Page 55 of Kingdom of Faewood

More blades and arrows suddenly zinged through the air, coming from behind us, and then I heard it.

Hoofbeats.

A swell of disbelief and joy tumbled through me simultaneously. Out of the darkness, cascading down the mountaintop like Lucifer himself, the Dark Raider, Phillen, and Trivan appeared atop their friends, having come into view only when they reached the lordling’s group and slowed enough to no longer be a blur.

They tore through the group of Faewood males as though demons possessed their souls, turning into a tornado of death and destruction.

The lordling’s males fought back, using their swords and daggers to counter the blows, but the stag shifters moved like the wind, dodging and swiping their weapons in moves so fast they were impossible to see.

I’d never seen any males move that fast. Ever.

A rough hand abruptly yanked the domal I rode, then I was careening down the mountain once more, the animal screaming in fear as Lordling Neeble brutally forced it into the Wood.

We galloped into the trees at full speed. Leaves and branches cut into my skin.

“Elowen!” Jax’s bellow came from behind me, but the noble didn’t slow.

Magic speared the air, filling the space around me, and then Lordling Neeble gasped.

“My eyes!” he screamed.

He let go of my domal, clawing at his face while Jax’s sense-stealing magic clouded around him.

The sound of more galloping hooves came from behind me, and then Jax was there, and his huge stag slammed into Lordling Neeble’s mount.

The noble fell off his steed, landing with a crash in a patch of barnbrambles. The lordling cried out when the sharp thorns mercilessly impaled his flesh and tore his skin.

“Elowen!” Jax grabbed my domal, slowing the frightened beast until he danced around where Lordling Neeble lay.

Jax’s sapphire eyes practically glowed in the moonlight. He jumped off the stag, and a flash of magic flared in the night, and then Bowan stood before me too, dressed in black with a weapon raised.

“Go,” Jax snarled.

Bowan disappeared in a blur back the way he’d come.

The domal I rode whinnied again and pranced, but Jax kept hold of its halter, stopping the poor animal’s terrified movements. Leaning closer, Jax whispered something, and some of its frantic movements slowed, but its eyes still rolled white.

I sucked in a breath, alternating between trying to breathe and attempting to stifle my heightened emotions so my collar would stop punishing me. It didn’t help that my legs ached from the vise-like ropes or that cuts lined my palms from the domal’s course hair, but none of that compared to the absolute fury emanating from Jax.

Jax quickly tied my domal to a tree, then rounded on Lordling Neeble.

The male was still stuck in the barnbrambles, trying to untangle himself from the wooded stalks as he thrashed in his blinded state.

Jax shoved his hands into the bush and seized the male’s shirt before hauling him out.

Lordling Neeble bared his teeth andpunched for Jax’s mouth, but Jax easily dodged it, then slammed his forehead right into the lordling’s nose.

Bone cracked, and blood gushed from his nostrils. Lordling Neeble howled, but he continued trying to fight.

In the distance, sounds of hacking flesh and pitiful moans carried on the wind. Farther up the mountain, the fighting still waged, but given that the sounds grew less and less, I had a feeling I knew who the victors were, and from the sounds of it, Jax’s friends were ruthlessly killing every single male who had accompanied Lordling Neeble. This time there would be no survivors.

“How?” I managed in a strained whisper as Lordling Neeble continued to blindly swing. “He stabbed you. Right in the heart. You were dead. I saw it.”

“He missed my heart.”

It was the only explanation I got before Jax hauled Lordling Neeble clear of the thorny bush, staggering slightly under the lordling’s weight.

My eyes widened. “Jax, you’re hurt!”

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