Page 153 of The Forbidden Fae King

A manic, uncontrolled laugh boils out of me.

“Don’t lose it yet.” Diarmuid shoots a glance at me while he crouches at the portal. “We need to shut this thing down so they cannot follow us.”

I place my hands on the portal. Instinct has me draw all that magic back into myself. The glow of the moonstones slowly fades until there is no more power humming within it.

“I didn’t know we could take the power back,” I murmur.

Diarmuid shrugs.

My legs are unsteady as we walk from the neglected Old Fae Garden, between the greenhouses of the orchards and toward thekeep. Diarmuid steers me with a hand clutching my elbow, while my whole body still shakes from adrenaline.

The bridge spanning the deep valley before our fortress is an ominous sight, seeming to lead nowhere through the darkness and hovering over inky shadows. It takes all of my willpower to put one foot in front of the other and cross. My mind conjures up Assassins of Belladonna moving through the night, but that is pure fantasy. They wouldn’t venture into this realm.

We approach the blocky form of the guardhouse illuminated by multiple braziers. The sentries call out an order and guards snap into a defensive formation, pointing their spears at us and blocking the passageway.

“Who approaches!” a female sentry’s voice calls from the top of the wall. “Step into the light!”

Diarmuid gives me a half-smile, then leads us into the glow of multiple fire orbs hovering around the gate. Guards almost have a heart attack at the sight of us, two noble figures adorned in rich silks. Their panic rises as they recognize us. Immediately, one is sent running to the keep, probably to alert our father and a whole team of servants of our arrival.

“My lady Keira? Lord Druid Diarmuid?” a guard asks, rushing to us.

Diarmuid smirks at the title they give him. They can never quite bring themselves to address him as a druid alone.

“Are you hurt?” The guard’s eyes dart across us. “Did you travel here on horseback through the night? Where are your mounts?”

“We are not hurt, Liam.” I place a hand on his shoulder. He doesn’t balk at the familiarity; we have joined the hunt together too many times for that. “We traveled through the portal.”

The guards don’t look relieved.

“I will escort you both to the castle myself.” Liam turns around and barks a few orders at the soldiers left in the guardhouse. Diarmuid goes to protest, but I give him a slight shake of the head. The guards would be mortified if we took this responsibility away from them, especially Liam.

“There have been all manner of fae trespassing in the woods while the portals were held open.” Liam wrings his hands as he speaks. “Somehow some got through the priestess’s wards around the portal interchange.” Strange. I have never known him to fear low fae before. Surely hunts continued while I was gone.

“Have you forgotten my sister is one of our greatest fae hunters?” Diarmuid raises an eyebrow.

“No my lady, no my Lord Druid,” visible beads of sweat form on Liam’s brow. “It is just that you don’t look armed, and there have been reports of high fae lurking in the fields around the castle of late.”

My heart stutters to a stop. Surely not.

“There are no high fae here, Liam.” The sentry on the wall calls down to us. “The lord protector himself would know of it and hunt them down personally. What you have heard are stories that have been twisted in too many tellings.”

Liam glances up to that women, now crouching on the ramparts of the wall above us. “Therehavebeen strange men lurking here, armed for war.”

The sentry laughs. “A few fruit thieves are not the same as high fae.”

Liam scowls. He continues to mutter about high fae as he leads us through the castle grounds. A hope is born within me. One I do not dare acknowledge.

Chapter 38

Keira

My father stands with both hands firmly on his desk, leaning over a map of the kingdom. His eyes flare wide as they fall on me and his lips narrow to a thin line.

“What did he do to you?” He growls and the roaring fireplaces flare up throughout the study. Murderous intent flashes within his gaze.

My mother walks into the room behind us, and she stops dead upon seeing me, her hand flying to her mouth. “Did Prince Finan do this to you?” She chokes.

I turn to Diarmuid, but he stares at me with his mouth hanging open. “Your throat. It’s badly bruised, like he wrapped his hands it. I didn’t see it in the darkness.”

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