Page 52 of The Barbaric Fae's Soul

I laughed. “Do your worst, then. If you’ve got the manpower, I’d like a bathroom, too.”

“One bathroom and some walls, coming right up.” Firo winked at me, then strode back into the group of men.

I had to do a double-take when I looked over and realized that the group had more than doubled. There had to be nearly a hundred fae men there. My eyes were massive and round. “Holy shit.” I scanned their faces, but only recognized two of them, and both were members of the new council. “Are they all unseelie?” I asked Aev.

“Yes. I was a good king, before Naomi.” He released his hold on my waist. “I’m going to throw my magic in with everyone else’s.”

I caught his arm before he could leave me. “Can I help too?”

“Of course.” He flashed me a small, tense smile.

The broken bond had to be bothering him, and I felt shitty for that.

We kneeled on the platform along with everyone else, and when I felt the flow of magic from all of the other fae, I sank mine into it too.

The power’s flow was overwhelming. It felt like a massive gust of something strong, natural, andalive. Like I’d connected to a current of over a hundred other living souls.

Summer had told me that the unseelie were family. That they believed in each other and supported each other in a way the seelie just didn’t. I hadn’t thought she was wrong… I just hadn’t cared before.

Now, I understood the draw of that.

The strength of it, too.

To not only not have to face the world alone, but to do so with so many other people, was surreal. I couldn’t even imagine a life like that.

But if I was with Aev, that was what I’d have, wasn’t it? His friends. His family.

Maybe that should’ve scared me, but the idea made me hopeful, honestly.

It would be nice to have people to trust. Someone to ask for help when I needed it. The Wild Hunt had been on my side when I was temporarily mated to Nev, and it had been good, but even then, it hadn’t been like this. If I’d asked some of the seelies for help, they would’ve helped. But I was terrible at asking, and afraid of leading them on or making them think I wanted more than just help.

If Aev’s feelings were real, everything could change for me, in a really incredible way.

Then again, given where I was and what I was doing, everything hadalreadychanged.

But what if those feelings weren’t real?

I didn’t want to admit it to myself, but that would hurt like hell.

Maybe I didn’t know what I wanted after all.

Maybe I wanted him to want me permanently, too.

I couldn’t tell how our magic was being used, not while I was tangled in the intense mass of power.

Time moved quickly, and I felt our magic change its focus multiple times as Firo focused us to do exactly what he wanted.

When the magic finally slowed, I realized Firo had stopped directing, and I slowly withdrew from the waning flow.

I pulled my magic free, and looked around me. My eyes widened as I took in the newly-crafted space stretching around us.

It seemed to be shaped like a slice of a cylinder, encircling part of the tree’s thick trunk. When I looked upward, I saw more levels and layers above us. The floors were all done in smooth, dark wood, with the walls made of sleek white. Scattered through the white, there were pops of the greens and blues that the more exotic-looking trees sported.

On one of the floors, I could see a mattress. On another, a kitchen. On a third, a few couches. The one we currently stood on had the bathroom I’d requested.

“Well?” Firo spread his arms out. “What do you think?”

“It’s incredible,” I admitted, still trying to take everything in. “Thank you.”

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