Chapter 18 #2
The Skullstalker bowed his head and began to mutter. Fawn looked up to see if Zax knew the odd, crackling language his brother was speaking in, but there was no recognition on his face. Only confusion and slight wonder, as if he was remembering something from long ago.
Then Zax gasped. His purple eye flared, then slammed shut. His arms locked around Fawn, and his knees buckled.
“Zax!” Fawn grabbed his face, but he was not looking at her anymore. His eye was still squeezed shut as tremors worked through his frame.
“Be calm,” the Skullstalker said. “This is as it should be.”
Fawn waited anxiously. After several agonizing moments of Zax trembling, sweat streaming down his skin, he relaxed with a great gasp. Then he straightened, his legs wobbling.
“Good,” said the Skullstalker brightly. “You will no longer find that size is a problem.”
“Really?” Fawn asked. “That’s it?”
“That is it,” the Skullstalker confirmed. He patted Zax’s sweaty arm, his one retracted claw still not out. Fawn got the feeling that coaxing it out would be as slow as forcing it back inside.
“You have your instructions for the lifebond,” he continued. “So, you are ready to leave. I would carry her fast, brother. My shadows are hungry, and doubly so now that they have seen her. Even your presence will not stop her.”
“What?” Fawn said. “Can’t you hold them back?”
“I can try,” said the Skullstalker doubtfully. “But it is better if you go fast.”
Zax traded a look with Fawn. His chest was still heaving, his limbs shaking with exertion. But he held her tighter, determination flaring in his remaining eye.
“Thank you, brother,” Zax said. “I will repay you.”
“Repay me by letting me know how your story goes,” the Skullstalker said, walking slowly and painfully toward a cloth and wiping his oily hand with it. “You know how I love to hear those stories. And be well, brother! Enjoy your new mate.”
“I will,” Zax said.
“He would enjoy me more if we didn’t have people hunting us down,” Fawn said, unable to stop herself.
The Skullstalker chuckled, still wiping his hand. “I like this one! More of my brothers should risk the shadows to bring their mates. Now go, brother, before they start to invade the cave. They cause an awful mess.”
Fawn looked over and shuddered. The shadows were swarming inward—tendrils stretching from the ceiling and, of course, the horrifying wall of shadows bulging in from the cave entrance.
“Close your eyes,” Zax said. “I will run as fast as I can. You will be safe.”
Fawn covered her eyes.
Zax took off. The darkness enveloped them instantly, cold and clinging, a thousand tiny pinpricks all over Fawn’s skin.
“Safe travels,” the Skullstalker called.
But his voice was quickly swallowed, sounding like it came from a mile away, not mere feet.
The shadows pressed on Fawn so tightly she felt as if she was being crushed.
No, like she was being stabbed. It was such a strange sensation, one she had never felt before.
It was as if a blanket of blades had been wrapped around her, only protected by the spots where Zax’s arms were covering her.
It was so cold. Cold and thick, nothing was getting through. Even Zax’s panting faded until only silence remained. If he were not holding her, Fawn would think he had dissolved into the darkness.
The shadows shoved at her, so sharp she thought she might be sliced to ribbons or crushed by the pressure—
Then all at once, it vanished. No pain, no pressure. She could hear Zax again, breathing raggedly.
“Fawn?” he demanded. “Are you well?”
He touched her hands. Fawn dropped them from her face to see they were on the mountain path again, the shadows reaching weakly out to meet her and then stopping once they got near Zax.
Zax moved away from them, sparing them a glare before turning back to Fawn. “Did it hurt you?”
Fawn checked herself over, expecting to see her skin covered in cuts. But she was unharmed. There wasn’t even a tear in her dress.
“I’m fine,” she said, surprised. “Let’s not go in there unless we absolutely have to.”
“I am happy with that,” Zax said. He sounded shaken. He lifted her to his face, pressing his forehead against hers.
Fawn leaned against his skull mask gratefully. Then she felt something sticky and cool and pulled back in surprise to see that he had pressed the ritual oil into her by accident.
“Oh,” Zax said. “Sorry.”
He reached to wipe it off. Fawn beat him to it, scrubbing it from her skin with the back of her hand and then eyeing it thoughtfully.
Zax caught her expression and cocked his head. “What is it?”
Fawn felt her pockets. The ingredients for the lifebond were still there, as were the instructions.
“We need to sleep together for the lifebond ritual,” she started. “And we haven’t tested the size spell yet.”
Zax blinked rapidly. She watched the realization dawn on him, but she still wanted to say it. She smiled up at him, the adrenaline from their latest near-death experience turning hot and liquid inside her.
She kissed him, slow and deep, until he growled against her lips. Then she pulled back and watched his eye flare in anticipation.
“We should fix that,” she whispered.