Page 15 of Wrath of the Fae

‘I warned you this would happen!’ she spits, gasping in every one of her breaths. ‘I told you she wasn’t ready!’

‘She’s fine now,’ Lucca tells her. ‘She’s okay-’

‘Because I took her pain away. Again! She didn’t need to do this.’ Tessa looks at the hacked-up men scattered around us. ‘She didn’t need to butcher them.’ Tears stream down her face one after the other.

She took my pain, and it’s crushing her.

‘We got you back so you would save us. Not butcher men because they told you some cold hard facts about two men who chose to forget you and fuck your sister and best friend instead of trying to save us!’

Tessa is so distraught that she doesn’t see Wolf approaching her. Smoothly and easily, he covers her mouth and nose with a cloth. Tessa doesn’t struggle. She just takes a few deep breaths as she watches me with judgment and disdain. This isn’t the first time he’s stepped in and used whatever that liquid is to put her into a deep sleep. He catches her as she falls limp and lifts his gaze to me.

‘That went well. So, what’s next? Any of the intel you prised from them worth a damn?’ he asks.

Lucca’s eyes are on me. I got nothing worth anything. Except for pain. Pain I just shipped off to Tessa, who needs to be unconscious to filter it through her system.

‘What’s next, Pup?’

I look at Tessa’s unconscious body. At the blood-soaked ground littered with bits of soldier. And I hear the distant chuckle of a child back at the camp.

I can’t keep doing this. She’s right. I can’t.

‘We stick to the plan.’ I nod and step away from Lucca, releasing my grip on his face.

‘When do you want to leave?’ Wolf asks me.

‘Tomorrow. After sundown.’

‘Sundown?’ Lucca repeats. ‘The woods aren’t exactly safe in the dark.’

‘In the dark, we only have monsters to fear. In the day, we have Fae to worry about.’ I wipe dry my tears and give another firm nod. ‘We’ll take our chances with the monsters.’

three

Luccaisfastasleepon the floor of my tent. I lay on my bed, staring at the roof of the canopy for a good three hours before I give up on the idea of sleep and head out. I pull on my cloak and hood and head to the edge of camp.

I enjoy watching the others live their lives. The children play. The adults cook and mend clothes. Some are making or sharpening weapons.

It’s probably as much peace as they have all had in years.

Leaving them to it, I head for the dense trees surrounding us. I walk for a good fifteen minutes before stopping by a nest of gnarled trees with twisted roots covered in thick moss. And I sit, nestled on the soft humps.

After a quick roll of my neck and shoulders, I reach out my hand and call forward my portal power.

Nothing comes.

No swell of power. No wailing wind or golden vortex.

Not a whisper.

Staring at my hand, I take a breath and try again.

Nothing.

I know it’s gone. Life would be so much easier if it weren’t, but it is.

After Lucca pulled me out, the First Kingdom portals died. But wherever the portal's power went, it’s not with me.

In the thick brush, I hear a low snarling. I watch, but nothing comes. I can feel something there, though. Something dark. Something hungry. Monsters lurk in these ancient forests. We all hear them. We see the deep claw marks left on the trees surrounding our little camp.

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