Page 16 of The Barbaric Fae's Soul

“Aev is going back to his old self, now that he’s separate from Naomi?” Priel asked Korrik.

“Yes. He seemed much better in the few minutes before he left for the cave. Lighter. More commanding.”

“More like the king,” Priel said, and sounded sort of grim. “If he doesn’t have to hold the prison anymore, he’ll have a hell of a lot more magic. Even without his bond to her.”

“If we can stay here long enough, he’ll probably come after her. The mate bond should drive him to it. Those damn things are constantly pushing men toward their bonded female.”

“That’s not a bad thing,” Priel growled.

“Not always.” There was a tense moment. “Aev killed a klynna with his ice once. Before Naomi, obviously. And it came back, like they always do. But it was just him. He froze its heart in its chest. If we buy enough time, he might be able to do the same to this one.”

“That’s a possibility we can’t afford to wait for.” I heard a creaking noise that made me think one of them had leaned back in a chair or something. “You’ll have to lead it to the lake. You remember that those bastards won’t touch the water.”

“I remember. It’s a solid day’s journey, though. A damn lot of running with a klynna on my tail.”

“It’s too bad you don’t have wings,” Priel agreed. “You’d be more likely to make it there, if you did.”

“Dakota didn’t want any of the winged fae with her. Didn’t feel safe enough.” He didn’t sound angry about that fact—just stated it bluntly.

It was true, but my face heated anyway.

I wished I could trust the male fae more than I did. But… I didn’t.

“Our humans have all been through their own hells,” Priel said. “They’re survivors, like us. If I’d been dragged into their world, I doubt I’d make it as long.”

Korrik chuckled. “On that, we can agree.”

The men continued talking, but the subject changed to the past, and stories of the times they’d worked together to kill klynnas. The camaraderie surprised me, but then again, I knew that the drama of the monsters returning was going to force the fae to get along. Male and female, seelie and unseelie.

Nothing united people the way a fear of death could.

My mind kept going to Priel’s words, though.

Someone with wings would have the best chance of survival.

Someone with wings could outrun the monster.

For the sake of my conscience… it was going to have to be me.

At least that way, Aev wouldn’t have to deal with pain unless I managed to get myself killed.

I accepted that, and starting preparing myself to act as bait.

When the mendecided to call it a night, I waited silently.

After I was certain that they were out, I crept into the kitchen and quietly had one last meal of fruit. All they had was the birth control fruit Summer called lilano, but I ate a few of them as near-silently as I could.

If I was going to be flying the monster all the way to the lake, I neededsomethingin my stomach.

My feet were silent on the tile as I grabbed a clean paintbrush off one of the tables, dipped it into the white puddle on the paper-plate-like leaf that North had been using as a palette, and then lifted it to the wall. Priel had covered something with black paint earlier, making a fresh canvas, so I went over to that spot and quickly painted the words,

I’ll meetyou back at the Stronghold.

Though I hesitated at first,not sure how I should sign it, I finally signed it with my full name.

They couldn’t use it to summon me if I didn’t speak it to them aloud, I didn’t think.

I set the paintbrush down in the paint puddle, hoping that would keep it wet long enough for North to salvage it, because I couldn’t turn on the water and risk the noise.

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