Page 20 of WitchBorn

“Okay, but they wouldn’t know me at all.” Finn pointed out.

“Sebastian is that sort of sickly-sweet type who tries to rescue everyone. He and his mate own a bakery and a tea shop. They have the most delicious teas,” I said wistfully.

“A fae king owns a bakery?” He eyed the cake.

“I’m hoping if I feed it to you, you can eat it and maybe get pulled out of this world?”

“What about you?”

“I can drink the tea instead. You eat the cake.”

“What if you need both to get out?”

Why did he have to ask so many questions? “Can you try it, please?” I asked, unable to hide my frustration. What was it about this man that made me impatient to save him? I’d watched plenty of mortals die. The fae were really good at killing the fragile things of the mortal world. “I still don’t know if you can touch it, but I’m hopeful. As a mortal, you shouldn’t be in this realm at all.”

“Wait, mortal? Does that mean you’re immortal?”

“No one is really immortal,” I huffed. “Some things are just harder to kill. Like the fae…”

“Creepy.”

“Please just try the fucking cake.”

“Fine,” Finn said and leaned in, opening his mouth.

I stared at him for a half second, then carefully slid the fork of cake toward his mouth.

The cabin trembled, a booming shake rippling through the walls and floor as though it were meant to shatter. The cake never made it to Finn’s lips, and I dropped the cake and the fork, both of them landing together on the plate as though drawn by a magnet. Finn grabbed my arm to steady me as the entire cabin rolled and shook, noise deafening. The light flickered and vanished.

“What the fuck?”

The cabin crumbled, pieces of the ceiling tumbled around us in broken bits of logs and debris. Finn pulled me close, arm strong as a vise around me, warming me as he yanked me out of the path of a giant beam that landed where we’d been standing.

“Okay, maybe we angered your Summer king or something?” Finn said.

The tea sat on the counter, unmoved by the shaking, cake also perfectly still. But the wood stove opened, door swinging hard to the side and fire leapt upward, engulfing the cabinets in seconds.

“I don’t think this is Sebastian’s doing.” Fire licked at the walls, exploding through the kitchen part of the cabin in seconds.

“Jesus, fuck,” Finn said as he dragged me toward the door.

A giant beam fell over the door as if to block it. I knew there couldn’t have been anything in the roof of the cabin that large. Did that mean it was an illusion?

Finn cursed, and reached for the beam, trying to lift it, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Step back,” I told him.

He hesitated only a half second, and I kicked the beam, expecting my leg to go through it like it was an illusion, only the wood splintered in half.

“That was helpful. Fae are super strong, eh?” He grabbed at the broken edge shoving it aside to push open the door.

A gust of wind slammed into the cabin, making the entire thing sway. Deep into the woods, surrounded by trees, I knew wind of that force wasn’t scientifically possible, which meant only one thing. Fae magic.

Was this world trying to kill Finn? Why?

He shoved at the door until the narrow slit was barely wide enough to crawl through. “Come on,” he shouted, the crackling fire, wailing wind, and popping of burning wood muting his words. “You first.”

“Gentlemanly and all, but I think you better go first.” A thousand fears of him getting trapped inside after I was already freed crossed my mind. I put my hand on my chest. “Fae, remember? Harder to kill.”