Page 97 of Desire

Father stopped howling, and I felt hope in knowing that he had purposely called their attention to help me.

Don’t give up, Father, I thought, even as I struggled to respond to Darian's gentle touch in some way.

“Come now, Princess. Now is not the time to fall into a faint. Open your eyes for me.”

Every attempt to do so failed.

He set me on the table, and his fingers stroked over my face, coaxing me to respond. I could feel his worry growing.

“It’s never lasted this long before,” he said softly.

His need to call out for Brandle and Eadric warred with his need for them to free Edmund, Daemon, Garron, and Liam. The six of them strained against the larger boulders, working together to move rocks as Darian stayed with me. I checked Maeve’s progress continually, but she didn’t move far, surrounded as she was.

Eventually, they cleared a small opening at the top of the entrance. Their relief echoed my own.

“Please wake up, Princess,” he said, unaware of his brothers as they climbed out of the cave.

I knew the moment they saw me on the table. Their low murmur of conversation ceased. The worry that had just left them came rushing back.

“What happened?” Brandle asked.

“I found her lying on the ground by the apple,” he said.

The apple.I’d forgotten about it.

I fought against the spell, desperate to warn them not to touch the apple, but my body wasn’t my own. It refused to respond to my will.

“It isn’t an apple from the cellar,” Garron said. “It’s fresh and…” I heard the apple hit the ground. “It’s been touched by magic. Where did it come from?”

“It was here when I found her. I think the howl was her father. Try talking to him.”

Daemon’s energy moved off toward the tree line and returned moments later.

“His exact words before leaving were: woman and dangerous.”

Their fear grew until it squeezed in on me, creating a panic that made my heart race. I tried to close myself off from what they felt, but it didn’t work. Everything they felt became my own. Their fear, anger, hopelessness, and desperate need to protect.

“What did the Foul Queen do to her?” Edmund asked, his voice shaking with rage.

“Kellen’s breathing,” Darian said. “Maybe she’s just resting.”

“And you call me simple?” Eadric said with a snort. “The spelled apple has a bite out of it, and our little sparrow isn’t waking. She’s been cursed.”

“In order to create a curse, it must have an end,” Garron said. “We’ll find the end to this one.”

“How? The Foul Queenknewwe were close. The cost of breaking this spell will be high,” Brandle said.

“For us or for our lamb?” Daemon asked.

Liam reached under my skirt to touch my ankle.

“She’s chilled. We should move her inside.”

Darian lifted me again, and from the safety of his embrace, I listened to them speak as they made a bed for me in the cottage and started the fire.

“The spell is obviously meant to stop us,” Brandle said. “That means we were close.”

“But why not kill her if we were close?” Edmund asked.

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