The Hunt: Curse of the Fates, Dark Fae Series by Leigh Brookes

Author:Leigh Brookes [Brookes, Leigh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Noblewood Lane Publishing
Published: 2022-12-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter twenty

I wake before the others and sneak off into the forest to take care of my needs. I don’t wander far, remembering the guard’s body, Zara’s dripping knife, and predatory smile. I stand quietly, listening to the day begin–the silence and weight of the forest welcoming in the predawn hours.

Morning light filters through the trees high above me, only a glow as the sun has not fully risen. The forest is still. The wind whispers through the branches in a silent song that seems to call to me. This place is steeped in old magic. Spirits of the Northern Night Forest, according to my quick geography lesson with Myrrdin before we had left. These are the places that inspire fairytales in the human world.

I close my eyes and let my head fall back, listening to the wind as it caresses my skin and tosses my loose hair. Images of my mother and old life flit into my mind and back out again as if caught on the breeze. Only peace should stay here, I tell myself, refusing to open my mind up to grief again. I allow myself to embrace the calm of the moment, a moment of reprieve from all the turmoil.

They bless you, his voice enters my mind as if whispered.

I open my eyes to West watching me from a distance. I gasp as I notice the hundreds of tiny lights floating in the air around me–fireflies without bodies lighting up the mist of the morning. West stays where he is, watching me and the lights dancing around my body, not approaching or disturbing what is happening.

Wisps. Spirits of the forest. A sign from the goddess.

“They are beautiful,” I speak in reverence. I reach my hand out to one and feel the tickle of sensation as it skims my hand and floats away.

“You’re beautiful,” he replies. This is my old West. The man I felt a connection with. The one who made me feel safe and seen. The one I want so badly to believe is real.

My heart swells at his words. At this moment. I can feel the magic surrounding me. Magic the way I would believe as a child. Magic in the light and good way I wish I could be. I don’t want to be dark. Not here. Not in this place. I don’t want to be evil.

You’re not evil, Ryan.

I meet West’s eyes. There’s a sadness there. I stand still, watching him, as the magic slowly dances away. This man that I know so little about, but had shared so much already. Lips that kissed me. Hands that touched me. We had crossed so many boundaries and yet were still strangers. My mind is at war with wanting to smooth the worry from his brow and scared of my desire to be near him and what it would lead to.

An apology dances on the edge of his lips, but is swallowed back as he draws those protective walls around himself again.

“I came to make sure you ate something before we packed up.

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