Page 26 of A Song of Air (Fae Elementals #4)

“E v—”

“Not now, Bryson.” His response was clipped, angry.

He had every right to be, Bryce told herself that, but it still didn’t make swallowing that bitter anger any easier.

“Ev, we have to talk.”

“I said not right now!” His shout startled birds from their trees. From above, Bryson’s familiar let out a sound of indignation on her behalf, but she offered no commentary into Bryson’s mind.

It was for the best. She was tired of everyone invading her thoughts for the moment. Just like she quickly grew tired of Ev’s anger.

“Don’t talk to me like that,” she hissed.

They were both settled in a high tree, on a thick branch, as they awaited a familiar signal from Malika that would let them know when the wagon grew closer. Their masks were placed over their faces, hiding their identities.

His attention finally turned in her direction. He stood carefully on the branch, his body leaning slightly against the trunk of the tree to avoid falling off. His bow and arrow were at the ready in his hands, his fingers curling angrily around them.

“Like what?” he spat out. His eyes shone brightly from beneath the wooden mask.

“Ev.” Bryson sighed, resisting the urge to reach for him, if only because she knew it wouldn’t be well received. “We need to talk about what happened.”

“Oh, about how you disrespected me in front of everyone?” He scoffed and leaned away. “Or about how you all but fucked that Fae in front of me?”

Bryson’s cheeks heated. “That’s not what happened!”

“It certainly looked like it.”

“Ev, it’s not. He was going to kill you and I had to get in between. He’s the one who pulled me, and we fell—”

“You think me weak. You don’t trust that I can protect myself, protect you. You’re stronger and faster than me, but I’m not a child.” He sounded angry. He always sounded angry. It lived, brittle inside him just like it did inside Bryson. “Besides, you stayed on his lap for far too long. And if you could’ve seen your face when you turned around—” He broke off, making a noise mixed with impatience and hurt.

“What?” she demanded, her own irritation growing.

He sighed again, his voice growing softer. “That’s how you look when we sleep together. And it hurt . Can’t you understand that?”

Her heart ached for what she’d done to him. She hadn’t meant to. It hadn’t been her fault, but he was right. It had been disrespectful on many levels. If Bryson was one thing, it was loyal. Faithful.

“I know the mating bond is drawing you to him,” Ev continued.

“You know I don’t want him. I don’t want the bond,” she defended, though her voice sounded weak, even to her own ears.

“Sure.” He didn’t sound convinced. “It didn’t look like that.”

“That was an accident, Ev.”

He just turned away from her and her flimsy excuse. He didn’t say another word again, and they stewed in the uncomfortable silence. She’d hurt his pride. Not only by intervening in the fight, but by getting lost in Weylyn’s vision for far too long.

His pride has been wounded, her familiar said from above.

I know.

There was a beat of silence. Then, If you want to fix things between the two of you, maybe you should show him that you need him.

Bryson frowned, scrunching her nose and staring up at the sky, as if she could see her familiar past branches and leaves. He should already know that I do. After everything we’ve been through.

If her familiar had shoulders, she would have shrugged. I have noticed that humans like reassurance, especially when competing against the mating bonds of Mana.

Her familiar went quiet after that, and Bryson didn’t even know how to respond anyway. She didn’t bother because a familiar noise whistled through the air. Something similar to the screech of a hawk, though she knew it wasn’t her familiar.

It was Malika, giving the signal.

It was time.

Bryson notched an arrow into her bow and waited with bated breath. Ev tensed beside her, both of them glancing down at the opening from in between the trees.

Everything stilled, and the familiar scents of fear, the familiar sounds of clattering wheels echoed through the woods. Her eyes squinted from beneath the wooden mask, making out shadows and clonking wooden and iron figures. Her scent picked up the slack of her poor eyesight, and she gauged positions. But just before she could let an arrow lose, Ev did so himself.

She jolted in surprise. Shooting the first arrow and immobilizing the driver was her job because she was the best shot among them. Those were the rules. Those had always been the rules.

Yet Ev’s arrow fired. Bryson knew the shot wouldn’t hit the target with as accurate precision as hers would have. And it didn’t. It struck the human’s shoulder. The man grunted and doubled over, startling the horses pulling the wagon.

Ev let out a hissed curse and slid from the tree, climbing quickly to the ground below.

“Ev!”

He ignored her.

He was ignoring their plan.

What the fuck is he doing? she thought angrily as she climbed down after him.

This wasn’t how they did things. They hardly showed their masked faces to the humans. It was supposed to protect them. They always attacked from a distance. Never up close. And they were never supposed to miss a shot, either.

Was Everette doing this because he felt he had something to prove? Because she’d embarrassed him and now he was trying to gain some of his pride back? Was that what this was about?

She couldn’t ask any of that, though, because Ev had already touched the ground and raced towards the wagon.

The horses pawed the air, frightened at the current disruption. The human shouted for backup, and several more burst from the wagon to meet Ev as her boyfriend pulled his sword from its sheath. He met the humans with a clang of blades just as Bryson’s feet touched the ground.

“Everette!” The arrow flew before she could blink, hitting its target far too wide. It didn’t stop the human from charging for Ev, but it slowed him down considerably. His sword lifted in an arc, ready to slash down against her parrying partner...

Someone appeared in a blur of metal and fabric, sword blocking the descent. The Seelie Prince. He was a swish of metal and dark hair as he shoved the human away, protecting Ev’s side. They parried, and Bryson notched another arrow in her bow.

“Ev, look out!”

Her warning was shouted too late. Even as the arrow flew, the sword came down against Everette, slicing across his chest just before the arrow pierced the human in the eye. He crumbled at the same time Ev did. At the same time the Seelie Prince finished off the other humans.

Then there was a beat of silence.

Right before everything burst into chaos.

Bryson rushed towards Ev with a cry on her lips as everyone Resistance and rebels alike burst from their hiding places, rushing around to do several things at once.

Some went to the wagons immediately, beginning to pry apart the iron to free the people from the inside. Bryson dropped to the ground beside Ev, her fingers pressing against the blood blooming against his chest.

Bryson felt the tears prick at the back of her eyes but kept them at bay. Ev groaned, his own hand reaching up to pull the mask from his face. His features twisted into agony, and she dug her fingers tighter against the wound, trying to block the flow of blood.

“Stupid,” she hissed, leaning over his body. Her hair slid from its knot, caressing his cheeks. “Why would you do something so stupid?”

Ev gasped, and it took Bryson a moment to realize he was laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

Before he could answer, Malika was dropping to her knees at their side, gently prying Bryson’s hands away from the wound. “I’ll take it from here, Bryce,” she whispered gently.

Bryson fell back on her haunches, trying to steady her breathing as she watched Malika cup her hands above the wound.

“Malika, what are you—”

Bryson barely spared a glance at Malika’s sister, who had come to hover. Bryson bit her tongue, fighting the urge to snap at the Fae Elemental and tell her that Malika didn’t like people hovering while she worked. She held it back. It wasn’t her place to come between them, even if the more jealous and bitter part of her wanted to.

Malika shushed her sister and light emanated from her hands, swallowing Ev’s wound.

“Malika! Don’t!” The ice Elemental reached for her sister, gripping her shoulder and yanking her backwards.

It was too late. Her magic had already fallen over Ev’s wound, knitting his flesh back together. Malika’s healing magic took its price as soon as it worked. It consumed her own energy. So when Iona pulled her, Malika didn’t have the energy to move her limbs or respond. She fell back, hitting her head against the ground and pulling deep breaths into her chest.

Bryson pushed to her feet, standing in between Malika and her sister. Her magic lashed out, shoving Iona away from her friend. “What the hell is your problem?” she demanded.

“It’s fine, Bryson.” Malika sat up, her movements slow and aching. “She didn’t mean it.”

“You shouldn’t be healing anyone,” Iona gritted out, ignoring Bryson completely and walking around her to help Malika to a stand. “You know how it takes a lot out of you.”

Malika and Bryson scoffed simultaneously, and it earned Bryson a blurry glare from Iona. She pretended not to notice as she bent to grip Ev’s outreached hand, pulling him to a stand. He avoided looking at her gaze just as much as she avoided looking at Iona’s.

“All due respect, big sister, you can’t tell me what I can or can’t do with my own magic.”

“I see you haven’t changed at all. Still being irresponsible with your magic and your health.”

Malika scoffed. “You’re one to talk.”

Their voices began to clatter in an argument that Bryson eventually tuned out. She turned to Ev, willing his gaze to fall on her.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

His nostrils flared, his eyes finally drawing in her direction, flashing briefly before settling on a spot over her shoulder. His anger became so much more perceptible when he looked back at her. “And you care?”

He didn’t say anything else as he stormed away in the direction of the wagon, sheathing his blade as he went.

Bryson sighed with exasperation, turning to the spot Ev had been staring at only to find Weylyn standing there. Unmoving. She couldn’t see his eyes clearly, but she knew he was staring at her.

And then, his voice resonated in her mind.

“What a weak, foolish human, to take his anger out on you for his own failures.”

“Get out of my head.” She squeezed her eyes shut against the mental assault.

In response, she felt phantom claws glide sensually down her back. “I would never treat you in such a way.”

“Get out!” She slammed her hands against her ears, but his voice only persisted. Lowering. And she felt him inside her brain, his body circling hers like a predator sizing up his prey.

“I would cherish you.” That voice whispered in her ear, closer than before. Almost like he was standing right behind her, his breath fanning across her skin.

“Stop it.” Her voice had grown weak.

“I would worship you.” His hands glided along her thighs, rising higher with gentle strokes to her hip.

She wanted to jerk away from the seduction, but something kept her firmly in place. Her own legs, the power of a bond she didn’t want, or something else entirely. Bryson wasn’t even sure.

And when Weylyn’s palm cupped between her legs, she wanted to double over at the pleasure that zapped through every inch.

“I would fuck you good, so good that you’d see the fucking stars of the Unseelie Court in your mind.”

Bryson yanked out of his vision, gasping for breath as her eyes focused once again on his body across from her.

Everything had happened within her own mind, yet it always felt as if it were real.

Out loud, she whispered, “You wish.” Though she was unsure if he’d heard her at all. It wasn’t until she turned to stomp away that his voice trailed after her, little more than a whisper in the wind.

“I do wish... little mate.”