Page 23 of Kingdom of Faewood

I attempted to thrash, but Jax tightened his grip, and I whimpered.

“Elowen, please, stop.” His voiceturned gruff. “I mean it. I don’t want to hurt you, but I’ll be left with no choice if you continue.”

Realizing I wasn’t going to win this, I slackened in his grip.

His arms loosened slightly. “Can I trust you not to scream?”

I knew that I could scream my head off once he removed his hand. But if I did that, the fae on the road would likely come to my aid, and then they’d happen upon the Dark Raider. While I knew that Jax’s violent nature was reserved for the truly vile in our realm, I also knew that he didn’t have any qualms with killing those to get what he wanted. He’d done nothing less to all four of Guardian Alleron’s guards. So if I screamed for help now, and those fae came running, Jax would be forced to kill them to protect himself, and then they would all be dead, and their deaths would be on my conscience.

I shouldn’t have called out to them in the first place. It was an impulsive thing to do.

Shoulders slumping, I accepted my defeat and nodded.

Jax slowly removed his hand while the other five formed a half circle around us. As before, I could barely discern any of their features since their disguises were in place, but Phillen hunkered down at my side.

The others were looking toward the group traveling on the road and were whispering to each other.

“Jax?” one of them called quietly. Lars signaled him over, then said something quietly in his ear.

Jax’s attention whipped toward the travelers. Eyebrowsslanting together, I tried to see what all the fuss was about. Through the trees, a few features in the group became apparent. Snouts on two. Hooved hands on one. A long tail on another. Yet they all walked on two legs and had partially siltenite bodies.

Half-breeds.

Shock billowed through me. There were so many of them—fae of both wildling and siltenite descent. Usually, their kind remained hidden. They were scorned and looked down upon throughout the kingdoms, and most didn’t often call attention to themselves. But the group traveling on the road was at least a dozen strong.

How odd.

“I’m glad you’ve decided not to do anything stupid.”

Phillen’s comment snapped my attention back to him. I arched an eyebrow as Jax continued whispering with the others.

Phillen scoffed lightly, and I guessed I’d communicated my silent, sardonic response quite effectively.

His brown eyes raked over my frame, but my limbs were already back to normal, the unnatural angles gone after the collar had broken my bones. The fact that I was already healed meant I’d been passed out for at least a few hours.A few hours.A sliver of triumph skated through me. I’d truly delayed them and was one minute closer to a potential rescue.

Eyes narrowing, Phillen asked, “What happened when you were riding me, Elowen? Are you sick?”

I contemplated my response. I didn’t know if my plan would work. I had no idea if I’d just doomed myself to even more misery, but there was only one way to find out.

I gave a slight nod.

His eyebrows shot up. “You are?”

I kept my voice small when I replied, “It hurts.”

“Jax?” Phillen called quietly. “She’s still hurt.”

In a heartbeat, Jax was at my side, his whisperings done. “Where?”

“Everywhere.” My voice came out raspy and raw, and that wasn’t even faked. The skin on my neck was still tender, and it smarted every time the collar rubbed on it. I knew if I looked in the mirror, a fresh burn mark would still be apparent, the skin red and angry. Burns could take hours to heal if they went truly deep.

The concern in Jax’s eyes grew. “Can you move your limbs?”

I made a show of trying to but winced. Once again, I wasn’t pretending. Fire raced up my veins from my still-frazzled nerves, and even though my bones were no longer broken, theyhurt.

“Dammit,” he muttered under his breath.

“So, she’ll be in a bit of pain when we travel.” Trivan shrugged. “Big deal.”

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