Chapter 24

Twenty-Four

WESLEY

F inn sat up on my back. “Do you know him?”

Since I couldn’t answer in my shifted form, I kept walking. The carved trees and glowing mushrooms a distracting maze of confusion. The magic in this area had faded to a ripple. Finn’s icy touch on my back ached, my muscles tired. Maybe I’d walked farther than I thought?

I paused at the edge of another contorted tree. The carving of something not human this time, and the mushrooms at its base wafted shadows rather than glowed. The bite of ice still touched the tree. Winter’s curse.

Was that why Finn’s touch hurt? Had he been cursed by Winter, too?

He slid off my back, landing firmly, grip strong on my side. “There’s something about this one…” he didn’t finish what he was trying to say, but reached for it.

I shifted to my human form, the change usually one heartbeat to the next, but taking a few seconds longer which made my heart turn over with anxiety. Finn paused, gaze on me. His face flushed as he glanced at me, then shoved the clothes my way. I tried for glamour, but it didn’t happen. Maybe this world took more of my magical energy than I thought?

“Don’t touch things,” I said, annoyed, and grabbed the shirt from him and tugged it over my head. It caught for a half second in my hair, then fell over my shoulders. I reached up and found the nubs of antlers on my head. That wasn’t right. “What the fuck?”

I held up my hand, fearing I’d shifted all the way to my fae form, but my hand and legs were human. The nubs remained.

“They’re cute,” Finn said.

“Don’t patronize me.”

“I’m not. You sort of look like what I thought a fae might look like now. Not that it’s bad or anything,” he rushed to say. “Are they deadly in this form?”

“No,” I said. Because they weren’t sharp. In fact, in my fae form they had a completely different use. Finn reached for them. “Don’t touch,” I snapped.

He yanked his hand away. “Sorry.”

“You must be feeling better.” I grabbed his wrist and shoved the sleeve back; the mark was gone. “Let’s go to one of the lighted mushrooms. I need to look at you.”

“You don’t have super vision or something?” he asked.

“Other than the ability to see most people’s gruesome deaths, no.” We paused back at Sebastian’s tree, the lights of the mushrooms blazing and I stared at Finn’s face, his expression apprehensive. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“I didn’t think you were.”

“Can you take off your shirt?”

“Forward of you. If you want me naked, just say so.”

“Smart ass. I want to look at the mark. It had spread up over your face, now I don’t see it at all. Maybe it’s gone? Entering this area removed it?”

He took a step back and lifted his shirt. The stretch of the blotchy purple and blue bruise-like mark covered his torso, but the shape was odd, as if where he’d lain against me while I walked, had removed the mark. “I still feel it. The cold, numbness on my back, half down my spine, and my sides. Couldn’t feel one arm for a while. You were warm. I thought maybe that was helping. Your fae magic healing me or something.”

“I don’t have that kind of magic. I’m a battery for the kings, that’s all.”

“What does that mean?”

“I was meant to be used,” I said without emotion. Accepting my role meant casting out hope for anything else, and I would fight that to the end of my days.

I studied Sebastian’s tree, hoping for a way to contact him, or a sign that it was anything other than some elaborate carving in a long dead tree.

“Who is he?”

“The Summer king,” I said. “I think all of these carvings are statues of people from the Autumn king’s past. He raised the Summer king. Tried to keep him safe, even if he really sucked at it.” The contorted monster-like carving I suspected had been Felix. Whatever remained of his humanity lost to the Autumn king’s memory. I’d only ever seen the man once. Sebastian had been very young, and I kept my distance, trying to add a layer of safety to the wolf king’s protection. I knew of the last living child of the Volkov, but not much about him. He’d appeared ordinary in that quick glimpse, like any other wolf.

I’d never actually met Xander, the Volkov himself. Would it have triggered a more detailed vision of how I was somehow meant to be his mate? The wolves spoke of him with fear and reverence, but he’d kept to his compound, and when Sebastian vanished inside the walls of the Volkov’s space, he was eclipsed from my sight, too. The Autumn king’s power? Or something more?

I took a step toward the tree, wondering if I could connect with Sebastian if I touched it. Would he sense me? But my left leg gave out, and I crumpled. Finn caught me, holding me tight to his chest.

“Are you okay?”

“I must be more tired than I thought I was. Maybe this world is draining my energy.”

“I feel better than I did,” Finn said. “Can we sit here by the Summer king’s tree and rest a while? He won’t mind, right?”

“It’s just a statue,” I said. “They are all statues. Lifeless memories. Like humans take pictures, it seems the Autumn king has created his own snapshots in time.”

“Creepy,” Finn said but found a spot near the base of the tree and curled himself around me. I sighed, too tired to pull away, and secretly enjoying his protective side. “Have you gotten smaller?”

“No,” I said, checking my hands and feet again. Still human. I could only imagine Finn’s horror if he saw the fae version of me. My flirty partner in survival would vanish in a heartbeat.

“Close your eyes and rest,” Finn said tucking his legs around me as a shield. “I’ll keep watch.”

“We should keep moving. Nothing is safe.”

“Sure,” Finn said, but kept himself tight around me. “You took care of me. Let me take care of you for a while.” I shivered and leaned into him. Maybe a short nap. If magic came at us, I’d sense it.