CHAPTER 66

EMONIE

I'm lying in a pitiful heap in the snow.

I passed out for a little while, right around the time I saw the bridge explode. I think my heart might have exploded with it, so my body just crumpled. As if no part of me was capable of facing the fact that the bridge was destroyed.

Because that means I'm trapped in Orea forever.

I'm lucky that I was already hobbling away when the land started disintegrating. If I'd still been in that fortress where the Orean came back and tried to convince me to go with him…I'd be swallowed down Orea's gullet right about now.

There were a few close calls.

My body is so battered that I keep going in and out of awareness. I'm in a daze, staring up at the chunky sky while the snow numbs me.

The gray clouds are all thick and bitten off. Like a pack of wild dogs got into the rising dough and started chomping bits off. Those clouds keep spitting off chunks of frost too, like a lathered tongue that won't stop dripping.

Just like my eyes.

I have no way to get home. Everyone and everything I know and love is back in Annwyn, and I'm here, with no way to get back.

A shudder goes through me, either from sadness or the freezing cold. Even though the numbness is nice, I know if I don't move soon, I'm in danger of never moving again.

I still don't try to get up.

But then, I'm jerked into sharp awareness when a face suddenly appears over me.

" You ," he spits, and I squint, only to realize with a jolt that it's one of the twins. Not the one I impersonated, but the other… What was his name?

Friano.

Seeing him makes the new antler sprouting from my ear flare with pain. Makes all of my pains flare, actually.

"Thanks for ordering that I get beaten within an inch of my life, you ass," I garble out. I can still taste blood.

"How did you get over here?" he shouts, his dark eyes wild, shiny black hair now damp and stringy like he rolled around in the snow. "My brother fell with all the others, but you survived? You don't deserve to breathe."

He sounds furious. I don't really care. "Fuck. Off."

His hand lashes out, grabbing me by the ankle, and he starts to drag me. A gasp tears free, pain popping punctures into my vision as his grip digs into my brutalized body.

I try to flip over on instinct to scrabble away from him, but he tosses me aside, making my body roll a few times before stopping. My ribs scream as I try not to puke.

"Did you touch it?" he demands, though it takes me a couple seconds to respond.

"Touch… what ?" I pant out.

He looks crazed. "If you ruined it, I will ruin you !"

At this point, I'm already pretty ruined, but I think I'll keep that to myself.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I say as I try to sit up.

Gnashing his teeth, he swings his foot back, and I flinch automatically, bracing for the kick that's headed right for my face.

But it never comes.

There's a noise, and then I rear back in surprise when I see Friano getting tossed into the snow by someone. I stare in shock when I realize it's a soldier.

An Orean soldier.

He's wearing black armor that matches his short hair and the stubble across his jaw. His skin is paler than mine, and his face is twisted in hate as he glares down at the twin.

He yanks a sword from the scabbard at his waist. "You've just breathed your last," he vows darkly.

Friano raises his arm to ward him off, legs scrabbling in the snow, but that's when I notice something on the ground just behind him.

Something green.

My eyes widen, and right when the Orean starts to cut his sword toward Friano, I yell, " Wait !"

The soldier pauses and turns to look over his shoulder at me. I start to crawl forward. "Don't kill him!" I call desperately, my frozen limbs making it hard to move.

He narrows his eyes. "He was just about to knock your teeth in, and you're defending him?"

"I need him," I say as I force myself to push up to a stand, my ribs protesting, legs ready to snap.

Though as soon as I'm upright, I realize that he isn't the only Orean here. I freeze as I take in their group. Two women, two men. All of them in armor except for the blonde woman.

Why am I always so outnumbered?

Dizziness cyclones through my head, and I start to pitch sideways, bracing myself to fall again. But the soldier threatening Friano moves in a blink and grabs hold of me before I do.

"Wow," I say, the word slightly slurred as my brain spins. "You move fast."

I can't help but notice that he's grabbed me by the collar so that he's not actually touching me. Either because he can see I'm battered and bruised everywhere…or he just hates fae so much he doesn't want to touch one.

Probably that last option, based on the glare he's giving me.

And that guess is confirmed when he presses the edge of his blade to my neck.

My heart skips a beat, but my mouth takes two more and runs away with it. "That's a very forward introduction. Usually I take a male on a few special outings before I let him jab his pointy thing at me."

There's a pause. Maybe Oreans don't like jokes.

Great skies, my head hurts.

"Tell me who you are, fae ," he demands.

My eyes trail over him as my sluggish consciousness tries to get a handle on this entire situation. "Black armor looks better than stone," I say appreciatively. Maybe I can get on his good side? "You win best uniform."

"We won the war ," he counters.

"Cheers," I say, trying to lift a hand up. Nope. That hurts. Not going to do that again.

"Did this fae do this to you?" the Orean soldier demands, his eyes roving over my many injuries.

"Umm…sort of."

He narrows his eyes. "What does that mean?"

I quite like the sound of his voice. And he's handsome too. Sure, he's threatening me at sword point, but we all have our faults.

"Are you going to answer me?"

Honestly, I hadn't decided, but he seems a bit impatient, so…"No."

The sword disappears, which I take as a good sign, until I'm abruptly yanked forward a few steps. " Iffik ," I cry out, the old fae curse spitting past my split lips. "That hurt!"

I have to breathe through the pain, but that doesn't work so well considering breathing hurts too.

He stops moving me forward, and as soon as I no longer feel like I'm about to vomit, I manage to glare at him. "I liked the queen better. Where is she? I helped her. She'll vouch for me."

I'm not sure the man she was with would sing my praises though, even if I did let them free. He didn't seem too fond of me.

Although, he did come back and try to get me to come with them. But while I was turning him down, he had to fight off two Stone Swords before he could get away again. He didn't look pleased about that.

And, if I'm being honest, he didn't try that hard to get me to come with him. It was grudgingly at best. Not that I blame him.

"The queen?" the soldier asks in surprise. "You mean Queen Malina?"

"That's the one."

"You helped the Cold Queen escape ?" Friano snarls behind him on the ground. "It's your fault she went to the bridge?"

The bridge?

Friano tries to launch himself at me, but he's intercepted by the woman soldier darting forward. She moves fast, foot sweeping out as she knocks Friano onto the ground again. She has her own sword pulled free, and it's pointed at his face in a blink.

She wears the same armor, and she has dark brown skin, with black hair that's shaved short against her scalp with designs of blades all the way around. My hands itch to collect that look so I can use that hair glamour later.

"I suggest you don't move," she tells Friano in a hard tone. Then she looks up to the soldier still holding onto me. "Ryatt?"

My head swings up. "Ryatt?" I repeat. "As in causing a riot…or you're so funny you're a riot?"

He glares at me, so I'm going to confidently say it's not the second option. It's startling just how green his eyes are, though. Distracts me a bit.

I blame the concussion.

He points his sword down to the green spot in all that snow. "What is that?"

My gaze swings to the ground, but I don't dare show any expression on my face. I lift a shoulder. "What's what?" I ask breezily before I spit out a little blood. I really hope that's just from my mangled tongue.

Impatient anger flashes through his eyes, just as the other soldier, the huge one with the messy beard starts stomping forward to the spot.

Panic flares through me. "Don't touch it!" Friano and I both yell at the same time.

Luckily, the bearded soldier stops and cocks a bushy brow. "Yeah. That's what I thought," he rumbles out.

Ryatt's grip tightens on my collar. He pulls me down slightly, making me hiss in pain as I'm forced to bend toward the ground. "Last chance to explain what this is and what you're hiding, fae."

My heart thumps wildly, nervousness gripping my thoughts. I lift my gaze to Friano. He's got a boot to the chest by the woman soldier, but he's staring at me, and he shakes his head with a clear threat in his dark eyes.

Ryatt notices. He drags me up so we're face to face again, making me yelp.

And sure, he's mad , but he's also a bit mesmerizing for some reason. I can't not notice—not from this close up.

"You will tell me right now, or I will kill you both," he says, his tone low and threatening.

I still like it though.

Great goddess, how hard did my head get kicked?

"We will tell you nothing , Orean scum," Friano hisses.

I wrinkle my nose, anger lashing toward the twin. "Don't say we . You and I are not on the same side."

His attention lands on me with utter loathing. "Shut your mouth, you Orean-loving traitor whore!"

I ignore his jab. "Did you and your twin do this somehow?"

He doesn't answer. Just stares at me with all the hate and pain from me mentioning his brother, but I don't care. I hate him right back, and this is more important.

Because that swipe of green that rests against the snow? That spot that's making my pulse race and my mind spin? It's a patch of grass.

Grass that's grown in the perfect circle of a fairy ring .

And it carries familiar sweet-smelling air.

"Where does it lead?" I ask desperately, my gaze hinging on his. " Where ?"

Friano refuses to answer, but my stomach flips, because his gaze gives me all the confirmation I need.

I still have a chance to get home.

Because this fairy ring…it's connected to Annwyn .