Page 50 of Chased By the Fairy

He didn’t care at all about what he’d just done. All he cared about was the struggling man almost within arm’s reach.

Cypress didn’t waste a single second. He pulled out his sword and sliced it through Sorrel’s beautiful hair to free him. Then he picked up the light man, threw him over his shoulder, and bolted towards the exit.

“Keep them back!” he yelled to his guards, who quickly moved to become a barrier to stop the sprites from leaving.

He used his wings under his cloak to jump over the enraged burrow sprites and to increase the pace of his sprint as he fled through the city. He crossed the distance in half the time Sorrel would have made it if he’d been running on his own.

Cypress would have preferred to fly, but he didn’t wish to give away his identity, or species, if it could be helped.

He felt terrible for how Sorrel yelled and bashed on his back, but he couldn’t stop to explain until they were safe. At every turn he took, rat sprites tried to cut him off, but he merely jumped over them and kept running.

His gaze flicked everywhere.Where’s the damn exit?

When daylight shone through a hole in the ceiling, he jumped the distance while fluttering his wings inside his heavy cloak. They made it out, and he continued to sprint in order to put as much space as possible between them and the tunnel’s entrance.

With his cloak weighing his wings down, he couldn’t properly fly just yet.

“Put me the fuck down!” Sorrel belted out, bashing him in the back of the head with the point of his elbow.

The knock was so damn hard that Cypress saw stars. He stumbled, and Sorrel took it as his chance to get free. Before Cypress could even regain his footing, Sorrel booted him in the gut, and he caved in on himself as his back hit the snowy ground.

“Shit,” Cypress rasped out, wheezing. He got back to his feet and reached out. “Sorrel, wait.”

It was too late. Sorrel was gone, the shrubby, dense forest hiding him from view.

Cypress finally untucked his wings and leapt into the air to follow his footprints.

“Sorrel!” he roared, hope making his wings flutter faster than they ever had before. They pinched at the muscles in his back, but he ignored the pain in his haste. “Sorrel!”

He’d had him! In his fucking arms, Cypress had been holding Sorrel. But the man had been so confused and frightened he didn’t know it was him.

When Cypress came to the end of his footprints, Sorrel was sprinting alongside the frozen river that led to his human mother’s farmland. He’d found his path home, but it would take himweeksrunning like this. He was still so far away.

But there he was. Today was the first time Cypress had seen him in months, and he wasalive.He was in a place where Cypress could talk to him, could reveal himself to Sorrel.

Cypress flew overhead and landed in his path.

Sorrel slid over the ground as his feet suddenly came to a halt, the surface wet and muddied with the snow.

“I found you,” Cypress pronounced with relief.

His eyes bowed under the extreme emotion as the tension in his gut finally dissipated. After months, he’d finally tracked him down.

Clenched at his sides, Sorrel’s fists shook. “Why can’t you all just leave me alone?”he cried out.

Sorrel then brought those fists to his face to press them against his forehead with trembling arms. His shoulders caved inwards like he wanted to hide from the world by retreating within himself.

Witnessing Sorrel act like this, the man who had once been so playful, nearly broke Cypress. He cautiously stepped forward, trying not to frighten him.

“I don’t care what you want, just go away. My answer is no. It will always be no. No matter what you say or how you threaten me.”

“Sorrel...” Cypress yanked back his hood. “It’s me.”

“I don’t care who you are! I have been chased all over this damn forest by stupid sprites and I’m tired of it. Go back to where you came from and–” The words died in Sorrel’s throat when he finally looked up. He twisted his head while squinting, as if questioning that Cypress was truly before his very eyes. “C-Cypress?”

Cypress’ brows drew together while his eyelids bowed once more, this time with concern. His gaze slid over Sorrel’s body from head to dirty toe.Look at him.

Although he seemed healthy, there was a certain shadow in his eyes. One that spoke of fear, one that said he’d witnessed and experienced terrible things. The light-hearted man Cypress had been entranced by was now buried beneath pain.

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