Page 78 of The Cursed Kingdom

I hold my backpack straps, nervously twisting my fists around them. I won’t be surprised if they’re worn thin by the time we make it to the portal. I hoped to break free from Mason and Kie before arriving, but that possibility is growing smaller with each passing day. It’s been three days since they found me in the forest and knocked me unconscious, so we must be getting close.

Mason glances back, peering at me over his shoulder, before turning forward. He’s been keeping an even closer eye on mesince my slip-up mentioning delysum. If I so much as take an uneven step, he’s shooting me a warning glare.

Kie’s chosen to walk in the back today, so I can’t see what he’s doing, but I assume he’s watching me just the same.

I’m never escaping them. That thought hits hard, and painfully, and I release my backpack strap to rub my chest. I’m going to be given to Zaha, condemned to a life of slavery and who knows what else.

My parents will never know what happened to me. My brother will never know. Lill will never know. She’ll be dead within the year, anyway, but everybody else will spend years wondering.

“We should be entering the troll lands soon,” Mason says, stepping over a rock.

Wonderful.

Kie grunts. “Good to know.”

He sounds close, right on my ass, and I quicken my pace to put some additional space between us. He may be my favorite among the pair, but that doesn’t mean I trust him. Kie’s a threat, and I don’t want him walking too close to me.

He chuckles as I hurry away from him, the noise causing Mason to look back over.

The shifter’s gaze darts between Kie and me, his lips twitching as he realizes what’s happening. He probably enjoys seeing Kie make me uncomfortable, especially after all the bickering the two have done regarding my treatment.

They have very differing opinions on the amount of respect I deserve.

Kie’s eager to reach the portal and be done with me, but Mason’s ready to string me up in a tree and bleed me until I tell him everything I know.

It’s a fun combo. Real. Fucking. Fun.

“What’re the trolls like?” I ask.

I doubt I’ll get an answer, but I ask, anyway.

Lill vaguely mentioned once that trolls like to eat humans, but I thought she was joking. I didn’t realize there were truly trolls in the faerie realm, and I assumed she was just trying to freak me out. It was one of the only negative things she ever said about this place.

The bitch cherry-picked the information she shared, making this place seem significantly more beautiful and magical than it really is.

I’m judging the faerie realm harshly because of my kidnapping, and I’d probably like it a lot more had I come for a vacation or something fun, but I don’t care. This place fucking blows, and if I get out of here alive, I’m never returning.

I don’t care if the faeries have super romantic mates and magic. It’s not worth it.

“What do you know about trolls?” Kie asks me.

I’m surprised he’s acknowledged my question. I assumed he’d ignore it.

“I heard they like to eat humans,” I admit. “But that’s about all.”

Mason picks up the pace, and I grimace and quicken my movements to match. We’ve only been walking for a few hours, but I’m already growing fatigued. It doesn’t help that I didn’t eat breakfast this morning, and my only saving grace is that it’s cloudy today. The shade offers some relief. Not much, but some.

My body’s running on fumes, and the sun will be going down soon.

“They eat whatever they can get their hands on,” Kie says. “But they’re small and easy to kill, and they’re notoriously bad trackers. We’ll be safe in their lands.”

I let out a quiet sigh of relief, happy to hear that. Between these two and the wild shifters, I’ve been on high alert. I’moveranalyzing every sound I hear, cataloging and panicking over it until I’m positive I’m about to die.

I’m pretty sure Mason and Kie have better hearing than I do, but that doesn’t mean they won’t miss something. I’d be foolish to trust them unquestioningly, and it’s up to me to look out for myself.

“How small are they?” I ask, wanting to know my odds of surviving a troll attack.

If I get lucky and escape these two, I need to know how much danger I’m in. When I heartroll, I think of stout, green men with spiked bats—not the most intimidating.

---