Page 15 of The Crowned Fae Queen
I am alone.
“Miranda!” I scream again and, in the silence, release a shuddering breath. Roughly, with white, taut knuckles, I hit the wall on either side of me and let out one more earth-shattering scream.
If Miranda is alive, he will hear me. Miranda would never leave me. Unless he would. Unless he wanted to protect his witch. If Miranda cares for her more than he does me, would he not take this chance to make himself scarce?
No, no, no. This isn’t happening. My friend would not abandon me. My husband would not abandon our bond.
Hot and wet tears build along my eyelids as I push up from the ground. I have to carry on and find this witch. There isn’t a way for me to make it back over this wall at this point. The witch will have to get me home.
If there is a home. If the people I’ve come to love haven't decided to toss me to the wolves yet again.
And what if King Iri has changed his mind once more? Am I to become like the others? Princess Emella, who ran away without a trace. Or his other fiancés, who could never quite make it to their wedding day?
No one knows about us. He could get rid of me without issue.
Gritting my teeth, I fold the material of my cloak that remains around my body. “Miranda?” I try again, but my voice doesn’t carry as much enthusiasm this time.
Time has ticked away in my search. The moon takes its place high in the middle of the sky. Each twinkling star mocks me, none bright enough to lead me home, all of them winking in their distant ridicule.
This enchanted forest is beginning to feel less like my journey to answers and more like my deserted island. It’s the moment the King's men were gone, and their ships could no longer be seen on the horizon. It’s the rumble of hunger low in my gut and the feeling of helplessness that becomes overwhelming.
The world presses in on me. Gravity pulls me down to the sodden earth and reminds me how utterly alone I am. Panic grips my chest. It presents itself in uneven breaths that leave my head dizzy and makes my lips tingle as they go numb. My limbs are sluggish as I curl into myself.
I am alone. I have been abandoned. They did it again.
A solid weep shakes my shoulders, and even when my crying stops, my shoulders rattle until I’m bringing my head up. Distantly, I can hear a voice calling my name. Lightly, a touch brushing against my back.
“Syren, Syren! Syren, I’m here.” The voice grows closer, moving with a momentum that takes the words from a soft whisper in the great expanse of woods to yelling in my ear. Features, familiar and right, appearing like a ghost in front of me until they aren’t fog anymore but the physical.
Miranda’s eyes are red-rimmed, his cheeks rosy, and his hair disheveled as if he has brushed it away from his stinging eyes a thousand times.
“Miranda?” My voice breaks.
He sighs audibly, brushing the tears away from my cheeks and gathering me in a hug. “I never left you. You were never alone.” His voice is a hoarse murmur in my ear. “I came down from the wall as soon as I could. I answered you every time you said my name, but you couldn’t hear me. It’s the witch's magic fooling you.”
My gasping cries and solid hot tears slow. Inside my mind, I reach out, feeling around for any remnant of the bond I feared I had lost. Bright, glowing, and strong, the bond remains, and the second my mind registers it, I can feel Bear’s relief.
My Queen.
I laugh, thankful for the sound of his rough voice. With both arms, I wrap Miranda in a hug and bury my face into his shoulder, thanking the Goddess.
I thought you had abandoned me,I acknowledge sadly.
I know exactly what you thought. I felt everything you felt. I will not leave you nor abandon you in anything you do. Nothing, nothing could ever make me love you less. You,Iri growls,are mine, forever.
Miranda pulls away, offering me a hand as he stands. “We’re almost there.”
Brushing the dirt from my cloak, I moan as I stand. “Thank the Goddess.” I smile weakly.
“Are you okay?”
“Sore, but I’ll be fine.” The words feel like a lie through my teeth. Feelings of loneliness and dereliction still too raw and real. “Did you not feel the effects of the magic?” It’s a silly question, seeing as Miranda looks like he climbed through hell and back to find me.
He walks slowly before me, leading me closer to his witch. Miranda tosses the words over his shoulder without turning to give me his full gaze. “The first time I came through this forest, I saw and felt my father’s fist as he shouted at me all the ways I was and never will be good enough. Eventually, I wasn’t afraid of that anymore. I didn’t care for his approval. Now, I see my friends lost and afraid, feeling alone and scared while there isn’t anything I can do. No matter how loud I shout or how many times I shake you, you don’t feel it until the spell is done with you. That is my new fear and greatest punishment.”
I take a large step over mud and broken sticks, weaving my fingers through Miranda’s. “But we are almost there, right? We are almost done.”
He bobs his head, curls falling back over his forehead. “How, uh, do you feel about spiders?”
