Page 116
Story: Fawn
I shift to human. Eiden does likewise.
“Why are they cutting a tree down?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” he says, frowning.
The very first day I came here, all the gardeners were told to keep away. But I have come to recognize most of them now. The grounds are locked at night, but they are busy at work during the day, entering via a sturdy wooden gate in the outer wall to the south.
“I don’t recognize the gardeners,” I say, a prickling sense of unease at the back of my neck. “I guess we shall not be playing in the lake today.”
“No,” Eiden says slowly.
Something is wrong. The sense of malaise rises the longer I stare at the gardeners.
“We should go back,” I say, but before I turn away, my eyes land on the woman among the gardeners. “What is Marigold doing working in the garden?”
“Run!” Eiden suddenly snarls.
The command in that word cracks like a whip. The sense of malaise reaches fever pitch.
My body explodes into my doe form, and I kick off.
Only to stumble as a huge net smothers me, tangling my hooves. I hit the ground hard, panic slamming me as I kick frantically to get free.
Eiden’s stag roars, a wild, beastly sound that startles me out of doe and back to human.
Panting, I claw at the net, trying to break free. “Eiden!”
Another roar, this one filled with agony. It floods my veins with ice-cold terror.
A leering face comes down over me, a rough hand closes over my shoulder, pinning me to the ground before a noxious rag is pressed over my nose.
The world turns to sparking dots.
Another roar—this one pitiful and human.
My world goes black.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Seven
Gone.
They have both gone—taken.
The air crackles. Jude shifts to his bipedal beast form. He throws his head back and howls.
Nox, likewise, shifts to his stag beast and issues a baying battle cry.
My pain is no less than theirs. I lock it down and focus on the facts because I need to, because there is no option but to get them back, safe and unhurt.
A bitter laugh wants to bubble up. Unhurt? How is that even possible? Eiden will be reliving a nightmare every second he is captive. And Fawn will be experiencing a new one, made all the worse for her closeness to Eiden, for her natural empathy and love. I want neither of them exposed to monsters like Eiden’s siblings.
We gather in the constable’s office. The door remains open under the constant stream of captains as the usually unruffled alpha barks orders and sends men scurrying. “Lock the gates! Post guards on all smuggler operations!”
“Marigold was seen in the Royal Woodland,” Gideon says as he enters the room in a rush; his dark complexion is ashen. “One of the gardeners recognized her. He went to report it to the guards on the garden entry, which is when he found them dead and raised the alarm.”
“You said she was not a target,” Wolf snarls. “This might have nothing to do with Eiden. It might be a game by your scorned lover out for retaliation.”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116 (Reading here)
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144