30. Will
Chapter thirty
Will
Hey, get that look off your face
A rthur was clingier than normal after I’d fucked him against the window this morning. He couldn’t seem to keep his hands off me for long, whether it was to hold my hand, kiss my cheek, or even tug me into his lap when we’d gotten into the car.
We could have walked to the nursing home, but since we needed to steal the Hamper, we couldn’t exactly just walk away with it in our arms.
The rain had let up by the time we’d left the hotel, though it still showed signs of possibly returning sometime later today. We brought along a few umbrellas so we were prepared in the case of its reappearance.
When we’d followed the private road down to the nursing home, I spotted a river curving around the massive lands surrounding the place. Trees provided coverage around the outskirts of the yard, and a cute family of ducks waddled across the lawn as we parked outside the main facility.
An event seemed to be taking place outside where dozens of covered tables had been set up in the side yard. People filled the seats around each table, eating what looked to be sandwiches and drinking tea.
A woman smiled out at the people from the front of the function, standing beside a table with a bunch of gift bags. A stand held a segmented wheel with words too small for me to read, and she pointed to an elderly gentleman to come take a shot at spinning an arrow centered in the circle.
A slight wind rustled the tablecloths as he took his turn, and I hoped the rain didn’t return and ruin whatever festivity was happening.
Any thoughts of rain disappeared, though, when that pulsing started up as we entered the front doors and stepped into the foyer.
Ornate crown molding edged along the tall ceilings, and pictures and paintings colored the walls giving them life. A few chairs and round tables lined the room, looking stylish and antique.
My gaze sought out the Hamper among them, but it became clear really quickly that it wasn’t in the entryway.
A man with brown hair and wearing a white button-up and black trousers spoke with someone holding a plate of sandwiches. He smiled warmly at them before turning and noticing our group.
“Hello, and welcome to Amesbury Abbey. How can I help you?”
My dad patted a grouchy Nana’s shoulder. The two of them looked absolutely ridiculous with their pink eyebrows, but we hadn’t had time to figure out how to get rid of the color. “We called about a tour for my mother?”
“Ah, you must be Joanne,” the man said, crossing over to us and holding out his hand to Nana. “It’s lovely to meet you. My name’s Dave. I help manage Amesbury Abbey.”
Nana didn’t look nearly as grumpy once she got a good look at his charming, kind face. Thrusting her cane into my dad’s care, she stepped forward and accepted Dave’s hand, holding it in both of her own. “It’s very nice to meet you.”
Dave either didn’t notice her suggestive tone, or was too professional to let it show, because he just smiled. “I know you’re here for a tour of the residences we have available, but I was wondering if you might be interested in joining us first for some afternoon tea? A local shop from town is hosting the event and giving away free prizes.”
At the word free , both Nana and Gerry perked up.
We were welcomed graciously by those outside, and we accepted some seats toward the back. A waiter stopped by with some finger sandwiches, tea, and scones, and Nana and Gerry didn’t even let the poor man set down the plates before they snatched some food off of them.
I was growing antsy the longer we remained, the urgency to seek out the Treasure grating on my nerves. My knee bounced, and my gaze kept wandering from the gathering to the trees, then to the manor.
But then the host of the event announced the final prize.
My eyes bugged out of their sockets when she retrieved a prize from beneath the table. Lotions and soaps and all other sorts of skin treatments were wrapped up prettily, tied with a bow.
Inside a large, wicker basket.
“Holy shit,” I whispered, and the rest of our group followed my intent stare.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Otto muttered.
“Now I’m sure you’re wondering how you win this lovely gift basket,” the woman said, waving dramatically at the Hamper of Gwyddno Garanhir. “We thought we’d do something fun for the last prize today. Beneath one of your seats is a card that declares you the winner.”
Instantly, everyone started reaching down to check under their chairs, and when a woman to the right of us crowed in excitement, my stomach dropped.
Nana, with a dangerous gleam in her eyes, looked the elderly woman over, and I shot her a scowl. “Hey, get that look off your face.”
“What look?”
“The look that says you’re plotting something bad. Like when you’re planning a hostile takeover.”
Nana had the gall to look offended. “Me? I would never.”
But then she leaned over and started hissing into Gerry’s ear. Gerry’s face lit with glee, and I didn’t like it when the two of them glanced toward the woman who thanked the host as she placed the Hamper down in front of her.
I snapped my fingers at them to draw their attention back to me. “Uh-uh. Whatever you’re planning, stop it.”
But before I’d even finished talking, the umbrellas over each table went up in flames.
Everyone screamed. A few people even fell out of their seats in shock. And when I looked back over at Nana, she was gone from sight.
I ripped open my satchel... to find the book with the Treasures gone.
That little...
When I looked up, Gerry was studying his nails, looking far from innocent with a flaming market umbrella raining sparks over his head.
Dave shouted for everyone to hurry inside while waiters came rushing out with bowls of water. Another employee sprinted around the side of the manor with a hose in her hands.
Terrified shouts went up as several tablecloths went up in flames next, and I caught Gerry’s maniacal grin.
Then I spotted the woman with the Hamper shuffling along toward the manor with everyone else, and I watched in horror as some invisible force tried to rip it out of her arms.
The woman’s shocked gaze darted around her as something tried to force the Treasure from her arms again.
A game of tug-of-war ensued as who I could only guess was Nana, wearing Arthur’s Mantle, tried to steal the Hamper.
The other woman was stronger than she looked, though, and she yanked her prize free, shuffling backward.
But then Gerry was there, smiling wickedly as his face morphed into one so demonic, the poor woman screamed and dropped the wicker basket as she fled.
She tripped, muttering about hellfire and demons.
While Nana scooped up the Hamper and tucked it beneath Arthur’s Mantle to hide it, Arthur, being the chivalrous man he was, rushed forward to help the woman to her feet.
“Here,” Arthur said, smiling brightly down at her, offering her his arm. She blinked at him with wide eyes, as if just barely getting a good look at his face. All fears she’d had moments ago seemed to disappear. “Let me help you inside.”
I swear, if the lady was a cartoon, she would have had heart eyes.
“Well, aren’t you sweet? Thank you.”
While Arthur distracted her, I glared around me, though I couldn’t see Nana. “You’re in so much fucking trouble.”
That got me a jab to my foot from Nana’s cane, and in the next instant, she became visible. “Language.”
“Like you’re one to talk about swearing.”
That earned me another jab from her cane, and I scowled at her as I held out my hand expectantly. With a dramatic sigh, Nana handed me the Hamper, Arthur’s Mantle, and The Thirteen Treasures of Britain , and after dumping out the items from the unassuming container onto the ground, I stored the Treasures on their respective pages and placed the book into my satchel. “Now come on. We need to hurry inside before someone realizes you’re missing.”
Even as I spoke, Dave appeared, looking relieved when he spotted us. “There you are. This way, folks. I’m so sorry. We don’t know what happened, but I promise, Amesbury is normally very safe.”
We joined the rest of the attendees inside where employees scurried around setting up tables and food for everyone. A caretaker fussed over the woman from earlier, and though she insisted she was all right, her gaze kept trailing Gerry where he dined on refreshments.
Music filled the hall, and as a fire truck arrived to help with the last of the flames, I noted the tightness around Arthur’s eyes. Nana and the others participated in some of the games set up since we now had the Hamper. And Dave, stressed from speaking to the firefighters and writing out a report, seemed to have forgotten about giving us a tour.
Luckily, the rain made a reappearance, helping clear the smoke from the air, and after taking Dave’s report, the firefighters left.
But after about an hour of being inside with everyone from the nursing home, Arthur looked ready to crawl out of his skin. The room was noisy with laughter and cheers as people played games, chatted, or simply listened to the music, and when I noted the beast flicker in Arthur’s gaze, I crossed over to where Dave was speaking with an employee.
“Excuse me,” I said to Dave, gaining his attention after he’d finished talking to the worker. “Would it be all right if I took my... ” I floundered for the right word because I didn’t know what Arthur was to me. “Companion outside for some fresh air? He’s not feeling well, and I think a walk outside would help him a lot.”
Dave eyed Arthur, noting the sheen of sweat and pale pallor of his skin. “I think that should be fine. Can I get him anything?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. Thank you.”
Padding over to where Arthur hid in the corner of the loud room, I watched as he winced as a round of cheers sounded from a table playing a game of checkers.
“Walk with me?” I asked, holding out my hand.
He glanced toward the sky through the window, then back to me. “Right now?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, why?” I pulled out my umbrella, giving it a twirl. “It’s just a little rain.”
“At least it’s not lube,” he teased, making me grin.
We strolled along the outskirts of the lawn, following the curve of the river. The little duck family I’d seen earlier sat on the banks, not bothered by the rain now drizzling from the sky, and Arthur squatted low to coo at them.
As we continued our walk, we headed into the cover of some nearby trees. It was quiet here, far from the main road. Birds chirped from the canopy of leaves, tucked away within the branches or small nooks in the trunks.
I couldn’t stop myself from peeking at Arthur as we wandered. He seemed lost in thought as his eyes scanned the path ahead.
“What are you thinking about?”
Arthur peeked at me. “Just how the lands here remind me some of Sir Ector’s.” He brushed his fingers along the bark of the trunks he passed. “When we were younger, Kay and I used to play hide-and-seek in the trees surrounding the property.” He smiled softly, his gaze distant. “Those were some of my favorite days. Before I was crowned king at just 15 years of age, leaving the burden of protecting an entire country to rest upon my shoulders.”
An idea formed in my head, and I turned to Arthur with a grin. “Do you want to play?”
He raised his eyebrows. “What?”
“Hide-and-seek.”
Arthur’s eyes lit with excitement. “Really?”
I backed up and grinned devilishly at him. “Yes, you count to 20 and I’ll hide. And if you find me, I might even give you a reward.”
Arthur’s nostrils flared with lust at that suggestion.
I turned and fled into the trees before he could respond, adrenaline flooding through me. I didn’t even care that I tripped or slipped too many times to count. My smile wouldn’t budge from my face.
In the distance, I spotted a small, walled pavilion with red posts and railings that acted as a bridge over the river. I paused before I reached it, slinking behind a tree with my heart racing in my ears.
Then I smirked, prepared to retrieve the Mantle from the book to make this game of hide-and-seek even more interesting, but when I opened my satchel, I found it empty. Again.
I was going to have to have a serious discussion with my family about taking the book without asking.
A rustling in the underbrush had me stilling, and somewhere nearby I heard Arthur’s voice.
“Come out, William,” he called, his words thick, almost like his demon was close to the surface. It made me wonder if this game brought out its predatory instincts, and I shuddered, admittedly a mix of turned on and cautious. My fingertips dusted over the tree as I risked a peek around its trunk.
But when I scanned around me, I didn’t see Arthur anywhere.
Then a scream caught in my throat when I shifted back and found Arthur directly in front of me, a wolfish grin spread across his face. And just like I’d guessed, I spotted the clear hints of his beast in his expression. The flicker of red in his irises. The occasional spark of cursed energy down his arms. The low growl in the back of his throat.
Ho-ly. Fuck.
“Found you,” he said, grabbing me by shirt and hauling me toward him until we were pressed together. Then his nose was against the column of my throat, inhaling sharply. “Mm,” he moaned, so full of want and desire that my cock hardened in an instant. “You smell so good. Like the scent of rain in the air after a storm.”
I smiled, fisting his shirt in my hand and using it to push him back some. “Are you ready for your reward?”
His eyes dilated, and he licked his lips. “What is it?”
“I’d like to eat you out.”
He blinked, confused. “Eat me out?”
“Your ass.”
“You want to eat my ass,” he said dubiously.
I laughed. “Just turn around. If you hate it, we’ll stop, okay?”
Arthur hesitated, but his curiosity won out because he did as I’d commanded. Once he was facing the tree, I yanked down his jeans until they gathered at his knees. He tried to jerk around, startled, and I placed a soothing kiss on his right butt cheek. “Relax. I won’t hurt you.”
“It’s cold,” he complained, making me grin.
I kissed his left cheek next, then the base of his spine. Grabbing hold of both cheeks, I gently parted them, making Arthur gasp.
“Will, what are you doi—”
His words broke off when I made a single swipe of my tongue over his hole.
“ Ungh ,” he said when I did it again. And again. And again.
“Do you like that?” I asked, pausing. Because while I’d always encourage him to try new things, I’d never force him to do something he was uncomfortable with.
Arthur nodded, gripping the trunk of the tree for dear life. “It’s... good.”
I smirked. “Just good? I guess I better try harder then.”
I dove back in, feasting on him with long licks and gentle nips. He writhed under my touch, his harsh pants breaking through the sound of me eating him out.
When I dipped the barest tip of my tongue inside his hole, Arthur bellowed in pleasure, his orgasm hitting him out of nowhere. His cock painted the tree in his cum, and his hole spasmed around my tongue with every pulse of his release.
After he’d finished, I slowly pulled away, planting a soft kiss once more on both his cheeks.
Arthur didn’t move as I rose to my feet. He didn’t move when I shifted his underwear and pants up his legs once more. Didn’t even blink when I tucked his spent cock back inside his clothes.
“You okay there?” I asked, brushing some of his sweat-damp hair out of his face.
Finally, he looked at me, his green eyes still slightly dazed, a flush darkening his freckles. “I think my soul just left my body.”
“In a good way or a bad way?”
He rolled his eyes, and with a groan, he straightened. “Good. Definitely good.” Tugging me against his chest, he held me close. “Thank you. I think I’d like to try that with you sometime.”
When I glanced at the tree, I startled at the divots now imprinted in the bark from Arthur’s fingertips.
A soft song drifted through the trees then, its lyrics unfamiliar but the voice sweet.
Confused, I sought out where the song was coming from but couldn’t see anything.
But Arthur stiffened against me.
When I followed his gaze, I discovered why.
A woman stood within the small pavilion, her back to us. She wore a gown of deep blue and gold, and her braided, brown hair hung down her back.
She continued her song, taking slow steps across the space that crossed the river. She disappeared for a moment within the structure’s walls, but then reappeared on its opposite side. Pausing at the pavilion’s end, she turned her head to look at us.
Her heart-shaped face was pale and came down to a point at her chin. Her dainty nose had the slightest lift at its tip, and her round cheeks warmed with a sweet smile.
She was very pretty, but there was something about her that made me on edge.
Arthur let go of me then, his green eyes trailing over every inch of her features.
“Guin,” he whispered in the most haunted voice.
Before I could stop him, he was running. And it was then, too late, that I realized what about her seemed wrong.
Her eyes were unnaturally black.
“Arthur, stop!”
But he wasn’t listening to me anymore.
The woman stepped into the woodland on the other side of the river and beckoned him deeper into the forest. I panted as I charged after Arthur’s retreating form, still shouting for him to stop.
Because I would not lose him. Not here. Not today. Especially not because I sucked at running.
Crashing through the tree line, I chased after him, spotting him standing between two large ashes. But there was something sickly about this place. Something that just made my magic scream wrong .
It was like I was coated in invisible oil, its vileness pressing in on me from all directions. A haze clouded my mind, making me lose my balance and I tripped, scraping my palms on some rocks. The fogginess in my head made my pulse ratchet higher, and my magic writhed uncomfortably beneath my skin like a nest of erratic electric eels. But when I tried to calm myself, I found I couldn’t.
What the hell was happening?
Arthur looked left and right, his gaze almost frantic as he searched for the woman he thought was Guinevere. His frustration at losing her was palpable, and red crackled along his skin and danced in his eyes. When another turn still didn’t help him find her, his teeth pierced his bottom lip as his canines lengthened.
“Guinevere!” he shouted, voice slightly distorted from his jaw changing shape to accommodate his longer teeth.
When I reached him, he whirled on me, and his nostrils flared. A growl rolled up his throat as he stalked toward me, and I didn’t have the chance to prepare myself before he grabbed the front of my shirt and slammed me back against the nearest tree.
The trunk cracked at my impact, and stars danced across my vision. Pain lanced through the back of my head, and a trickle of wetness slicked down my neck.
“Where is she?” he roared, his frantic eyes glowering at me. “She was right here!”
“Arthur, stop!” My head swum, and I tried to clear it. Needed to clear it. “She’s not here. Guinevere’s not here .”
“She is!” he bellowed, his voice full of his beast. “She has to be. I have to tell her... I need to tell her I’m sorry...”
Why was he losing control like this? It didn’t make sense. He’d been fine until that song...
Then it hit me. What if the song wasn’t a song at all but a spell?
It would make sense. The reason my magic was acting wild. That odd fog I’d struggled to clear from my head. The distant look in Arthur’s eyes like those times the past and present mixed. The appearance of Arthur’s demon.
The spell messed with our control.
I’d never encountered this sort of sorcery and didn’t know how to counteract it, not without a spellbook. I was decent at physical or defensive spells, but not ones that affected the mind.
His grip on me tightened, making me scream as claws pierced my skin. He was shaking his head, like he was trying to clear his confusion.
“Arthur,” I said, trying to sound calm but my words only came out slow and slurred. “It’s me, Will. You need to fight the spell, okay?”
But it didn’t seem like he could hear me, lost to his transformation. And I was forced to watch as his back and limbs expanded, his face shifting to form a snarling snout. A whimper of pain curled in the back of his throat as fur sprouted along his skin.
I didn’t want to hurt him, but I knew I had to do something or else his fiend would kill me. But even as I tried to call my magic forward, it struggled to obey. It felt like I was trying to grasp onto the monkey bars with sweaty hands.
Low growls sounded deep in his chest, and when I glanced up from my magic sputtering around my fingers, I found myself staring into the eyes of the beast.
He peered at me with crimson eyes, and his wide mouth curled up in victory.
So I did what any reasonable person did when faced with a demon who looked ready to eat them.
I slapped him hard across his face.
His head whipped to the side, and when he turned back to look at me, death gleamed in his eyes.
So... in retrospect, maybe slapping my boyfriend-turned-demon’s face wasn’t what a reasonable person did, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Lost to his demon, Arthur pulled me closer just to slam me back against the trunk again with an animalistic growl of fury.
This time, the tree snapped as a split formed up its middle.
I peered up just in time to see the top half falling toward us, and without thinking, I called forth my wild magic to stop its descent, begging it to work.
It did. Sort of.
Half of the splintered tree halted its descent, though the other fell off to our side, smacking us with its branches.
My ears rang with bells, the back of my head throbbed in sharp agony, and it was harder to open my eyes with each blink. Gritting my teeth, I tried to focus enough so I could drop the rest of the tree safely.
But then I spotted her.
Still wearing Guinevere’s face, Morgana smiled. From behind her, the three other remaining fairy queens emerged, grinning cruelly.
Morgana raised hands coated in curling wisps of smoke, shaping them into forms. My eyes widened when I then found about a dozen smoldering arrows aimed toward Arthur’s vulnerable back.
So I did the only thing I could. I let go of my spell on the tree and shoved Arthur to the side with the force of my magic.
Because I couldn’t control it well, my power sent Arthur crashing into a distant trunk with a smack that made me cringe. At least he wore his sheath, though both it and Excalibur remained invisible.
But at least he was out of the path of Morgana’s arrows. I wasn’t so fortunate.
The falling branches slammed into my back, knocking me to the ground. It helped provide some cover from the magic missiles, but one pierced through the meat of my shoulder, another in my thigh.
And I screamed. Not just because I’d been shot through with some arrows, but because of what the arrows’ magic did to me.
It felt as if my body was decaying.
Where the necrotic projectiles pierced my flesh, the skin dissolved, like the arrows had been coated in acid. Arthur’s beast form rose from the ground and staggered a couple steps in the queens’ direction.
He snarled at them, and Morgana tsked as she took a step forward with a single hand raised toward him. But instead of an attack, the magical rune keeping Excalibur and its sheath hidden melted away.
“Let’s remove that pesky protection now, yes?” With a wave of her hand, they were ripped off Arthur’s body and sent sailing into the brush. When Mazoe, Moronoe, and Tyronoe lifted their palms in preparation for attack, Morgana shoved them aside. “No, he took my son’s life. It’s only fair that his death belongs to me.”
The other queens backed off, bowing slightly.
Morgana grinned, once more calling forth her magic and aiming her hands toward Arthur. I saw her heartache and anger written in her eyes, saw the sharp ache of grief in her clenched jaw, saw the belief that she had every right to end Arthur for his mistake 1,500 years ago.
But then Morgana stumbled to the side, clutching at the back of her head. When she pulled her hand away, it was slick with blood. Then she stumbled again, cradling her head once more.
Before anyone could react, an explosion of flames formed from off to my left, and
the queens spun to look, their hands once more coated in magic as they scanned the blazing trees and smoke.
Poor Dave was not going to be pleased when he realized he’d need to call the firefighters back.
Thoughts of Dave left me when Morgana hissed, whirling around and only barely managing to cast a wall of smoke to block the swipe of a flaming sword that had been coming at her from behind toward the edge of the clearing.
Otto swung White-Hilt again, cutting through her smoke with ease. Her lip curled, and for her next move, she waved her hands through the air, forming dozens of black birds. They dove for Otto, but then Gerry was there, Excalibur in hand.
Back to back, they struck down the swarm of ravens Morgana cast at them. The creatures screamed as the flames and light burned them out of existence.
The other queens assisted Morgana, circling Otto and Gerry.
Moronoe twisted her hands, causing weeds to shoot from the ground and wrap around Otto and Gerry’s legs. Mazoe shot a fireball toward their heads, and Gerry twisted around to cover Otto as the blast hit them. As a demon from Hell, the flames did nothing to him, and he laughed maniacally, grinning at Mazoe.
Tyronoe closed her eyes, chanting too softly for me to hear. But when Gerry’s laughter cut off, I followed his gaze to find a wave of water cresting over the trees, coming from the direction of the river.
He cursed, just before the water crashed down over them, sealing them in, ironically, what looked like a snow globe.
Before Morgana could attack them as well, I spotted my dad creeping up behind her, the Knife held tightly in his fist. But she must have sensed him, because she spun around just in time to dodge his attack. When he came at her again and again, she blocked him with whips of shadows.
Otto and Gerry struggled to free themselves from their watery prison, and fear lanced hot through my heart, overriding my pain.
Raising a trembling hand, I let out a blast of electricity, screaming in pain.
The electricity shot right for Tyronoe, knocking the aged woman off her feet with a squawk.
Instantly, the water whooshed to the ground, soaking into the woodland floor.
Otto and Gerry spluttered, sucking in lungfuls of air.
But when Mazoe and Moronoe aimed to attack once more, Arthur was there, looking like hell warmed over.
He was human once more, though it looked like just barely. His clothes were hanging on by threads, the tie-dye muddy and ripped. His curse licked at his skin and skipped across his eyes, but he’d gained control of his body once more.
He’d taken back the reins.
With bare hands, he snatched Mazoe’s head and twisted .
She collapsed like a doll at his feet, and when he turned his sights on Moronoe, she took a step backward. Then another.
One of the shadows knocked the Knife from my dad’s grip, and Morgana laughed as she raised hands wrapped in shadows in his direction.
But then she cried out, stumbling forward as a weight seemed to knock her forward. Morgana spun around, her teeth bared as she searched for whoever had attacked her.
“Come out and face me, you coward!” she screeched, sending out flurries of shadows in an attempt to strike her invisible attacker. “Or have you no honor?”
Nana appeared right in front of Morgana then, Arthur’s Mantle falling off her shoulders. “For you? None.”
Then she raised her cane and smacked Morgana straight across the face.
Morgana didn’t even have a chance to catch her bearings before an odd barking sound rang through the forest. Her head whipped toward the noise, but before she could raise her hands and gather her magic, Dorothy crashed through the trees, riding the strangest animal I’d ever seen. It looked even more ridiculous than the painting of it in Merlin’s Cave.
It had the body like that of a wildcat, covered in odd-shaped spots. Its crazy-long neck led to a serpentine face with jagged teeth. Slitted eyes glowed yellow, and it struck at Moronoe, ripping her head clean off her body.
Dorothy looked like she was about to be sick when the Questing Beast chewed.
Morgana and Tyronoe must have realized they were outmatched with all of us here to fight them. Morgana hissed and sent a glare toward Arthur. But my family all swarmed to surround him on both sides, poised to defend him.
I would have found it a lot cooler if they hadn’t just left me here... You know, stuck under a tree.
Morgana transformed into a raven while Tyronoe chose to shift into an owl. They took off into the sky, their wings carrying them away.
While the others watched them disappear from view, soaring far from here, Gerry bounded over to me. He frowned down at my stuck form.
“Are you in need of assistance, Lord Will?”
“It would be appreciated, yes,” I muttered.
Grinding his teeth, Gerry gripped the main branch and lifted it from my body with surprising strength. “Don’t worry, Lord Will. Gerry is here.”
With the tree off my back, I gulped down air. My mind still spun, but with Morgana leaving, whatever spell she’d cast on this place was beginning to wane. “How did you find us?”
“I heard you,” he said, pointing toward his head. “Here.”
Dorothy dropped to her knees beside me, fumbling a vial of healing tonic out of her purse. It wouldn’t be enough to fully heal me, but it would help me not pass out. Which would be helpful.
Sitting up, I let the healing tonic’s bitter-herb taste coat my tongue, swallowing it down. I tried not to look around Dorothy to where the Questing Beast was currently munching down on the two fallen fairy queens.
I would have felt worse for their ends if they hadn’t aided in the murders of countless sorcerers and sorceresses.
Arthur held the Halter so the creature couldn’t get away, and my dad was by his side, placing a hand on his shoulder in comfort.
Arthur didn’t look at him, though. In fact, he refused to look at any of us.
Feeling a little better, or at least, like I wasn’t going to vomit, I pushed to my feet. I felt the eyes of my family on me as I crossed over toward Arthur.
“Hey,” I said, cocking my head at him.
“Hello.”
“How are you feeling?”
He laughed bitterly. “I think I should be asking you that question.”
I shrugged. Then winced. “Nothing some rest and healing tonics can’t cure.”
When he looked at me, his eyes were full of pain. “I hurt you.”
“You did,” I admitted, and his shoulders almost seemed to cave in on themselves. “Do you know why you lost control?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know how it happened. One moment we—” He cut off abruptly, probably realizing the others were totally eavesdropping. He cleared his throat. “One moment, everything was fine. And then it was like I couldn’t leash the demon. And even it acted strange. Recently, I’ve gotten better at calming it. But today, it was like it was acting on pure instinct. No thoughts.”
I nodded. “I couldn’t control my magic. Not well, anyway. On a good day, it’s hit or miss if it does what I want it to. But today? I could barely keep a hold on it.” I took Arthur’s free hand, running my thumb over his knuckles. “That song was a spell, Arthur. It was meant to make us lose control.”
“I’m sorry.”
Squeezing his hand gently, I smiled. “You don’t need to be sorry, Arthur. Even with the spell, you were able to take back control. I think that’s pretty damn impressive.”
Arthur’s somber gaze met mine again, and the sadness seemed to lessen some at my honesty.
Then the Questing Beast gagged, and I turned to watch it cough up... Was that a foot?
It dove back in, though, and it was hard not to vomit when I heard a crunching sound. Then the beast burped, and the most rancid smell washed over Arthur and me.
“Come on,” I wheezed, waving a hand in front of my face. “I don’t know about you, but I could definitely use a shower.” A splash of blood hit me in the face, making me grimace. “Or maybe two showers.”
And Arthur laughed.