Dancing With Darkness: Fae Fantasy Romance (The Wild Hunt Book 1) by H J Reese

Author:H J Reese [Reese, H J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: H J Reese
Published: 2023-06-26T16:00:00+00:00

15

KADERYN

Any progress we made across the Autumn grasses had been dampened by a command to return to the Fortress. Dampened our trek and our spirits. Valentina’s, most of all.

So I let her sleep against my chest, shivering in Autumn Court’s attire as Malvasia guided us back through the forest until I was certain she, herself, was sleepwalking. I found us covering from prying eyes and Autumn’s chill in a small clearing under the canopy of a large maple tree who still kept her leaves and was blocked on the sides by evergreens.

I sent out a trail of shadows, searching for Jairek. Being tied to a Summerfae was making me increasingly dependent on his help and I worried if I was going to be able to get us all out of this alive.

I dropped to my knees and sifted through the leaf litter with one hand for the worm-strewn dirt, the humus, below. Valentina sat half-asleep on the mare and my arm reached up awkwardly because of the ties. But I needed to stop the incessant chattering of the dead first. I thought I would have had time to do this later but with these fucking ties leashing me to her, things got more uncertain.

I shoved my hand into the cold moist ground, connecting me to the spirits of the dead. The ones trapped here like me. The ones I couldn’t lead to the Underworld. They weren’t trapped in any physical space but lingered in the earth all the same. I shot a string of shadows down, linking them to me, one by one. All thousands of them.

And I wasn’t kind when I told them to, absolutely, unequivocally, fuck off.

I jostled Valentina when I was done. Not any kinder. “Hey. Wake up. We’re going to camp here for the rest of the night.”

She startled quickly, but her eyes were puffy and shadow-marked underneath. And how fucking desperate did she have to be to have just done what she did. I tried to soften my tone.

We set up camp in the most awkward fashion possible. It took concentration I didn’t have to hold on to my patience. If I pulled too far setting up the tent, she would yelp and fall into me. If she tried to help Teal with the tea or firewood, I was stuck waiting for her to finish with barely an arm’s length of Caterina del Aamod ties between us. My shadows moved, molasses slow, as I focused on them instead of ripping either of our arms off.

By the time my shadows led Jairek to us, we were sitting around the fire, though Valentina was, again, almost in it. I thought for a captive of Autumn Court she’d have more of an aversion to all things fire-like. But it was the cold that seemed to cause her the most distress as she rubbed warmth into her toes.

Must be a Summerfae thing.

Valentina sucked in a breath as Jairek strode out of the forest, his normal cheery self no worse for wear.

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