Page 45 of Fae Exile

I recognized an edge of panic in my voice—too much was happening too fast—and cleared my throat, forcing a nonchalance I didn’t feel as I explored my changed ears. They felt as pointy at the crests as those of any fae I’d seen. “What in the dragonfire...?”

Roan and Finnian, as grimy as the rest of us save Pru, who was several degrees cleaner, stalked over. “What’s going on?” Finnian asked, but at the sight of Roan, I dropped a hand to my mouth.

“I totally forgot while I slept,” I said. “What happened to the horses? To Rompa-Romp?”

At the immediate stormy tempest that swirled across Roan’s sparkling green eyes, I gasped. “Oh no.”

Eventually, Roan nodded, his eyes glistening. “My good boy saw his last ride,” he croaked. “Had I known it was ‘is last, I woulda let him gorge himself on apples before he went.”

“I’m so sorry, Roan,” I said. Everyone else was just as somber. “He must have already been… dead when I asked the land to protect the horses.”

Roan nodded and cleared his throat, fussing with the ax he clutched despite the apparent current pocket of relative safety we occupied. He sniffed and waggled his mouth.

“What ... what happened to him?” I asked.

“The fuckin’ umbracs, that’s what,” Roan snarled.

I’d never seen him so murderous.

“Well, yeah, I figured. I mean, how’d he die? Wait, you know what? Never mind. I really don’t think I want to know.”

But it was too late. Roan growled, “They sliced ‘im up into tiny bits and ripped out his insides. By the time I got to ‘im, there wasn’t all that much left.”

My chest seized with his obvious pain, and I pulled Saffron to my heart, holding him tightly until he squirmed to be released. When a whole minute passed and no one said anything, I finally asked, “And the rest of the horses?”

“All dead,” Finnian said, his tone cold where the dwarf’s had been blistering. “Except for Rush’s.”

I glanced up at the tall fae. His caramel eyes, usually a perfect match for his now dirty skin, were hard but perhaps just as furious as Roan’s.

“Bolt,” the dwarf clarified. “Lightning Bolt. He was the only one to make it, though he looked like ‘e put up a damn good fight. Fine horse, that one. Rush’s favorite for a reason.”

“So then why’d he send the horse with us?” I asked before I was certain I wanted to.

“Notus, lassie. Withyou. To protect you.”

My lips parted with the usual rebuttal along the lines of,If he cares about me so much, surely he would’ve found an alternative to stabbing me in the fucking heart. But in the end I didn’t say a word, until, “Where is Bolt now?”

“With Reed on patrol,” Xeno said. “He’s helping keep watch.”

I couldn’t help but add, “You’re all absolutely sure Rush didn’t betray me?”

I stared them each in the eye, holding longest on Xeno, who answered, “I don’t know Rush. But I know men, especially the warrior type. And much as I might wanna tell you otherwise for selfish reasons, that man was hurting over what he had to do.”

“I’ve never seen him like that before,” Roan said, sounding lost in thought. “Not even when Ramana died. Then he justwanted to murder the shit out of everyone in his path on his way to the queen.”

I wasn’t sure what to think anymore when Finnian asked, “What were you talking about when we got here? What was surprising you, Elowyn?”

“And you really didn’t want to let Sandor die?” I asked him instead.

“I didn’t. I would have rather set him free.” That truth shone in his warm, intelligent eyes. “He wasn’t the best of men, but neither was he the worst. He did what he had to, just as the rest of us do, to survive.”

Finally, Finnian sighed, his strong shoulders rising and lowering. “I’d known him for centuries. Perhaps one day we might have become friends.”

“But the evil cunt won’t let anythin’ good happen under her nose,” Roan rumbled.

Finnian nudged my boot with his own. “So? What were you talking about?”

“Oh,” I said. “My ears got pointier. Not sure exactly why.”

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