Page 26 of Cold Hearted
I chuckled to myself. Zander had said almost the exact same thing to me. And I guess they had a point. I was princess of the entire Summer Court, and although things were peaceful now, there were times growing up when my mother had to be guarded against uprisings because she’d raised land taxes.
Omen whined, and I peered at the ground in the darkness. There was a lump off to the side. The dead body of a fallen bandit.
“Here,” I said.
The tracker fae were already off their horses, on all fours sniffing the ground like animals. It was quite unsettling. With the darkness of night and the way they were dressed,they blended into trees and bushes so there were moments I couldn’t see them at all unless they wanted me too.
“I have his trail,” Gwen answered, and I jumped to find her beside the captain and me.
He nodded. “Which direction?”
“West.”
“Follow it. Gather intel but do not strike without me. We’ll head west and camp if you don’t get back to me in one hour’s time,” he told her.
She and her brother took off on foot then, racing through the forest at incredible speeds. I wondered at that moment why they had ridden on horses at all.
“They conserve their energy for the hunt,” Captain Regis said beside me as if reading my mind.
With that he clicked his heels and pointed his horse west, and the rest of his soldiers, about a dozen, followed him. Omen moved to get in line, but I hesitated. Zander was safe, his men had his trail. I should leave now and worry about my own people.
But a tiny part of me wondered if he was hurt, if these soldiers would need my help to recover him. Against everything my mind was telling me, I urged Omen on, and after about an hour we stopped in a grassy field dimly lit by moonlight.
The dozen soldiers with us made quick work of camp setup. They had a fire going, four tents built, and meat roasting in no time.
“They know what they’re doing,” I told the captain. He nodded. “We’ve been at this a long time.”
Interesting.How long?I wondered, but I was road weary and needed rest. I’d ridden most of the day and night and spent a large part of the afternoon unconscious. Sleep pulled at my limbs, and I yawned.
“Get some sleep. I’ll wake you if we find him.”
I hesitated, feeling that he should know my powers and ability to help if needed. “I’d like to be a part of the rescue. I have sunlight magic—”
“Absolutely not,” the captain said, looking at the cuffs at my wrist. “We don’t take civilians or captives on rescue missions. My men are more than capable. Get some rest.”
Okay, obviously that pissed him off.Great.
Not wanting to just sit there and argue, I stepped into one of the tents set up for Gwen and me. There were two bedrolls, and I sank into one, letting sleep take me instantly.
* * *
I was shaken awake and blinked rapidly to see Captain Regis hovering over me with blood-splattered cheeks.
“What’s wrong?” I gasped, taking in his appearance. His chainmail was torn right through, and he was bleeding from the collarbone.
“The fae who have him…” He shook himself as if horrified by some memory. “They have a voidspawn.”
“A voidspawn?”
“Fae that feed on darkness, haunt you with horrible visions until you go crazy and kill yourself. It’s only killed by sunlight.It’s torturing the commander right now and have already killed half my men.”
I jumped up so fast that he was forced to fall backward on his butt lest he crack heads with me.
“Take me to him,” I demanded, my heart in my throat.
“Are you sure you have sunlight magic?” the captain asked, and I pulled for my power, effortlessly blasting a small beam of golden rays right at the ground at his feet.
He gasped, and then grabbed me by the arm, tugging me toward his horse. I was still half asleep, so I didn’t protest when he practically threw me up onto his horse by the armpits and then got onto the animal behind me. I felt like a little kid riding a horse with her dad. He kicked the stallion, and we rode for about ten minutes in the dead of night through a trampled trail before I heard shouts.
