Page 14 of Dark Fae's Desires
I just stare at the two tunnels.
“Go on then,” Rath’Na says.
“Which one?” I ask in annoyance.
“You said right,” he replies, puzzled.
I frown. Did I? “Oh! No, I meant… you know what, forget it. I think we need to go left.”
“Why?” he asks.
“Because I think right is going to lead the wrong way,” I mutter and start moving towards the left one. If I’m wrong, the gods help us.
After an indeterminate amount of time, where I’m sure I kept hearing noises behind us, I discover that the inky blackness is lighting up to a murky gloom.
“Hurry,” I whisper, even though I’m making more than enough noise sloshing through the water in my heavy boots. It’s now up to my shins, which I find disconcerting. I don’t want to think that I’ve led us the wrong way.
We speed up as much as we can under the circumstances and soon, we are wading through water high enough to lap at my ass.
“Fuck,” I grit out.
“We can’t turn back,” Rath’Na points out, as I stop and curse with frustration.
“I know,” I say, putting my hand to my head. It feels like it’s in a vice that someone is tightening at regular intervals. I’m doing my best to ignore the fire in my veins and the feeling that I can’t take a proper breath, but it’s taking its toll on me. “Any chance you can Shift?” I joke weakly.
He snorts. “Do you think I would be trailing along behind you if I could?”
“Okay, no need to be salty!” I sniff, mostly in an effort not to cry.
“Keep going,” he mutters. “They’re coming.”
“If they know we are here, then they’ll have someone waiting for us on the outside,” I point out.
“So you’d rather stay in this stinky tunnel, with sewer water up to your rear?”
“Obviously not, but what is the point if we keep going, just to get captured again?” I’m losing all confidence in my plan. Maybe we should have gone up the steps with Ambrosia. Maybe we should have gone right at the fork? Maybe…
“A word of advice, dearie, if you plan to rule a Kingdom one day, you need to be quicker on your feet than this.”
“Fuck you,” I snarl, humiliated because I know he’s right. I’m useless. I won’t be a mediocre Queen, let alone a great one, if I can’t even say ‘fuck it’ and keep heading forwards even if it leads us into a swarm of Light Fae.
With renewed determination, I start wading again.
“There you go,” I hear Rath’Na say behind me with a smile in his voice.
“You played me,” I pant, my strength waning rapidly now that the blood oath is vehemently protesting the distance between me and Anders, along with the current of the water which has picked up remarkably in the last few seconds. “When I get us out of here and you are well, I’m going to kick your ass back to the Dragon Realms, so help me, you’ll wonder why you ever doubted me!”
He chuckles. “Nothing wrong with a bit of encouragement, girl.”
I bite my tongue. His method worked and that’s all that matters. I’m back on a mission now. I grip my swords tighter in front of me, lifting my elbows up a bit higher so that they aren’t dragging in the water that is now inching further and further up. I almost recoil from the stench of BO that is currently exuding from my armpits. If I can smell it over the rank disgustingness of this loosely calledwater, then I must stink so bad that even the Fae Kingdom version of skunks will run away from me.
We slosh around a bend and I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I grin over my shoulder at Rath’Na, and then all hell breaks loose.
Chapter 6
Savannah
Aflash of light makes me recoil and stumble back, scrabbling in the water to keep my footing. I crash into Rath’Na, who grabs me to stop me from going under. My eyes, so used to the dark, are scrunched shut against the blinding light of magick being thrown around. I have spots floating around my vision, but I have to open them. I can’t be blind in this dire situation.
