Page 57 of Kingdom of Faewood

Biting my lip, I shook my head. “I can’t.”

Jax watched me, his eyes glowing slightly. His aura swelled, pulsing throughout the camp. He glanced down at his knife. “But he touched you?” he finally asked, his voice gruff. “In places he shouldn’t have?”

“He did.”

Jax rose in a blur. “Hold him still,” he barked at Phillen. “Lars, take Elowen away from here. She doesn’t need to see this.”

“What are you going to do?” I pushed to a stand as the magic inside me stirred.

“What he deserves. It’s best if you’re not here to see it.”

Lars approached me, his demeanor nonthreatening, but I sidestepped the redhead. “What if I want to stay?”

Jax inhaled, then said in a dark tone, “I don’t intend to begentle. Do you remember when I said I reserved my brutal side for the truly vile in our realm? Fae likethisare who I was referring to.” He pointed his knife at the noble.

But I still refused to move. “Tell me what you’re going to do.”

I could have sworn Jax’s jaw worked beneath his mask. “I’m going to carve into his flesh and make him bleed. Slowly at first, because he attacked my camp. He tried to kill me and my friends. For that, he will pay. But what he did to you tonight, and at that calling...” Energy slammed into the trees around us. “Forthat, I’m going to fillet the skin from his bones, strip by strip. I’m going to do it slowly, agonizingly so, and at the very end I’m going to cut that dangling tiny cock off.” His eyebrows rose as the dawn sun lit his face in a myriad of colors. He still wore his mask. All I could see were those startling blue irises. But despite the malicious gleam in his gaze, his words gentled, and his tone softened when he added, “Are you sure you can handle watching that?”

I wrapped my arms around myself, trembling more. I didn’t relish hurting others. Violence was never something I’d cared for, but after being abused by this male in the worst way I’d ever been hurt, I wanted to see Lordling Neeble in pain.

With a swift nod, I relaxed my arms and stood straighter. “I can handle it.”

CHAPTER 14

Guardian Alleron had wet himself. The stink of urine filled the air as the midday sun beat down on us. That stench, along with the smear of blood that trailed from the rocks into the Wood, made this clearing hardly desirable for another night of sleep.

Jax wiped the remains of blood from his knife and slipped it back into its sheath. A dark gleam filled his eyes, practically glowing in intensity, and all of the whisperings I’d heard throughout the seasons about his brutality, his thirst for blood, his willingness to carve into fae’s flesh... Now I knew. It was all true.

I should have been frightened by that, perhaps even disgusted, but neither filled me. I believed Jax when he said he only did this to those deserving it. That this kind of horrific punishment was only dealt to the fae who’d used their powerful statuses to intentionally and maliciously hurt others.

It wasn’t unheard of for nobles to slip through the judgment of the supernatural courts, but when that occurred, the Dark Raider came in. He was the judge and jury for the vile fae who’d never been held accountable for their crimes.

And I had a feeling he would continue to be as long as he was never caught.

Even though a few specks of Lordling Neeble’s blood had splattered on my blue gown, which was now entirely tattered and sullied from his attempted abduction during the night, it wasn’t terror I felt as I watched Jax cleanse the blood from his clothes and then mine. No, it waspower. Vindication. Nobody had ever sought vengeance on my behalf before. Nobody had ever cared enough to do that.

But Jax had.

“I’m glad you did that to him,” I said quietly. The fire lay in smoky ash at our feet as Jax’s five friends packed their dwindling supplies into sacks.

Jax finished cleaning my gown, his gaze unrelenting. “You are?” His irises bore into me. I was coming to realize it was something he did often—study me—as though I was some kind of creature he was either trying to assess or was entirely transfixed by. “I didn’t know if you’d have the stomach for it.”

I shrugged. “I didn’t either.”

He stared at me for another moment, and I could have sworn that the energy around him rose when he asked, “Did Alleron know what Neeble did to you?”

For the first time, hearing the lordling’s name didn’t causea shiver to run through my soul. The male was dead, butchered beyond recognition. He would never hurt me again.

“Initially, no. When it started, my guardian wasn’t in the room, but when he came back, he saw Lordling Neeble holding me down. His fingers were—” I wrapped my arms around myself.

A swell of energy rose from Jax. “And did he stop him?”

I closed my eyes, tears threatening to rise. “No. He said if the lordling wanted to touch me in that way, then he would have to pay more.”

Jax stilled. “Heallowedit?”

“Only that one time.” A shiver wracked my entire body. “He apologized afterward, saying he was caught unaware and didn’t know how to respond. I forgave him because I believed him, but now...” I cast a look toward my guardian, who was still tied to a tree. “Now that I know he murdered my mother and took me only to fill his pockets—” I couldn’t continue. Betrayal still lashed through me so sharply when I thought of the male I’d considered my father.

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