing to fight.

Opening my eyes, I clear my throat and take a deep breath, needing to explain. “The trees, they’re warning me,” I tell him, my voice stronger now. Turning to look at Eldrin, I try to hide my worry, but I know he sees right through it. “We need to get back to the tribes, someone’s coming.”

The race back to the tribes is difficult.

Both Eldrin and I are exhausted. Whatever ‘power’ I used while communicating with nature has drained me, and although he’s pretending otherwise, Eldrin is in pain. After a gruelling training session like the one we just had, even without the plant magic, I wouldn’t usually be expected to run back. Eldrin may be a taskmaster, but even he isn’t that cruel. Yet we can both feel the urgency of my words from the grove, and there’s something in the air that gives me a little nudge every time we pause to catch our breath.

“Keep going,” it whispers. “They need you.”

Although I get the impression we’re running out of time, I don’t feel like we’re in danger, which is a difficult concept to explain to the snarling elf at my side. Trusting in my gut feeling and the Great Mother who is guiding me, I simply dig deep and keep running.

As we near the meeting place where the tribes gather, I see two figures running towards us, my chest warming. Of course my mates would be waiting here to meet us, having felt my distress earlier, and then with our hasty return, they would have known something was wrong.

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