“I need a moment,” I rasped.
I tried to take in full breaths, but the task was impossible. I braced myself with both hands against the side of the couch. “Who…who else has powers? Who attacked your family?”
Silence fell, and I turned my head to look at him. He winced as he took me in, and something about it told me he’d been vague on that detail for a reason.
“Tell me,” I gritted.
We stared at each other for what felt like a lifetime, before he finally said, “the fae.”
I shook my head as if there were water in my ears—surely, I’d misheard him. I stood upright and turned to face him, making sure to hear him clearly this time. “The fae?” I repeated.
“Yes.”
Straight-faced, he regarded me with concern, his mouth down-turned at the corners.
“So…you’re telling me…that you’re over half a millennium old, childhood fables of magic and fae are real, and because of magical parchment, you think I possess an ancient power that is your only hope to what…save humankind?” Mad, surely, I’d gone mad.
The wariness in his eyes deepened before he said, “I would say that’s a fair summation. Yes.”
Laughter ripped out of me in large, hysterical gasps. I leanedover, putting my hands on my knees, and let it wash over me as bout after bout had me gasping for air.
Eventually, the laughing was replaced with a steady stream of tears, and an instant panic like I’d never experienced before gripped me.
Too small. This room is too small.
I looked wildly around for an exit.
I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t hear what the king was trying to say to me. Could barely feel his hand resting on my back.
“I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe…” Those three words continued to tumble out in crazed succession until fresh air filled my lungs and a cool breeze caressed my skin. With gentle hands, the king ushered me through an open door onto a large veranda.
It took long moments to pull myself out of the crippling panic enough to finally make out what the king was saying. “Breathe. Just breathe. You’re okay. Good, keep breathing.”
Wrung out, I steadied myself and slowly unfurled from the hunched position I’d folded into. Leaning my hands against the broad top of the veranda balustrade, I focused on the rough-hewn texture of the sandstone beneath my palms. I needed to get myself out of my mind and back into my body.
I could feel the king hovering behind me.
Prying my attention from the sandstone’s detailing, I attempted to absorb more of my surroundings. The gardens were meticulously kept, although their beauty was currently lost on me. My gaze trailed past them, fixating on the distant woodlands that reminded me of home.
The next thing I knew, I was down the small set of steps, sprinting toward that blessed familiarity.
I greedily drank in the fresh air with my heavy breaths when I finally stopped well into the forest. The deep, aromatic scent of the woods enveloped me, providing me with the refuge I desperately needed.
Relieving myself of my boots and socks, I lowered to the groundand rested against a tree. I dug my fingers into the fertile ground—the spongy softness of the moss, cool against my skin. I bent my knees, craving that same sensation between my toes.
Calm slowly flowed in, as if the Mother herself was cleansing me. Tilting my head back, I slid my lids shut and bathed in her soothing embrace.
A while later, I blinked my eyes open, quickly noticing the sun had already set.
“Shit,” I said aloud, chiding myself. Even if I had known the terrain, it was reckless to be in the woods after nightfall.
My breath misted in the chilled air, and I wondered why the cold wasn’t the first thing I’d noted upon waking. As I made to move, the blanket draped across me fell to the ground. I stilled, and a light chuckle revealed the king mirroring my position a few paces away.
He gave me one of his disarming smiles. “How are you feeling?”
“I…” The word came out as a squeak. I swallowed and tried again. “I’m…I’m just really tired. I’m sorry for running off like that,” I said, feeling my cheeks flush with embarrassment.
“There’s nothing to apologize for. I’m sorry it’s not the kind of information one can be eased into.”
