Page 46 of The Forbidden Fae King

The kelpies can transform into a full humanoid form. They can speak our language. I have no idea how they feel about our flesh, but the consideration makes my skin crawl.

All the high fae turn and stare at me. I flush from head to toe, wanting to die.

“Someone is in there—” Drake squints in my direction, trying to see around the bulky forms of the others who clearly block me from his view.

“Give her some privacy. You know how humans value their delicate sensibilities,” Aldrin says and they all laugh, but he has to drag his own gaze away from me. The look on his face for that split second is hungry, almost feral.

They turn away from me, everyone except Drake, who is still trying to get a good look into the cave with an expression of confusion. Aldrin shoots out a burst of magic and dumps a wave of water over his head. I scramble up the ledge to the sounds of more laughter. It isn’t directed at me, but it might as well have been for the way it makes me feel.

As soon as my feet are on land, I create a thick curtain of vapor around me, picking up water from the lake with a frantic air wield and turning it to mist with a hint of fire, so no one can see through it. As I stumble over the stony ground, stubbing my toes, I hardly question being able to handle so much power at once.

I find my clothes, shove them over my half-damp skin and run. I hurdle past Klara, who is still on sentry.

“Hey. Hey! What happened?” she yells after me. “Is there a threat?”

Klara swears, but I keep running and she doesn’t chase after me.

The gravel path slips beneath my feet, making it hard to pick up speed, and overhanging branches whip past me. The narrow dried-up creek bed gives way to the dense forest of newer growth and I stop in my tracks. I could easily escape right now, but I don’t have my satchel with my basic supplies. And they would look for me almost immediately.

But I can’t go back to the camp either. The ward has completely hidden it, and for a moment I wonder if its purpose is purely to hide the base. That maybe there isn’t any magic locking me in. I thought Klara was my guard for this morning, but she let me run straight past her.

Footstep thunder up the path and I turn and stare like a frightened doe, gripping one of the hidden knives in my belt. Panic grips me and I shiver with the adrenaline that pumps through me, preparing for fight or flight, but I have nowhere to run.

Aldrin crashes around the bend and into my sight. He is wearing only his leather pants and boots, and rivulets of water still run down his bare chest.

He holds up his hands as he approaches. “Look, I’m sorry if we upset you. The kelpies are literally half-wild beasts. There is no keeping them to social niceties, and I… well, I thought if I joked about it, you’d feel less embarrassed.”

I stare at him.

“We have gotten off on a bad start,” he utters.

“I can’t imagine why. Our first meeting was completely pleasant.” The look I give him is deadpan.

Aldrin holds out a hand, and slowly reaches toward mine, as though approaching a wild animal. Part of me screams to back away, but the greater part wants him to touch me. He takes my wrist gently and turns my arm from side to side, but I still gaze at his face, not concentrating on what he is doing. I do not understand this man, or his small acts of kindness.

Aldrin gives me a lazy smile. “The waters healed your wounds without a scar.”

My eyes dart across his glorious bare chest, to where the arrow ripped right through him and left a gash so large their magic couldn’t heal it completely.

Any evidence of the damage is gone. Gods, I don’t understand this entire realm.

Chapter 13

Keira

Isit in a nook between the tall roots of the trees that hold the village, next to the barrier of the shimmering ward. Shadows swim around me and keep me apart from the fae. I hope they forget me, even for an hour.

The warriors sit around the bonfire, eating and drinking for another night. Aldrin reclines with his people, and snippets of their conversation float to me, contemplating whether they send a messenger to Cyprien or to plan an ambush on his forces. The conversation goes around and around in circles.

I need to escape here. To infiltrate the other fae camp and free Caitlin before Aldrin makes his move, so we can be far away from these parts when their two forces clash and we have double the number of fae captors to contend with.

I grip my satchel so tight my knuckles turn white and my fingers ache. It’s packed full with flatbreads and a canteen of water. The ward ripples beside me. My entire plan depends on being able to trick the magic here and pass through it.

On the far side of the camp, the next sentry approaches the ward. My heart pounds against my ribcage as I scramble to my feet. I don’t know what kind of magic he uses to peel it open, but I hope it makesthe entire barrier penetrable in that moment. That as the sentries swap shifts and exchange a few words, they won’t notice a small human slipping away.

I am relying on it.

The sentry puts a foot through the ward, making the entire thing vibrate and distort, and I plunge through it. Part of me expects to hit a solid wall, but I pass with a complete lack of resistance from the magical barrier.

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