Page 60 of The Shadow Fae Rhapsody
Another rift opens in the air. Once again, we are suspended in the pitch-black darkness. Svenn opens one portal after another, taking us to jagged mountains and faraway desert. He keeps us moving, shuttling us through space and time. I can sense him becoming weaker with every jump into the dark void. We must have passed through dozens of them now.
“Enough please,” I beg, tugging his arm.
Our final destination is a secluded bay near a soft flowing stream—and he crashes on the ground.
“Svenn!” I grip his shoulder to turn him to face me. He seems dazed, but in a blink, his eyes focus on mine.
“I’m fine, Nel,” he says, giving me a reassuring smile.
He doesn’t look like he is. His chest heaves, struggling to take in air.
Svenn never struggles with anything.
The river breeze stirs his coal black hair. I help him sit up against the black boulder. This dimension travel, whatever it is, it’s taking a toll on him significantly. I’ve never seen Svenn having to exert this much strength. I remember how he was laughing manically while fighting my uncle, my knights, the Grimsbanes, and a battalion of elves.
I stroke the hair from his face. “You’ve never used this trick before.”
He nods.
Svenn looks so worn out that even Coral is worried. She headbutts his shoulder to cheer him up. He tugs on the wyvern’s horn. “Sneaky little brat. Slipped right out from my sight.”
Her tail wags and she charges harder like a stubborn bull, fighting against his pull.
I withdraw Svenn’s arm gently. “Don’t be angry. She almost drowned.”
The wyvern doesn’t mind the rough play. But she’s so small that I’m always anxious. I touch my chest to calm the warm, protective feeling I feel for her.
Ken suddenly appears. The shadow exchanges a nod with Svenn before waving to me and disappearing again.
“He’s secured the perimeter. It’s safe here.” Svenn gathers me closer and rests his chin over my head. It’s heavy but I don’t mind it. Not after everything that happened. I need to hear the steady thrum of his heart. Coral plops her head on his lap and he grunts.
We stay like that for a while, catching our breath.
He strokes my badly tangled hair softly, “I know you had that under control, but Ken said that I should intervene—”
“No, he was right. Thank you.”
If it wasn’t for Svenn, I would have smashed that rock on Landon’s face. There’s no telling if the next Herald chosen by the Fae King will be as ‘reasonable’.
“Are you all right?” he asks me.
Am I all right?I ask myself right back.
My mind is still numb from all the shock. I just learnt that the Shadow Fae I met when I was young was a fake and I met the real one all in the same day. We’re on the brink of war and there’s a possibility that the Aeonians are plotting something against Aelheim.
I don’t know if I’m all right, so I shrug. I pour out everything I had found out in the fae’s house, from his plan to attack, the conversation between Landon and the Fae Prince, everything. My husband listens, holding my hand the entire time. He says nothing for a long beat.
“Look at how far my thieving fawn has come,” Svenn finally mutters to my hair.
Huh?
I straighten my spine and pull away to look at him.
“Started with buttons and shoelaces, and now she’s stealing wyvern,” he says, scratching Coral’s head.
A light laughter leaves me at the remark. “I asked for permission. They didn’t want her. She’s mine now.”
My pale, flightless wyvern.
