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“Beautiful?”His voice echoes in my mind as he puffs out his chest like an indignant peacock.“I’m not beautiful, I’m strong and handsome.”

I jerk back, eyes wide. “I just heard you in my mind.”

Ren stills.“You can hear me?”

“Yes.”

His lips pull back in what I assume is a fox grin.“I knew you were the one.”

“The one?” I frown. “What are you talking about?”

His head jerks toward the forest, his ears flicking forward and his entire body suddenly tense.“We have to go.”

Worry tightens my chest. “What’s wrong?”

“No time to explain.”Ren lowers himself onto his haunches, dipping his massive frame toward the ground.“Get on,”he commands, voice urgent.“Quickly.”

Gathering my skirts, I climb onto his back, settling just below his shoulders. Our supply satchel is slung across my back and Finik is still nestled safely in my dress pocket.

“Hold on tight.”It’s the only warning I get before he surges forward, breaking into a run.

The wind whips through my hair and the forest blurs around us as we race through the woods, his muscles bunching and shifting beneath me with effortless grace.

The crisp night air cools my skin as Ren weaves expertly through the trees as the scent of pine and damp earth fills my lungs.

I lean forward and call out. “What are we running from?”

“Pixies,” he says over his shoulder.

It takes me a moment to realize he’s said this aloud instead of in my mind, and I mean to ask him about it, but when I look over my shoulder, I see dozens of flickering golden lights following close.

“Are they dangerous?”

“They may be tiny, but they have razor-sharp fangs, and very foul tempers.”

Worry fills me as they gain on us, and the angry buzzing of dozens of tiny wings fills the air. “Why are they after you?”

“I may have insulted them a few days ago. Before I stumbled through the barrier around the tower.”

That doesn’t sound quite so bad. “Perhaps you can try talking to them?” I offer. “Maybe apologize or something?”

It’s an odd sensation, but somehow I’m able to sense… to feel his hesitation before he finally replies.“I already tried, but it didn’t work.”

“What did you do?”

Ren yelps, and I glance back, eyes wide as a couple of pixies nip at his haunches, their lips peeled back, revealing tiny, dagger-sharp fangs.

He flicks them off with his tail and they slam against a nearby tree in a puff of pixie dust, letting loose a series of high-pitched squeaks that I’m sure are some rather choice words.

“You know, I tried to apologize!” He calls over his shoulder. “But I take it back. You’re vermin! The lot of you! Nothing more than a bunch of pesky gnats with delusions of grandeur!”

The angry buzzing grows louder.

Without warning, the ground falls out from beneath us. A scream tears from my throat as we tumble forward, the world spinning in a blur of trees, darkness, and moonlight.

Ren shifts back to his two-legged form in a swift ripple of magic. His strong arms wrap around my waist as he tucks me against him, curling protectively around me, absorbing every jarring blow and sharp scrape as we careen down the steep incline.

When we finally come to an abrupt halt at the bottom, Ren is panting, his breath is hot against my neck and I’m fully enveloped by his large, muscular frame.