Page 75 of Faerie Hunted

Onyx and Noren had been locked in battle with three other halflings. The direwolf turned to me with the promise of fury and violence still in his glowing eyes, but Onyx was like me. He’d pushed himself too far.

Laina recognized it, helping him toward the door.

Black emotions churned inside of me.

We raced off into the city, putting as much distance between ourselves and Sea’s Deep as physically possible. Noren outpaced us all and at the end of the group limped me and Onyx, my steps slow to accommodate our injuries. But we couldn’t stop.

Not yet.

We had to keep going until we were far away from that cursed building. And hope like hell we were able to control our scents. If Morgan so much as got a hint of us, he’d be able to track us again. We’d never be safe.

In the midst of a cluster of two-story buildings, their cupolas graced in gold, we stopped to catch our breaths. The overlapping rooftops cast shade over the alley, and from this vantage point I no longer saw or heard the ocean.

I slapped my palm against the stone and heaved in a great gulping breath of air. My lungs seized, unable to accommodate so much at one time.

As the seconds ticked by, breathing became easier.

“Hey, are you okay?” Fingers trailed up the back of my neck and increased their pressure, massaging lightly until I looked up into Mike’s concerned green eyes. “You look like you're ready to drop.”

Without thought, I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed him tight. His arms banded around me automatically and if he wanted to complain about the way I clung, he kept those thoughts to himself.

“I’m not okay,” I answered with a voice muffled by his shirt. “I’m not okay at all.”

“Then it’s a good thing we found you,” Mike replied.

I wanted to ask him how he’d tracked us, and why. I wanted to ask if he’d forgiven me for the part I played in his father’s coma. I said nothing.

Finally, Mike cleared his throat, the sound morphing into a dry chuckle. “You’re probably not going to like hearing this.”

I squeezed him again.

He kept one arm around me and reached into his pocket with the opposite hand, drawing out a handkerchief with a dark spot of dried brown blood on it. “I still had this. Mom used your blood to track your progress but every time we got a lead on you, you vanished again. You never stayed in one spot long enough for us to actually reach you. Until today.”

“Until today,” I repeated, captivated by the handkerchief.

I had no clue why he still had it but thank goodness for that bit of blood. He’d saved it. Why?

Laina stashed her whips back into the holster and their glow dulled. “We evacuated the castle. Teaming up with like-minded souls seemed the best option for people like us.”

“But why? Why leave when the King…” I didn’t want to talk about it and chance upsetting Mike.

Either way, if Tywin had managed to come out of his coma or not, it made no sense for the queen and the crown prince to just take off.

“The premier has taken over the palace. In my husband’s absence, Cosmo Foxfall has risen to near celebrity status and used his power to reveal his secrets. He’s in league with Dorian Jade,” Laina said.

Now that was one name I never wanted to hear again. Ever.

Ice slithered into place at the base of my spine and froze me from the inside out. The same ice became a burning sensation in my veins.

“He believes he is doing the right thing by combining his forces with Jade, waxing poetic about reuniting Seelie and Unseelie. And the first thing Cosmo did was deliver the pure-blood fae to the enchanted wall between our kingdoms.”

“No, he didn’t. How could he—” I cut off, my voice strangled.

The queen dipped her head. “Yes, Tavi. He delivered our people to the Unseelie, where Dorian Jade will decide whether they live or die.”

20

Dorian Jade was everywhere.

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