“No wonder your line was chosen to keep them in check.” Cambria lifts her head, raising an eyebrow, and I grin. “Music soothes the savage beast.”
Her lips twitch as she fights back a smile. “You’re ridiculous.”
I shrug a single shoulder and swim closer. “But you love it.”
“I really do,” she says with a sigh, giving up floating to tread water with me. “You’re pretty damn good at keeping me in check.”
Not wasting any time to warn her, I clap my hand over her mouth and submerge us both. Kicking my feet, I attempt to rush us along past the couple of fae I saw approaching the river, praying they didn’t see us. All I can do is push us faster, hoping I can get us far enough away before we need to come up for air.
A stabbing shock pulses through my system and I hiss in an involuntary breath. Struggling to the surface, I come up sputtering and gasping, coughing up the water I sucked down. We didn’t make it nearly far enough to escape notice, and two piercing gazes lock onto me, and Cambria a second later as she resurfaces beside me.
Another lancing pain courses through me and I frantically scan the area, diving back down and swimming towards the people that want to tear us apart as if compelled. The changeling is struggling beneath the water, caught in a net the fae must have been coming to check. Frantically, I try to untangle it, but the both of us are hauled out of the water as I cling to the rope, unable to let go and leave it behind.
“Well, if it isn’t our lucky day,” one of the men sneers, my mark on clear display as a dead giveaway, even if they didn’t recognize Cambria on sight. After all, there aren’t many claimed humans running around the light court these days; killed not long after receiving them for one reason or another.
Despite the lithe build, the man has no problem hauling the net up the bank with one quick jerk. The changeling is sputtering and coughing up water, but breathing. Only the solid black eyes give away that it’s anything other than a regular squirrel, but the faes’ eyes dismiss it quickly enough, not studying it closely enough to pick up on the small detail.
The man glaring down at me has eyes as bright of green as the grass around us, dark brown hair pulled back in a low ponytail. The disdain on his face is a weapon in its own right, matching the easy strength hidden by his deceptive size.
“You’re going to set us up for years.” His counterpart starts sliding down the bank, aiming to grab Cambria.
It’s a cheap shot, but since I don’t have any weapons, I’m not above playing dirty to walk away from this rather than be dragged to some dungeon to await my death. Driving my knee into the fae’s groin, he hisses in a sharp curse as I scoop up the changeling, racing back towards Cambria.
I have no idea what their abilities are, but I don’t intend to stick around to find out. I’m heavily outmatched in this scenario, and I can sleep just fine at night without my pride.
The fae wading into the water after Cambria extends an arm with a growl, and I furrow my brow. We must be further from Elorie’s kingdom than I realized; everyone in that kingdom goes out of their way not to touch her, knowing what she can do.
My eyes widen as I realize the implications. The light court has various kingdoms, and that means that not all of them bow to the whims of a Queen they don’t serve. Elorie could put a bounty out on us, could make up some excuse of crimes against the crown to justify it and a heavy enough reward people don’t question it, but that just means her power has limits.
So not everyone will have had the shadow court wiped from their memories.
Cambria’s face twists with anger, not flinching away from him as he curls a hand around her bicep, tugging her into his body. She reaches up to palm the side of his face and I watch as he stills, completely confused at the direction things are taking. That hesitation costs him everything. Cambria inhales deeply, her silver irises swirling as she siphons his energy, draining him completely.
My mouth goes dry as it clicks just how tied Cambria is to the changelings.
The one in my arms starts writhing in agitation and I turn, sidestepping before the arrow hits its mark in my shoulder. With no other means of defending myself, I chuck the changeling at the fae’s face, only feeling a little bad.
He shrieks as it starts mauling his face with the grace of a Tasmanian devil, tearing him apart and devouring his energy in a much more primitive, brutal way. Blood coats the grass, and I just watch it all happen with a detached sense of curiosity. Logically, I know that I should be horrified. But knowing that I’m safe from suffering such a fate unless it becomes desperate, it’s morbidly fascinating to watch it chew through bone like it’s nothing. Only some bloody scraps of tattered clothing remains, most of it consumed alongside the fae.
The tiny squirrel wavers, its form distorting until it becomes the fae it just annihilated. Not erased from existence; he clings to the shadow of the man’s memory, keeping his image alive until it can’t sustain him anymore.
Cambria sniffs and I snap out of it, shaking off my callous daze to check on her. She’s holding it together far better than before, her arms wrapped around herself as she stands on the bank, watching the corpse drift down the river with a blank look on her face. Her arms tremble slightly as she stands there dripping, but she remains standing, not breaking down.
“I’m proud of you. You defended yourself, didn’t hesitate. We’re safer for it.”
She nods once sharply, sucking down a breath and forcing herself to hold onto her composure, yet doesn’t speak. The changeling looks between me and her, solid black eyes not giving away any emotion. But by the small step forward before glancing back at me, it’s clear that he’s asking permission despite technically being my master.
I really need to stop coming to Faerie. Too many chains come from it.
“Technically I just said to leave you alone, but we didn’t establish in what capacity or for how long,” I direct at her back. “If fae magic works off of intent, then that should carry some weight in this circumstance, right? Because when I said it, I just wanted it not to hurt you.”
Cambria releases a shaky breath. “Maybe?”
Feeling absolutely ridiculous, I urge the fae-ling forward, silently giving it permission. It looks incredibly nervous, shuffling forward. When Cambria turns to face us, he stops dead in his tracks.
“What the heck is it doing?” Her trembling ceases, but she doesn’t remove her tight grip on herself, physically holding herself together as she latches onto the distraction.
“I think he just wants to help, the same way he shared his energy with you in the forest.”
