Page 42 of Elf Shot

"On it," Tor replied. He dropped his glamor, shifted, and disappeared through the trees.

Outside, the moons where falling, and Layla knew it was close to dawn. The mountain loomed in the distance, and everything seemed suspiciously quiet.

"We are going to have to forget about going back for the packs. I hope you didn't have anything too important in yours," Ciara said, taking off her glamor and rolling her neck and shoulders. "Magic always makes me feel weird in my body after."

Layla's skin stopped itching as soon as she tore the patch off her skin. She had to hand it to Charlotte for ingenuity with portable magic.

Arne was watching them carefully, like he was still disorientated from finding them there at all. He looked tired but not hurt in any way from his time with Vili.

Layla pulled out the portal crystal, but it held no hum of power. "Shit. We are still under Vili's dampening magic."

"We have to keep going then. Tor will track us," Arne said and started off through the forest.

Layla rubbed at her face, biting down all the annoyance she felt. Ciara smiled at her, and Layla groaned. "Don't say it."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Layla started to follow Arne, Ciara falling into step beside her. "The next time I decide to go running off to another world for a male, punch me in the tit, will you?"

"It's a promise, little cousin." Ciara nodded toward Arne. "You still managed to get him out. Take it as a victory even if you want to yell at him, okay?"

Layla nodded. She needed to suck up her bullshit a little bit longer.

"You should go talk to him. He seems upset," Ciara said.

"What does he have to be upset about? He wasn't even a little bit tortured like I thought he was."

"You don't know what the magic made him do, Layla. Go and talk to him. I'll watch our backs until Tor returns."

Layla let out a huff of annoyance and then walked faster to catch up with Arne. He wore a glare, fierce enough to scare most people away, but Layla had seen Kenna's war face and not much frightened her more than that.

"How did you get here?" he demanded before she could say a word.

"Your mother gave us a stave that took us to the Heart of Yggdrasil. Then we walked," she replied. She wasn't ready to tell him about her trip to see the All-Father and his hot tip on where to find his brother.

"You shouldn't have come here. It's too much of a risk."

Layla's hand gripped the portal crystal tighter. "You wanted to keep being Vili's bitch, did you? Because that’s what you would have remained if I hadn’t come.”

Arne flinched. “I’m not ungrateful.”

“Really? Because you sure are acting it,” Layla snapped. Her temper was getting the better of her, and she didn't have the willpower to stop it from bubbling over. "Do you know how much I hate the outdoors? A fucking lot, Arne. I have been in this fucking forest for days looking for you, and I don't want to hear any of your bullshit about how I've wasted my time."

Arne grabbed her arm to stop her from walking.

"I'm just going to go back a bit and cover our tracks," Ciara said, and walked off again.

"Why did you come after me?" Arne said. He was looming over her, and Layla shoved him out of her space.

"Because no one else was going to! The elves weren't going to send anyone to rescue you, so Tor and I knew we had to," she replied. Her pulse was racing too fast, but she couldn't stop. "I've felt like I've been losing my goddamn mind since you went missing. This mark you put on me has been clawing away at me non-stop. All I have been able to think about is getting you back so you can remove it. In fact, you can remove it right now."

"Layla, I didn't mean…"

"Now, Arne. I didn't give you permission to magically piss all over me," she snapped, moving into his space.

"I didn't mean to put it on you at all." Arne placed two fingers on her forehead. "The magic flared up when we kissed and must've done it. I'm…sorry. I've never heard of a mark creating any emotional problems before."

"Well, it did. Now I'd like these fake feelings removed, thanks."

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