Page 13 of Fae Champion

“For sure.”

“I tried to tell you so many times. But then you probably would’ve gone and tattled on me to the queen if I’d managed to let you know what was going on.”

“It’s not like that.”

“No? How isn’t it like that?”

He didn’t answer, though he waggled his already hard jaw back and forth a few times.

“Exactly.” I glanced at his friends, still there, still waiting, presumably for me to follow the queen’s commands and be on my merry way to the dungeons.

Fat chance.

“I’m going,” I told him, though I didn’t owe him a thing.

“Where?” With his brawn and skill with weapons, he could have easily tried to make me stay. But his stance remained at ease, sad even. Defeated, maybe.

“Anywhere but here.”

He nodded somberly, his eyes still on me but seeming to gaze elsewhere, somewhere far off in the distance. “I don’t blame you. I’d go too if I could.”

Without good reason, stupid hope fluttered in my chest, the whispering touch of butterfly wings. Before I could think it through, before I could stop myself from sounding as eager as the maiden he saw me for, I blurted, “Come with me, then. We can leavetogether, go somewhere far, far away. Maybe even to Nightguard. It’s cold as the queen’s dead heart there, but the dragons are magnificent. I think you’d love them.”

His smile was dejected. “I bet I would.”

“But you’re not coming with me.”

“No, Elowyn, I’m not. But I really wish I could. You have no idea how much…”

I chortled. “Apparently not enough.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I stiffened so quickly that some of my weapons rattled. “Then enlighten me.”

Instead of rising to my challenge, he gazed away, staring across rolling hills so verdant and bright it had to be magic. The sun was shining overhead, warming me from the inside out. The road lined with dragon heads was out of sight, so that it was almost plausible to believe I could really leave, just walk until the memories of my time with the royals of Embermere were nothing more than a nightmare that might eventually fade.

I gave the man who’d wormed his way into my heart in a short time a final glance, attempting to memorize his every feature. In all my life, I already understood I’d never find another face as beautiful as his, eyes that lured me in as if it was their sole purpose. A body I desired more than reason.

My beloved enemy…

I nodded at him, already absently, allowing myself to believe this dream where I was the master of my freewill. Where no one would get their heads lopped off for my leaving.

“See ya, Rush.”

His smile appeared again, this time, even sadder. “See ya, El.”

I turned and continued walking, forcing myself not to think, not to feel. I failed as my thoughts raced ahead of me. Maybe the most responsible actionwasto leave. I could head to Nightguard, gather the dragons, and return to free Saffron and Xeno. Ifmyrage at the dragons’ treatment was overwhelming, there’d be no limit to the Dragon Mother’s fury. The vengeance she’d exact on the queen would be legendary. The wicked woman would no longer have to worry about selecting an heir to her throne. The Dragon Mother would ensure there was no throne left to occupy. The queen’s entire bloodline would be incinerated to ash.

The collateral damage would be enormous.

The Dragon Mother would see only those who’d done their best to kill off the rest of her kind. And the dragon shifters she commanded would be no better.

My steps became leaden.

If I left now, I’d be condemning Saffron and Xeno to the queen’s wrath, and I knew it full well. No matter how much I tried to convince myself that the queen was a reasonable woman who wouldn’t use her leverage when it would no longer sway me, that was as much a lie as my being Zinnia, champion of the fae commoners.

It was why the queen had sent Rush, West, Ryder,and Hiroshi to escort me to the dungeons. She knew I wouldn’t escape. There was nowhere I could go that her cruelty wouldn’t eventually reach.

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