Page 42 of Elora and the Crow

Arms suddenly wrapped around Jonah, and he was yanked back against Witan’s body. His skin immediately went hot and painful, even through his shirt, and it felt like his back was being stabbed by an entire wasp’s nest.

He screamed as the sharp pain grew unbearable, his body bowing. He screamed again as something in his side shifted, and his broken rib tried its hardest to poke through his skin.

As the pulsing pain grew more intense, the arms around him loosened and then fell away. Jonah’s legs refused to support him, and he fell face-first into the snow, his back on fire and his skull throbbing.

He was rolled to his back, and he shrieked at the new agony in his spine. Witan grinned at him. The fae had black thorns, oozing a thick yellow liquid, poking out of his skin, and he used his finger to swipe some of the liquid from one thorn before rubbing it across Jonah’s forehead.

Fresh fire burned into his forehead, and Jonah’s moan of pain made Witan’s grin widen. He closed his eyes briefly, and the thorns retracted into his skin, leaving no trace of them except for a slight sheen of the yellow liquid on his tanned skin.

“What the fuck, Witan?” Dairem appeared, his voice a nasal honk, his nose canted severely to the left and blood flowing freely from it. “I had it under control.”

“Like hell you did,” Witan said as he straightened and booted Jonah in the thigh. “This asshole was about to drive iron into your fucking heart.”

“I had him,” Dairem said sulkily.

“Let’s go,” Witan said.

“We’re just leaving him like this?” Dairem asked.

“You were right,” Witan said. “If we don’t kill him, he’ll never leave Caleb or Nimera alone.”

“Yeah, but if Nimera finds out what we did, she really will be pissed,” Dairem said.

Witan scoffed. “Dude, she loves that idiot human. You don’t have a chance with her.”

Dairem didn’t reply, and Witan said, “How will she know? I’ll heal your fucking face before we get back home, you keep the goddamn iron burn hidden, and if we stick to the same story - that we dropped this asshole off at the city limits like we were told to do, there’s no proof that says otherwise.”

He booted Jonah’s thigh again. “We’re deep in the forest, right? If this asshole’s body is even discovered by some random hunter in the spring, I guarantee you the animals will have eaten any evidence that he was in a fight.”

“Yeah, but…”

“What?” Witan gave him an impatient look.

“He’s suffering,” Dairem said. “The poison might not kill him, but it’ll keep him weak, and exposure or an animal will kill him slowly.”

“Who the fuck cares?” Witan said.

“It don’t seem right to let him suffer,” Dairem said.

“He tried to kill you, you dumb brick,” Witan said. “Let him fucking suffer.”

Dairem’s face tightened, and he suddenly delivered his own kick to Jonah’s thigh. “Yeah, fuck this guy.”

The two fae walked away, and Jonah stared at the glimpse of the moon he could see through the trees as the fae disappeared into the forest. He coughed weakly and tried to roll to his feet, but he had no strength in his legs, and the throbbing in his skull had become a pulsing, blinding pain that surrounded him like a thick cloak.

He continued to stare at the moon, his eyelids growing heavier and heavier before he whispered, “Elora,” and let the darkness take him once more.

CHAPTER14

“Igot your SOS text. What’s going on? It’s almost eleven at night, and you’re usually in bed by ten.” Cece hurried into Elora’s bedroom, dropping her bag on the floor.

Elora didn’t look up. She was pulling the sheets back on the bed for the fifth time, her fingers glowing blue as she tried hard to control her fear.

“Elora? What are you doing?” Cece asked.

She didn’t reply, and Cece touched her back. “Look at me, Elora.”

She glanced at her best friend, and Cece immediately said, “Honey, what’s wrong?”

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