Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
Briar
“He spoke to me! Toric spoke to me!” I shouted at Gizzi.
When Gizzi’s nose twitched, his whiskers tickled my cheek. “Well, isn’t he special.”
I stifled a chuckle at Gizzi’s disgruntled tone and rubbed his head. He leaned into my touch as Toric tilted his head quizzically. The voice I heard in the woods must have been another animal I couldn’t see.
“Can I talk to you both at the same time?” I pondered.
Before I could figure out the answer, Knox stepped onto the porch. The set of his jaw told me he was far from happy.
Every inch of him remained on full display, something the women in the contingent openly enjoyed. I’d gladly tear their ogling eyes from their skulls if I could.
His head instantly swiveled toward me. The shifter’s superior sense of smell had given us away before his eyes latched onto me.
Panic thrummed through me as my eyes darted around. Was I going back to my mother? Or would I be trapped here with a man who didn’t trust me and who would have handed me over to her?
Neither option was exactly ideal, but I’d prefer to stay here, even if Knox hated me.
Devnair rested his hand on the small of my back. “Be the thorn, Briar.”
I didn’t want to be the thorn. I wanted to be the one running down the road, plunging into the woods, and racing toward… anywhere else. I had no control over my life, and I hated it.
The cyclops strode toward their mounts as Caspian and three other merfolk emerged from the building. Knox descended the stairs and stalked toward us. When his gaze landed on Devnair, he bared his fangs.
Devnair lowered his hand and stepped away from me as Knox drew closer. Gizzi tensed like he was about to spring, and for a second, I almost turned and ran.
I had no chance of evading the shifters, but attempting to flee was a far better option than standing here and waiting to meet whatever doomed fate I faced. Judging by the look on his face, I couldn’t tell if I was being handed back to my mother or taken back to the castle.
Over Knox’s shoulder, I saw my mother emerge from the building with her shoulders back and her jaw locked.
When her gaze settled on me, hatred hardened her beautiful features.
Knox must have seen something on my face as his head turned toward her.
He stopped walking to stare at my mother until her loathing-filled gaze shifted to him.
Tension emanated between them, and in that moment, I heard their unspoken vow to destroy each other. I gulped as Gizzi rose onto his hind legs to perch on my shoulder.
“Things are about to get far more interesting,” Devnair murmured.
“I think you mean deadly,” I whispered back.
“Let’s hope not.”
We could hope, but I doubted it would do us any good.
Knox shifted his gaze back to me as Cozameal stepped out of the building and strode forward to stand beside my mother. I couldn’t hear what he said, but she scowled at him before striding down the steps toward us.
My heart lodged in my throat while I waited to hear my fate. I couldn’t look at the others as Knox stopped before me.
I despised myself for it, but I couldn’t stop my hands from shaking. Clasping them before me, I squeezed as I tried to maintain some semblance of control.
“Let’s go,” Knox said.
I gulped my heart back down before speaking. “Where?”
“To the castle.”
“I don’t… I don’t have to go with… her?”
The harshness of his features eased a little, and, for a second, I thought he might hug me. “No.”
When he spoke again, his tone was nowhere near as ruthless. While my life in Wildwood was far from free, it was much better than in Nightshade. I didn’t doubt they’d still use me as a pawn between the kingdoms; my future remained uncertain, but at least, for now, I was somewhat safer.
I had to escape this place and take control of my fate, but I would make it to Terra. I didn’t care what I had to do to make it there.
“It was good seeing you again, Briar,” Devnair said.
“It was good seeing you too, Devnair,” I murmured.
If I made it to Terra, he’d take me in. I saw that promise in his black eyes when they met mine, and his mouth curved into a slight smile.
Knox stepped closer to the elf, crowding him with his much larger frame. “Stay the fuck away from her.”
Knox had a good nine inches and a hundred pounds on Devnair, but the elf didn’t back away. “She’s a friend.”
“You don’t even know her.”
“In some ways, I know her better than you.”
The look on Knox’s face made my blood run cold. Seeking to soothe him, I rested my hand on Knox’s chest, even though it might make him explode. When he seized my fingers, I thought he would throw my hand away, but his fingers remained enclosed around mine.
“It’s time for you to leave, elf,” Knox growled. “The shifters will escort you and the others out of Wildwood. If I discover you here again, I’ll make sure you wear your entrails as a necklace.”
“How delightful,” Devnair murmured. “You evoke such imagery with your words, Knox.”
“Get out of here.”
This time, Devnair sensed the danger as he bowed his head, edged backward, and untied his horse’s reins from the hitching post. While the casters hurried to their mounts, my mother and Rosalie stopped to stare at us.
I hated them for what they’d done to Knox far more than they could ever hate me, and I refused to break their gaze. It wasn’t until the other casters joined them that they finally looked away.
Alwin steered his horse over to Knox and stopped a few feet away. “We’ll see you at the tribunal meeting next month in Terra.”
Had it been ten years since the last one already?
The tribunal would gather sooner if necessary, like today, but its big meetings were a spectacle and occurred only once a decade. That’s about as often as they liked seeing each other.
The location of the meetings moved. The last one was in Bloodborne; I was happy when my mother went to it, as it gave me more freedom and time to spend with Seth in No Man’s Land. Our happiness ended shortly afterward.
“I’m aware, and I’ll be there,” Knox bit out through his teeth.
When Alwin nodded and turned his horse away, a gray wolf, far larger than any normal wolf, fell in behind him. As the rest of the tribunal rode away, a black panther and leopard also fell in beside them as Dromon, Pierce, and Lyra ensured the tribunal left Wildwood.
I had no doubt the shadow dragon would also make sure they left, but it wouldn’t let them see it.