Page 77 of Don't Fae With Dragons

“Kar!” I shout. “Come out, you wicked little–”

“That’s not a very warm welcome.” A whisper comes behind my ear.

I gasp and whirl to face the sound, but there’s only open forest. The voice comes again, this time from my left, and whispers in a terrifying sing-song, “Dear fa-a-a-ery!”

My head whips to the left, and I’m met with nothing but empty woods again. I stumble backwards, a terrified whimper escaping me as the voice calls out again.

“Milica?” it sings. “Stop running away, now, don’t be silly.”

How is he doing that?I wonder in a panic. The sort of illusion work he’s doing is extremely rare; I’ve only heard about it in legends and myth. Ordinary wizards and warlocks can’t access that sort of twisted power.

If he has access to that sort of magick, I can’t even imagine what else he can do now. The realization hits me all at once that if I stay, he might kill me. Then I open my wings and try to fly.

“Milica!” Kar screams. I yelp as a firm pressure, with the strength of several pairs of hands, clamps my wings together and pins them to my back. “Stop running away!”

“Where are you?” I shout back, my head spinning as I try to find a way out. I can’t fly, and I can’t escape the clutches holding me, because Kar has my wings.

He has my wings.

I scream, as loud as I can, “Cory!” and an invisible force clamps down on my mouth. I writhe against the iron grip restraining me, shrieking as hard as I can for help. The sound gets completely muffled against whatever’s covering my mouth, and I start kicking viciously behind me.

I make contact with what feels like a shin, and Kar’s howl of rage and agony sends a wave of energy through the trees. Iyank out of his clutches, ignoring the sudden numbness in my right wing, and try again to fly.

A moment after I lift off the ground with a leap, I plummet to the ground. I channel the blinding fury coursing through me –the brute damaged my godsdamned wing–and fling myself to a standing position.

Kar’s foot collides with my back, and my sparks explode in my vision as a bolt of blinding pain shoots through me. I scream as loud as I can, but he grabs my shoulders and flips me over again.

I can see him now, so either I broke his illusion magick when I kicked him or, more terrifyingly, he wants me to see him kill me. I realize there are tears of rage and terror streaming down my face, and I cough out a shrill sob as he smiles coldly down at me.

“Ah, Milica. Stupid faery.” He bends down towards me, and I glare at him through my watery eyes with as much determination as I can manage. Kar pats my face as you might do to a child, smirking cruelly all the while, and I lunge for him before I’ve thought through the action.

I watch, as if in slow motion, as my hands reach to hit him in the face. I think to myself,Kar has turned me into a violent being. Then he shoves me, hard enough for me to fall back onto my broken wings again. I let loose a feral growl as he puts a foot on my shoulder, pinning me once and for all to the ground.

I hiss out, “What did you do to Aurora?” and he laughs.

“It didn’t take much convincing. The heart is such a fickle beast, no? Easy to wound, easy to trick ... easy to mold as necessary.”

“She wouldneverhave tried to hurt Ethelinda. You did that –not her.”

Kar sighs, smiling blankly. “Her hands broke the dam, did they not?” I start to object, but he pushes his foot harder into my shoulder and my vision explodes into stars again. “It’s been delicious seeing the havoc you wreak, and even more delightful to manipulate it as I need. The Moon thanks you, too.”

I force myself to focus and pant out, “You know the shifters will find me. They’ll kill you.”

“That’s an interesting point,” Kar says, his head tilting to the side as if in thought. After a moment he winks, grinning widely. “Thank you for bringing that to my attention!”

Then his eyes roll back in his head, and his jaw hangs slack as he murmurs some dark incantation, mouth moving faster than should be possible. I whimper with fear and try to claw backwards, out from under his boot, but he pushes me further into the ground. I gasp in pain just as everything turns white.

There’s a moment where I feel no pain, no fear, nothing. I’m suspended in Moon- beams, limbs light as air.

A second later I crash back into reality, landing onto a slab of cold, hard stone. The impact knocks the wind out of me, and I gasp as I try to fill my lungs again.

Kar laughs from above me. Footsteps echo hollowly through the air, reverberating against cold walls; we’re in some sort of cavern. A chill runs through me as I realize Kar psychically transported us here.

I’ve heard of this magick, but it’s extremely taboo –practically forbidden in most magickal circles. If Kar can psychically transport ... he must have the power of Evil Sight.

With wide eyes, I turn to see Kar smiling coldly down at me. He’s dragged a chair over to me, one of only three in the cavern. The chamber is a sort of large stone room, like a dark version of the volcano’s entrance. The walls are rough and angular, and flecks of rock reflect small sparkling stars of the light from several hanging oil lamps.

“Sit,” he commands.

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