Page 22 of Kingdom of Faewood

It was the last thing I saw before everything went black.

I awoketo the sound of footsteps pacing by my ears. Someone was walking back and forth, back and forth. The scent of the Wood came next, that musky and damp fragrance that always reminded me of dewy mornings and curious wildlings scampering through the trees.

“What in all the realms happened, Jax?” a male asked.

Pain still barreled through me, but I forced my breathing to remain even, and my eyes closed.

“I don’t know,” the Dark Raider snarled. “She was just sitting with me, and then all of a sudden she began to tremble, her magic began to rise, and then out of nowhere she just”—his breath sucked in—“broke. I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“Do you think she’s sick?” Phillen asked, his deep voice easy to distinguish from the others.

“I thought lorafins didn’t get sick,” another of the males replied in a monotone voice. It was someone I hadn’t heard before, so I had no idea who it was.

A snort. “Bollocks, Lander. Everybody gets sick at some point.” That voice sounded like the blond—Trivan. “And now our time with her will be delayed even more. She can’t perform a calling likethis.”

“But I thought lorafins were magically superior,” Lander replied in the same monotone voice. “You know, how they have their own type of magic, which can also mend themselves, unlike most fae in the kingdoms?”

“They are incredibly powerful and can heal rapidly,” Jax growled, “but I’ve never heard of them breaking like she just did.”

“Do you still want to keep her?” Trivan asked. He sighed, the sound carrying a hint of annoyance. “Maybe it’s not worth it. We could find another way without her because there’s a reason lorafins are allowed to be slaves. If they’re a danger toothers, as she very well could be, then their guardians have to prove they can control them.”

I bristled inwardly.

“Of course, we’re keeping her,” Jax snapped. “We still need her.” More pacing came from above my head, and it hit me that it was Jax I was hearing walking frantically in the Wood.

A bird song trailed through the air, then the sound of more voices. Distant voices. Ones I’d never heard before. My ears pricked toward that sound. Fae weretalking, not far from where we were. And they weren’t my captors.

My eyes flew open.

The Wood still surrounded me, and all six males were covered once more in black clothing and masked faces. A faint green sky shone through the trees’ canopy above.

Pain shot through me anew when I pushed to sitting.

“Whoa, she’s awake.” Phillen startled from where he sat.

Jax was immediately at my side, crouching down in the tall grass from where I lay at the base of ababbotree. “Elowen?”

But I didn’t pay him any attention. My gaze whipped about, even though a hiss parted my lips from that frantic movement. I searched for the sound of those distant voices. I needed to find them.

There.

Through the Wood, a group of fae were walking. Nothing impeded them. No vines, trees, or roots. They had to bewalking on a road, aroad, which meant that civilization wasn’t far away.

I cried out, raising a desperate hand in their direction, but the second I uttered a sound, a heavy palm clamped over my face.

I screamed, or tried to, but Jax muffled the sound.

In a blurred move, he had me hauled against his chest and us hidden behind the massive babbo tree. His other arm wrapped around my waist, pinning me to him. “Stop. Stay quiet,” he whispered into my ear.

For one crazy, asinine moment, I considered biting him as hard as I could and then screaming at the top of my lungs.

“Don’t,” he hissed. “Don’t be foolish.”

I breathed heavily through my nose. My chest heaved, and my heart was thundering. Vibrations began along my collar again.

Jax groaned. “Elowen,” he said on a low whisper. “Please. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Every fiber in my body ached and burned, but the damage that had been done to me by the collar—the broken bones, burned skin, and fizzled nerves—had mostly healed, but the effects lingered. Lander was right in one aspect. I rarely got sick, and most of my injuries healed quickly, but not the mental ones, and not the ones from a calling.

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