“Asteria?” Eryx’s voice cut through my rapidly spiraling thoughts. I startled, coming back to myself. Clearing my throat, I tried to rebuild my composure.
“Can I leave?” I finally asked, hesitantly. “Cyrus had a spell around the room, keeping me trapped inside.”
“We removed it,” Calix answered gruffly from a few steps away. My head swung to where he stood, currently checking the halls for any enemies that may try to prevent us from leaving. When his eyes finally found me, they drilled into me with their stare, straight down to my soul. “We were tipped off about it and how to remove it. You’re free to leave.”
His voice softened slightly, his throat bobbing as he swallowed and quickly looked away. I watched his hands tighten on his weapons. The urge to reach for him was strong, and I was sure it was even stronger for him after so long. But we’d both have to deal with that later.
I raised my foot, wincing as I put it through the doorway, expecting to hit the equivalent of a wall—but it sailed right through as I sighed in relief. Eryx tightened his fingers around mine, urging me from the room. I swallowed hard and let the rest of my body pass through the doorway.
My hands caught onto the frame against my will. My body shuddered. Once. Twice. I tried to control the emotions rioting through me, but tears leaked from my eyes, nonetheless. I had feared that I’d never leave that room.
I hadn’t wanted to admit it to myself. Nor to Cyrus. But I truly was terrified, thinking I might die here. That even should Calix come, I wouldn’t be able to leave with the spell in place. Leaving me trapped forever.
Broad hands fell upon me, one on my back, the other brushing back my hair. I squeezed my eyes closed as Calix’s cheek brushed against mine, his body caging me in. But unlike that Tartarus damned room, this made me feel safe, instead of stifled.
“I know,” Calix murmured reassuringly. “Just let it out.”
I couldn’t control the shaking of my body, and I barely heard Eryx’s worried tone, the words he whispered to his king. “We need to get her out of here, Calix.”
A low growl was his only answer, but Calix reached down and picked me up like I weighed nothing. I was braced against his chest, curling into it as silent sobs wracked my frame. I couldn’t pay attention to anything beyond the general knowledge that Calix was hurrying us through the palace and to the secret exit we’d taken once before.
He left me to my tears, focused on our escape as he was. Onmyescape. But as we reached the gate, his silvery-white hair brushed my face as he leaned down, his fast gate making it sway back and forth. “We’re leaving Dusk now. And I promise you, Asteria, you will not return here again unless it’s to help burn it to the fucking ground.”
A choked laugh left my throat, relief flooding through me. My eyes rose to see the gates straight ahead. A path to freedom.
Night’s soldiers had Dusk’s down for the count, and the gates were wide open for us to leave. I noticed there was a charred trail leading from those gates straight back to the palace. My eyes lingered on Calix for a moment, knowing he was responsible for the roasted corpses littering the ground and feeling only intense thankfulness that he’d done all he could to rescue me.
Maybe that made me a bad person. I couldn’t find it in myself to give a fuck.
The guards bowed their heads as we passed, and I thought it was for Calix, until I saw their wide eyes focused on me.
“Why are they looking at me like that?” I whispered, my hearing still adjusting to the increased volume of the noises around me. Fae ears were obviously no joke.
A smirk tilted Calix’s lips up, and it was the most he’d truly looked like himself since we’d left that horrible room. “They can feel the magic in you.”
My head whipped over, my cheek nearly smashing into his armored chest. My eyes widened as my mouth dropped open, “They canfeelit? What do you mean?”
Calix’s eyes stopped scanning our surroundings for a moment and met mine. The shock of his intense, bright, lilac eyes nearly made me gasp. “You can surely feel the magic surrounding us, in us, now that you’re able to access your powers. All Fae can sense the magic that resides in the land as well as in each of us. Like a… resonance, I suppose. You’d be able to feel my power, and it would feel greater than those around us.”
But I’d always been able to feel that magic. I had thought everyone could, but was it possible that part of my true nature just couldn’t be buried? I’d been so sure that all humans felt it, too. Though thinking back, Soren had always rolled his eyes at me when I mentioned the magic around us. I had never mentioned it to anyone else. There had never been anyone else to talk to.
“Your power—” I nearly jolted when Calix continued, my mind spinning too fast and leaving me distracted. “Your power is immense, Asteria. They can all feel it. That, combined with Liviana’s visions…” I could feel my whole body shift as he trailed off and shrugged almost too casually. I tried to ignore the fact that he could lift me with so little effort that he could even shrug while doing so.
I was not thinking about Calix that way right now. I wasn’t thinking about the Festival of Faunus. I wasn’t thinking of the after-party. I wasn’t thinking of the mate bond. I needed to focus on what had happened to me first. Thoughts of Calix and his…abilities—those needed to wait.
Watching him clench his jaw, the muscles moving as he ground his teeth back and forth, only made me think of him digging those same teeth into me that night. Before everything went completely sideways. Thinking of everything that had happened made my head hurt.
And my heart.
But I was distracted entirely by a flash of red hair ahead. I gasped, flailing upward, causing Calix to have to jerk his head back to avoid being hit in the face.
“Sorry!” I winced as I apologized frantically but still slapped his arms to get him to put me down. His slightly mulish look quickly transformed into a smile when he saw why I was acting like a crazy person.
He gently dropped me to my feet, and I barreled into Harpina like a tsunami. She fell backward, Baach having to steady us both so we didn’t tip over, but all I could focus on was her loud laughter as she hugged me back.
“You weren’t worried aboutme, were you?” She chuckled. I gasped a wet laugh, trying to hold back tears. Cyrus hadn’t told me anything about what had happened after I was taken. Seeing that they’d all made it out okay overwhelmed me with relief.
“Of course not,” I rasped, squeezing her tightly. “What a silly thing to say.” We pulled back as she laughed loudly, then looked to the obviously brooding king behind me. Her eyebrows spiked up. “I thought he’d be in a better mood. Having rescued the damsel and all.”
