Page 100 of Fae Crown

I attempted a relieved smile, though my cheeks were too tired to put in much effort.

“But I won’t,” he added.

I groaned and threw my head back until the movement tugged on too many wounds to bother counting. “Seriously? Why not?” I was whining but I didn’t care. “I want to see where we are.”

“Not sure you really do,” the parvnit said. “Again, careful what you wish for.”

My heartbeat seemed to ring through my ears as I stiffened. “What do you mean?”

“We’re surrounded byarbosauruses.”

I waited for an explanation but none came.

“What the fuck’s an arbosaurus?”

“Doesn’t matter. Just … don’t make any sudden movements.”

I felt my eyes widen. “Now you tell me?! What if I’d jumped off the ranucu and set to violently stretching out my body?”

She snorted a tiny, little snort that still managed to imply,You’re ridiculous.

Am I though? Am I really when there are arbo-whatevers apparently all around us?

“What’s an arbosaurus?” I asked with a subdued growl.

“Mmm, when I was little, my ma told me I could think of them as a mix between an ogre and a tree.”

“A …pygmyogre, you mean?”

“Nope.”

“Great. Just fabulous. Do they have teeth too?” I asked with a laugh.

“Oh yes,” the parvnit answered, leaving me to blink my shock into the darkness. I’d been joking!

“Hey, grumpy goblin,” she said. “What if I make a lumoon? It’ll be my size so it shouldn’t draw the queen. And I wouldn’t mind being able to see an arbosaurus’branch before I fly into it. I’m looking forward to turning fifteen soon…”

Edsel did a lot of grunting while he did … whatever he was doing, before he finally said, “Okay. But just a tiny one, girly. I don’t trust all this power the queen’s got.”

“Who does?” I muttered. “Speaking of that, heh-heh…”

“Out with it,” Edsel said sternly when I trailed off.

Carefully, I stretched my back, taut all over from the ride. “Well … see, you know how I told you about the map on my body and how?—”

“Shhhhh,” Edsel and the parvnit censured at once.

“There are more dangers than the arbosauruses out here,” warned the fairy. “You never know who’s listening.”

“Or who’ll report to the queen,” Edsel added ominously.

“Right. Noted.” Fuck, even away from the palace and her body-part spies, her influence reached too far.

“Ye can safely whisper,” Edsel offered. “Probably.”

How very reassuring… “Okay, well, with that thing … I just mentioned. I’m not exactly sure where it leads, that was just my assumption.”

I left the rest unsaid since it wasn’t a fact either of them would easily forget. Rush guessed the map that branded itself across my skin would help to weaken the queen. And since it had delivered me to my mother, it was a logical conclusion that the remaining locationswould reveal others the queen was leeching of their power.

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