Page 100 of Crown of Briars
I gripped Sybelle by the arm. “Follow me.”
Carefully, we inched backward, moving in the direction of the forest. Sybelle inhaled sharply when she realized where I was taking her.
“But you said?—”
“I know,” I said shortly. “It’s either the woods or Warwick. Which would you prefer?”
Her mouth clamped shut.
The Noxen Forest was the last place I wanted to be. Especially with Sybelle. It was the home of all the reminders of my curse.
And it was dangerous. The sorceress’s magic still lived in these woods.
A few steps more, and we would be under the cover of the trees. I cast a wary glance toward the crooked tree branches that looked like jagged teeth waiting to devour us.
“You command those soldiers,” Sybelle said. “Can’t you simply say you were… observing their training?”
“With you there?” I raised an eyebrow at her. “Not a chance. Warwick would see right through it. He was already suspicious of you being in the training yard once. And now we know this squadron is loyal to him and not me.”
She shook her head, her breath shuddering. “What does he want with me?”
My anger flared again. “You tell me. He’s fromyourcourt.”
Her eyes narrowed. “He’s fae.”
Gritting my teeth, I shook my head at her naïveté. Humans could be so dim. Never seeing what was right in front of them. I opened my mouth to argue, but a sudden burst of my shadows rushed forward, spearing into the open air.
One of the soldiers shouted something, clearly noticing my magic.
Shit.
I tugged on Sybelle’s sleeve and all but shoved her into the forest before jumping in after her. If we disappeared quicklyenough, hopefully the soldiers would attribute my shadows to someone else’s magic. In the Shadow Court, wayward shadows were not entirely unheard of.
Sybelle and I collided on the earthy ground, elbows and shoulders knocking together. She cried out in pain, but I clamped my hand over her mouth to silence her.
“The forest hears everything,” I whispered. “Hold your tongue, human.”
She jerked her head away from my hand and said under her breath, “So it’s back tohuman, now that you think I’m a traitor?”
“I’ll call you human when you act like one,” I growled. “Short-sighted, narrow-minded, and downright ignorant to everything around you.”
Her nostrils flared. “Should I call you beast, then? The brutal unseelie king who thinks all humans are scum, regardless of how innocent they might be.”
“Innocent?” I wanted to shake her. How could she be so blind?
A harsh ringing sound split the air. Sybelle and I both groaned, clapping our hands over our ears.
Mother of Shade. The magic had found us.
“What is that?” Sybelle mouthed, her voice inaudible over the noise.
My ears throbbed as the sound only intensified. It wouldn’t take long for my ears to start bleeding. After that, my brain matter would begin to deteriorate.
“This way!” I mouthed back, keeping my ears covered as I lumbered deeper into the forest.
Sybelle said something, but I couldn’t make out the words. I glanced behind me and found her sprinting to keep up with my long strides.
The piercing chime reverberated through every bone of my body. My jaw clenched as I struggled to focus on the path ahead of me. It had to be close.
