Page 16 of Hidden Kingdoms

My body hit the floor in a jarring tangle of limbs, a cacophony of noise rattling around us as weapons, jewellery and whatever else clashed together. My eyes flew open to find the honed edge of a dagger inches from my face and I slammed them closed again. It was no small miracle I wasn’t currently impaled on a sword right now. I felt my lungs expand, desperately sucking in as much air as I could, despite the heavy bodies half laying on me and half holding me down.

Struggling against the weight pinning me down, I kept my eyes squeezed shut, fearful of what I would see when I opened them. Aware that when I did, I would have to face the reality that this was real. I couldn’t hide behind the veil of a dream, despite sending a prayer to the gods wishing so.

Strong arms unbanded their hold on my waist, pulling from the tight grip I hadn’t realised I held them with. As the heated contact of their bodies retreated, freezing air settled over my exposed body, goosebumps erupting across my skin as the dampness from the ground clung to me. Startling as large hands grabbed my arms and pulled me to my feet, my eyes opened to meet a pair of dark green ones, panic evident in them.

This was Big Man, and sure enough, I turned my head to see another pair of eyes—grey this time—staring out at me past their black mask.

That was Stormy.

The fuckers had kidnapped me.

Kidnapped me!

Wrenching from his grip and trying to ignore the chill that was sinking through to my bones, anger rose inside me along with a rush of magik stronger than anything I had felt before. It prickled at my skin as I huffed out clouds of vapour into the frigid air.

Thick fog hung all around obscuring anything more than 20 feet away in a suffocating white blanket, giving me absolutely no clue where I was. I wasn’t ready to unpick the question of how I got here. Not yet.

The soft glow of dawn breaking through some distant horizon was the only guide I had as I shivered in the dark, the grass slick and icy under my bare feet, toes aching as the ground stole what little warmth I had.

Who did they think they were breaking into my house, hurting my dog and now taking me to gods knows where? I needed to get home quick sharp, because this crazy shit was not what my life was about. I wasn’t hanging around to figure any of this out. I needed to get away from these psychos; who knew what the hell they wanted from me.

And though it was stupid—so fucking stupid—I ran.

I ran faster than I thought possible given how exhausted I was from the dramatics of the last day and night, grass crunching with each pounding step and bitter air whipping at my exposed skin.

I had no plan, no way of knowing what way to go except towards the faint light that was my guide, but I didn’t think too much on that as I willed my body to propel me forward,allowing the fog to swallow me whole. Shouts of surprise came from behind me as their heavy footfalls started. Pushing myself to work harder, using the thud of their boots to spur me on, I didn't want to get caught a second time.

I did just throw myself into their arms only a few minutes ago, though.

Now was not the time for that reminder.

Not when I was running from kidnappers, no matter how right it had felt in that moment to reach for them.

A scary black blobwastrying to get me, that was the only reason why.

They had obviously been the lesser of two evils, but that didn’t mean I was on board with their abduction plan.

The cold attacked my lungs making every step harder than the last, but a kernel of triumph grew within me as I gained ground. The clatter of my bangles meant a silent escape wasn’t on the cards for me, but I was going to do it; I was going to outrun them.

Where I was going to end up when I outran them, I didn’t know, but anywhere away from them was a bonus. The unfamiliar feeling of my magik rose inside me in a wave as something wrapped round my heart, like a string that had been pulled taut. My steps faltered as I was yanked backwards by an invisible force.

I barely had time to squeak in surprise, a shout of alarm coming from close by as my legs collapsed under me. Instead of hitting the ground I found myself in someone’s arms, the pain instantly receding as I clung onto them to steady myself while the smell of sweet cedar wrapped around me.

“Pretty fast for a little thing aren’t you, Goldie?” A low voice purred against my cheek. Pulling back, I looked up into a pair of deep grey eyes, dark hair poking out from a gap in his mask, having come loose from all the chaos. My fingers twitched as Iresisted the urge to reach out and tuck it back in, wondering how soft it would feel.

That’s a fucking weird thing to want to do right now.

Mentally I shook myself as a second set of hands grabbed my shoulders, pulling me around to face them. My body now pressed tightly against what honestly felt like a brick wall as I craned my head to look up at him stepping back a little to take him all in.

Ah, here he was, Big Man in my face yet again.

This close, his eyes were a rich jewel tone of green, reminding me of walking through my little patch of woods as the sun was setting, his brows currently furrowed into a deep scowl. The nerve of this man to be looking at me like this was all my fault reignited my anger. Wrenching my arm from his punishing grip, my fingers curled into a fist, and I snapped it forward, punching him right in the face with all the force I could muster.

His head barely moved while a jolt of pain shot up my arm.

Shit, that hurt.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he growled, both hands now digging painfully into my biceps, heat scalding my skin at every point of contact.

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