Page 11 of Fae Exile

Scowling, I marched toward the log Reed was dragging forward for me to sit on. I hated being the damsel in distress, but every step hurt, tugged on the constant reminder of how very much Rushshouldn’tbe my priority.

With the kind of ferocity I wished I could direct at Rush instead, I lowered myself to the makeshift seat and waited for the pain to pass so I could contribute to the camp preparations.

Secure in the knowledge that Xeno, Reed, Pru, Roan, and Finnian kept watch, I allowed my eyes to close, and nuzzled Saffron closer. He purred and licked my neck with his sandpaper-rough tongue. I pressed my eyes shut harder to squeeze away the tears that swam too close to the surface.

I owe Rush nothing.

Nothing.

Roan lowered himself onto the open seat beside me on the log and handed me a tin plate filled with steaming sliced meat; plump, violet berries; and some sort of long, red-flecked stems.

“Thanks. What kind of meat is it?” I asked, moving the plate out of Saffron’s reach. Pru had already fed him. The bristly goblin was surprisingly good with the dragon.

“Not sure, lassie,” Roan grumbled while leaning his ax, ever at the ready, against the wood. “Around here, I figure it’s best not to ask.”

I harrumphed and studied the pile of mystery meat.

Reed claimed the other seat beside me and Saffron, his quiver and bow jostling along his back. “It’s snake,” he said before taking a bite out of his own stack of meat.

My brows rose. “This is ... snake?” I poked at the sliced meat as an unwanted image of the many serpents that slithered beneath the floor of the Hall of Mirrors flashed through my memory, their bright scales writhing and vivid in my mind. “How freaking big was it? It looks wider than my leg.”

“Try wider than your waist,” Reed said around a mouthful.

“Damn, Reed. That sounds intense.”

He shrugged and pushed his messy, short braids out of his face with the back of a hand. “Like everything around here, it was either us or it, and we need to eat.”

Roan nodded, took a bite, scratched at his beard, and said, “Ya done well, lad. Your huntin’ skills are coming in right handy, that they are.”

Pru ambled toward us, halting between us and the fire, which would roar all night long to keep the monsters—and the night’s chill—at bay. She twisted her fingers around themselves, and when I glanced up at her, asked, “Does Mistress want me to take the baby for a while so she can eat in peace?”

I studied the goblin. She’d been the one I’d been most surprised to find in my company when I’d first awoken. She was the one I’d believed most frightened of the queen’s wrath.

“You feel up for it?” I said, when I really wanted to ask her if she regretted coming along with us. I hadn’t dared to hear her answer.

“Of course, Mistress. You need to rest.”

“Remember, it’sElowyn,” I said for the umpteenth time, probably to the same lacking result. “And all I do is rest. You all walk, I ride. You all do chores, I sit. You take turns on watch, I sleep.”

“It’s still not enough.” Pru’s lips pursed as she glanced disapprovingly at Finnian, who sat alone on the other side of the fire. Somewhere up in the tree canopy, Xeno kept guard. I wasn’t currently a huge fan of Finnian either—I hadn’t forgotten his part in getting Sandor tortured—but neither was I sure what else he could do.

“That’s because my wound’s not healing the way it should,” I said too softly, revealing how much this one fact disturbed me.

Roan leaned his head toward me before picking up another slice of roast. “That’s ’cause it’s inflicted by your mate, ya know that.”

“Yeah. Sure.” I pressed my lips together and rested the untouched food on my lap. “How could I forget?”

Pru stepped closer. “Come, Saffron. Mistress needs to eat.” She glanced at Roan, then me. “And talk. She needs to understand.”

“Don’t tell me you’re a fan of Rush’s now too,” I groaned, sliding Saffron toward her.

“Not a fan,” Pru said. “Not an enemy.”

Whatever that means...

I urged Saffron toward her. He whimpered and clung to me, but then the goblin cooed at him, he looked up at her with his big, hopeful eyes, and reached for her.

As soon as he was in her arms, she sagged under his weight. He was as large as she was now. But she made it over to the other log and sank down with him, running a soothing hand along his head. Saffron nuzzled her and closed his eyes.

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