Page 61 of The Forbidden Fae King

He faces the wrong direction as I stalk him ever so slowly, step by step. I feel like a graceful, viscous mountain lion hunting its prey. With a gentle flick of my earth magic, I snap a twig a span away from my shawl, and hope he thinks I'm still standing in that direction and nowhere near him.

The rubies of the blade in his belt glitter in the dying sunlight.

I almost don’t breathe as I near, creeping until I am almost close enough to touch him. I snap a large branch from a distant tree and as the weight of it crashes down, I use the sound to cover my attack.

With a roll of my wrist, my earth magic corrodes the woody ground Aldrin stands upon, and my staff swings through the air and takes his feet out from under him. I throw a blast of air at him to knock him off balance for good measure. My body swings around him with the momentum of my attack.

He falls, grunting in surprise, and I thrust a knot of solid air at his belt to knock the knife from its scabbard. Aldrin dissipates my magic effortlessly. He rolls into his fall and uses the momentum to spring back to his feet, his hand over the prize.

I retreat, sliding back into the trees.

I need a new plan. His mastery of magic is immense, as is his skill as a fighter. There is no way I can take him on in a direct attack. I didn’t even know it was possible to unweave another person’s threads of magic.

Aldrin’s rumbling laughter reverberates through the clearing. “Show me what else you have.”

That arrogance could be a weakness.

He turns his head around, clearly trying to pick up a trace of me with his senses. I grab a pebble and flick it with wind to bounce straight off his forehead. Gods, it's satisfying.

“Ouch!” He says. “Now you’re toying with me.” He turns to face me and my smile slips. I just showed him my location, but it gave me an idea.

I circle around him, closer and closer, getting myself into position.I whip up a breeze, encasing him in a gentle whirlwind, then weave another and another, until there are a dozen different flows whipping around him. Aldrin raises an eyebrow, as though he is going to allow my magic for now. I suddenly feel more like an angry kitten attempting to claw at him than a prowling mountain lion.

The currents of my whirlwinds pick up leaf litter, pebbles and twigs, and I flick them at him from every direction, like pestering flies. All that magic has a strain on me and sweat drips down my forehead and back, but there are too many flows for him to dissipate at once.

The ground ripples and groans as I take control of it, suddenly ripping it out from beneath one of his feet. I rarely use my earth magic, normally relying on air instead, but being in this realm has uncovered a depth of power I didn’t know I had.

Aldrin slips to one knee and I run at him. I direct a thrust of air to grab the dagger from his belt, but I am holding onto too many flows to have precise control. The blade rushes upwards instead, flung directly above his head. I don’t hesitate for a heartbeat. I leap upon his upturned knee and propel myself skywards after my prize.

My reaching fingers curl around the hilt of the blade at the same moment Aldrin’s arms wrap around my waist. We must look like a pair of professional dance partners mid-performance for a heartbeat of time, until we crash to the ground together.

A bed of spongy moss springs up beneath us as I hit the ground and Aldrin falls on top of me. My whirlwind still pelts him with debris, but his first thought was to soften my landing. I drop my magic with an abruptness.

Laughter explodes from me, building and building until my chest shakes with it and tears pour down my face and I am no longer in control. It is high-pitched and loud, a sound made with complete abandon.

The warmth of the moment spreads throughout me, taking away my worries with each breath, and I realize I haven’t felt like this in a long, long time.

The thought is like a bucket of icy water over my emotions.

Aldrin is still consumed by a fit of laughter. It vibrates through my body, his jolting breaths and shaking body. He is half sprawled on top of me, half trapped under, as our bodies awkwardly intertwine. I realize he landed with his face buried within my chest, and the ridiculousness of it makes me lose myself to laughter all over again, really making the situation worse.

Aldrin pulls off the blindfold and stares down at me with awe. “What part of the underworld did you come from? Are you a member of the wild hunt I didn’t recognize? I have to give you points for creativity.” His head collapses on me again, this time on my stomach as he gives into another bout of laughter. I think he is completely incapacitated.

His blade is still clutched in my outstretched hand, and I flash it before him. “I told you I’m coming tonight.”

“Yes.” His eyes sober. “You’re coming tonight.”

I can tell the moment the giggles leave him and he realizes the position we are in. That his body pins me down and I haven’t tried to move him.

Aldrin’s amber gaze turns liquid hot, running up my body. It lingers on the lacing of my dress’ neckline that has become dangerously loosened and shows the generous curves of my breasts beneath. How the rest of the fabric pulled taut over their heaving swells. Heat flushes through my skin under the intensity of that appraising gaze.

He is so incredibly close, the hard planes of his body are pressed against my torso, and one of his thick thighs somehow fell between my thighs. I want him to press it harder. To drag it against me and light up a fire at my core from the friction.

My gaze darts across the chiseled muscle of his arms, exposed beneath his rolled-up tunic, to where they cage me beneath him. His own neckline gaps as he hovers over me, and the most beautiful sight of tanned, abs and pectorals greets me.

I have to drag my attention away from them, to the sharp angles of his face, still hovering over my bosom.

When his gaze locks with mine, there is heat in his eyes. “You know, no one is going to miss us for at least another hour or two.”

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