Page 61 of Fae Reckoning

His jaw clenched but he nodded. With a bulge of thigh muscles, he crouched in front of Ivar to continue interrogating him.

I faced the rows of fae in the grips of seizures.Trust me, I’d asked of Xeno, and he had. Now it was time I trusted myself.

Heat warmed my face. Rush’s stare was on me … but also Pru’s—and Einar’s now followed me like a beam of sunshine. Pru rose from Edsel’s side, wiped shaky hands on her grimy frock, and walked toward me in a somber shuffle of her dragon-like feet. When she sidled beside me, Saffron tightened his hold around my neck. The goblin tilted her head all the way back to regard me. She did so quietly, her silence all the more noticeable for the increasing pitch of alarm buzzing through the clearing. Her eyes suddenly seemed as large as Einar’s as they held mine—and waited.

Before I fully comprehended what she expected me to do—before I realized what I’d apparently already decided to do—I nodded blankly at her, kissed Saffron on that soft crown of his, untangled him from myself, and handed him off to her. She received him and immediately worked to soothe his whining complaints, cooing and cuddling while her gaze remained fixed upon me. I stepped back from the others, carving out some room for myself, careful not to glance at Rush so he wouldn’t see what I was about to do.

WhatwasI about to do? I didn’t really know, but I felt whatever it was bubbling up inside me just the same. Like fizz building in a sealed bottle I was shaking, I would pop when I released … whatever it was.

Commanding my thoughts to hush, I listened only to my instincts, my intuition—to faith even. I blocked Einar from my mind when I felt him reach for me. I heard him grunt aloud but didn’t check. I discovered myself kneeling, then bowing. I stretched my arms outand pressed my palms flat to the ground, touching my forehead to the land. I thought I felt it shudder, but maybe that was me.

I bypassed my former awkward greetings. There was no, this time. speaking to the land as I did the dragons, praying it would hear me. I snorted softly, blades of grass tickling my nose and lips.

I silenced my mind and waited.

If the ground had shuddered at all, it was still now. In fact, everything was too quiet…

I glanced up and found everyone, even West, staring at me, their expressions a mixture of shock and expectation.

“Don’t stop,” urged Reed. “Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it. It’s helping. Look…”

I did. The sleeper fae had ceased their violent shaking.They didn’t exactly appear peaceful, their faces still pinched in pained creases, but at least their teeth weren’t chattering from the force of their seizures.

“Now, lass,” Roan urged sharply. “Don’t ya tarry. The veils to the Etherlands are thinning. They don’t have long in this world.”

I glanced at Rush, who stood halfway between me and Ramana. He nodded encouragement.

Swallowing thickly, I returned my forehead to the ground, dug my hands into rich dirt. My fingers tingled at the touch, then the tingles drifted up my forearms. It was definitely me who shuddered this time.

I clawed my fingers into the dirt until, damp and cool, it covered my knuckles. The prickling reached my shoulders, continued on toward my chest, crawled up my neck. The land was listening and responding, if not in words.

Prickles danced along the entirety of my body. But I’d run out of things to say. The swells of my cheeks pressed against the grass when I grimaced. It appeared I wouldn’t escape the awkwardness after all. I sighed.

Did I really? Fuck, I guess I really did.

—I cringed—Thatwould definitely take some getting used to.

The tingles grew stronger. I petered off.

The earth began … undulating beneath my forehead. So very tempted to pull away from the uncomfortable sensation, I forced myself to remain as I was, physically connected to the land.

Tendrils of … something … scratched my skin. I fought the urge to squirm. They felt like worms.Shit, maybe they are worms. My face was planted in the dirt of the forest, after all.

But then the tendrils suctioned to the skin of my forehead and yanked, pulling my head into the dirtuntil I struggled to breathe, my nose smooshed against it. I felt Rush stir to my aid in a similar way as I sensed the queen when she was near, and prayed he wouldn’t touch me.

“Don’t,” I heard Roan caution, and hoped Rush would listen.

Wave after wave of energy pulsed into me through my forehead to spread to the rest of my body, until I tingled so much I couldn’t feel anything beyond the prickling. I heard what sounded like the queen screaming, and it required all my determination not to twist to seek out assurances that she wasn’t here in the flesh. In the distance, I heard birds flock to the sky in a flutter of myriad wings.

“Keep goin’, lassie,” Roan pressed.

My eyes squeezed shut against the disturbing sensation of having tentacle-likethings—tree roots?—suctioned to my face. The land was in control now. I’d offered myself to it, prostrated myself to its will, and I was at its mercy.

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