Page 14 of King

“We’ll go with you,” Rue says loudly, pulling my gaze back down to her face. “Thank you for your mercy toward my pack.”

She glances to the side, and I follow her gaze and find her mother being restrained by a large, frustrated Alpha. I open my mouth to demand he let her go, but she gives me a smile andshakes her head. I look over to Rue, hoping she’ll give me the go ahead. But she doesn’t. She narrows her eyes slightly and walks around me.

“Let’s go,” she says.

Neither of them seems to want me to intervene. Regardless of my age or title, I’m in no place to make decisions for Rue and her mother. I reluctantly turn and follow her, leaving her mother behind.

I raise the height of the flames around us so no one could possibly try to attack us from behind. We’re secure.

But as we move away from the camp, I can’t help but worry that I just destroyed any chance I may have had of getting these shifters on my side.

Chapter 5

Rue

Neither of us speak until we’ve made it well past the pack’s borders. I’ve been trying to digest just how powerful Durin’s magic is. I feel foolish for believing he’d have any trouble rescuing me.

He’s been hypervigilant, continuously scanning the forest to be sure we weren’t followed. I think we’re safe at this point, so I try to break the tension. We’ll need to talk eventually.

“We’re safe, little one,” I coo at Vaegon. He’s been watching the flames dance around us since we left. “Your father used his pretty fire to rescue us.”

Durin stops, and the blue flames surrounding us flicker out. He turns and tentatively lowers his eyes to the tiny version of himself cradled in my arms. I hear his breath catch as he finally feels safe enough to focus on his son. His eyes soften, and he reaches out, gently tracing his finger along the delicate bridge of Vaegon’s nose.

Vaegon responds with a short growl, followed by what almost looks like a little smile.

“He’s incredible,” Durin whispers.

I start to offer him to hold Vaegon, but something pulls his attention to the shadows around us.

“My friend, Farris, is gone,” he says gravely. “I was hoping hemight illusion us once I got you out of there.” His eyes slide back down to the pup. “I should glamour him. We can’t let him be seen.”

Because he’s a mixed fae shifter. If we cross paths with any fae, soldier or not, they’ll try to take him from me. Durin could easily protect us. But defending a shifter and her mixed fae pup would undoubtedly raise suspicions against him. As much as I hate it, he still has an important job to do.

“Fae can glamour others?” I ask him, stalling. I don’t know how to allow Vaegon’s perfect little face to be changed.

“Not usually,” he says with a playful grin. Like the ones he used to give me before all this happened. “I’m just better than everyone else.”

I give him a small smile, but it quickly fades as Vaegon’s safety weighs on me. I have to allow him to change our son. We can’t leave him at risk.

“You’re right,” I say, slumping my shoulders. “He’s too easy to spot. If you can do it, then do it.”

He nods, looking at me cautiously. “I’ll just change his hair color and ears. Maybe soften his features a bit. But that’s all.”

With a gentle hand, he brushes his fingers along Vaegon’s head and the length of his ears, subtly changing them to look more like that of a shifter. As he contours the sharp lines of Vaegon’s face, a slightly altered version of our beautiful son emerges.

His hair is now black, with a hint of blue still showing. His face is smoother, and his ears look more like mine. I already miss his adorable fae features, but they’ll be back. He’s still cute this way. More importantly, he’s safer. That’s what really matters.

“We should go,” Durin says quietly.

I lift my eyes to the forest surrounding us. “Where?” I ask.

He knows the realm far better than I do. And I’m willing to follow wherever he decides to lead me. I trust him, even if hewithheld the truth from me. I understand why he did it. It wasn’t because he wanted to hurt me. I think it was because he was afraid of losing me.

“I’m not sure,” he admits with a hint of embarrassment in his bright eyes. “You and your mother did an amazing job with your last place. I doubt I’ll be able to find anything as perfect. But I’ll find the safest place that I can.”

As soon as he’s finished speaking, the fallen leaves at our feet begin to rustle. We watch in awe as a dryad’s root emerges from the ground beneath them and points straight ahead. Needing no other convincing, I set off in that direction, closely followed by Durin.

The dryad’s have helped me many times before without reason. I trust them. If they’re leading the way, I know they’re leading us to safety.

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