“More concerning,” said the unnamed Elvyn, “is that she’s suggesting he came from her world.” Then to Cora, he said, “Please explain.”
“Unicorns were considered extinct in my world for five hundred years. Only recently have they reappeared.” She tried to keep her voice level. It was easier said than done with the tremors racking her body, coursing with waves of panic over being restrained by a force she couldn’t see. Not to mention the fact that she was referring to where she’d come from asher world.
Mother Goddess, was this really happening? All her life, she’d thought of the fae as creatures who’d once existed and had simply gone extinct. Now she was supposed to reconcile that they’d come from another world. But how?
“And you befriended this one?” The unnamed male glanced at Valorre.
“Yes,” she said, “and we came here by mistake. He accidentally brought me to his home.”
Fanon’s eyes went wide. He whipped his face toward the dark-haired fae. “What does this mean for the Veil, Etrix?”
Etrix. The final name.
He rubbed his jaw. “It might be torn.”
Fanon took a forbidding step closer to Cora, leaving only a foot of space between them. She wanted to flinch back but she still couldn’t move. Valorre released a guttural whinny, but he too remained trapped in place. All Cora could do was tilt her head and meet his gaze. She swallowed hard, realizing he was even taller than Teryn. And Teryn was one of the tallest men she’d met. Fanon’s build, however, was leaner. That didn’t make him any less intimidating.
“Did you cross through the Veil?” he asked with clenched teeth.
“I don’t know what the Veil is.”
“Then are you a worldwalker?”
Cora was struck with the most potent hatred, and her answer dried in her throat. Similar emotions came from the two fae behind Fanon, but theirs was tangled with far more fear. Fanon’s contempt, on the other hand, was too strong to carry much else.
Whatever a worldwalker was, he despised it with a violent passion.
Tell them we came through the Veil, Valorre said.
She shuddered beneath Fanon’s icy stare but finally managed to find her words. “I…I think we came through the Veil.”
He watched her for a few silent moments, then reached toward his waist. Her heart slammed against her ribs as she expected him to unsheathe his sword?—
To her relief, he simply extracted something from inside his robe. Her eyes widened as she took in the strange item. It looked like a large cuff made from two pieces of curved obsidian that ended in tapered points. Like talons. Or claws. A wide gap remained between the sharp tips, and as Fanon tugged on both sides, it widened further on a hinge.
He stepped even closer, bringing the cuff-like object toward her neck.
“What is that?” Cora asked, voice trembling. She struggled against her invisible bonds but they were just as strong as ever. Valorre gave another futile whinny.
“Fanon,” Etrix said, his tone brimming with warning. “You don’t have to?—”
Fanon ignored his companion and proceeded to hook the cuff around her neck. She couldn’t see when he closed it, could glimpse no part of it beneath her chin, but as she felt a sharp pain bite into her skin, she realized he hadn’t hooked itaroundher neck; he’d hooked the tapered points into her flesh.
Vertigo seized her, first from fear, then from…
A hollow feeling crept upon her awareness. An empty void. An unsettling quiet.
It took her several long moments to realize what was happening.
Her magic…
Her awareness of outside emotion, her connection to the dance of the elements all around her…
It was…gone.
This wasn’t the quiet that came from using her mental shields. This was an absence of clairsentience altogether. A rent in her very identity. Frenzied grief rattled her bones, sent her head spinning, lungs tightening, tears springing to her eyes…
“Is this entirely necessary?” Etrix said, striding up to Fanon. With hollow awareness, Cora realized the translation enchantment remained in place. It seemed the strange collar only affected her own use of magic. She cast a glance at Valorre, tried with all her might to convey some silent thought to him.
