Page 37 of The Forbidden Fae King

A blast of wind and earth magic radiates from her, cracking in a loud boom, then shattering the vines into a hundred darts that hurtle from the two women in a radius.

I am thrown to the ground by the sheer force of the power, with multiple projectiles needling my body. Silvan lands next to me moments later, spikes in his body as well. My flesh heals slowly with that ash shaft still through my shoulder, but I try to crawl as the woody spines fall out of me one by one. Those women run from me.

All I can do is watch as I try to pull myself up, terror mounting within me. Silvan chases them, but he is slow, battle-fatigued, and injured. Ineedthose two humans. They could be my salvation, myticket out of exile. And right now, as they head for the dangers in our forest, they need me.

The humans run, holding hands with their arms outstretched, as one girl practically pulls the other who is drained from using too much magic. They land straight into Cyprien’s hidden archers.

I reach out my left arm and the branches of the trees swipe at those archers. I pull at the roots, trying to grab the girls so Silvan can catch them, but the other sister destroys them with her autumn earth magic.

“Stay still, Aldrin.” Klara is suddenly at my side and her knee presses into my back. “You’re going to bleed out if we don’t get this ash shaft out of you. Damn, it’s close to your heart.”

She snaps it and sends fire through the wound. I muffle a scream as the shaft is pulled from my shoulder, then collapse into the dirt splattered with blood.

Probably my blood.

The pain builds to a boiling point as she thrusts healing magic into my open flesh to cauterize it, and I am left panting. Blackness rushes across the edges of my vision, threatening to steal my consciousness, but my sight returns. There is pure chaos around me.

Arrows land in the dirt, penetrating through cracks forming in the shield I still struggle to hold over the entire battlefield. Cyprian himself is dragging my man Hawthorne by the neck of his armor to his ranks.

An enemy archer grapples one of the humans around the waist, dragging her backward. She uses the embrace to lift herself up and kick another fae in the chest with both her legs, in a powerful blow that sends him sprawling.

Kai’s hooves pound the ground as he gallops toward the edge of the trees, zigzagging through the volley of arrows that fly at him. The earth explodes beneath his feet as Cyprian tries to catch him with whipping tendrils of roots.

More and more enemy warriors rush to cluster around the humans, but one sister kicks the other’s captor in the head, forcing him to release the pretty girl. She runs wildly from Cyprien’s forcethat converges on her, but Kai gallops past and collects her in his arms, then thunders away.

Thank the Tuatha Dé Danann themselves for creating those beautiful, utterly insane creatures of human, horse and fae.

The human’s screams trail behind Kai as he breaks into the woods, and I swear it is a name that leaves her lips. That she cries for Caitlin.

Klara pulls me from the ground and drags me along in our retreat. Waves of hot guilt crash through me at leaving Hawthorne to be carried away by the enemy as their prisoner. Ideally, I would want to take the other human girl from Cyprien as well. We have lost this battle and my hand has been forced.

My head spins and black marks the edge of my vision, as my energy goes into the healing of that arrow wound. I am damn lucky it didn’t take my heart out. My blood still dribbles down my chest, causing my leather armor to chafe across my skin. The adrenaline of the fight is wearing off, fatigue is setting in, but we are not safe yet.

It is a struggle to get past the dead forms of the spriggan, their woody bodies littered across the battlefield and the branches scraping the bare skin along my shoulders. Some of the low fae crouch over their fallen, wailing in long, pitched notes. It is heartbreaking.

There is no dead high fae on this field. Keeping it so was my greatest weakness in this battle. Plenty of wounded limp away.

Cyprien took as much damage as we did, and a quick glance over my shoulder tells me he retreats in the opposite direction.

My air shield over the site drops completely as I slip and crash down on my knees, but there is no pursuit. Silvan pulls me up and both he and Klara support my weight with an arm around me each.

Iris thunders toward me, the kelpie transforming from half mare to her full horse form, skidding to a stop long enough for me to be deposited onto her back.

Agony shoots through my arm as I grip onto her, each jolt from her galloping tearing more of my shredded flesh, but I grit my teeth through the pain. She slows at my command. Somewhat.

The woods fly past at high speed and I put all my energy into not falling off Iris’ back or into unconsciousness.

Chapter 11

Keira

Iam the prisoner of the high fae. Terror squeezes my heart in an iron fist.

They have tied me to a kelpie as it gallops through the woods and I bounce around on its back. My legs straddle its horse half, and vines are looped around both our torsos, pinning my stomach and chest against its bare human back.

The position is too intimate. The creature too human.

I grip my arms tightly around his waist anyway, too afraid to let go. I have never ridden without a saddle or stirrups and have no idea how to remain on otherwise.

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