Page 62 of Two Thousand Shadows

Junjie hung to the back of their group, covering their retreat with the help of more pixies and other wingless figures that looked as if they were round boulders with crude facial features and stubby appendages. Yet, despite their small statures, they could move surprisingly fast through the forest.

Junjie spent most of his time watching for signs that they were being pursued and trying to dodge low tree limbs. The storm slacked off to a steady drizzle. Low rolls of thunder grew more distant as the rain moved farther north. Rain soaked every part of his body. His boots squelched with each step and water dripped into his eyes from his hair. A distracting chill clung to his flesh, threatening to sink into his soul. Gods, he would never be warm again.

Right now, the only thing he wanted was to return home. Dry clothes, hot tea, and the sight of Leo playing with Erik in the boy’s room. That would chase away this bone-deep cold.

But such a thing was a long way off.

He might not know where they were in the forest, but he felt fairly certain they were not moving in the correct direction to reach their SUV. Rei’s half sister was leading them somewhere, and Junjie prayed it wasn’t into more trouble. She might have saved them, but he didn’t trust her. They’d made the mistake of trusting Trin, believing that he’d be more sensible than King Ash and Queen Belladonna. They’d been wrong.

After running for what felt like a good hour, they slowed as they reached an enormous tree with bright-yellow leaves. As he drew closer, he blinked. It was a gingko tree. What was a gingko tree doing here?

His brain was still wrestling with that question when the thick bark on the trunk cracked and parted as if a door were opening within it. A round creature that stood about a meter tall with baggy clothes stuck his head out and looked left and right before gazing up at Rei.

“Young Master Olag,” Rei greeted with a bow of his head. “I figured you would be far from the human world by now. What are you doing with such a disreputable group?”

Junjie blinked and edged closer to where they’d gathered around the opening. It was odd to hear Rei talking like this. The elf was normally sassy and irreverent with a very informal way of speaking, but with this person, his intonation became more formal and even a touch respectful. Something he seemed to save for only Xiao Dan.

“We’ve moved far beyond the stage where we can ignore the mess in the human realm and still salvage our home,” the boulder with a bulbous nose and large brown eyes said. “Come. Come.” The one Rei called Olag waved for them to follow him inside the tree.

“Leave your fox outside,” Rei’s sister ordered, pointing at a bedraggled Huli with wilted ears and tails.

Huli snapped sharp teeth at her. “No! Absolutely not! Huli protects Xiao Dan.”

“No animals!”

So, naturally, Huli shifted into a slender youth with rich curls and enormous eyes. Somehow, he still appeared waterlogged and ragged. His hair clung to his skull and his dark T-shirt hung on his skinny frame. Regardless, Xiao Dan smiled at him and threaded their fingers together, pulling him in close.

The female elf groaned and threw up her hands. “Fine. Whatever. Just get in there. We’ve lost Trin and his army for now, but I’m sure he’s got trackers looking for us.”

Yichen led the way and the rest followed him down a set of winding, uneven stairs cut straight into the tree. The interior of the tree grew warmer, with the lingering scent of pipe smoke, old books, and damp earth hanging in the air. The murmur of conversation that had been bubbling below them stopped with their approaching footsteps.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Junjie blinked, his heart flipping over in his chest. It was as if the staircase had led them to a fantasy world. The room was far bigger than he’d expected, but it maintained an oddly cozy feel with cluttered bookshelves overflowing with dusty old tomes. There was an overstuffed chair covered in an ancient handmade quilt. A tea set sat ready for guests on a low circular table.

But beyond the furnishing, there were members of the fae, but not the ones he was used to seeing—namely elves. There were a few other rocklike creatures in baggy clothes, smoking long-stemmed pipes. Tiny, winged figures that were probably either pixies or fairies flitted here and there around the room before settling up in the highest, most hidden corners. There were more with red hats that were shaped like mushrooms. Mostly, they were all small in stature, measuring a meter or shorter.

Of course, if they were the height of the vampires and the elves, they would never have fit them all in the room.

“Your Highness,” several of the beings said with bows of their head as Rei approached.

Rei crossed to the center of the room near the table with the tea set and held up his hands. “Enough. I’m sure the news has spread that I renounced the throne. I’m not the crown prince or would-be king of the fae. No more of that. I’m just Rei.”

“Sure, but if we have to choose between you and that psychopath half brother of ours, who do you think they’re going with?” a cold feminine voice drawled.

Junjie turned from his inspection of the books on the shelf to find the white-haired elf seated on the stairs. Her spine was hunched and shoulder slumped as if she were exhausted after their rescue. She shoved a hand through her stark white hair, pushing it from her face and revealing a spectacularly pointed ear with a silver cuff and chain.

Rei sighed. “Clan, this is Ellora, my half sister…” Rei paused as he squinted at the female elf and leaned toward her before finishing, “from my father’s side. I think.”

Ellora leveled a very irritated and unimpressed look at her sibling. “Yes, King Ash was my father, so technically I’m not related at all to Trin. Bless the goddess for that.”

Yichen sidled up to Rei and pitched his voice low. “I thought you said that your parents had killed off all your other siblings, and that Trin was the only one left.”

Rei brushed a quick kiss on his mate’s cheek. “I saidmost. My parents had killed offmostof their bastards. Out of the survivors, Trin was one of the few who stuck somewhat close to the royal family. The rest of those who hadn’t been slaughtered stayed away. They lived longer that way.”

“Arrogant wastrel,” Ellora muttered.

“Tedious harpy,” Rei shot back.

“Thank you!” Xiao Dan blurted out in an exceedingly loud voice, cutting off the sibling bickering. “Thank you so much for coming to our aid earlier. We had gone out following a lead that some of Trin’s soldiers had been in the area searching for a place to conduct their ritual. We weren’t expecting to encounter Trin or that he would have support like that.”

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