A cold shiver ran through my body, and I began to tremble. That fucking bastard! After all this time, he wanted me back? Right when I finally found happiness?
“Tana!” Trenton growled. “Tell King Drostan that we're keeping Riley.”
“He has threatened war, Trenton,” Tana said gently. “I know you care for Riley, and I adore her too, but we cannot go to war over a human slave.”
“I won't let him have her,” Trenton stubbornly declared.
“Trenton, this is my decision and it has been made!” Tana snapped.
“I love her!” Trenton shouted, and the entire room went silent.
“I wish that were happy news,” Tana finally whispered. “But it changes nothing. I'm so sorry, Brother; we have to return Riley to Unseelie. King Drostan has the greater claim; he brought her to Tirne from Earth and entrusted our knight with her safekeeping. To betray that trust would be dishonorable, and would put King Drostan well within his rights to bring war to Seelie. We have our people to think of, Trenton. Riley must be returned to her true master.”
“No,” I whispered. “I can't go back there. Please, Your Majesty. I want to be with Prince Trenton.”
“I know that the Unseelie Court is harsher than our own,” Tana said gently. “And I wish that we could keep you, sweetling, but we can't. My hands are tied.”
“I won't go!” I shouted and ran toward the door.
I didn't make it halfway across the room before Conall caught me. He snatched me around the waist and chuckled in my ear. But before he could say anything, we were torn apart. Trenton punched Conall so hard that he went flying back into the wall he'd previously been leaning against. Conall shook his head and stared at Trenton in shock.
“Touch her again, Sir Conall, and you will die,” Trenton vowed with cold intensity as he set himself before me. He calmly pulled his sword and settled into a warrior's stance. “Anyone else care to accost my beloved?”
“Brother, please don't do this!” Tana cried. “I do not want you hurt.”
“I won't be,” Trenton said confidently. “Not unless you take Riley from me.” To me, he said, “Run! Head into the forest; I will find you, my love.”
I turned and ran. I wasn't about to waste Trenton's heroics on hesitation.
No one outside of the Queen's chambers knew to stop me. I had become a normal fixture around the Seelie Court, and they all knew the freedoms that Trenton allowed me. So, I went running through the halls without anyone trying to impede my escape. In fact, I kept running out of the main doors of Castle Seelie, and then into the forest. I ran so fast and so desperately that there was no way they could find me.
Except I couldn't find myself, either. I had gone so far that I didn't recognize the terrain, and I became hopelessly lost.
Chapter Twenty-Six
After wandering for hours, I finally found a dry cave to curl up in and tried to sleep. I was on edge; constantly twitching awake at every sound. Then my exhausted body took over, and I passed out. When I woke, I was surrounded by large, rough-looking men. I lurched to my feet—ready to fight—but the men held up their hands warily.
“We offer you no harm,” one of them said. “We were just wondering why you were sleeping outside of our den.”
“Your den?” I lowered my arms.
“Back there,” another of the men waved a hand behind me.
I glanced over my shoulder and just barely made out a large wooden door in the shadows of the cave.
“You live here?” I asked them in surprise.
“Of course; we're Cu-sidhe,” a third one said. “What are you?”
“She's human, you dolt,” a fourth huffed. “Just look at her; look at those curves.”
“But she's dressed in fairy clothes,” the third said defensively. “Royal, from the looks of it.”
“Why is she here?” A fifth one asked.
Yeah; five against one. Those weren't the best odds.
“I'm running away from someone,” I said. “A whole bunch of someones, I think.”
