Page 23 of Shadows of Air and Earth
She grinned. "It’s not the lac that worries me, it's the waterways."
Riley grunted with understanding, his tone suspicious. "You are concerned about the water fae again? What role do they play in all of this?"
Remnant sighed, "Hopefully none at all, goddess willing." Shaking her head, she turned back to the woods. "No, we can’t waste time and this is the fastest way. Through the Saltu we must go." Winking over her shoulder, her green eyes glittered. "Don'tworry Xi, I will protect you." She laughed as she disappeared into the dense foliage.
"Did you hear that? There's that tone again, Ri." I glared at him, pointing in the shadow fae's direction accusingly, not missing her quiet chuckling from within the jungle.
Riley snorted, shaking his head. “I am starting to think there is no better sound in the world,” leaning into me, his voice dropped low, “Aside from your gasps of pleasure, terrella.”
I inhaled sharply, falling into those mischievous hazel eyes despite myself, and relishing in the soft whisper of air stroking sensually across my body.
His lips curled into a satisfied smile, before he started to gently guide me towards the jungle, “That’s it, terrella, that’s the sound. The most perfect one in this entire universe.”
Brushing him off, I sent him a scathing look. “You will not hear it from me again then. Not until I have my answers from you.”
His eyes that were bright with humor and desire, quickly saddened. “I know, goddess I know. When there is time you can tear all the answers you wish from my soul but please know that what I did in my past was not for power, Xi, it was for love.”
My mouth opened but no words escaped. My mind may have betrayed me but thankfully my feet did not as I made a hasty retreat straight into the Saltu.
Chapter 15
"Goddess damn it Ri!I blame you for this and the general. Her tone means death, and we marched right into it!" Xi screamed as we ran through the woods, ducking and weaving frantically as tiny darts flew through the air.
Gnomes were always a pain in the ass but these ones were goddess damn feral. Hissing and screeching, angered beyond reasoning, they had been chasing us through this jungle for far too long. All because I just happened to piss on their nesting grounds…how the Sheol was I supposed to know that?
"Fuck! Xi jump!" I snarled back, weaving air to launch her high above into the canopy, narrowly avoiding the large faerie ring that she was about to fall headlong into.
Without pausing to check on her, I continued to roll and dodge, cutting through the thick forest as quickly as I could. Anything to outrun those possessed gnome bastards. Somewhere behind me, peals of exhilarated laughter chimed from Remnant Dark. I failed to see the fucking amusement but I sure as goddess wasn’t going to look back, unless I wanted a dart stuck in my eyeball.
"Poisonous darts incoming again!" Remnant shouted, bringing up our rear.
I did not hesitate when cool shadows fell heavily over my shoulders and draped down my back just moments before a volley of darts whistled through the air. More than several whizzed by and I cursed as the plant life instantly blackened from the poisonous weaponry. “Fucking goddess,” I cursed, jumping over the dead plants, not even willing to chance that the poison was no longer active.
Xi hissed with vexation in front of us, swinging and jumping from branch to branch, her strong athletic build demonstrating power and finesse that was more than pleasing to watch. Though the image was ruined by the five needle-biting bastards hot on her heels, their beards sticky with sap and drool from their hunger to hunt.
Flinging air outwards, I knocked them all off balance, hearing their howls and screeches all the way until they hit the ground below.
When the earth began to tremble, echoing Xi’s frustrations, I knew her control on her power was slipping. Thatvibewas back…I wasn’t even sure if it had fucking left. Gritting my teeth, I mentally shoved away her damning words and the distrust on her end that was only growing with each leg of this journey.
Dancing away, the earth split like a bursting dam, and with it a sense of dread shivered up my spine. If it wasn’t for Remnant not wanting to hurt these little gnome bastards, our powers combined would have ended them quickly. Instead we were running for our lives and this shit was about to get much, much worse.
"Xi don't!" I hollered, seeing ahead where splintering earth was rapidly racing toward another Faerie ring sitting peacefully in the jungle—but it was too late. “Ah goddess,” I whispered, stumbling to a stop when the earth violently shattered the wide circular ring of brightly glowing flowers, breaking the containment that held back something far more sinister than gnomes.
Remnant came to a sliding halt next to me along with the flower pissing bastards. Paralyzed with terror, the bearded savages stared at the broken ring briefly before shrieking in panic, turning tail and running back to wherever they goddess damn came from, as if they had never bothered to chase us for hours in the first place. Back to their daily life of pee pollination and farting out glitter.
"Well this can't be good," Remnant mused and I raised a brow at her, admiring her attempted note of levity and also the fact that she was not even breathing heavily.
I snorted, brushing my hair from my sweaty brow before unsheathing my scimitars. “I really wish you hadn’t said that.” With a quick toss, I launched one of my swords into the air as Xi dropped from the trees, landing in a crouch before catching the blade. Standing, she expertly twirled the scimitar in a series ofwhirling silver form that normally would have made my dick as hard as stone if it wasn't for the white mist oozing out from the cursed broken Faerie ring.
Xi’s cheeks puffed before she exhaled forcefully, her white hair briefly flying from her face. "Maybe it won't be that bad."
My other brow quirked, this time at her. "Are you goddess damn serious right now?" As if on cue, a long wailing cry cut the still jungle air, blasting the white mist into an eruption of dense, white fog, blocking out our sight. “You just had to say it, didn’t you?” I muttered, reaching outward blindly to where I had last seen Xi, no longer able to see her beauty but still feeling her warmth.
Pulling her into me, I dragged us both to a very perplexed shadow fae who was watching her dormant shadows flicker in and out around her forearms before disappearing.
“Tell me that’s not what I think it is?” I hissed, dreading the answer I already knew.
"Well it’s definitely not good, and likely very, very bad," she mused, shaking her head.
