6. Chapter 6
Chapter six
Initially, I had kicked and squirmed in his grip.
But as soon as the ground blurred into a sea of dark green, the trees like dots far below, I stilled.
He gripped me tighter until I was pressed to his chest as he sliced through the air, and soon I recognised nothing around me.
A mountain range came into view. Were we heading west?
It was difficult to focus on anything with the adrenaline and fear mixing in my blood like stardust and fire. It made my head spin.
The air around us felt charged.
Magic. There was magic pouring off him, and it warmed my blood.
A fae. A fae male. And he’d kidnapped me!
And flown—actually flown—into the air with me pinned so closely to him I could feel his heart thundering in his carved chest beneath his riding leathers.
Could all fae fly? If my magic had ever manifested, would I have even wanted to fly?
I couldn’t focus any longer on the world around me as it smudged into swathes of paint strokes, so I looked to the male who held me to him.
He was the only fixed thing I could steady myself on.
His jaw was set in a hard line, and he refused to look at me while he flew.
My eyes couldn’t leave him. I pleaded with my senses to fear the male who held me, but all I could manage was stunned complacency. He was fae with magic rippling from him.
He loosened his grip on me when we landed on a grassy knoll.
I hadn’t realised how warm my skin had gotten where he touched me until I felt his absence.
We had been sailing through the sky like a dark star, but he put us both down with a grace I didn’t expect from someone so large.
My self-preservation regained its footing too as soon as I had a modicum of space from him.
The instant I felt the grass beneath my boots, I spun in his grip, snatched the dagger at his side and pointed it at his chest. My survival instinct roared like a waterfall, drowning out all other noise around me.
But he didn’t even flinch.
“Let me go. Bring me back,” I gritted out. I told myself I needed to go back for Bray. To ensure he was safe. But I honestly just wanted to be free of people who thought I was something they could just take.
I was still wrapped in his arms. The grip wasn’t tight, but I knew if he wanted to, he could squeeze the breath from my lungs.
The strength in his arms was preternatural.
And it flowed from him. Seeing a fae male for the first time, it was devastatingly obvious how different he was to a human …
how different I was to him. He moved with a fluidity like his limbs were elemental, not flesh.
His magic thrummed in the air and warped the edges of my senses.
He was tall, muscular and steady as he leaned into my space with his strength barely contained.
The tug on the air of him restraining his aura, his full might, filled every gap between us.
It was in the way he held his shoulders, the set of his hips, the stance. Everything about him exuded power.
I had never felt the draw of a fae before. But, without the terror of the attack souring my blood, his might bent the air around me.
My heart thundered in my chest as I waited. The tiny shaft of the dagger I clutched trembled in my grip.
“Which is it, peach? Let you go or bring you back?”
I didn’t appreciate the pet name, but getting free of the cage he had around my waist was more pertinent.
In answer, I moved the dagger and tipped it to his chin. Its point pressed dangerously close to slicing open his flesh.
“I wonder, do fae bleed?” I asked, steadying my voice.
But he had the audacity to lean in. “Why don’t you find out?” There was a light in his blue eyes, a glimmer in them as he searched mine. He was enjoying this.
“Let. Me. Go.” I pushed the blade a little more with each word, driving his chin upwards.
Finally, he took his hands off my waist and pulled them back in surrender, a wicked grin tugging at his lips.
My heart fluttered as I stepped away.
I took another step back, dagger pointed at him. There was a tiny crimson stain on its tip.
“What makes you think I need my hands to keep you?”
There was a crackle under my skin before I saw anything. I was flung into the air, the dagger lost to the grasses below.
But I didn’t fall.
I was suspended midair. Was I flying again? Whips of shadow snaked around my waist, my wrists, and very slowly, a tendril weaved its way up over my chest and around my neck. Panic rose inside me, bubbling my blood.
He hadn’t moved except to drop his hands.
Shadows poured from his fingers. There was no end to the dark they emanated.
My pulse quickened as I tried to wrap my hands around the cords of shadow.
I could feel them. Thick bands around my neck, my middle, and my arms, squeezing tighter.
But as I reached for them, my fingers went right through them like smoke.
I clutched at anything. Everything. And nothing helped my heart rate steady.
The bindings tightened, immobilising my arms .
“What are you going to do to me?” I choked out, but my words drifted like ash into the wind.
“Where’s Bray? Don’t let them hurt him!” My voice wobbled, and I didn’t care that tears were hiding just behind my eyes.
If he was going to kill me, I needed to know Bray would be okay.
People wouldn’t care what happened to me, but Bray’s family would care about him.
“That depends.” He looked at me, his face now calculating, no longer playing.
The snake of shadow around my neck was circling, like it might strike at any moment and tighten its noose.
“Depends on what?” My voice was too soft.
I didn’t know how far I was willing to go to win my own freedom back. I wasn’t even sure he’d give it to me. My options were die or don’t die. The latter seemed like the best by far, so I shut my mouth and held my breath.
He took a step toward me, and I swayed in his shadows. The black coils rippled and moved me down to eye level with him.
He wiped the drop of blood from the dagger that was now back in his hand before sheathing it again. “You. It depends on you. How well you behave. How much I like your answers.”
I bit my bottom lip to stop it from trembling again. “What do you want?” My mind was racing in every direction. Run. Survive. Protect Leesha. The adamyte. Bray. The baby. I tried to clutch the shell around my neck, but my hands were pinned by loops of shadow.
Flexing his palm, he pulled me back to solid ground.
He held the ropes of shadow wrapped around his hand like a leash.
It was somewhat awe-inspiring how much power he held over them.
Bitterness rose up inside me like a mountain bear after hibernating for an eternal winter; furious with a craving I’d never known I needed to satisfy.
He had magic. I didn’t. I knew having magic would have made things easier for me.
But seeing it before me, so blatantly and so effortlessly wielded, I realised how much I wanted it, wanted to know what it would feel like to pour magic into the world.
With his free hand, he tipped my chin up. He had dipped his head so our eyes met, but he was still towering above me.
My throat went dry. My heart was like a barrel in a rapid river, battling to stay afloat and not drown.
“I want to know why you wouldn’t give in to those thugs.
Maybe they’d have let you go if you played nicer.
I don’t think they even knew what your faebane was.
They were just greedy. Taking what didn’t belong to them.
” His voice hardened into flint, threatening to strike a spark.
“They weren’t thinkers. They didn’t attack you for nothing.
They thought there was easy money to be made.
But they were cowards. I know their type. ” His jaw was tight as he spoke.
“So different from your type?” I ground out, pulling my chin from his fingertip.
He straightened, seeming to weigh something up as he looked at me.
“I’m asking politely where you got the faebane.” His voice smoothed out, and his head tilted, like he was puzzling me.
I scoffed. “You’ve kidnapped me! How are you any different from them?”
He stood to his full height then. “I did ask you to tell me before I had to resort to this.” His shadows spooled around me, forming another band around my arms. “And believe me, things will get much worse if you don’t tell me now.”
But I couldn’t tell him. There was no way I could without endangering Leesha. He had just sliced through a man. Would he cut down anyone who got in his way to reach the adamyte—faebane? I thought of the little round bump Leesha had cradled so protectively before I left.
“I-I can’t trust you,” I stammered.
“Whoever said anything about trusting me? I just need the faebane and maybe I don’t trust you.”
“Again. You kidnapped me. You don’t get my trust,” I snipped.
Something flashed across his eyes as he examined my words.
“Why?” I tilted my head up and bit my lip in thought this time. “Why do you need it? You don’t look like you’re hurting for riches.”
I eyed his attire. It was cut to perfection. Sharp. Rich fabrics and supple leathers wrapped around his body like it was all made for him.
He regarded me for a minute. As if shocked I would ask at all.
“It’s valuable,” he said dismissively.