Page 46 of Kingdom of Faewood

Guardian Alleron had only sought to use me.

I was a permanent slave.

I would never be free.

And that meant I would never know what had become of my blood family.

Devastation hit me so suddenly, and my knees threatened to give out. If the collar never came off, then I would never be able to fully access my magic, which meant that I could never ask the semelees for my own calling.

No, don’t think about that. Don’t feel that. Feel anything but that.

I piled on layer after layer of denial to that soul-lashing pain. I wouldn’t feel this.Couldn’tfeel it. Slowly, a thick wall of stone erected itself around my withered heart.

Questions finished, Jax finally released Guardian Alleronfrom his commanding voice, and my guardian fell to the ground.

My captor stood over him, chest heaving. Jax placed his hands on his hips, his fingers tapping, and a look of absolute disgust yanked his eyebrows together.

None of the other males gave Guardian Alleron so much as a pitying glance when he rubbed his throat. Instead, Bowan immediately called forth his binding magic and tethered Alleron to the tree again, his magic unyielding even when my guardian hissed in pain.

“May I please have some water?” Guardian Alleron croaked once completely bound.

Everyone ignored that request. Including me.

“Or food, or perhaps—” He hissed again when the ropelike magic cut into him anew. “Perhaps slightly less tight restraints?”

Bowan grunted but did nothing to change his magic.

I still didn’t move. Didn’t respond. I couldn’tthink. Fog grew in my mind, and only one thought penetrated it.

I’ll never be free.

Jax inhaled sharply, then took a tentative step my way. “Elowen? Are you all right?”

But I barely heard him. Twilight lit the sky in a dusky glow, and I gazed upward at the shining moons.

Trembles began to rack my body. I thought of my calendar. Thought of how I crossed off one day each morning. ForfullseasonsI’d been counting the days until my freedom was won and my life truly began.

But it’d all been a lie, a cruel, vicious joke that my guardian had played. He’d probably been laughing at me all along, smirking over the eager lorafin child who had gazed up at him with adoration and every intention of pleasing him. All so that one day, the collar would be removed, she could be a daughter and daughter only, and she could finally ask the semelees what became of her mother so that mystery could be laid to rest.

Now, I’ll never know.

And that was all because Guardian Alleron had chosen to make my collar irremovable. He’d always held the lock to my freedom, but he’d willingly thrown the key away the moment he commanded the collar’s forger to make my collar permanent.

Now, I would never be able to perform a calling for myself. I would never be able to ask the semelees what happened to my family. I couldn’t when the collar suppressed my magic so much. For a lorafin to request a calling of her own, she had to be able to command the semelees fully similar to what was needed to twist fate, and because of the restrictive collar, I’d never been able to.

Wind blew over my cheeks, feathering across my stinging eyes.

Only feet away, Jax continued to watch me. He stared at me with the intensity of a blazing sun, his attention firmly fixated on my face as his pulsing aura flowed out of him.

Cursing, Jax shot daggers at my guardian, then waved toward a tent and said gruffly, “Elowen, you’re sleeping in here. Come. You should rest.”

Numbness continued to seep through me, but I automatically stumbled forward on stiff limbs.

“Elowen!” Guardian Alleron called hoarsely.

My entire body froze mid-step, but before I could respond, Jax snarled and rounded on him. “You don’t speak to her. You never speak to her again unless I command it.”

The power in those enraged words cascaded through the air.

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