Page 35 of Fae Unashamed

“I failed you.” The words left me hollow.

Several Sluagh stepped out of the woods with a form between them. The spectral warriors held Tal by his arms and dragged him forward. They’d bound his hands and stuffed a piece of fabric into his mouth. He glowered at us all, even Rhoan and me as if to say that this was my fault.

It was.

I’d run off on him. My emotions had gotten the best of me. I’d been prideful and hurt. We’d rushed this fight so that I could administer a potion that we had no idea would work or not.

Faust had seen our weak plan and poked a hole in it. He changed the game entirely when he dismantled Rhoan’s beast so that it no longer existed at all. A scream built in my throat but I shoved it back down. There was no point in giving in to frustration if I could follow Faust’s lead and change the game again.

Nightsmane had the power to change the course of fate. All I had to do was reach into the herb and steer it’s power in the right direction.

I touched Rhoan’s cheek. “Trust me?”

He smiled wide as if nothing in the world could hurt him while he was here with me. “Without a doubt.”

I shoved arcana into him. He gasped. His eyes went wide, nearly bulging. I put a hand to his chest and asked his lungs to stretch and draw in air while I overwhelmed him in search of the nightsmane in his system. The herb hummed inside him, making it easy to find.

“Kill them,” Faust said.

There was no time to stop what I was doing. It was now or never. I heard the soft rustle of spectral feet shuffling closer to us. Their weapons whispered in their sheaths.

“I can’t believe you thought you were in control here,” Tal said.

He appeared out of the corner of my eye and waved his hand. The spectral warriors shouted when he tossed them all back with a wave of arcana. Tal straightened and brushed off the front of his shirt.

He winked in my direction. “The forest wouldn’t let me find you, so I had the Sluagh escort me here themselves.”

I could have laughed were I not deep in my own arcana. Rhoan touched my elbows and steadied me while Tal stood watch over us.

All right, plant. It’s your time to shine. Help us create the fate thread that we deserve. Forge the beast anew again. Give Rhoan the part of him that he lost. Give us the future that we are fighting for.

Rhoan

The hollow voidinside me filled so quickly that my head spun from the sensation. Claws pierced the inside of me. I welcomed the pain. It reminded me that I’d become whole again. The pulsating potion deep in the pit of my stomach had revived the part of me I’d thought lost forever.

The beast’s consciousness slid into mine, and we became one again. I blew a breath out of my nose and steadied myself. When I opened my eyes, Cerri smiled up at me with delight. She touched my cheek and rose on her tiptoes to kiss me. Her lips were soft and delicate against mine. I wanted nothing more than to hungrily devour them since I was so starved for her touch.

We had other things to handle first.

I turned and eyed Taliesin. “Ready?”

He looked me up and down warily. His gaze skipped over my nakedness and caught on the bleeding wound of my chest. I touched it to find that it’d healed.

“You’re welcome,” Cerri whispered behind me.

My princess had found the time to heal me while reviving my beast? My heart swelled with pride and love. There was no one else quite like her. No one would make a better queen. No one would make a better lover.

“I love you, Cerridwen. I love you more than the stars in the sky, more than the breath in my own lungs, and more than any drink I could ever down.”

She snorted behind me. “You’re going to find a better way to say that later. If you compare me to your alcohol again, I will permanently turn you into a beast.”

“You wouldn’t. You’d miss me too much.”

She groaned. “You’re right, but I’m not above teaching you a lesson again. You’ll learn to love me properly, knight.”

A wicked smile split my lips. I fixed my gaze on Faust, who was slowly backing away. He’d realized that there was no room left to drive a wedge into our union. Now that I had my beast back and that Tal was at my side and Cerri at my back, Faust could do nothing to stop us.

Tal and I rushed the man. Faust tried to throw his Sluagh in the way, but Cerri directed the other beasts to clear the path. I watched my old allies, the ones who’d also been taken from their long-lost lovers, tear the spectral warriors to shreds of light.

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