His crystal-clear gaze sweeps the area. Rough skin brushes over my hand as he holds my palm in his. He doesn’t look at it, he doesn’t look at the blood coating my fingertips, he just simply holds my hand in his.
“I brought us back to the entrance to the mortal realm. This is where we came in at. This is where Darrio and Dax would have come in at.”
Here? Among the blood and gore? They were here?
“The area wasn’t like this when we came through?” I ask.
“No, it wasn’t like this when we came through.”
I crouch low, studying the way the grass folds over on itself, the deep crawl marks slicing through the earth. The etching marks trail off toward the west as if the creature pursued its prey into the distance.
Without question, I trail after the bloody mess of a path.
“Kara, we can’t just wander aimlessly through this realm. It’s dangerous.”
I pause, looking back at him. A line creases his brow as he stares hard at the crimson color staining the hem of his jeans.
“I thought we were safe as long as we returned before the Blood Moon.”
“The fae here set up traps in the open expanses to try to prevent nix from getting to the populated areas and to keep the them from the other realms. They may invade our land, but we won’t allow them into the other realms.”
“What kind of traps?” My pace slows but only slightly as I become more aware of every step I take.
“The invisible kind.”
Is nothing ever easy here?
“They’re here. Dax and Darrio are here and they’ve clearly been hurt. I’m not going back without them.” I bite my lip hard before it can tremble from the weak sound of my voice.
Ryder shoves his hands hard into his pockets.
“You’re right. We can’t leave them.” He nods and a shaking breath escapes my lips as relief floods through me.
I’d do this without him. I would. But I need him here. I want him here.
“Stay with me though.” He tangles his fingers with mine. “Don’t let go of my hand. If something happens, I’ll shudder us, hopefully before the damage is done.”
I swallow hard at that. What sort of traps are we dealing with?
The blue of his eyes is intensified with the setting sun as we travel cautiously across the grassy expanse. It’s pretty here. The beauty of this world is hard to ignore even in the most serious of times. White wildflowers blow against my boots, twisting into the long grass as we hike. My gaze isn’t distracted though.
If an invisible trap is out here, I’m damn well going to do my best to pretend to be looking for it. This is ridiculous. I’ll never find an invisible trap. But still my attention is kept intently on our cautious steps.
A floral scent consumes the cool breeze. It sweeps across my face, pushing at my hair and invading my body. It’s like the nature here is physically pulling at me.
My hair. My legs.
My eyes flutter closed with another deep, peaceful breath and it’s then that I know.
I’ve found the trap.
Long sweeping grass tangles around Ryder’s boots. The tips of the growing strands glisten in the sunlight. Green plants turns darker, more solid, and it soon appears iron-like as it wraps tightly around his legs. His magic burns through him, I feel it shaking his frame as he tries hard to shudder out of the growing weeds.
But it’s no use. The iron weeds prevent him from using his magic.
He releases my hand and shoves me back. The iron weeds catch on my boots but I stumble away from them, out of reach.
Ryder kicks restlessly at the bindings but they only grow more rapidly. They cord around his frame. The tight bindings inch up his body, gripping his hands and forcing them to his sides.
