Page 69 of Kingdom of Faewood

He neither nodded nor shook his head. He just chuffed. “Ican’t believe I’m telling you all of this.” He took another drink, then faced me. His blue eyes flashed in the salopas’s glittering lights, and his expression turned serious. A heartbeat of silence passed, but his gaze didn’t waver. “There’s something about you, Elowen. Something I recognize in you is in me too.”

He waited, watching me, his look so intent, so full of...something. It was as though he expected me to say similar words in response. But I didn’t even know what he meant by that.

My heart leaped, and that strange feeling flipped my stomach. It coiled around me, pulling me in and making me feel...

I struggled to put a word to it, but these feelings felt more like...yearnings. And nothing about them felt safe.

I faced the dancers, looking away from Jax entirely, and changed the subject completely. Anything to get away from whatever this emotion was clogging my chest.

“Now that we’re in Stonewild, are you going to have me search for whomever it is you’re seeking?” I cast him a brief side-eye, but he’d looked away, and his gaze was once again entirely veiled. Whatever that strange emotion was that I’d detected in him only seconds ago had vanished. “I know I said I would be able to soon, but it may take an extra day. And it sounds like we may be reaching wherever it is you had in mind tomorrow? This mysterious place with a piano?”

I could have sworn his lips twitched, but then he cocked his head. “How do you know that we’ll be there tomorrow?”

“You told the shopkeeper we only have another day of travel, implying one day.”

“Ah, I suppose I did say that.”

“So you don’t want to have me perform your calling here?”

He arched an eyebrow. “You want to do thathere?”

I shrugged. “It would be no different from anywhere else, I suppose.”

But he shook his head. “Not here. It’s why we’re traveling to the place I’ve chosen. It’s secure there, and there won’t be any distractions. From what I’ve been told, it’s important for a lorafin to feel safe, rested, and mentally sharp when performing a calling. I don’t thinkhereis a wise place for that to occur, even if we’re in Stonewild. So, no, we’ll wait.”

I released a breath. Those were the most details he’d ever revealed to me of what he planned. I took another drink of my ale to calm my nerves and then another.

A smile entered his voice when he added, “And perhaps being intoxicated while you perform a calling isn’t the best idea either.”

“What? I’m not drunk.” A hiccup escaped me.

Another twitch came from under his mask. “Perhaps not drunk quite yet, but you certainly seem more talkative.” His eyes glowed with mischief.

I scowled at him. “Okay, fine, Dark Raider. I may be slightly impaired and tired and—” One look at his mocking gaze, and I slugged him in the shoulder.

He laughed and rubbed his arm. “So violent.”

“Compared to you? Hardly.”

He shook his head, still chuckling.

“But back to what you were saying earlier. About where we’re going tomorrow...That destination iswhere, exactly?”

“Our destination is somewhere that’s not here.”

I sighed dramatically. “Back to the cryptic answers, I see.”

“You can hardly blame me.”

“Actually, I can completely blame you. My life has been turned entirely upside down because of you. Not only do I have no idea where we’re going, but in the span of three days, I’ve learned my guardian meant to enslave me forever, and this”—I pointed to my collar—“is never to come off.”

He looked down at his drink and rubbed his finger along the wet ring it left on the table. “I’ve been thinking of that, and I think we should try what I suggested last night. I can command your former guardian to release your collar’s hold on you and never restrain you again with it. The collar will still be on your neck. I won’t be able to physically remove it, but at least its magical capabilities will lessen and possibly be removed entirely.”

A sharp sense of hope filled me. Jax appeared to be trying,trulytrying to find a way around the collar’s restrictions. Maybe it was possible I would still be freed after all.

“I could command him to do it tonight,” he added softly. “There’s no reason we need to wait until after you do my calling to rid you of that collar’s stifling hold. Would you like that?”

“Tonight?” My heart instantly leaped, and the thought of my lorafin magic being entirely free sent a bolt of panic through me. I fidgeted, running my fingers up and down my beverage. “No, not tonight. I’m not ready. I mean, I don’t know...or rather, I’d have to prepare...” I hastily took another drink of ale. “No. Not tonight.”

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