Page 79 of Whisper Woods

But I catch Brydon’s eye. Glassy with unshed tears, his round, black eyes bore into me, pleading with me to heed his warning. He shakes his head. I almost don’t see it, it’s such a subtle movement and my senses are clouding with rage, but I do.

A warning, for what I don’t know. But I know to fucking take it.

Fuck.

No! He’s taking you from our Rafe! Fight! I’ll eat his liver!Wolf snarls, and the battle to hold him back feels like a sucker punch on top of everything else.I can’t get us back to Rafe if we’re dead. Chill.

“Fine.” I grind the word out, and Brydon’s breath rushes out in relief. Heylor practically glows in victory, even as he throws a look of irritation over his shoulder at his son.

“Good choice.” His voice is like acid. Thankfully, he doesn’t attempt to touch me. Just follows me out the front door and past Eldrid, Maeve, and Sed, all waiting in the entry hall, wringing their hands in worry. Their protests and assurances that they will get Rafe, that he will fix this, do little to ease the anxiety choking me.

The guards surround me as we exit the house, maintaining a solid wall of muscle as they silently force me off Rafe’s property.

My spirit aches with each step, but there is nothing I can do, except pray to the Gods that Rafe will find me soon.

***

On the silent march out of the city—which suspiciously avoids the main streets—to the borders of Tathys and the Whisper Woods, my mind jumps from one conclusion to another.

It’s more than obvious that what’s happening to me is not above board. I mean, everything was perfectly fine when I was in the High Council meeting, and when I was kicking it around Tathys. And now suddenly, the loudest voicein the anti-reunification brigade is suddenly kicking me out? That cannot be a good sign.

My anxiety spirals out of control about what this flex of power by Heylor means for Rafe, for us being together and for the future of Rafe’s beloved home. There are too many questions and my brain is too panicked, racing too fast, to think them through.

More than once the thought crossed my mind that perhaps, they’ve taken me away to kill me or some other terrible thing. With nothing but my own thoughts and emotional turmoil, my brain has a field day coming up with outrageous and terrible scenarios of how they might torture and maim me.

But they don’t.

They simply walk me to the portal and shove me through.

And now I’m here, right on the edge of the Black Stump Tavern.

The portal dumped me about a fifteen-minute walk away, and I refuse to be grateful to Heylor or the Portal Guard for that. As soon as I fell through this side, I tried to go back, but the entry was blocked, the portal completely disappeared. There was nothing.

No way through.

The howl that ripped from me had torn at my throat so bad it still hurts.

The Black Stump is buzzing with mid-morning energy, but I can’t bring myself to cross the grassy clearing to see my friends.

Staring at the Black Stump, I can’t escape the overwhelming fear gripping me that if I go in there my time with Rafe is over. It’ll become a line in the sand, then and now. If we’re lucky—and Heylor isn’t successful in whatever he obviously has planned—maybe we’ll go back to seeing each other by chance in the Woods.

Gods, the very thought feels like death. I can’t do that again. Ican’t.

And if Heylorissuccessful? Who knows if I’ll ever see him again.

I am too deep in the feelings—I can no longer tell the difference between my imagination and my instincts. Everything inside is a jumbled mess which all boils down to just needing to see Rafe once again. To know that he is okay and safe. I don’t know what to do, panic rises inside me once again.

Running my hands through my hair, I tug at the strands and then scratch atmy arm. My body feels too big and too small at the same time while a thousand thoughts spin in a thousand directions at the same time.

A whimper squeezes out of me, my vision blurring, and a small hand squeezes my shoulder.

“Come on, big guy, let’s get you home.” The pungent, herby smell of Edith is a life raft to my senses. I cling to it, finding my way out of the pit in my head, and I let her lead me to the tavern.

With her arms wrapped around mine, her hand rubbing comfortingly on my biceps, we skirt around the edges of the grounds, to the garden out the back. Theo is there, digging away in a vegetable patch. He drops his shovel the moment he sees me, rushing through the squeaking gate to run to greet us, throwing his arms around me when he slams into me.

“Where have youbeen?” His outrage is muffled slightly considering he’s still squeezing me tight, but it makes me laugh sadly. His unrestrained love makes my sad heart lurch and I wrap my free arm around him and squeeze him back.

“It’s been like, two nights, Thee.”

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