We’re here, it worked, but…
“I didn’t even fucking think,” I say, shaking my head at myself. “I just killed him.”
Turning, I stride over to Emonie and pull her up from the ground. She hisses from my rough grasp. “The ring died. Can we get back?” I ask desperately. When she hesitates, I shake her. “Can we fucking get back?”
“I don’t know,” she admits. “I’ve never heard of a ringer who could make a fairy ring appear in another realm. I don’t know how Friano manipulated it.”
Realization pours over me with a sobering sluice. We’retrappedhere. The place I despise more than anything.
Emonie swallows hard, paling at my grip, and I scrape together enough wherewithal to release her. She stumbles back but manages to stay standing as I start to pace.
“We can try to find the ringer, Brennur. See if the Vulmin have him captured. Maybe he can do it…” Emonie ventures, butshe sounds doubtful. “Then again, maybe it had to do with the twins,” she says, tipping her head in the direction of the dead fae. “I don’t know.”
I curse myself for being such a fucking idiot. Anger churns inside me, making me pivot and point at her. “This is your fault.”
She rears back, her red eyes flashing. “Me? I didn’t tell you to kill him!”
I let out a snarl, but Lu steps in front of me. “Calm down,” she snaps. “It’s done. We’ll find another ringer to make it back to Orea, okay? Get your fucking head on. Focus on what’s important. We can find your mother. Can find Slade and Auren.”
Breaths heave in and out of me. She’s right. I’m furious, but I know I’m furious atmyself. That I’m lashing out in panic because I hate this place. I despise the thought of being stuck here.
“We’re here to find them,” Lu repeats. “So we do that first.”
My jaw is locked so hard my teeth threaten to crack, but I take a deep breath and nod. “Yeah.”
“You good?” she asks pointedly. “Because we’re in the fuckingfae realm. We need to have our shit together, Ry.”
Guilt douses me. “You’re right.” I swallow hard before looking at everyone. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“You just reacted,” Lu says with a sigh. “It’s not the first time we’ve seen you take a man out for trying to hurt a woman.”
“Nope,” Os says, looking at me. “And he would’ve stabbed us in the back the second he had the chance anyway. Better him than us.”
“Where should we go now?” Digby questions as he stands beside a very aggravated Argo.
Emonie keeps eyeing the beast with wariness, but she looks over at Digby’s question. “Well…that’s the capital.” Shepoints a finger, though she can’t lift her arm very high. “Lydia,” she says, directing our gazes to the city. I can see a river winding into the forest just beside it and catch glimpses of buildings amongst the tall trees. “That’s the last place I saw Auren.”
I only have a small sliver of faith that she’s telling the truth. But even a single sliver can catch flame.
“Let’s go,” I say.
Our group walks down the dirt road through the valley while Argo flies low to the ground, circling over us, unwilling to stray further. We head away from the plateau and palace, away from the waterfall that pours down the side of the cliff.
“Stay on alert,” I say over my shoulder. “We don’t know what to expect.”
I make sure to keep Emonie with me as we lead the way. My eyes keep darting to her as she grimaces with every step. “You gonna tell me who beat the shit out of you?”
“Why? You want to thank them?” she retorts, derision dripping off her words.
My jaw tightens. I try my best to ignore her as my attention sharpens on the city.
“You’re going to feelsoooobad once you see I was telling the truth,” she singsongs before she sways again, nearly tipping right off the road.
My hand lashes out to grab her arm to steady her, fingers instantly gentling when she sucks in a pained gasp.
“You need to learn to have a gentler touch, Commander,” she says with a choppy giggle.
“Stop talking.”
