“Just shut up,” he growled. “I am tired of listening to your elven voice.”
“Like your shifter accent is any better?” I snipped. “Did you learn to speak from an actual animal? You do realize you don’t have to growl every Fae damned word out of your mouth, right?”
“Please, Princess. Your voice sounds like you have something stuck up your Fae damned ass, it is so clipped. Or do you? Did you play with yourlittletoy while you changed your clothes and popped it into the wrong hole?”
Father barked, “King Athon! That is enough.”
Queen Mikko snorted. “Yes, enough, you two. We are going to lose the light if we don’t get this done.”
I flashed my fangs but stayed silent.
King Athon growled at the entire group and then prowled through the mist toward the tent. He may not have his power right now, but he still walked like a tiger. The shifter king was Fae damned disgusting.
I rubbed my stomach, hoping nothing came back up because of him. Simply seeing King Athon set my fangs on edge. If I could rip his throat out, I would be so happy right now because meeting that bloody man had destroyed my life.
I sighed hard and lay back—resting.
The rulers moved around in silence. None talked to the other. I didn’t blame them one bit. Currently, I was only stuck with one ruler I couldn’t get rid of, while they had four others they were stuck with. I couldn’t even imagine being in their slippers. It must be damned exhausting.
I closed my eyes. It was peaceful this way.
“Get up! We’re leaving.” The toe of a boot kicked my hip—right on my bruise.
“Ow!” I shrieked, rolling instinctively away from the attack.
King Elon’s green eyebrows snapped together in confusion on his face, the pale blush of his silver skin wrinkling on his forehead. “What did I do?”
“Nothing, I’m fine,” I hissed, my cheeks instantly pinking in embarrassment. I stood to my feet and brushed off my clothes that were littered with rotted leaves. “It’s just a bruise. You hit it by accident.”
King Athon strolled by holding the tent, chuckling under his breath. “I bet that’s from the third time your father dropped you yesterday.”
I stared at his retreating back, calling after him, “Three days is a long time to hold someone! It’s not his fault.”
King Elon sniggered. “You hit the groundhardthat time.”
Queen Mikko tossed me my bag, stating kindly, “It was later in the day, and we should have stopped before then. Itreallywasn’t his fault.”
“I know. I’m not upset at him.” I rubbed at my right hip softly. “I hope it will heal soon, though.”
Father walked from behind the black trees of the men’s area. “Are we ready?”
“We are,” I answered instantly. I didn’t want anyone teasing him about the bruise. “What way are we headed today?”
“To the south.” Queen Alora pointed to the left, her multi-hued hair swinging in her ponytail—only a few leaves were stuck in it. “We tried the north, but it was all uphill, and the terrain was too risky.”
My lips pinched together. “We’ll have to go that way eventually to get to any other sections of the Blood Forest.”
She nodded her head. “But not now. We’ll do this section before tackling that.”
King Athon stalked to our group, shouldering his bag. He rumbled in his deep tone, “Let’s go, everyone. We have about six hours of decent sunshine before we’ll need to make camp again.”
“Wait a moment.” Queen Mikko scratched at her dirty forehead, tiny bits of deer blood flaking off. “Last night, Queen Alora commented on the Fae wanting us to beworthyof saving the realm. I believe she is correct. Would it not be worthy of hiding the artifact in the most dangerous location we would have to go? That we would have to care enough to risk our lives together to save our kingdoms?”
Father nodded gradually. “That would be worthy if that is what the Fae wish us to prove.”
“Is the location of High Pointe the rough terrain?” I asked slowly, a thought coming to mind.
King Elon stated, “It is. It’s not too far away from here. Where we are now is basically where we first entered since we backtracked.”
