Page 19 of Fae Unleashed
Vi lashed out with an arc of searing light in the shape of a blade. It came down and crashed into the floor. With a roar on her lips, she pulled it back and spun. Del jumped out of the way of Vi’s blade. A moment of clarity bloomed in Vi’s eyes when she realized what she’d almost done.
This wasn’t going to go well. Everyone was shaken up. I had to take lead. The blight inside me spread, but I didn’t have time to give it any thought. My mind was stuck on Rhoan. I needed him to be all right. If I could have, I would have followed him.
For now, I would have to trust that he could take care of himself. Vi and Del needed my help right now.
Faust rose to his feet like some kind of television vampire—I mean, did he have strings attached to his head? Body in a plank position, he floated upright and set his sights on me. A wild gleam filled his eyes. The colors reminded me of Rhoan’s eyes when his beast came close to the surface.
I tucked that information away for later and lunged to grab the ladies before Faust could leap on me. I didn’t care what he wanted me for. We were going to get out of here before I could find out.
Stepping in-between was easy if you believed. I just had to believe enough for three people. Del was used to the process, but it would be Vi’s second time jumping portals this way. We were going somewhere far away from here where there would be more back-up.
I hoped this wouldn’t come down to a fight. Friends in tow, we rushed the back door. Vi asked what I thought I was doing, putting us back out into the open. I didn’t bother replying. There wasn’t time.
Was this what it meant to be queen? I sure hoped not. I didn’t want to have to do this for the rest of my life—not that I would be queen for the rest of my life. This leadership crap would be someone else’s problem.
My arcana washed over us when we stepped through the back door. Vi’s living room fell away and a plush carpet appeared beneath my feet.
The house was vaguely unfamiliar. My heart skipped a beat. Had I landed in the wrong living room? Hesitant, I froze and rocked backwards so I could throw us out of here if anything went wrong.
“If you’re a ghost, get out of my house!” Addie shouted from another room.
I fell forward onto my hand and knees. I couldn’t help the laughter that erupted out of me. Relief swarmed me. My arms shook, barely able to hold me upright. Vi bent and helped me up on one side. Del hooked an arm in mine on the other. Together, they started to haul me back to my feet.
I shouldn’t have let my guard down so quickly. Addie and Maddox came rushing down the hall—both in a state of disarray that made me think I’d interrupted something. Guilt barely had time to reach me before a hand grasped my hair and pulled me the rest of the way back.
Tumbling into stony arms, I screeched. Del whirled around and lifted her hands, but her crossbow was gone. Had it fallen in Vi’s apartment? Vi lashed out, but Faust dove to the side. Fae magic surrounded us.
We appeared across the room. Faust laughed behind me. His grip was still firm on my hair no matter how I struggled. The man used the concept of in-between so freely that even I was astonished. Every breath was a moment between another that he could use to move wherever he pleased.
I brought my foot down on his instep, but he barely flinched. He laughed and wrapped an arm around my middle.
“Rhoan will hunt you down if you harm her,” Del warned as she lowered into a fighting stance. Her hand dangled near the top of her boot where I could see the barest bit of metal—a knife, I realized.
“Good,” Faust purred. “That’s exactly what I want to happen. Perhaps I can make a nightmare of your little princess while I’m at it.”
The blight on my arcana swelled. The crimson stain spread and devoured more of my arcana. Yet, nothing inside me changed. I still felt like the same person. Every time the blight moved, I expected my entire personality to shift. That’s how everyone treated me. They acted like this was a ticking time-bomb.
“You can’t change me in any way that matters,” I told Faust. “I’m already a nightmare.”
The crimson arcana bloomed out of me. It spread in every direction like the petals of a flower. The house shook. Maddox wrapped an arm around his mate. Vi laughed with wild glee. Del dropped lower to stabilize her stance as she looked around for the source of the tremor.
I pulled the arcana in and closed the blossom around Faust and myself. It locked us in a ruby bubble. The crystalline walls shimmered in the light streaming in through the nearby windows. Thorny vines covered the outside of the crystal bubble to keep the others from intervening.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
Faust couldn’t hurt anyone outside of this little bubble.
Well, except for me. Which is what he wanted.
Rhoan
The Sluagh descendedupon us right as my beast’s paws hit the ground. Beside me, Morgan unleashed his dragon. The great black and grey lizard snapped his wings and set the Sluagh warriors fumbling back. The spirits disintegrated into wisps when the wind hit them.
It only bought us a little bit of time, though. The spirits drew their blades and fell upon us. I slapped a clawed paw through a fae spirit and sliced my wing through another. The faces rushing towards me were familiar.
I recognized fellow knights who’d fallen in Beryl’s onslaught. The spirits trapped in Faust’s Sluagh army were friends. They were old acquaintances, their familiar voices howling around me. Even my beast hesitated when striking them.
That’s what Faust wanted. He’d made this army to stun his prey. The nightmare king wanted to see us flinch right as our friends struck us down.
