Page 28

"Okay," I whispered.

"Follow us." I swore I heard a faint laugh, like a faraway bell. The mist still surrounded us, and I hurried to keep up with them. Anything not to be alone.

After a few minutes, I smelled the putrid stench of sulfur in the air, and my boots began to squelch in the familiar, thick mud of the salt marshes.

Soon, the wisps were flying faster and faster. Their lights were fading in the thick mist. I quickened my pace to keep up, but one of my boots squelched deep into the mud and stuck. My foot flew free.

I groaned and leaned down to search for my missing shoe. The smell of decomposition was nearly overpowering at such a close distance.

I glanced up, and the lights were nearly gone. "No! Wait!" I cried, standing up and forgetting about my boot entirely. I ran forward, my bare foot sinking in the soft mud.

But the dancing lights did not wait for me. Their laughter rang out as they disappeared into the mist, leaving me alone in darkness. Star blighted little buggers. I should have known better than to follow them. Now, I was worse off than when they found me.

Resigned, I continued forward.

As quickly as it had come, the mist began to dissipate.

Ahead, I saw the faint silhouette of a woman with sharp horns. She alone was shrouded from head to toe in mist, and I could only make out her general shape. I suspected at once that she was the fae who had walked beside me in the mist.

Everything had been a game.

I was being hunted.

None of the fae were safe, but this woman was more terrifying than any other I had encountered. Even now, my own body was trying to betray me. I felt a strong urge to run toward her and throw myself at her feet. I wanted to… serve her?

An icy chill ran down my spine. With great strength of will, I forced myself to change direction and slogged deeper and deeper into the marsh.

Yet, somehow, the woman grew closer. I couldn’t see more than her silhouette in the darkness, but I felt her presence. She was large, ancient, and beautiful. Ethereal even… or, perhaps, the exact opposite.

My blood ran cold. My pulse dropped. I was too scared to move.

Somehow, she was closer. Between her two sharp horns, she wore a crown made of bones. Despite her proximity, I still couldn’t see her face. She was shrouded in wisps of fabric, like a skeletal bride, mocking me, a stolen bride. She reached out a hand, and I moved my own to grasp hers.

Just as my fingers were a mere whisper away from hers, someone wrapped strong arms around my waist and jerked me away. For a moment, I was airborne. I landed on the back of a large stag with a majestic rack of antlers. His hide gleamed like stardust in the darkness.

A hand wrapped around my mouth, silencing my scream.

I felt warm breath against my ear. "Say nothing," whispered the Fae King.

I could still feel the lingering presence of the one in front of us, watching malevolently.

The wisps reappeared and cried out, "My king."

He paid them no attention, staring into the inky darkness. "Do not test me," he called, his voice like a riptide, dangerous and unpredictable. Only a fool would have ignored him.

The shrouded fae did not move nor speak.

He glared a moment longer, then called out to his steed, "Yah!"

With my back pressed into his hard, warm chest, I felt safe. Who would dare touch me while I was with him? This feeling was primal, overpowering…

The stag turned, and together we squelched through the marsh. The wisps hovered around us, murmuring apologies in their high pitched voices.

He swatted them like gnats.

With his powerful arms wrapped around me, I nodded off against his warm chest as we journeyed back through the dark forest. The stag’s movements were graceful and steady.

When we returned, he helped me off the stag and then looked carefully down the long bridge of his nose at me. "Georgia," he said carefully.