Ellie
Our kiss stretches for an eternity but ends in a moment. It melts away the weight I’ve been carrying, wrapping me in his tender embrace. And as his lips leave mine, my heart aches as exhaustion sweeps through me. It’s not quite the life-altering, void-filling moment I had imagined, ending far too soon, but I couldn’t kiss him any longer if I tried. All I want is to curl up in his arms and sleep.
But Taran’s still bleeding, there are three dead bodies, and blood soaks the floors. He says he’ll take care of it, but he’s finally let me in. We’re in this together now.
By the light of those strange, flickering orbs hovering near the ceiling, he directs me to some cloth for bandaging his leg. Apparently, this is one of his many homes throughout the realm, but one he only claimed a few years ago, so his mother wouldn’t know of it. Or so he hopes. He doesn’t recognize our attackers, but doesn’t want to discuss what their ambush means. Not yet.
I understand. It’s obvious that whoever sent them knew we were coming, which can only mean one of his trusted allies betrayed him. While I didn’t meet most of them, those I did both behaved rather suspiciously. Who knows what the others were like? But the last thing I want is to bring Taran any more stress, so I bury my thoughts, hoping he’ll be in a better place to discuss things in the morning.
After bandaging his leg, we find extra blankets for the bed. I lay one next to the body of the tattooed fae who tried to strangle me, and together we roll him on top of it. Taran wraps the blanket around the corpse and grabs the side near his head. I take the feet. Together, we drag him outside.
It’s well past sunset by this point, with hardly anyone lingering outside. We pull the corpse onto the rougher, sloping terrain beyond the path, where we struggle to keep it from rolling down the hill while Taran shapes the ground around it, as if swallowing the body whole. Then we climb back up and repeat the process twice more, with Taran growing noticeably slower and wobblier in his movements each time.
Next, we have to clean up all the blood. Taran has no magical solution for that, so all we can do is haul buckets of water from a nearby stream and scrub at the stains with whatever we find.
A couple bells later, those glowing orbs have long since disappeared, and we collapse onto the bed with no blankets, having used them to soak up the mess. We fall asleep almost instantly.
A loud bang startles me awake.
Green eyes, framed with black. My chest constricts so fast my lungs seize.
Then a warm, steady hand lands on my shoulder.
Taran.
“It’s fine,” he says. “It’s only Emlyn and Reid.”
I blink, my breath coming back as I focus on his face. Those mesmerizing green eyes.Why did I expect gray?
He brushes his fingers along my cheek, and a cozy heat blooms within me, washing the lingering panic away. He kisses my forehead, then hauls himself out of bed and stumbles from the room.
There’s a thunk, then Emlyn’s voice carries through the small home.
“What happened here?”
“We were ambushed,” Taran replies.
I begrudgingly push myself up, rubbing my eyes—that was not enough sleep. But it’s a new day; an important one, with much to do. Starting with figuring out who attacked us.
“How could anyone sneak up on you?” Emlyn asks, disbelief tinting his words.
“I knew about the one inside, but the others were hiding among the pilgrims.” A pause. “It was nearly dawn by the time we got everything cleaned up.”
“Where’s Ellie?” Reid asks.
“I’m here,” I call, then drag myself to the other room. I yawn as I balance against the doorway.
Emlyn rubs at one of the bloodstains with the toe of his boot, Reid leaning against the dirt wall next to him, glamoured to look fae. “You’ll wanna put a rug here.”
Taran stands before him. His expression hardens, then he responds in the Tongue.
Emlyn goes stiff. “Why would you ask that?”
“It’s a yes or no,” Taran says firmly.
“It doesn’t feel like it is.”
“What’s going on?” I ask, a sinking feeling in my stomach. I step further into the room, but Taran holds his palm up, halting me.
