Page 25 of The Faebound Trials (Mates and Madness: The Phantom Prince and The Bloodweaver #1)

“She’s escaping! Catch her,” Shilmarej shouted in the background.

I was too far already when they realized I was running away.

My limbs were long and it gave me the advantage I needed the most.

Living in Central Mistfall had trained me to run for my life, rivaling the lightning of a thunder—though that was impossible but I tried to run as fast as I could.

Being light and underweight made it easier for me to be one with the wind.

I didn’t like being a thief, because it required a lot of running, and running was tiring. But it was a great experience, it taught me the perfect way to run and escape from the best hunters of Enara.

The forest had become splotches of color and blur as I increased my speed.

My heart was racing when I heard the clanging of metal. I didn’t need to look back to see they were riding horses to catch me.

I could hear the blood of three horses, wild and stronger than the fae and any human being.

I tried to put a bigger distance as I avoided all the potential tree roots that could make me lose my balance.

Until one of the knights said something I couldn’t hear clearly.

“Serantare Maras.”

And with that word the next tree I was passing had its branches long and wide.

And it swayed to where I was, and it lurched towards me.

I saw the intention so I ducked and rolled to avoid it, the branches wanted to wrap around my ankles and my arms, locking me in.

My heart lurched forward, threatening to come out of my chest.

I cursed under my breath, my pace decreased.

I needed to look back to see what they were trying to do, but I settled with listening because I needed to put larger gaps between us.

The power of fae was stronger in the forest. It hummed, it was beating like two wings fluttering and seeking to fly, it was in the heart of the forests. Not quite like the core I once heard.

I focused on pushing myself further and there it was.

I could feel it.

I could feel the rush of my blood settling in one place, in the middle, in my core where all my power comes from, preparing my body to become all flesh and fire.

I prepared myself to bloodweave, my guts and intestines rearranging to form divine rings of fire.

I could feel the loud thumping of the earth, I could feel the time threading in its wake.

I felt the electricity running through my skin as I prepared myself to bloodweave and thread through time and go back to where I came from.

With one leap I could end all this.

With one leap I could forget about everything.

But before I could turn into a ball of fire, before I could bloodweave, I was stock-still in place.

My eyes widened as I watched a comet ablaze in the sky.

And the comet was surging fast right to where I was.

The atmosphere trembled, the ground was shaking, and the air crackled with vital energy I had never felt.

What the hell is that? What’s happening?

The comet was coming through at an incredible speed, debris and the trees almost parted, tearing everything in its way.

I just watched its incredible force upon its fall.

My breath was stuck in my throat when I realized what was about to hit the trees at my sides.

I could feel the heat licking my skin as they burned a bright red-orange of fire and flesh.

And an invisible placenta-like transparent shield held the ball of fire together.

It was beating, surging, burning degrees hotter than the sun, and above all it was gigantic.

Almost as big as the fucking moon.

A ball of fire was coming down to hit me, orbiting through an invisible axis.

My mind was blank and I realized my own bloodweaving was interrupted by a coming bloodweaver.

I didn’t realize I was panting from running until I stopped breathing when the bloodweaver crashed into the ground and its fall shook the ground in violent waves.

It crashed so loud and it reminded me of the time where I was under the field where bloodweavers were turning into balls of fire to successfully bloodweave.

And right now, one ball of fire just crashed and exploded, viciously wrecking everything in its way.

A wave of air slashed through the air and I was slammed to a nearby tree from the blast.

A huge crater was formed as the bloodweaver struck the ground. It was very different from what I had watched before, when I first saw a bloodweaver reemerging from bloodweaving.

Maybe because that place was a place where time didn’t exist.

I blinked.

I didn’t know what to feel, but my hands were trembling as I tried to get up. The adrenaline from the attempt to bloodweave was now taking a toll on my body.

But my mind was on the bloodweaver.

Who was it?

Luckily, I wasn’t injured or wounded. I could still feel the thrum of my powers but it was now calm as I didn’t proceed with my bloodweaving.

I’d do it later, but right now I need to know who threaded through time and ended up here.

But I realized that wasn’t the first and the last.

Someone was coming again.

It wasn’t just one bloodweaver.

There were two of them.

An incoming another bloodweaver was heading fast and angry from the sky.

The air slammed and tore everything in its way.

And it was only a matter of second before the ground shook again as the bloodweaver exploded onto the ground, creating waves and waves of hot air slamming through the forests.

I covered my eyes as dust and embers flew in the air.

I coughed from the incredible heat it produced when it hit the ground.

It landed just beside the first bloodweaver.

When I recovered from the intense force of two bloodweavers hitting the ancient grounds of Enoranthas, I stood up and walked to the craters they fell into.

And I waited and watched.

Deep below the crater, the first bloodweaver rolled like a folded carpet and descended gracefully from the shell of the ball of fire, their bodies rearranging to form a normal human body.

The first bloodweaver had a mess of blond hair, and he stood tall and shook himself out of the dust and embers that surrounded him. His crooked nose was tall when he looked to his left.

He wore the familiar dark blue uniform of bloodweavers.

The same one he was wearing when I last saw them.

When he tilted his head up to look around, my eyes fell on the familiar tattoo on his neck, a black arrow piercing through a vertical golden crown in half.

I immediately recognized the man when his eyes fell on mine.

A smile broke on his face when he recognized me.

He lifted his hand up.

He was holding and waving a sugar pouch.

“Lowen! I brought you Caran’s sugar.”

A laugh erupted from my chest, eyes wide in surprise.

It was Kell.