Page 11 of The Barbaric Fae's Soul

“I can’t fight, anyway. There’s no reason to send someone who could be helpful when I’m here,” I added. “And I want to be useful.”

“It’s not safe,” one of the generals said. The hellhound one—Taven, pronounced tah-vin. “We can’t send a female phoenix alone through the forest.”

“North could save lives,” I pointed out. “And when Aev left, he ran that way.” I tossed a hand in the direction he’d gone. “North’s cave is that way.” I gestured in the opposite direction. “By the time the klynnas catch me, I’ll have reached North and Priel already.”

“We don’t know that for certain,” another of the men argued.

“I’ll go with her,” one of the new unseelie council guys said. He was Oren, the old dragon general. The man was tall and tanned, with golden blonde hair that fell to his shoulders. Honestly, he reminded me of a Greek god, but I didn’t say that aloud. “I can fly above her; the klynnas will see me as a better target if they approach.”

My eyes widened in horror. “No.”

“Better me than you,” Oren told me, his green eyes piercing as they locked with mine. “And with the king’s scent on your skin, something tells me that I’d be dead anyway if I let you fly away without protection.”

My face grew hotter. The pink on my skin had probably become a patchy red as I said quickly, “He abdicated. He’s not the king. And we only—the connection is just—he was in pain. Kissing stopped the pain. That’s all.”

“You can’t go alone,” Nev said firmly. “There’s no question. Take Oren, or take someone else. Otherwise, Teris goes.”

Teris’s scowl told me how much he appreciated being thrown into that role. And honestly, I wanted to go. I loved being out in the forest, and being helpful made me feel good. Especially since I’d refused to learn how to fight.

So I finally nodded. “I’ll go. But only with an unseelie, one who can’t fly, so I can get away from him if I need to.”

No way in hell was I going to end up trapped withanyone.

Nev and Teris looked at the group of unseelie generals.

“Taven?” Oren asked.

“No. I’m still assigned to protect the queen,” the hellhound general said in a hard voice. “I won’t leave her side.”

Without questioning that weird, slightly-possessive comment, Devv (the phoenix general) said firmly, “Naomi is not our queen. Summer is the closest thing we have to that right now—and second would be Dakota, who carries Aev’s scent.”

The silence that followed that remark was heavy, and my skin burned with embarrassment.

I’d need to break my bond with Aev. I didn’t want to have the pain, but if he kissed another woman… well, then he’d really be free. From both me, and the pain.

I should never have done what I did in his tent, no matter how intense those moments had been. It wasn’t worth everyone’s judgment, or the embarrassment, or the awkwardness of watching him walk away from me.

If only there was a way to break the bond without one of us hurting.

“Still, I will not leave Naomi. She needs my protection,” the hellhound general finally said. “The female fae can’t be fully trusted.”

Devv dipped his head, and the rest of the eyes turned to Korrik, who was the sabertooth general and thus the last unmated one who couldn’t fly.

“I can have one of my top men go with her,” Korrik said.

“No. It needs to be one of you, in case Aev flips his lid when he gets back and finds her gone. He trusts you,” Teris growled at the generals.

Korrik didn’t look happy about it, but he finally agreed. “I’ll go.”

Suddenly, I was regretting my offer completely.

It was too late to take it back, though, so…

I was going on a road trip of sorts with grumpy old Korrik.

Yay.

The men discussed their plans for a few more minutes before Korrik gestured toward the forest. And withoutgoodbyes orgood lucks, we both disappeared into the forest together. Me, flying so low that dodging trees took up most of my focus, and Korrik moving through the trees like he was a damn basilisk.

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