Page 28 of Kingdom of Faewood

For a moment, I couldn’t reply. All of the males dug into the food and drink, but the reality of what he’d just revealed barreled through me. No wonder he was so feared among the kingdoms. With that kind of magic at his disposal, he could literally make a fairy completely defenseless.

That kind of power was godlike.

Bowan laughed. “I wish I could capture your face in a portrait right now.” He laughed again before forking another bite of creamy pasta. “It never gets old when fae learn what he’s capable of.”

Lander nodded at Jax and said in his monotone voice, “Best to keep that in mind, Elowen, just in case you’re thinking of trying to make a run for it.”

Lars’s gaze darted between all of us, but he remained silent.

I sagged on my seat, the food in front of me forgotten.

Jax continued eating, yet I knew in that defeated gesture, I’d just given myself away, basically telling all of them I’d been hoping to escape.

But can I?Despite delaying our journey, I was no closer to freedom, and if I couldn’t call for help or cause a scene, then my chances at making a break for it were next to nothing.

In other words, I was entirely dependent on Guardian Alleron finding me and saving me.

CHAPTER 8

“Right. Off to our chambers then.” Phillen stood from the table once everyone had finished eating and stretched his massive frame. The salopas ceiling nearly brushed the top of his head since their heights hadn’t changed, despite their altered appearances.

“Elowen? After you.” Jax gestured for me to slide out of the booth.

“Such manners for a male who spends his time kidnapping females,” I replied dryly.

His lips lifted in a sly smile. “What can I say? My mother raised me right.”

I gave him a side-eye, not liking that on some level I believed him. He was the savior of the poor, after all. I couldn’t help but have a modicum of respect for him because of that, but he’d still taken me against my will and was holding me hostage for purely selfish motives.Andhe’d murdered Mushil.That murder was entirely evil—Mushil had done nothing to deserve that. So even if Jax helped the poor, killing innocent fae like that, I couldn’t forgive.

The smooth wooden bench slid against my rump as I sidled to the edge. Once all of us were up, Jax nodded toward the stairs. “Let’s get her out of here.”

My lips pressed into a tight line. I was so tired of being referred to as if I wasn’t even there. My entire life I’d been treated like that.

But I could understand Jax’s haste. More fae had entered the salopas, not all travelers either. Local fae were ambling in through the front door, calling out greetings to the wildling and siltenite staff. Yet none of them gave us a second glance, probably because Jax and his friends all acted so at ease, and we appeared like simple laboring fae.

Trivan led the way out of the salopas, a swagger in his step. He even bowed when a pretty siltenite female passed him, and got a slug to his shoulder from Phillen.

The female giggled, flashing Trivan a smile, and I wanted to scream at her to run the other way and not be fooled by their antics.

When we passed the wildling staff member at the front door, she glanced up from her book. Trivan gave her a flirtatious grin too, at which her horns turned pink, but she quickly stuck her nose back in the pages and hunched over her novel.

I chewed on my lip, wondering how I could signal to her that I was in distress. But considering she seemed moreinterested in reading than working, I doubted I would be able to grab her attention.

Still, I could try, and if I was subtle, maybe Jax wouldn’t notice.

I drifted closer to her table, my fingers reaching out, but as soon as I’d moved two feet from the others, a hand pressed to my back. The warmth of it, along with the intoxicating pine and spicy fragrance that accompanied it, told me immediately who the hand belonged to.

“Don’t.”

Jax’s single warning was all I got before his magic appeared again. It clouded around me, not stealing my voice, but I knew if I so much as uttered a peep, he would render me mute again.

Glaring at him, I abandoned my attempt to engage the wildling but still jerked away from him before following his friends up the stairs.

Music began in the salopas, drifting to us, and more voices carried to me as we climbed the stairs. Creaky steps groaned beneath our feet as we trudged to the second floor.

“We’ll stay here.” Jax stopped at the first door in the hallway, then threw the remaining keys to his friends. The Dark Raider unlocked the door, pressed his hand to my lower backagain, and then ushered me inside before I could so much as ask why I had to share a room with him.

The lone sleeping chamber I stepped into contained a narrow bed, barely big enough for two fae, a chest of drawers, acold fireplace, a wash basin in case a fairy preferred traditional cleansing, and a lavatory.

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