Chapter 46 – Rowan
ROWAN
The full moon above gives the forest an eerie, silvery glow that I admit might be worse than darkness.
At least in the dark, the shadows don’t move. The shadows tonight refuse to stay still, shifting with every breeze until I can’t tell what’s real and what’s my fear or exhaustion.
I’m hypervigilant. I can’t stop imagining some monster watching—lurking just out of sight.
Ayer doesn’t bind me, but I stay close to him anyway.
I hate it with every fiber of my being, but the last thing I need is more ropes on my wrists, and that’s exactly what I’ll get if I stray.
The forever grumpy captain remains as stoic and unreadable as ever, confidently moving through the forest along a game trail we stumbled across a bit ago as if he knows exactly where it leads.
And me… Here I am just blindly following him through the woods.
What would Riven and Fel think?
Light.
My jaw tightens, and my cheeks heat with shame. All that time spent training, wasted. I can’t even touch him.
He hasn’t said a word since we left the river, and neither have I, both of us moving forward in a tense silence that grows louder with every hour that passes.
I’ve got my eyes on my feet, carefully picking around the loose rocks and exposed roots, when I notice the forest has gone quiet.
Too quiet.
I lift my chin, staring at the empty trail up ahead. My brow furrows, and I glance over my shoulder.
Nothing.
Ayer is nowhere to be seen.
My heart lurches, and fear trickles up my spine as the shadows of the night appear to close in around me. I swallow hard, my eyes darting between the dark trees.
“Ayer?” I whisper as loud as I dare, spinning around slowly. If this is his idea of a joke…
But… nothing.
I’m frozen where I stand, caught between staying and making a run for it.
It’s as if the forest itself is holding its breath, the quiet unnerving me further.
I take a couple hesitant steps back, wincing when I snap a twig with the heel of my boot.
I might as well have fired a canon, the way the crack echoes around me.
“Ayer?” I try again, a little louder this time, unable to hide the shake in my voice. There’s still no sign of him. Did he ditch me? I didn’t even notice him slip away.
My hand drops down—to the empty sheath at my thigh. Remembering too late how I lost my blade to the river.
I swear it’s only gotten darker in this little corner of the forest, and the longer I stay here, the worse I panic, so, keeping my eyes on the trees and my head on a swivel, I start forward again. Ignoring the rush of blood pounding in my ears and the goosebumps prickling at my skin.
My steps quicken until I’m practically running. I make it nearly to the bend up ahead when a hand shoots out from the darkness, hooking around my waist and yanking me off my feet. At the same time, another hand clamps down hard over my mouth, silencing my scream.
I lose it, thrashing violently as I twist and fight to get away, though I fail miserably in my panic.
“Shh.”
I freeze at the familiar dark voice in my ear.
He spins me quickly, slamming my back hard against a thick tree trunk. Readjusting his grip, he keeps his palm firmly pressed to my mouth while caging my body between his and the tree at my back.
“Don’t move,” he breathes, his words just barely audible.
My gaze lifts, and I find him staring down at me—a dark urgency in his eyes.
He’s got me pinned to the tree, and the way his arm is pressed up against my chest, I know he can feel my wild heartbeat thundering underneath.
I can’t move. His hold on me is so tight—intent on keeping me still. The scent of him fills my lungs and I want to scream, twist, run—but instead, the opposite happens. A little bit of tension eases from my muscles, my body relaxing slightly in his hold.
He hasn’t looked away, but something flashes in his eyes before his gaze slides to the left. I follow it.
At first, I see nothing but trees and darkness, but just as I start to doubt him, something moves. I go rigid, and Ayer’s grip on me tightens as he presses his body further into mine as the creature comes into full view.
It could almost be mistaken as human or fae, with a round head, walking on two legs.
But it's too tall, and its limbs move… unnaturally, bending at the wrong angles.
Its gait uneven as it steps out of the woods and onto the trail.
With moonlight shining down, I can make out the gray of its skin, gaunt, and rubbery.
Dark hair hangs down from its scalp in long, greasy strands.
Every bone is visible. I can count every rib, every vertebrae…
The creature appears emaciated—or like it just crawled out of a grave.
And when it turns its head, I’m grateful for Ayer’s hand still pressed firmly against my mouth, my gasp caught by his palm at the sight of the creature’s hollowed-out black eyes and huge mouth full of razor-sharp teeth.
Light.
I’ve never seen anything like it.
The creature starts forward, inching closer to where we’re hiding. Ayer shifts us carefully to the side, keeping the tree between us and the stars-blasted monster only several feet away.
I can’t see it anymore, so I keep my eyes on Ayer, watching his eyes track the beast, keeping us quiet and out of its sights.
I hear the creature sniff the air as it comes closer, gnashing its teeth together hungrily. A tremble of fear ripples through me. Run, run— We should run.
Ayer’s eyes drop to mine, slowly shaking his head back and forth as if reading my mind.
He still has his sword strapped across his back, knives sheathed along his belt. He hadn’t lost everything in the river but yet he hasn’t tried to attack. He doesn’t move. He just holds me here, hidden within the narrow shelter of the tree, his body shielding mine.
The creature is right behind us now, and I don’t dare move. It creeps closer, the guttural clicking of its throat churning my stomach.
Ayer’s grip on my mouth loosens, while his eyes stay fixed on mine, willing me to stay quiet as he releases my mouth, reaching back slowly to grip the hilt of his sword.
A few more agonizingly long breaths and a branch cracks somewhere in the forest. The creature wheels around, surging past us at a shockingly high speed as it chases the sound, disappearing back into the forest's shadows.
Ayer doesn’t release me yet, waiting several seconds before finally exhaling and stepping back. The sudden loss of his warmth is far more noticeable than it should be. For a moment, nothing happens, we just… stare at each other.
“What was that?” I finally ask. My voice comes out hoarse; my throat is dryer than I thought.
“A slough demon,” Ayer replies while giving the forest a thorough scan. I suppose he’s waiting to be sure the monster has fully cleared off before continuing on.
I tense at the word demon. Clearing my throat, I reply, “Never heard of it.”
I feel his gaze find me again, his focus lasering in as he tilts his head to study me. “You’ve never heard of it?” I can hear the skepticism from here.
“Should I have?”
“It lives in your kingdom...” His brow lifts and I bristle at the call out.
I don’t know anything about the Wyldewood or anywhere else for that matter…
I push on with the conversation. “What is it?”
“A demon.”
I clench my jaw, trying hard not to roll my eyes. “I gathered that. So it’s a predator. Does it eat…” I swallow, chewing my lip while doing a quick scan of the trees. “People?”
“Mostly.”
“Mostly?” I ask, my head whipping back toward him, needing to know more.
Ayer stares down at me. “Sometimes it eats fae.”
I glare at him, catching the flash of amusement in his dark eyes.
He indulges himself another few seconds before he releases a sigh.
“A slough demon is one of the more dangerous pure-blooded demons to roam these woods. It’s remarkably hard to kill since that rubbery skin you saw is impenetrable.
The only way to kill it is to take off its head by attacking the throat.
It will eat just about anything with warm blood running through its veins.
But not before immobilizing you, causing injury just enough to keep you from running away.
Then it slowly strips the skin from your body, savoring each and every bite, while you can do nothing but watch. ”
My jaw goes slack and I can only stare back at him.
He shrugs, looking away. “I thought it was best we try and avoid it entirely.”
I can’t say I don’t agree, but I won’t verbally acknowledge he was right. Instead, I remain quiet, blocking visions of being skinned alive, all while staring into the bottomless black depths of its eyes.
An awkward silence settles between us. I fill it by brushing some dirt off my skirt.
“You’re welcome by the way,” Ayer says, finally breaking the silence, assessing me with his gaze.
“For what?” My eyes narrow, already suspecting where he’s going with this.
“For saving your royal ass… again.” His lip quirks up, and with it, I see red.
“I never asked you to save me. Keeping me alive is your problem, not mine. You’re just a good little soldier, following orders.
” I try pushing past him, moving for the path, but he blocks me with his body, stepping into me until he has me cornered once again with the tree at my back.
He braces his arms against the bark, caging me in.
I have to tilt my head to keep his eyes.
“Bonus points for creativity, Princess, but there’s only one way you’re dying while you belong to me.” His voice drops low as his eyes appear to darken. “Beg me.”
My lips part as my mouth drops open, and I watch as his gaze drops to them.
“Are you ready to get on your knees for me, Princess?”
My blood is boiling and my cheeks flame pink, a knot forming in my stomach at his words. I swallow, unable to form a worthy retort under the intense weight of his gaze.
He clicks his tongue at my continued silence. “Remember, kitten,” he bites down on each consonant, his words crisp and precise, “my offer stands. But until then, you live because I say you do.”