Page 50 of Bound to the Orc Guardian

“Gnomes don’t understand anything but bargains,” I murmur to Selena. “They won’t know what to do with your proposal.”

“Have a little faith.” She glances up at me with a wry grin. “People can surprise you.”

After several more moments of hot debate, the gnomes break apart. The leader does a front flip that lands him right in front of Selena. “We accept.”

Her smile is so glorious it makes my heart skip.

One of the gnomes disappears into the ground in a spinning whirl that leaves their moss cap right back where it started.

Selena crouches and pokes it with a hesitant finger, then runs her hand over the entire clump. “It’s reattached to the ground. How did they do that?”

“Gnome magic,” Bellavesaria says.

Dash adds, “They can move through solid dirt and rock.”

“It makes them excellent miners,” I say.

“Indeed, we are.” The leader pulls a ruby the size of a walnut from his pocket and holds it out to Selena. “Why, I found this only yesterday. Would you like it, pretty lady?”

She reaches for it, and I clasp her hand, stopping her and glaring at the diminutive fae. “What must she give you for it?”

He sniffs. “A year of service to the gnomes. It’s a small thing.”

“A year of service?” She jerks her hand back and jumps to her feet. “That’s not small.”

“See,” I growl. “Don’t be fooled by their small size. Gnomes are still fae, still wily.”

Her lips press together into a straight line, but as soon as the other gnome returns with two more, Selena sits down on the ground to be nearer to them.

The first new gnome leans on another as if too weak to stand. They don’t even do any whirling or tumbling or anything, so the situation must indeed be dire.

Selena’s hand brushes over the sick man’s brow, and she closes her eyes for a moment, then opens them wide with a gasp. “He’s been exposed to deathsleep.”

“Can you fix it?” The man holding him up asks.

“I can.” Selena presses her hand to the ill gnome’s neck, and her magic sings through the air, a lovely song right at the edge of my hearing.

The gnome stirs, and his drooping eyes open all the way. The man holding him gives a cry of delight and kisses him.

“See, I did it,” Selena says.

“You did one,” the gnome leader says. He claps his hands, and several more gnomes disappear, only to return carrying completely comatose companions in their arms.

One after the other, Selena heals them.

I don’t even need to ask what it is that ails them—it’s clearly deathsleep. But that, in and of itself, is disturbing.

As soon as she heals the final gnome, I turn to the leader and point to our destination on the map. “Show us how to get to the crystal cavern.”

“We can lead you there, but it will do you no good,” the gnome says.

“Why not?” I growl, having a feeling I already know what he’ll say.

“A sluagh already came into the tunnels. It threw multiple gourds of deathsleep to drive us from the area.”

“It took the crystals?”

His small head nods vigorously. “It threw all of them into the mouth of the mountain.”

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