Chapter 31

Chapter

Thirty-One

Rose

My head spun faster than the world around me. The freefall felt like it would never end. As the wind tried to rip me from Magnus's back, my hands tightened on the ridges protruding from his scales until they ached.

Suddenly he banked left, and half my body slid from his back before he was able to right us again.

"What the hell?" I screamed into the violently whipping wind. It was like being beaten to death by the air. My shoulders screamed from the effort to hold on, my exposed skin stung, and it felt like the muscles in my arms were being shredded into tiny bits. I wasn't sure I could take much more.

Get ready.

Magnus's strong voice boomed through my head and I jerked to attention.

"For what?" I screamed.

I didn't get an answer in my head. Only a rumble underneath my body before he banked right, then left, and then I was freefalling through the air again.

"No!" I screamed, barely getting the word out before I hit water and sunk beneath the surface. I tried not to inhale, but I wasn't prepared, and water stung my nose and burned into my lungs. I sputtered to the surface.

"Rose!" Magnus yelled from the nearby bank. Apparently, he'd made it to dry land.

"I'm here," I croaked out, loud enough so he hopefully heard.

"Good Gods. You scared the life out of me." He splashed into the murky water and hauled me free. His strength never failed to amaze me. Every time he picked me up as if I weighed nothing, it was another reminder that he wasn't human.

"Where are we?" I coughed, trying to spit some of the thick, muddy water out of my mouth. I refused to think of how much I'd swallowed and what might be in there. We were alive and that's all that mattered.

"The dark forest," he replied.

"Okay, that's good right? It means we made it."

"Considering we've already been attacked, I'm not celebrating yet."

"What do you mean attacked?" I tried to whip around and see behind me.

"Fucking sprites."

"Where?" I said, twisting and turning to see who he was talking about.

"You're not likely to see them unless they decide to reveal themselves. Which they won't, as long as I'm here. They hate dragons."

"Why? What did you do to them?" I looked down in the almost knee-high water to see it was more murky mud than water. "This is gross." I scrunched up my nose. "And it stinks."

"Yeah, I'd definitely recommend getting out of there. That sludge is hiding all kinds of nasty things."

My heart lurched. "What?" I screeched as I started flailing my way towards the bank where he stood. "Why did you let me stand there."

"I was more focused on the fact that we're currently alive, and trying to see if there are any other imminent threats I need to be worried about. I figured you'd let me know if something tried to snatch you."

Panic seized my chest as I grabbed at the hand he offered and scrambled up the bank at the same time he pulled me out. "What. The. Hell. Magnus? Is that how this is going to go?"

I was trying to make a point here, and it was difficult with the thick, wet strands of my hair falling into my face. I grabbed them and began twisting it into a messy bun on top of my head.

"Uhhh—"

"What?" I screamed at the widening of his eyes as he stared at me and the tone of his voice. "Is something on me?" I started swatting at my neck and shaking my arms.

"Your ears. You might not want to put your hair up."

"What are you talking about?" I reached for the side of my head and began tracing my ears for whatever might be clinging to them. My pulse beat so hard it nearly drowned out all sound.

They definitely didn't feel right. Something must have stuck to them because all I could feel was a long, pointed column that ended in a sharp point. "What is it? Get it off!" My panic thickened as I twisted and turned, pulling at the edges of my ears.

"Rose. Stop! It's okay. Be still." He grabbed my hands and forced them between us as he hauled me against his body.

"It's not. It's not," I continued screaming. "What is it?"

His hand came down over my mouth and I fought harder, snapping my teeth as I tried to bite my way free.

"Calm down and be quiet. The last thing we need is your shrieking to wake any of the dark spirits."

My eyes blinked as my cries died instantly at his words. Tears burned at the backs of my eyes as fear seized my thrashing. "What's wrong with me?" I tried to speak behind his hand, but the words were muffled.

"Shhh," he whispered in a more soothing tone. It wasn't enough to calm my racing heart, but it got my attention.

After a minute of me not moving or screaming behind his hand, he whispered at my ear. "If you can keep quiet I'll let you go."

I nodded against his hand, and he loosened his fingers.

"Seriously, though. I'm not sure where we are because I wasn't one to venture far into the dark forest. So the less noise we make the better, as we figure out where we are and how we're going to get out of here."

"What about flying?" I asked, looking up at the dense tree cover above. "Can you get through that?"

"I could, but it would wake every creature within miles. Not to mention the target I would make for the sprites. Little bastards."

"Seriously? What is with you and them? I thought sprites were small and mischievous. Not deadly."

"You've listened to too many fairy tales. Sprites come in all shapes and sizes here because they are shapeshifting demons who are overly fond of poisonous darts."

"What?" I whisper shrieked. "Isn't that information I should have had before we got here?"

"There was no time. Although we did warn you. Unfortunately, it would have taken weeks to teach you everything you need to know about the dangers of living here."

"Then maybe the highlight reel. After you tell me what's wrong with my ears." I pointed upward. I could still feel something attached to them.

"There's nothing wrong with them," he said harshly. "You just need to hide them."

"There is something wrong. I can feel it." I felt the panic rising as I waited for him to fill me in but I tried to rein it in. I'd created enough noise and had a feeling I was making this situation worse.

"I guess when we came through the portal, the spell binding you must have broken. Those must be your real ears."

"Ohhhh." I lifted both hands again to outline them and sure enough, they were long and narrow and pointed at the tips. "I have fae ears." I hadn't realized that was going to be a thing since Kitra looked normal, but that didn't sound so bad. I'd seen paintings of fae and thought they were cute.

"You have dark fae ears. Other fae look different. You'll have to figure out how to use your glamour to hide them."

"Why? Wait. What glamour?"

He didn't answer right away. Instead he turned suddenly at the sound of a whistling screech. "Run!"

I had no idea what had happened, but I wasn't going to question him anymore. If he said run, that's what I'd do. We both ran, him a lot faster than me, but pure adrenalin had me moving quicker than I ever had in my life. My heart pounded, my stomach somersaulted, and my ears tingled.

By the time Magnus stopped, I thought my lungs were going to explode. Instead, I crashed into his back, bouncing off him in the process. Luckily for me, he somehow managed to catch me before I fell to the ground in a boneless heap.

"I can't run anymore," I gasped, not sure I cared anymore about what might be after us or following us through this Gods forsaken forest.

"It's okay," he said, crouching down next to where he'd eased me to the ground. He fished into the backpack that Kitra had provided and pulled out two bottles of water, uncapping one of them and handing it over to me. "Drink."

I snatched the bottle from him and took long, greedy pulls. I swore water had never been this refreshing in my life. "If this is what fae life is like, I'm not sure I'm cut out for it," I whispered.

"It's not. When you stay within the confines of the village, life can be as ordinary there as it is in the human realm." He chugged the entire contents of the bottle and then shoved it back into the backpack. Surprised and impressed he took the time not to litter, I finished my bottle and handed my empty to him as well.

"And everywhere else is a basic shitshow?"

"It can be. You've got four realms that are either in constant battle or in the midst of some sort of negotiation. There are supposed to be rules, but no one wants to follow them. So you prepare for the worst and hope for the best."

He reached for my hand and pulled me to my feet.

"Better?" he asked.

"Yes. But what was in that water?" I asked trying to reach around to my back to scratch the itch that was trying to drive me crazy.

He looked me up and down with a critical eye and a serious frown on his face. "Turn around," he ordered.

I didn't exactly follow his directions, but when I twisted far enough around in my quest for relief, I eventually gave him my back. I squeaked in protest when he lifted my shirt, but it was the audible sigh he let out that grabbed my attention.

"What's wrong?" When he didn't immediately answer, my panic rose swift and deadly. "What is it? Is a weird fae creature sucking the life out of me? Tell me!" I was in full on panic mode now and if he didn't tell me soon I was going to be rolling on the forest floor trying to kill whatever had attached itself to my back. "Is it leeches?" That was almost my worst nightmare and I wasn't sure I wanted to know if that was the case.

"No. It's your wings."

"Wings!" There was no hope of hiding my panic now. "I have pointed ears and wings now?"

He nodded. "Most dark fae do."

"Well, why the hell didn't someone warn me? This is information that would have been nice going in."

"Why? Would it have changed your mind about coming here?" He asked the question as he gently guided my hand to a spot on my back, and I sucked in a sharp breath. "Oh my Gods! I have wings."

He chuckled. "Did you not believe me?"

"I don't know what to believe anymore. These last few days have been a deluge of new information. I don't think I even know up from down anymore let alone right or wrong, good or bad."

"I can understand that. I suffered from information overload for weeks when I followed Isaac to the human realm. It was too much, too fast."

"I don't suppose I have some time to process any of this?"

He shook his head, his lips compressed into a grim line. "If it helps any, your wings look to be in good shape, all things considered. You should be able to use them."

"You mean I could fly?"

"Eventually. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Learning to fly is no easy feat. We'll work on it as we can, but there probably won’t be a lot of time any time soon."

"A dragon and a dark fairy. Why does that feel like the beginning of a joke?"

"I'm not laughing," he said without even a hint of a smile.

I, on the other hand, felt lighter than I ever had. Now that some of the panic had subsided, I was beginning to think this fae business might be the answer I'd been looking for for years.

"Okay then, what now?"

"We aren't going to get far before we're captured."

I jerked to a stop, forcing him to turn back to talk to me. "Why would we be captured?"

"Because it’s the only way into my uncle's castle. We just need to be smart about it."

“There is nothing smart about being captured. Doesn't he like to torture people?"

"He does. But he won't have either one of us long enough to go there."

A shiver worked over my body as I realized the real danger we were walking into. Magnus might understand how to defend himself, but I doubted I'd be given the chance to cook them to death.

"Uhm. Can we go somewhere to buy supplies before we surrender?"

"I'm not surrendering. And what did you have in mind?"

“I need plants. Preferably already dried and lots of them."

He let go of my hand and took a step away from me. "I cannot, in good conscience give you access to something that will likely kill me."

I smirked at him. "Ye of little faith. I think if I wanted to kill you, I could have figured out a way to do it already."

He shook his head. "And you wonder why I'm nervous."

"I said I could, not that I would. Jeez."

"I could help you with your plants."

We both whirled at the sound of a quiet feminine voice behind us, finding a petite creature I didn't know how to define. She had human features, but they came wrapped in vines and thorns.

"Hello, Ensley," Magnus growled.