Page 35 of Fae Reckoning

“There are brown gemstones.” None Icould think of at that precise moment, but I was certain there had to be some.

She crossed her arms in front of her diminutive chest, rumpling her flower-petal top. “None of the really desired ones.”

“Brown’s the color of nature.” I gestured around us. “Look at the trees and the dirt.”

“Yeah, dirt. Tree stumps. That’s me. Plain as dirt. That’s why I had to leave.”

“They really made you leave for that?”

Her eyes glistened as they blazed. “I haven’t been home in almost three years.”

“How’d you end up where my mother was?”

She shrugged, a sharp jerk of her shoulders while her translucent wings continued to buzz. “It was a good place to hide for a few days. The forest can be exhausting. Something always wants to eat you.”

“Tell me about it,” I muttered, glancing at the black dragon legs that required my attention before they brought down more trees. “Well,” I told Zafi, “you aren’t plain to me. You’re actually quite spectacular.”

Her eyes widened. She swallowed. “I … am?”

“Of course you are. Look at you, being a warrior about to take down the most fearsome ruler the Mirror World has ever seen.”

I frowned. What was I doing? She was still only a child of fourteen. But it was too late.

She beamed. “Yeah.” She threw a few punches into the air, followed by a kick with each leg that messed up the rhythm of her beating wings. But thatdidn’t stop her from grinning. “We’re gonna kick some queen ass.”

I narrowed my eyes at her, wondering about her language, her involvement, her safety, whether I should try to convince her to stay away from danger, when I heard Rush’s voice.

“El! We got ‘im,” he shouted.

“I’m coming,” I yelled loudly enough that my message would reach him.

“Go make sure everything’s okay,” I told Zafi, who straightened her back, bowed her head at me sharply in something akin to a salute, and zoomed off.

Since Einar could hear me just fine from where I stood, there was no point in trouncing farther into the woods.

Einar was already crouching into his mighty haunches. He launched into the sky. A pair of smaller trees, one to each side of him, cracked like a pair of whips.

“Oh no,” I gasped as I bolted back toward the cabin.

The trees crashed to the ground so hard it rippled under my feet. But as the thunder of their fall echoed, I was unhurt. The trees had fallen wide, far from where I stood.

Screams erupted from the area of the cabin as Einar blotted out the sun.

“Fuck,” I grunted and ran as fast as I could toward the mighty dragon who, at the very least, posed a risk of making Azariah shit himself and then faint.

“Hold on, buddy,” I told Saffron. “Things will calm down soon.”

Even as the assurance slipped past my lips, I knew I should take it back. It was surely a lie. But Saff was nervous enough as it was. I allowed the lie to stand.

11.MERCY WAITS ONLY FOR DEATH, A RIGHTEOUS CAUSE FOR VENGEANCE

ELOWYN

Einar circled the cabin in gradually lower flybys. Alarmed cries tracked his progress. His wings were wide as he soared.

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