Page 84 of The Heart of the Dragon

"Thereissomething wrong. I can feel it." I felt the panic rising as I waited for him to fill me in but I tried to rein it in. I'd created enough noise and had a feeling I was making this situation worse.

"I guess when we came through the portal, the spell binding you must have broken. Those must be your real ears."

"Ohhhh." I lifted both hands again to outline them and sure enough, they were long and narrow and pointed at the tips. "I have fae ears." I hadn't realized that was going to be a thing since Kitra looked normal, but that didn't sound so bad. I'd seen paintings of fae and thought they were cute.

"You have dark fae ears. Other fae look different. You'll have to figure out how to use your glamour to hide them."

"Why? Wait. What glamour?"

He didn't answer right away. Instead he turned suddenly at the sound of a whistling screech. "Run!"

I had no idea what had happened, but I wasn't going to question him anymore. If he said run, that's what I'd do. We both ran, him a lot faster than me, but pure adrenalin had me moving quicker than I ever had in my life. My heart pounded, my stomach somersaulted, and my ears tingled.

By the time Magnus stopped, I thought my lungs were going to explode. Instead, I crashed into his back, bouncing off him in the process. Luckily for me, he somehow managed to catch me before I fell to the ground in a boneless heap.

"I can't run anymore," I gasped, not sure I cared anymore about what might be after us or following us through this Gods forsaken forest.

"It's okay," he said, crouching down next to where he'd eased me to the ground. He fished into the backpack that Kitra had provided and pulled out two bottles of water, uncapping one of them and handing it over to me. "Drink."

I snatched the bottle from him and took long, greedy pulls. I swore water had never been this refreshing in my life. "If this is what fae life is like, I'm not sure I'm cut out for it," I whispered.

"It's not. When you stay within the confines of the village, life can be as ordinary there as it is in the human realm." He chugged the entire contents of the bottle and then shoved it back into the backpack. Surprised and impressed he took the time not to litter, I finished my bottle and handed my empty to him as well.

"And everywhere else is a basic shitshow?"

"It can be. You've got four realms that are either in constant battle or in the midst of some sort of negotiation. There are supposed to be rules, but no one wants to follow them. So you prepare for the worst and hope for the best."

He reached for my hand and pulled me to my feet.

"Better?" he asked.

"Yes. But what was in that water?" I asked trying to reach around to my back to scratch the itch that was trying to drive me crazy.

He looked me up and down with a critical eye and a serious frown on his face. "Turn around," he ordered.

I didn't exactly follow his directions, but when I twisted far enough around in my quest for relief, I eventually gave him my back. I squeaked in protest when he lifted my shirt, but it was the audible sigh he let out that grabbed my attention.

"What's wrong?" When he didn't immediately answer, my panic rose swift and deadly. "What is it? Is a weird fae creature sucking the life out of me? Tell me!" I was in full on panic mode now and if he didn't tell me soon I was going to be rolling on the forestfloor trying to kill whatever had attached itself to my back. "Is it leeches?" That was almost my worst nightmare and I wasn't sure I wanted to know if that was the case.

"No. It's your wings."

"Wings!" There was no hope of hiding my panic now. "I have pointed ears and wings now?"

He nodded. "Most dark fae do."

"Well, why the hell didn't someone warn me? This is information that would have been nice going in."

"Why? Would it have changed your mind about coming here?" He asked the question as he gently guided my hand to a spot on my back, and I sucked in a sharp breath. "Oh my Gods! I have wings."

He chuckled. "Did you not believe me?"

"I don't know what to believe anymore. These last few days have been a deluge of new information. I don't think I even know up from down anymore let alone right or wrong, good or bad."

"I can understand that. I suffered from information overload for weeks when I followed Isaac to the human realm. It was too much, too fast."

"I don't suppose I have some time to process any of this?"

He shook his head, his lips compressed into a grim line. "If it helps any, your wings look to be in good shape, all things considered. You should be able to use them."

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