Page 32 of Fae Reckoning

“I’m mini,” Zafi added, quite unnecessarily, as we began weaving through dense woods. There was no path of any sort here.

I asked of Einar, who only seemed to harrumph down our connection, before I told Zafi, “I might not know you super well yet, but from what I’ve already seen, you’re mini in size only. You have as much grit and fortitude as someone a hundred times your size.”

I pushed aside a branch only for it to come swinging back at me. I yanked my face out of the way just in time, catching a mere brush of leaves to my cheek. Even that light touch aggravated the cuts on my face, thanks to that carnivorous asshole of a flower.

“You know,” I continued, “your kind should becalled MISOs instead of parvnits. Or maybe not. Far be it from me to tell your kind what to do about anything … but it sounds good, doesn’t it?”

“MISO?” came her voice, smaller than usual.

“Mini in size only,” I clarified. “Like I was saying.”

Einar’s massive legs, sheathed in shiny black scales that glimmered in the afternoon sunlight, rose up perhaps fifty feet ahead of us. They were as thick as some of the trees surrounding him.

A tiny sniffle sounded over my shoulder. I peered back at Zafi. Her little eyes were shining, her cheeks pink as her lower lip trembled.

My step hitched. I slowed. “Zafi?” I asked gently. “What’s wrong?”

The little fairy shook her head so violently that her acorn hat wobbled. She shot a hand out to steady it. “Nothing. Nothing’s wrong.”

I had a gigantic and highly impatient dragon a few steps from demolishing an entire cabin, anyone inside it be damned; my mate and my best friend chasing after a crazed zealot who thought the queen shat sparkly fucking diamonds; a map I was obligated to follow to reveal fae the queen had overpowered and abused; trapped and possibly dead or dying fae; a traumatized unisus and dragonling; and a bitch of a horrid queen to murder; among a constantly expanding list of burdens that seemed to somehow be falling squarely on my shoulders.

But…

I reached out a hand to comfort the MISO beforequickly drawing it back. She was so much smaller than I was. I hesitated, then inched a finger forward and ran it gingerly along her arm.

She began sobbing.

Oh, shit.

His voice was deep, slow, and immediate as it filled my mind.

So he really could hear me even when we weren’t touching foreheads—amazing!

Einar commented, misconstruing my thought.

I wasn’t about to correct him—I mean, hewasamazing—and hurried along in case he might realize that wasn’t what I’d meant on his own. He grunted aloud, setting tree canopies loudly rustling, and I wondered if I was too late.

I told him.

I rolled my eyes and hoped he couldn’t sense my reaction.

He grumbled but I turned to Zafi anyway. Ibrushed her arm again with my finger. “Are you alright? Are you ill from the travel? It can be extremely uncomfortable.”

She sniffled, ran a hand beneath her nose, then wiped it along her flower-petal skirt. “It’s not that.”

“Then, what?” I asked as delicately as I could considering how many situations required my urgent attention.

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