Chapter 24
Lor
Istalked toward the barrier of Fairwitch Isle, invitation from Aoife clenched tight in my fist. I’d slept by her side a few nights ago and hadn’t seen or heard from her since—except for this invitation to train with her.
Outside the boundary of Fairwitch Isle. I’d agreed to do whatever she wished of me, but this was reckless, and I intended to let her know.
I stepped through the invisible barrier, feeling so exposed out here in the forest surrounding our city. Sunlight dappled across the uneven ground, that familiar crunch of pine cone needles echoing around me.
The cone shaped trees surrounded me, punctuated by tall thin trees with leafy canopies that provided shade from the warmth of the sun, though up this high, the sun was usually welcome with the brisk mountain air.
Other than the rustle of leaves and the snap of branches I stepped over, I couldn’t detect any sound. I followed the trail of footprints, hoping wherever Aoife was, it wasn’t too far outside Fairwitch Isle.
I’d asked her many times to consider training in the courtyard, but of course she refused.
Finally, I came upon a small clearing of grass where many of the Fair Folk stood, all in various training stances.
None of them held any weapons, and I watched as Ambrose fought a female faerie, both of them striking in quick jabs with their arms and hands.
They moved so fast I could hardly keep track of who did what until Ambrose struck out his hand, knocking his female opponent in the stomach and causing her to fall back onto the ground.
My gaze strayed to Aoife, and the entire forest faded away as I watched her, unable to tear my gaze from her as she moved.
She wore tight black trousers that fit like a second skin, hugging her wide hips, thick thighs, and rounded ass.
She bent her knee forward, arm out as she pushed it through the air in a series of movements I didn’t recognize.
I’d seen a few of the Fair Folk adopt this fighting style in our courtyard, though most of them trained with weapons, but I loved how they used their bodies like this.
I could easily see them disarming someone who held a sword or dagger.
Aoife bent forward until her hands pressed into the ground, then she walked her feet backward, her body forming a triangle as she stretched her muscles. Sweat glistened on her russet skin, and I swallowed thickly.
“I did try to tell her you wouldn’t appreciate being made to come all the way out here,” Ambrose said from next to me, and I startled.
I’d forgotten all the other Fair Folk were here.
I cleared my throat. “It’s dangerous. Not a risk worth taking.”
Aoife stood, stretching her arms up above her head, her long hair in a braid that whipped around her back.
“Maybe not to you,” Ambrose said.
His words hung between us, and they niggled at something in my brain, but before I could think on it too much, Aoife had spotted me and was headed straight for me.
“Are you ready to train?” she asked, gaze roaming from my head to my boots, and I noticed the way her gaze briefly lingered on my arms.
I normally wore long sleeves, but today I’d chosen a black leather vest with my black pants, and a thrill shot through me that my wife seemed to admire my body just like I’d admired hers.
“I’m ready,” I said as I walked forward to meet her in the middle of the clearing.
Fair Folk around us continued to train and fight.
“It’s our first official training session,” Aoife said. “I invited all the Fair Folk in the royal guard.”
She braced her legs, and I copied the movement.
“I don’t recognize this way of fighting,” I said, raising my arm and bending it over my chest like she did.
She smiled, and it was truly luminous. “That’s because this is the Fair Folk way. We weren’t allowed to have weapons as slaves, so we created our own method of fighting.”
She was so happy, so in her element that for maybe the first time ever, I couldn’t admonish her for how dangerous this was.
“The key to tachika kan is not strength,” Aoife said as she struck out her arm, lightning fast and right at my neck, where she could stop me from breathing if she’d followed through.
“Then what is the key?” I asked, gaze stuck on her hand at my throat.
“Technique,” she answered simply. “Precision. And speed.”
“Well, you’ve certainly got those down,” I said.
She stepped back, studying me with a suspicious look in her eyes. “Go ahead and say it.”
I slowly shook my head. “Say what?”
“I know you want to reprimand me, to demand we all go back inside Fairwitch Isle.”
What struck me in that moment was that I didn’t. I stepped closer to her, once again resuming the initial fighting stance. “I want to know why you choose to come out here,” I said. “Is it just to make me angry? Because you know I don’t like it?”
She whirled around me, and I spun on my heel right as her foot was crashing into my stomach. I stumbled back a few steps, raising my hands to defend against her strikes, so quick I could barely keep up. This was so different than fighting with a sword.
She backed me up into a tree, and I raised an arm to block her hand, but her other hand still ended up right at my neck, at that same point it had the first time.
My heart pounded, and she breathed heavily, her bosom rising and falling as she said, “Maybe a little. I do like irritating you.” I huffed a laugh, and she tilted her head.
“That courtyard is where the godwitches trained with all their weapons. It was the place Fair Folk weren’t allowed to go.
Not ever. It’s a reminder of all the freedoms we weren’t allowed to have. ”
That niggling thought I’d had with Ambrose was back, but this time as I studied my wife, it was becoming clear.
The parts to Aoife I didn’t understand were slowly falling into place in a way they never had before, and I felt like a fool, an utter ass, for not understanding all the painful reminders Fairwitch Isle were for Aoife.
How hard it was for her to be back in this place where she’d been a slave.
All the other Fair Folk had thousands of years to process their grief, their trauma, in a way Aoife hadn’t.
They’d all adapted, assimilated, so I assumed she should be able to do the same.
But while they were moving on, she’d been trapped, cursed.
Logically, I’d known all these things, but I’d never put enough thought into it, always too busy, too distracted by my own issues.
“We can find you a new place to train,” I said. “We can build you a new training ground, one just for tachika kan, if you’d like.”
She lowered her hand, eyes wide like she couldn’t believe what I’d just said. “Why?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do,” I said, biting back the rest of the reason, not telling her that if I could get her to smile at me again like she had just moments ago, I’d do damn near anything. I’d build her an entirely new city if that was what it took.
Her face fell for the briefest of moments, so brief I wondered if I imagined it as her jaw set.
“Maybe we can come up with something that will work for both of us. My people have forgotten much of their history, and I want to start reminding them who we are, separate from the people of Fairwitch Isle.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but a branch cracked in the distance, the sound of feet tromping through the forest echoing around us. Everyone stilled, and my throat went dry.
No one came to the top of Kiln Mountain.
I spun, looking from terrified face to terrified face. “Use your portals,” I said. “Everyone—”
Before I could finish, a voice called out, “Do you hear that?”
“Fuck,” I said. They were closer than I’d realized.
Portal magic would be bright and loud, and it would absolutely draw the attention of whoever this was.
“Hide,” I whispered, and the Fair Folk moved into action, everyone disappearing behind trees, under the cover of fallen logs or behind bushes.
I grabbed Aoife’s hand.
“What are you doing?” she whispered as I yanked her behind a thick knotted tree, pushing her up against it and laying my hand over her mouth.
I pressed into her, trying to disappear into the crevice in the tree trunk as much as I could.
Just like when we’d slept together, her body molded to mine so perfectly, so wonderfully warm and soft.
I wanted to sink right into her, but of course now wasn’t the time.
I was losing myself around this woman lately, unraveling in ways I didn’t like.
Especially not in situations like these, where I was paying more attention to her than the very present—and real—danger surrounding us.
Her eyes widened, flashing with anger, but thankfully she didn’t say anything else, and we fell into silence.
“Footprints all around,” someone said right on the other side of the massive tree. “There was a group of people here recently.”
The other person groaned. “They’ve tromped all over the bear tracks. We’ll never find it now.”
Relief made me sag against Aoife. Not the brotherhood. Just hunters.
“Let’s just keep following these tracks, see if they lead anywhere.”
“I don’t know.”
I willed these hunters to go away. My heart still pounded, my body abuzz with thoughts of how bad this could’ve ended if they’d been the brotherhood.
“Just get moving.”
My body relaxed as the sound of their footsteps faded into the distance.
Aoife pushed me, and I stumbled back as she wiggled from the crevice we’d wedged into. “Looks like our training session is cut short,” she said.
“I’m sorry. I know you like to train out here, and I know being stuck in Fairwitch Isle feels like another set of chains. We’re doing everything we can to fix that.”
Her nostrils flared. “How? How are you going to do anything if we’re not actively pursuing the brotherhood, fighting against them? Ronan is out there right now trying to get back to them, to betray us.”
I shoved a hand through my hair. I didn’t have the energy for this fight. Not again. “Not here,” I said, keeping my voice quiet, afraid the hunters would come back and find us. They might not have been the brotherhood, but they were still a threat to our hidden city.
Aoife held out her hand, a portal appearing in front of her. “If you won’t do something about this, Lor, then I will,” she said as the portal swallowed us both.