Page 87 of Veil of Shadows

Yet a few times I could have sworn that I sensed somethingoffin the clearing, as though something beneath us was repelling our advances. Just as Esopeel had described what she and the other wildlings had detected from within their tunnels, so did I. Something dark was definitely at play here, yet for the life of me, I didn’t know how to get around it.

And neither did anyone else.

Jax slammed his fist into a babbo tree, causing a slight splinter to crack on its base. “Where is he?”

Instinctively, I went to Jax’s side, laying a hand upon his shoulder before turning him toward me. He gathered me in his embrace, his arms locking around me as fear drenched his aura.

“Where is he, Elowen?” he rasped. “Where? And what’s being done to him?”

I ran my hands up and down his back, tangling my fingers through the hair at his nape as the others watched on with mournful expressions. “I don’t know, Jax, but we’ll find him. Like the others said, we’llfind him. Sooner or later, we’ll know.”

But hours later, we still had nothing to show for it. And when the sun shone high in the sky, and all of our stomachs were vengefully growling from being awake for hours upon hours without being fed, we finally conceded defeat for the moment and headed back to the capital.

Like the ride in, the males all shifted into their stag forms, save Jax, who once again rode behind me with his arm locked around my waist. He continually buried his nose in my neck, inhaling my fragrance again and again, and it struck me that he seemed to find my scent soothing. Because each time he did, the tension radiating through him lessened, if only a little, and that sweet gesture only created a pang of longing in me for something that could never be.

Whether or not I wanted to admit it, our time together last night had amplified my feelings for him, and our ruse to appear as lovers during our time in Faewood would have to continue. All of that only guaranteed a broken heart for me once this came to a crashing end.

The stags slowed, and the edge of Leafton appeared. Jax shifted in his seat, then whispered in my ear, “We’ll have to shift back. My father doesn’t like when we traipse around as stags in foreign kingdoms. If we’re not careful, word could reach him.”

Phillen slowed even more, the others doing the same, until they’d fully stopped.

Jax slid off his friend, helping me to do the same, and once everyone had returned to fae form, Jax threaded his fingers through mine.

The intimate gesture made my heart gallop, and I soaked up the closeness I could share with him while it lasted.

“Do you think your father will learn that you were all running as stags earlier this morning?” I asked him quietly as we walked toward the capital’s streets. The long grasses surrounding the outer capital brushed against my thighs, and the soaring white palace in the distance rose higher than any other building in Leafton.

Jax shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. We left early, so not many fae were about, but if anyone’s inclined to gossip, it’s possible word will eventually reach him.”

“And if he were to find out?”

Jax tensed, his aura spiking. “Then I may have a few new bruises to heal, if I let him land a few hits, that is. He doesn’t beat me as much anymore, though, not since I outgrew his magic.”

“He would...you mean he would try to physically hurt you?” My eyes widened as we strode into the capital. I wanted to ask Jax more, but a royal attendant standing on the street’s edge noticed us and rushed to Jax’s side.

The attendant bowed, and the pearly buttons running up his turquoise top sparkled in the afternoon sunshine. “Prince Adarian, good afternoon. I didn’t realize you were about the capital on the west side. May I assist you in your visit in any way?”

Jax pulled a few rulibs from his pocket. “You can, actually. We’re in need of an enchanted carpet. The faster, the better.” He pushed the rulibs into the attendant’s hands. “For your troubles.”

The attendant’s smile flashed wide as he pocketed the coins. “Of course, Your Highness. I shall have one here promptly.”

Back at Jax’sprivate residence in The Silver Hand, Lars called for food to be delivered from the inn’s kitchens, and we all ate quickly, knowing that every moment spent away from finding Bastian was just another opportunity for him to slip away.

Jax sat beside me, eating rapidly and methodically as though lost in thought. Now that we were once again behind hidden walls, the royal mask he’d worn outside had dropped, and a starker one had taken its place.

I forced another bite of eggs into my mouth and swallowed, barely tasting it.

I wanted to help Jax or reassure him, but it wasn’t like anything I offered would be more than empty words. None of us knew what bizarre situation was unfolding in the Wood outside of Leafton. If anything, the fact that each half-breed wore a metallic anklet, and dark magic clouded around that clearing, only solidified that Jax had been right to be concerned for Bastian.

Hoping to take his mind off that troubling matter until we could venture back to the clearing and search anew, I bumped the prince’s thigh. “So are you going to tell me what all the fuss was about this morning about what’s on the back of my neck?”

I was still puzzled by it. All of the males had seemed shocked when they’d looked at my nape, but even though I’d run my fingers across it multiple times, nothing about my skin felt amiss.

Jax cocked his head at me, as though coming out of a trance. “Do you not remember last night?”

A furious blush worked up my neck, and Trivan snickered.

“Of course I do,” I hissed.

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