Page 54 of Faerie Hunted

After what I’d experienced, it felt much too easy to give in to this idea of a utopia. Too easy because I wanted it badly. The wanting always came easily but the execution fell short. Dreams didn’t come true.

Only nightmares.

“Tavi, please follow me.” Dorian reached back to me but I avoided his outstretched hand.

Another few minutes and he stopped in front of a circle of flames, with small tables and seats set around the embers. The scent of soft pine smoke drifted through the air and I drew in a deep breath.

The pang of homesickness hit me with the force of a sledgehammer. For a moment, I missed my pack with such an intensity I stopped dead in my tracks. The last time I’d seen them all gathered together had been my eighteenth birthday. Right before Uncle Will?—

I shook my head to clear it.

Smoke from the burning wood not only perfumed the air but colored it in shades of navy and violet. And just beyond, with his face partially obscured, sat Onyx with his white hair standing out beacon-bright.

He stood when our eyes made contact and waited for me to round the fire. I stepped into his arms and squeezed him tightly, a hug of homecoming. Absolutely necessary.

“Damn it, I had no idea where you’d gone,” he murmured to me.

We clung to each other.

I shifted to press my cheek to his chest. His heartbeat thrummed through me unsteadily. I blew out a breath and said, “I thought you got away. I wasn't sure whether to be worried or ecstatic.”

“They must have transported me in a separate vehicle. You and Noren probably took up too much room in yours.”

“Your joke is flat,” I muttered.

I pulled back from Onyx to search his face for any kind of bruising or fresh cuts. He looked relatively unharmed but that didn’t mean they’d taken into account his chronic injuries. I’d have to make sure he was fine. No bullshitting, either.

He was prone to downplaying his hurts.

Who wasn’t?

He was pale, thinner, the circles under his eyes darker.

“Where did you go? When they brought you here?” Onyx gripped my face to keep me still but hell, I wasn’t going anywhere.

Not when my hands had finally started to shake, as all the adrenaline finally left my body and made me weak.

“They took me straight to Dorian Jade.” I gestured subtly toward the dark-haired man.

He’d nabbed a seat near a group of yellow-skinned fae, their heads all bent together and their voices a hushed distortion too soft for me to make out over the crackling flames.

“I’ve heard good things about him, but this is the first time I've seen him face to face.” Onyx shifted until our backs were to the fire. “Think I should go over and introduce myself? Make a good impression?”

“I think if you give him enough time, he’ll come over and give you the same welcome spiel I got,” I whispered. “He’s trying to sell us a timeshare.”

And I hated to admit how much I wanted to buy into the fantasy. Tonight would be a chance to observe, to see if the hype he served up was true.

“You two! Come, please.” Dorian’s voice cut across the clearing. “Join us for dinner. It would be our pleasure.”

One of the yellow-skinned fae vacated their spot and approached us with a smile. A snap of her fingers, and a couple of wooden cups appeared in her hands. She held one out to Onyx and the other to me, waiting until we'd both grabbed hold before she bobbed her head.

“Nectar, harvested from nearby honeysuckles,” she told us in a low rumbling voice like a cat’s purr. “This drink is a specialty of my people. We’re from the west,” she continued at my questioning look.

“Your eyes are beautiful.” I nodded in thanks for the drink and took a long sip while she watched.

Cold, sweet liquid caressed the inside of my parched throat. But it was the woman’s pleased grin that truly made the moment special.

“Thank you.” She gestured to her overly large eyes, her pupils multicolored and glittering, more similar to a dragonfly’s wing than anything I’d ever seen. “And the drink?”

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