Page 94 of Veil of Shadows

The semelee was quiet and twined around my legs.You feel different, Lorafin. Stronger.

Hope surged through me.Tell me where he is and how we can reach him, I repeated.

You and your mate want answers. That’s the added power I feel in you.

Yes.

But that’s not a simple demand, Lorafin. The half-breed you seek is under the power of another who’s commanding him as we speak.

How are they commanding Bastian?

With a gem.

What gem? And who’s commanding him?

The gem in his anklet.

A chill ran through me, but my magic heated more.Tell me about the anklet he wears. And how that came to be on him. And where it comes from. And I need to know why so many half-breeds are in Faewood and how Bastian got caught up in it.

More semelees drifted to me, moving like shadows and ink. Their hold on fate stretched around me. One touch from their all-knowing bodies and the threads of time would shift, bowing before them, altering the essence of the space and time continuum. Altering fate.

A new semelee drifted around me.There are many answers you seek today, Lorafin, but despite that powerful bond within you, you’re still a princess. You are not a lorafin queen. You demand too much.

Annoyance flashed through me, but I held firm and called upon more magic to rise inside me, tethering the semelees’ power to me more forcefully. But just as I was about to demand obedience, my collar stung.

The flash was fleeting and subtle, but my magic twitched, and a wave of horror washed through me that it just activated on its own. It wasn’t quite as loose as it’d been previously. What Guardian Alleron had stated would inevitably occur. The collar would eventually rein me back in, and it had just manifested, if only a little. Who was to say how many more days or weeks I had before it fully suppressed me again.

Nearly panicking, I shouted at the semelees,Tell me!

But the semelees inched back, and my hold on them slipped.You seek too much for a lorafin princess, but we shall grant you two questions today for the male you’re bonded to, but that is all.

One of themtsked.To demand more answers for the same fairy so soon from the last time is not something we normally grant. Choose wisely, Lorafin.

My soul ignited in frustration that I still wasn’t strong enough to make them completely submit and never would be able to because of my damned collar, but I also knew it was fruitless to fight them.

But I had to be smart.

They were allowing me two answers and two answers only.

I knew immediately I had to ask them to explain how we could reach Bastian, but as for the second...

Someone was commanding Bastian with a gem. The semelees had willingly revealed that much, so I could ask who was the culprit, but then my thoughts shifted to what Esopeel had revealed. All of the half-breeds she’d observed wore anklets.

My thoughts whirred, because the semelee had said the gem was in Bastian’s anklet, similar to how my collar held a gem. If so, it was possible the anklets were responsible for the strange behavior the semelees had commented on and Bowan had witnessed.

The anklet might be more important than uncovering the identity of whoever was behind it. Because if the gem in his anklet was controlling Bastian, it was imperative that we remove it.

Forcing myself to calm, I took a deep breath and hoped I was making the right choice.Tell me how to get to Bastian, and then tell me how we can remove that anklet from him.

As you wish, Lorafin.

I slammed backinto my body with so much force that I bowed off the bed. Jax’s magic streamed through me, stabbing me and making my teeth grit. Ironcrest magic muffled my senses, and the sounds around me slowed as though coming through water. But as the seconds ticked past, everything began to clear.

Relief barreled through me when I felt my arms, legs, and toes. Excruciating pain never came. I wasn’t burning in Jax’s fire or being stabbed by his psychic Mistvale magic as I had been the first time, when the aftereffects of his calling had scorched me with intensity. And even though soreness plagued me, it was manageable.

I became more aware of my surroundings with every breath I took. The bed I lay on had smooth sheets and a soft mattress. Scents were present too. Pine and spice floated around me.My mate.

“Elowen?” Jax appeared in my line of sight, hovering above me with pinched eyes and tousled hair. Worry strummed out of him like a vibrating instrument’s chord. “Are you okay? Can you see me? Hear me?” His hand held mine gently, but I felt the power he kept in check, his panic like a brewing storm ready to pound the shore.

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