Page 43 of The Crown the Fae Forgot
I nod my head, taking in his words, “Since the moment I first saw you, I think of you as very special also.”
“That’s the thing, Aurra,” Zev says, staring deeply into my eyes, “I wouldn’t stand out in a room of fae. You would. You do. You are the most powerful among us and am…simple, bland. Forgettable. Once you are around all those other fae at the high court, you will have no reason to think of me.”
“Zev,” I say, sitting up, “You must not say such things. Of course, I will think of you. Remember you. You are very special and important to me. I will not throw you away like spoiled food…I wish you wouldn’t think that because you mean very much to me.” The sun begins to breach over the horizon, lighting up the world around us with soft colors.
“Thank you for your kind words,” Zev says, not sounding very reassured.
Another steamy scene???Or just the two of them bonding, and him missing her old appearance.
He stoodup before offering a hand to pull me to my feet. I accepted it, grateful for the feel of his touch once more.
Once both standing, we stayed frozen, observing the world around us as it came back to life. At first, there was nothing to see but the empty, almost dismal, landscape. The sun had yet to rise above the closest rise, the sky growing brighter even as blue shadows still enveloped us. But then, just as I was readying to send Zev inside to catch up on a spare hour of sleep, I had to pause. Something had appeared along the horizon, something subtle at first, nothing more than a quick flash of movement.
I strained my eyes, trying to see what it could be, hoping desperately that it wasn’t the Southern Court’s guards. Instead of fae, however, just as I was beginning to worry that my eyes were playing tricks on me, a small animal came into view. It slunk out from behind one of the thicker patches of brush, a small brown smudge along the horizon until it began to move closer. Slowly, it began to take form, even as it continued to move like a clumsy, shapeless child through the patchwork of grass and rocks.
“Zev,” I said, grabbing at his arm again, more fiercely this time. “What is that?” I pointed in the direction of the animal as it slowly continued to make its way towards us.
Beside me, Zev sucked in a breath, making my heartbeat quicken a beat. My head snapped up to look at his face.
His eyes were still trained on the creature, and after a moment without answers, I followed his gaze again. It had moved a bit closer now, close enough for me to make out the pointed face and what was either little horns or equally small, curved ears, pricked up at the top of its head. It’s feet seemed a little too big—almost comically too big—for the rest of his body.
Even as it dawned on me what it was, Zev was letting out another breath.
I looked up at him again. “I’m guessing it’s not a regular bear?”
He shook his head, his jaw set as he is eyes remained trained on the creature—one predator looking at another.
“A fae fiend, for sure. It’s far too large to be a regular bear.”
“It doesn’t look too dangerous,” I said, once more following the shuddering steps of this supposed fiend. “It’s just a cub.”
“Unfortunately, it’s not the cub I’m worried about,” Zev said, already scanning the ground to gather up his few things before reaching for me, ready to usher me back towards the mouth of the cave. “But Where the cubs go, their mothers are often not too far behind. And a fully-grown fiend bear isn’t a creature even I’m so ready to reckon with.”
Together,the four of us raced around the camp, packing up as fast as possible but still trying to make very little noise. By attempting to do both, we were succeeding in neither. As soon as Zev and I had told Finch and Shiel of the nearing fae cub, everyone was up and moving quickly—too quickly. Even as we moved, the bear continued its approach.
We realized too late that we might as well have made as much noise as we wanted. The cub had already spotted us well before we’d even spotted it. It was headed straight towards us.
Finch seemed especially perplexed.
I hadn’t realized that Finch had been using that bad of herbs from the very first night we travelled together to lay some sort of faerie circle around us while we slept. Now, as we flitted back and forth fixing packs on the increasingly restless horses, Finch’s head hung low as his lips muttered a constant stream to himself.
I finally stopped what I was doing and rested a hand on his shoulder.
“Is everything alright, Finch?”
I’d never seen him act like this. He was restless, sure, but not like this. This was…too strange. He was stuck in some kind of loop, almost unable to comprehend what was happening.
And compared to everything thathadhappened over the last weeks, that made me nervous as hell.
He flinched a little at my touch, his gaze immediately turning to look for the bear still loping on uneven paws down the side of the mountain.
I followed the direction his gaze went next, but it took me a second to spot the small trail of what looked like sand forming a small, carefully laid circle just outside the cave.
It explained why we’d never had a problem with creatures—fiend or not—all those days spent sleeping at the edge of the forest when we were travelling before. I’d just assumed we’d gotten lucky, or, if I was honest with myself, I really hadn’t thought of it at all.
Not until now, with that fae cub—still nearly the size of a normal, full grown bear—fast approaching.
Behind me, Shiel let out a swear. I hadn’t realized he’d come to stand over both our shoulders, his own eyes following the path of that quick-approaching creature.
