Page 56 of The Forbidden Fae King

I glare at him. “Here are a few facts for you. I am a huntress, trained in stealth and survival. I may have no experience in fighting a battle, but sneaking into an encampment undetected, in the middle of the night? This plays into my strengths.”

Aldrin’s mood shifts as his eyes roam over me. “Maybe you can show me some of your moves and impress me then?” He purrs mockingly.

I breathe in, then breathe out, forcing the rage to seep out of me. “And then you will allow me to come?”

Aldrin smiles. It is a predator’s smirk. “We will spar after we make camp and wait for darkness. If you can disarm me of my favorite blade, you can come. I’ll even make it easy for you and wear a blindfold.”

He pulls a jeweled knife from his belt and shows it to me. There is a large, oval ruby right where the hilt and guard meet the blade, with a handful of smaller rubies scattered across it. Decorative swirls adorn the surface in silver wire.

It is absolutely stunning, but does not look like the kind of dagger that would be used in battle. It is far too ornate. Unless it is imbued with magic.

“Done,”,” I say before he can change his mind. The man has no idea of what I am capable of. He gives me a side glance with a coy smile. It sets my nerves on end and destroys my carefully cultivated calm, digging beneath my skin. How does he know exactly how to aggravate me? “Did I say something amusing?” I peer sweetly back.

“You are very confident in your abilities,” he ventures.

“The hunts back home saved my sanity. Participating in it. Training for it. It enriched a mundane life of waiting.” I am suddenly flooded with that feeling of loneliness. Of having no identity of my own to hold on to and putting my life on hold while I dreamt of Finan.

“Waiting for…a man?” Aldrin probes, giving me a sidelong glance.

I cringe as Finan’s betrayals come crashing down into me.

“And he wasn’t worth it,” Aldrin murmurs.

“That remains to be seen.” I keep walking, chewing over my thoughts, but Aldrin watches me.

I let out a long breath. “It is my duty to marry him. Both our families are relying on our union, but his loyalty to me came into question. I ended the commitment between us before I crossed into this realm. I told him I needed time for self-discovery and he said he would wait, but I don’t know for how long.”

The pain of those wounds rips open afresh. I haven’t thought about Finan once since I crossed to this realm and the mess of my life back home. Hysteria begins to bubble through me.

“Well, he sounds like a bit of a prick to me.” Aldrin scans the treeline ahead.

I laugh. The sound is half-choked but damn it feels good. “Yeah, he is a bit of a prick. Self-absorbed too.”

“Who cares about duty and marriage right now, you are a world away from your life. Gods, stay here with me and my band of merry misfits if you like.” Aldrin flashes me a charming smile.It should feel like a threat, especially since I have no idea if he will let me leave, but the way he said it is so disarming, like it is my choice.

For a moment, I believe him. Right until my sanity comes flooding back.

I look over his shoulder, to the grim-faced, hardened band of warriors behind him, who look anything but merry.

The forest gives way to a small clearing, encircling an impossibly immense tree, both in girth and height. My breath hitches in my throat as I crane my neck to look up and up, but the gnarled trunkreaches far above the canopy of the woods. Its own foliage is almost out of sight. It is taller than Appleshield Castle, hill and all. It could rival a small mountain.

“We will wait here for night to fall,” Aldrin commands the entire band as we file out of the treeline. “Let me talk to them first.”

Talk to who? I glance around, trying to spot more fae.

Everyone seems to stop in the meadow that surrounds the giant tree, and Aldrin walks ahead of the group.

There is a massive doorway set in the tree's base, between two snaking roots that run along the clearing, wide enough to fit half a dozen men shoulder to shoulder. A gate barricades it, woven of brambles, thick branches and vines, and dotted with red roses. The thorns among them are as long as my forearm.

“Coroliss. Embla. Myrthe. Saga. Tauriel,” Aldrin bellows, his words echoing back to us as it bounces around the clearing. “I summon thee!”

His roar fades and silence stretches out. The muscles in his shoulders ripple with tension, causing the spiked shoulder guards of his bronze armor to rise. Aldrin turns and gives a worried glance to Silvan, who shrugs back.

My attention is still on the gate as I try to peer through it at this distance. The tree is completely hollow and a massive, grassy field occupies its center, dotted with patches of snow and the colorful shock of tulips breaking up the mottled green and white.

The shock of realization hits me. This is not one trunk.

It is multiple trees grown together and warped into the shape of a tower, each trunk like an arm that reaches out of the ground and its canopy a cupped palm forming a large platform. The trunks are woven and twisted around their neighbors, but there are distinct color differences that belong to each tree. Ash, caramel, tan, pistachio, and cinnamon.

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