Page 101 of Fae Crown

Edsel growled loudly. When he spoke, his question was terse, “And was there good reason for this assumption?”

“I think so.” By dragonfire,I hoped so. Or we were even more screwed than we’d realized, and we already understood we were majorly screwed. Like, pretty much destined to die levels of screwed.

“It was Rush’s idea,” I offered, hoping that would encourage the goblin. “What it is. To think that it will help. What it leads to, that’s from me.”

A diminutive orb of light blossomed in the parvnit’s cupped palm just in time to catch Edsel very faintly nodding.

“We continue as planned, then,” he said gruffly. “How do ye activate it?”

I was too busy studying him to answer. His hair stuck up in all directions. His tunic and breeches were torn in as many places as slashes marred his already craggy face. His forearms were scratched in more spots than I could easily make out in the faint light.

“Holy shit,” I said. “I assumed you could see in the dark to avoid all the … stuff that cut you up like this.”

He drew closer to the parvnit, and I could make out the grim tilt of his mouth. “I hope yer assumption about the other is better than that. I can’t see in the dark, but Bertram?—”

“Who’s Bertram?”

“The ranucu ye’ve been callin’ an ‘it.’”

“Oh. So what’d Bertram do?”

“I woulda told ye by now had ye not interrupted.”

I waited for Edsel to stop glowering and continue.

After a few seconds, “Bertram can see in the dark. He linked with me so I could too. But we were moving fast, too fast for caution.”

“Yeah,” I lamented.

“So how’d ye activateit?” he insisted.

“Uh. Um.”

“Elowyn.”

“With Rush. When he … and I … um … link?”

“Like with Edsel and Bertram?” the parvnit, who was still a child, piped in.

“Yeah, sure.” My cheeks flushed for no good reason. I had nothing to be embarrassed about, really. After all, at court everyone seemed to be fucking left, right, and center, and most of them didn’t even seem to love each other like Rush and I did. But Zako’s many years of insisting I should remain a maiden at all costs were passing judgment.

“Yeah, like with Edsel and Bertram,” I affirmed even though,Yeah, definitely not like that.

Edsel harrumphed loudly, giving me hope he discerned the true meaning of my answer.

“Rush ain’t here,” he said.

“No, he isn’t,” I said sadly.

Edsel emitted yet another gruff sound that was part grunt, part growl, part disapproving throat-clearing. To avoid his stare, I studied the parvnit. Whereas Edsel and I looked like we’d gone several rounds with a packof vicious feethles, her skin was unmarred, her clothes perfect. Even her little acorn hat sat right where it had last been.

“How come you look like this?” I waved a hand at her, limply, tiredly. I still had to pee but didn’t know when I’d be able to get up, arbosaurus or no arbosaurus.

Her features scrunched up. “You mean,plain?” she asked sourly.

My brow furrowed. “What? Plain? No. Intact.”

“Oh.” Her shoulders marginally unclenched. “Grumpy goblin tucked me into the back of his tunic.”

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