Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
I knew I was supposed to close the inn door. I knew I was supposed to saunter over to the check-in desk and chat for a few minutes with Nivinity. I knew that I was then supposed to climb the stairs and retreat to the safety of my chambers and lock the door behind me.
I knew I was supposed to do all of those things, but Kole had just disappeared into the night, in search of whatever had made that shiver-inducing sound, and he was alone with only the sword at his back to protect him.
And even though he was an Imperial Warrior who had effortlessly taken down Abel and likely would have taken down the two bastard males as well, all I truly wanted to do was race after him to ensure he stayed safe.
My hands twisted, my fingers knotting together as I tried to shake sense into myself. Kole was a warrior. This was literally what he was trained to do. And while my magic was strong and I was tougher than I looked, I wasn’t trained to deal with situations as he was.
It would be foolish to try to find him. So why is every instinct inside me begging me to do just that? Why is my heart demanding that I protect him?
The thought of harm coming to him made me want to vomit.
“Stars Above,” I whispered aloud. Maybe I’d been wrong. Maybe the Stone truly was affecting me, because Gods and Goddesses, the impulse to follow him was so strong that I knew something was very wrong with me. Nothing reasonable and not magical could explain this type of reaction in me.
“Do you have strange nocturnal animals around here?” I called in a strained voice to Nivinity while peering out the window into the street again, but Kole was nowhere to be seen.
Nivinity stood at the check-in desk, her ledger closed and pushed off to the side. She craned her neck to look into the street over my shoulder, her hairy eyebrows drawn together. “We don’t normally, but some other villages have reported strange occurrences at night.”
I faced the wildling, and my eyebrows slammed together. “What kind of occurrences?”
Her large nostrils flared in her snout, her eyebrows tugging together even more. “Just weird sightings mostly, and some fae have reported hearing sounds.”
“Sounds?”
She took a breath, and I could have sworn she shuddered.
“Weird sounds, not the normal that you would expect at night. Some are whispering that a creature from Silventine Wood has wandered into the southern Wood of Stonewild, a creature that isn’t supposed to be able to leave the magic of that forest.”
I shivered, a full-body shiver that blasted through me all the way to my toes.
There were several Woods in our realm that were filled with magic and animals that other Woods didn’t possess.
Silventine Wood in Stonewild Kingdom was one of them.
The Shroud Forest on the Nolus continent was another.
There were other forests too, and most fae knew to stay away from them.
Ancient magic fed the soil in those Woods.
Creatures roamed there that would happily eat fae for breakfast. Plants flourished in them that could easily choke the life from a fairy.
Deadly and nefarious. It was the words that were often whispered when those forests were spoken of.
I shuddered anew. “Does anyone know for certain if a Silventine Wood creature has come down this way?”
Nivinity shook her head. “No, but it’s probably best if you stay in for the night. Just a few nights ago—” She cut her words off.
I took a step closer to her. “Just a few nights ago, what?”
She shook her head. “Nothing, but be smart and go to bed. No reason to press your luck out there.” She nodded toward the front entrance door.
“But what about the others that are still out?” I thought of Nym, Jessip, and Felix, probably still drinking and dancing, none the wiser that a potentially lethal creature was prowling around this small village.
And there were still other fae in the salopas, fae who had to find their way home for the night.
Nivinity lifted her hooved hands. “It’s only a short walk across the street for the other travelers, and the locals have heard the rumors. They know to be careful. Besides, that male you know, the one with the sword . . . With any luck, he’ll catch it and do us all a favor.”
It struck me that she’d probably seen Kole race off into the night through the window. “Did you tell him about the creature? Is that why he went after it just now?”
She inclined her head. “In a way, yes. He was asking a lot of questions before he ventured to the salopas. He wanted to know if there had been any strange occurrences around here lately, and he pressed me for every detail about the rumors.”
My lips parted, and I realized that Kole hadn’t been lying. He truly was working, and that was why he was here, and perhaps, just perhaps, he hadn’t revealed the full reason for his presence because whatever he was trying to catch wasn’t meant to be known.
I’d guessed he’d been traveling through the Wood due to crimes that the Wishing Stone bred, but maybe that wasn’t it at all. Maybe that was just a cover. Maybe ominous things were going on in the Wood, and maybe that was why he ended up in the same village as me.
But that didn’t explain why I first met him in Whiteolf.
But just as fast, I reasoned that could be because he had to venture from Whiteolf to get here.
For all I knew, that was where the Imperial Council headquarters were.
After all, they were so secretive that nobody knew their exact location.
But if he was ultimately hunting a creature from Silventine Wood, it certainly would explain why we’d kept bumping into one another. We’d been headed to the same location.
And now Kole was out there, potentially confronting that creature alone.
Fingers once again twisting into knots, I peered out the window, praying that I’d see him, while trying to talk myself out of doing anything rash, but only snow greeted me.
“Has anyone been hurt by whatever’s out there?” Even to me, my voice sounded weird.
Nivinity released a breath. “Not here, thankfully, but we’ve heard that some of the fae whose villages are just south of here haven’t been as lucky.
Several have disappeared, and whatever took them has been on the move.
It’s going steadily north from what the rumors are saying, probably back to Silventine Wood.
” She shivered. “I suppose it would make sense if it’s now around here.
Truly, Prim, you should stay inside. It’s safest.”
I spun away from the window. “Fae have disappeared? As in, gone? Or taken? Or”—I gulped, barely able to get the word out—“eaten?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Truly. It’s just the rumors I’ve heard.”
Her statement slammed into me, and it suddenly occurred to me why that growl I’d just heard had sounded vaguely familiar.
It was because I had heard it before, that other night in the Wood.
That was the night I’d also sensed Kole’s presence nearby.
Even then, he’d been hunting it, but he obviously hadn’t caught it.
But just now, it sounded so close.
My heart thumped a steady tune in my chest, throbbing faster with every breath I took, as I imagined Kole out there alone with the thing that had taken fae, possibly eaten them.
I was opening the door before I knew what I was doing, acting on an instinct that I could neither understand nor ignore.
The last thing I heard was Nivinity calling a warning to me just as I bolted outside and raced down the street.