Page 58 of Bonded By Moons

Moving my hands from his chest, I run them along his hard abs and then his trousers, finding the large outline of his dick. He’s stiff and hard under his leathers and I start to unbutton his trousers when we hear a noise somewhere deep within the forest.

Will breaks the kiss and tightens his grip on me while scouting the woods around us. “Let’s head back, little dragon.”

I touch my hand to my swollen lips and instantly miss his touch. Sighing, I give in and agree. “Yeah, that’s probably for the best.”

“We will finish this once we arrive, my mate.” He smirks and with that he leans down to kiss my forehead, taking my hand in his and we begin walking back to our temporary camp.

I’m so distracted by the electricity of his touch that I barely see the silver and gold orbs of light and smoke that float past us. I let in a small gasp and grab Willow’s arm tighter as we watch the lost souls dance through Doom’s Grove. They don’t look particularly distraught, but you can see they’re restless by their constant pulsing and jarring movements.

We walk a bit faster and leave the woods behind us. Thankfully, we didn’t encounter anything too fearsome. As we return to camp Artie and Amara have already readied the horses to continue the last stretch of land before we arrive at the outer villages of Estrallume.

The sun beats down on us above but thankfully the weather is cooler this time of year. We pass several miles of the Decay as we get closer and closer to the capital city. The Decay has been ravaging these lands for well over 20 years and there’s barely any plant life left.

The earth weeps and mourns the loss of its plant life and flourishment, I can feel it through my empathy talent as we cross over the lands. Both Amara and Willow check on me several times to make sure I’m doing okay. Before I knew it, we arrived at the western gates of Estrallume. To avoid being noticed by the king as much as possible and draw the least amount of attention to us, we decide to take the tunnels again and make our way to the secret dungeon entrance below the castle. Willow says he’s used this route of tunnels several times and has never run into any problems.

Artie takes our horses to a stable just inside the Virgo district and then returns to meet us by the glimmer tree.

“Ready?” Willow asks the group. We all nod in agreement as he takes a blade from his thigh and slices a small incision into his palm. Will then runs his hand along the bark of the tree and we watch as the roots part once again, allowing us to crawl underneath the tree and enter the tunnel systems.

We take turns jumping down into the tunnels and then step out of the way as the glimmer recloses and covers the secret entrance once again.

Willow leads the way while Artie guards the back of the group. Together, we walk along the filthy routes of the underground tunnels of Estrallume.

“Are you excited to visit the palace for the first time?” I ask Amara.

“I’m trying very hard to stay calm honestly. I never thought we’d be sneaking into the lunar palace. Let alone, with the crown prince and his personal guard.” She emphasizes.

The boys seem to ignore us as they scout ahead and behind our paths. I wish they would relax. Nothing has ever happened in these tunnels. They’ve been out of service for years.

“How long do you think we’ll be staying here, Em?” Amara asks me as we step across wooden planks and jump over puddles of horrid-smelling liquids.

“As long as it takes to discover what the king is planning and hiding. We need to gain knowledge. We are too in the dark on the happenings in Faerelle to fight back against anyone or anything right now. Even if that thing is our king himself.”

She hums her agreement and we walk in silence for a bit before she asks, “So, where will I be staying, Crown Prince?”

Willow chuckles under his breath. “You’ll have your own private suite within my wing.

Amara chokes out a laugh and silently cheers behind Willow. I can feel amusement floating down the strings of our bond. We continue venturing further into the tunnels. There’s a faint buzzing coming from up ahead. I haven’t heard any buzzing in here before, so that’s already one thing that's off.

The next strange thing to occur is clicking, slithering, and hissing noises. They’re unlike any noise I've ever heard before. And I’m extremely familiar with the creatures of our land given that I’m an earth faerie. This is not a normal sound. It’s something corrupt, malformed, vicious. That’s when I heard the scream of a woman and I watched as Will took off sprinting in that direction. Artie pushed past us and followed after him.

I stood baffled about how there was someone or something else down here with us. The only safe passage I know of is the secret glimmer tree.

Another scream tore through the air and Amara shouted my name, causing me to finally snap out of my daze. We ran to see what was happening up ahead.

Turning the corner, I never would have expected to see this in a million moon cycles.

I nearly trip and fall, barely able to stop myself from falling over. I hear Amara whimper next to me. My ears are ringing and someone’s calling my name again.

My mind is slowly processing what's before me. Everything is happening in slow motion. My throat feels like it’s closing. My eyes are swelling with tears.

We find Artie and Willow restraining Brooks.

I can barely breathe.

My vision is flashing between red and black.

He has bright red irises, and black veins that stem out from around his eyes. His mouth is unusually full of sharp fangs. He’s shirtless and his wings are black, jagged membranes that have a leather sheen to them. His hair is blacker than night and he’s wearing black leather pants while being barefoot.

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