Page 48 of The Princes of Stone and Steel

Oh, god.

“Tell me, Steele, is Castle Metallum the castle you first brought me to?”

He sucked in a sharp breath then answered, “Yes.”

The pictures Baba Yaga had shown us, they were about to come true unless I did something about it.

“I have to go,” I said.

“How did you—?”

This time, I cut him off. My cheeks burned and I could only hope he found something endearing about me to make up for it because I hardly had time to explain everything, as I was aware of what he was about to ask. Since we’d agreed to be a team, he had the right to know. “The trees. They found me. Sent me a message.”

“I don’t understand. You were never able to talk to trees before.”

“Yeah, well, that makes two of us. I don’t know what’s going on. I didn’t feel it before, but the more time I spend in the outliers, the more I feel this energy humming just beneath my skin. It’s raw and unbidden, encircling my entire body like an energy field. Warm and prickly. Did I ever describe that before?”

“No. But then again, you didn’t spend much time in the outliers.”

“We have to go.”

A pained look spread across his beautiful face. He knew what I knew, to save his sister would mean to expose me to the Forfex and possibly get me imprisoned, if not killed.

We didn’t bother to say goodbye to our host, Baba Yaga—she’d probably already seen us leaving via her wall, anyway. Steele grabbed my hand and we set off in a run towards Metallum and the princess. The trees shifted as we ran to create the clearest path. Clods of dirt or bumps on the path smoothed out. Rather than tweet, the birds in the trees urged me to hurry. Except for the crows sent by the Papyrus. I didn’t have to point them out this time. They divebombed us. Our heads. Our shoulders. Any part of us they could reach and effectively injure.

He swatted at them as we ran, but they kept attacking. Finally, I threw my hands out and yelled, “Enough!”

Right there, the whole of them burst into flames and crumpled, ash falling to our feet.

The wind swept down, and it spoke to me. “Dooo… nottt… breatheee… ittt… innn… Poisonnn…”

“Steele, cover your mouth and nose,” I yelled to him, inhaling the particles just as the wind warned me not to.

I began to cough and choke. My eyes watered and my mouth burned. I felt the blisters forming on my tongue and soft palate, and inside my lungs. My prince looked panicked when he stopped us and turned me to face him.

“What do I do?” he called out.

The trees couldn’t answer him, but they did answer. A large branch swung at us fast and fierce, barely missing Steele, though unfortunately striking me square in the solar plexus. And it struck hard. The breath left my lungs in one large, painful gust. Then immediately a second branch from another tree began pounding on my back.

“Stop it! Stop it! You’re hurting her.” Steele fought the branches, but he was no match without a saw. Who would be?

Upon his words, however, I realized that they weren’t trying to hurt me, but to help me. Forcing the breath from my lungs and the continuous pounding on my back not only expelled air, but also expelled the toxic crow ash.

Unfortunately, the constant beating and lack of air made it hard to stay on my feet and I fell to my knees, hitting the ground.

“Breathe, Millie. Breathe, my love,” Steele frantically whispered, rubbing the back of my head and my neck. “Breathe.”

The wind picked up behind us, blowing the remanence of crow away, off the path we headed down.

I felt dizzy from the lack of oxygen and gripped Steele’s shirt in a tight fist, wrinkling the sweatshirt. Several long seconds passed before I felt composed enough to stand again. As angry as he’d been at the trees moments ago, once he saw I was all right, he helped me stand and that was the end of it. Steele and I connected in such a way that he intrinsically understood the trees were helping me.

We stood, but he held me in place for a moment longer. “Crows,” I muttered. “The Papyrus poisoned the paper crows. The wind warned me—too much happening around us, I forgot to let you understand it. I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry?” He actually snickered. “Millie, you have nothing to be sorry for. You could have died. Do you think I care that you forgot to make it so I could understand the wind? I’m just thankful you’re still alive.” Resting his forehead against mine briefly, he tilted his head to the left and touched his lips to mine. So soft. So warm. So loving.

He pressed harder, my injured lip having scabbed over pained, but not enough to push him away. I fell into the magic of the moment, giving him all of me, and I lit up. Literally, I lit up. My skin glowed a brilliantly soft yellow until he broke our connection and stepped away.

Steele’s skin had tanned to a light, golden brown from the heat I emanated. His eyes flattened to a hazy brushed aluminum. Hazy to the point that only gray appeared. Not a hint of silver. Something was definitely going on. He always gave great kisses. Kisses that made my heart beat faster and left me weak in the knees. But I’d never glowed before, and he looked downright drunk.

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