Page 8 of Power of Five
5
Leralynn
Iswallow a scream as Coal sends our horse into a gallop, his patience with answering my questions plainly exhausted. The horse’s powerful muscles flex and extend under me, the chill wind making my eyes water. After years of wishing to ride these magnificent beasts, the reality is crushing. Rolling pastures race by in streaks of yellow and green, while Mystwood’s forbidding gloom gets ever closer. The saddle chafes my legs raw, and my body, which rises a bit into the air and lands hard with each mighty thump of the horse’s hooves, is pounding with pain. I’d be tossed to a certain death if not for the hard arms bracing my waist in cold silence.
A parasite, that’s what I am to him. An unwanted growth attached by a magical mishap. The males might be civil enough now, but that will change once they, like Coal, realize how pathetic I am beside them, how little I know of things they take for granted. Like sitting atop a moving animal without breaking my neck.
River’s words grind like sand into my flesh, working themselves deeper with each of the stallion’s strides. I’m a mistake of magic, a set of shackles clamped onto four immortal beings.
After an hour of freezing pounding, my endurance reaches its limit and I let the tears welling in my eyes spill onto my cheeks, my shoulders trembling from cold and pain. I try to hold it in, but I can’t stop the wet gasps as each jolt opens the skin on my thighs further.
A soft growl escapes Coal’s mouth. Without slowing the horse, the male spares one arm from the reins to clamp around my abdomen like an iron band, which keeps me from bouncing about. Within a minute, he is clicking his tongue and urging his horse into an even faster gallop, as if determined to outrun the setting sun.
Shutting my eyes, I bury my hands in Coal’s forearm, feeling his muscles tense and relax with each jolting step. I try to breathe deeply, to inhale his scent of leather and salt, and imagine a bard’s tale for myself. In my tale, I’m not a prisoner on horseback but the one urging the beast into a run, while the strong arms keeping me in the saddle are a lover’s embrace instead of a tether to counteract my incompetence. In my tale, these males who make my chest tighten are not trying to get rid of me.
“Tye.” Coal’s voice cuts through the icy air and I realize that we’ve stopped moving. The horse’s flanks heave, and steam rises from his sweaty coat. “Get over here and take the mortal.”
I blink at what looks like a small inn of rough stone. A smoking chimney and a fire glimmering through the common room’s windows promise blissful warmth. My stomach growls and I realize I’ve not eaten in some time, the once-warm roll Mimi stuffed into my pocket now squished into crumbs—though possibly still salvageable. The thought of Mimi makes my heart clench. I never said goodbye to her before leaving. Though given her hopes for Zake and me, I think she’d have called me a fool. And she would have been right.
“What the bloody hell are we doing here?” Tye asks mildly as Coal hands me down to him. I fall gracelessly into the male’s arms, my feet on the ground but my shaking legs unable to support my full weight. “Not that I mind an inn with fair maids, but River may have a comment or two.”
“River certainly does,” says River, pulling up beside us. “We’ve brought enough attention to ourselves as it is.”
“Desire and reality aren’t melding for you tonight,” Coal tells River curtly. “We can go no farther today.”
Tye’s nostrils flare delicately above my neck. As if...
“Are you sniffing me?” I ask, craning my neck to look at the green-eyed male.
Instead of answering, Tye slips a hand beneath my knees and lifts me off the ground, cradling me against his chest as he starts toward the inn door. “Coal is right, we need to stay here tonight,” he calls over his shoulder. “For the record, the lass was whole when I handed her off to that bastard.”
I squirm in Tye’s grip. “Let me down. Where do you imagine I’ll run off to?”
“You’ll fall, Lilac Girl,” Tye purrs, ignoring my struggles while River demands rooms from a wide-eyed innkeeper. Even without the pointed ears and the wolf trotting beside the horses, my quint males would never blend with human men. From fierce-eyed Coal to towering River, they are too tall, too chiseled, too beautiful to be anything but immortal.
The innkeeper bows low, rubbing his wrist. “I would most love to oblige you, my lord, but you see, we are all sold out. Not one room—”
“Then become vacant,” River says in a voice that sends a shudder down my spine, each violent story of the fae vivid in my mind.
Blood drains from the innkeeper’s face, and he bows so low he trips over his own feet. “Of course. I’ll... I’ll shift some guests. They can double up in beds with no trouble, I’m certain. Please, my lords, follow me. It’s an honor to have you here.”
Tye snorts softly and tightens his hold on me as he carries me further inside, leaving River and the sounds of coin changing hands behind us. River is paying, it appears, and very handsomely.
I wonder how I’m going to repay whatever the males are spending for my upkeep, but I can’t bring myself to protest. My body needs sustenance and a place to sleep too desperately to consider the costs. Tye follows a serving girl up a wobbly wooden staircase and into a large room with a plush green featherbed, a small dresser with a washbasin, and a wide leather armchair tucked into the corner.
“You aren’t our prisoner, you know,” Tye whispers into my ear, sending a shiver all the way through me. His perfect face hovers inches away from mine, the heat from his cheek seeping through my skin and teasing my flesh. Dismissing the servant with a flick of his hair, Tye lowers me gently onto the bed.
The down mattress sinks luxuriously under my weight, hugging my sore body. I fail to contain a small moan before blinking myself back to reality.
Bed. I am on a bed with a fae male who technically kidnapped me and is now so close that I could bathe in his pine-and-citrus scent. Tye’s red hair flops over his eyes, and my fingers long to brush it away, to tuck it behind that exquisitely pointed ear of his. I wrap my arms around myself. “So I’m free to leave whenever I wish?”
Tye’s normally sunny face tightens and he retreats from me, his triceps flexing as he rises. He perches on the far corner of the bed. Even then, he is so large that the mattress shifts beneath his weight. “Is that what you would like, lass?” Tye asks, his voice even.
“It little matters what I’d like, does it?” I snap, fatigue taking the reins of my tongue. A parasite. A set of shackles. A mistake. “Coal explained the basics to me. I’m stuck with you four until the Citadel elders sever the bond, thus freeing the magic to choose someone else for you. Someone more male and immortal than I am.” Someone who can contribute. “The faster we can make that happen, the better. Am I right?”
Tye studies the floor for a long moment before shaking himself and rising to his feet. “You are. I’ll see about some food and a bath being sent to your room.” The male offers me a slight bow and strides out the door without looking back, leaving me with an emptiness that has no business blossoming in my chest.
The food arrives, as promised—a mouthwatering beef stew, thick with carrots, potatoes, and onions. The heel of bread beside my bowl is thick and soft. I’m using the last bit of crust to mop up the remains of the delicious broth when servants appear with a tub, buckets of steaming water, and a set of clothing. They give me as wide a berth as the room allows, casting glances that range from pity to fear when they think I’m not looking.
