Get back up.
Find the light.
Alone. I was so alone.
A lone figure stood on the black stoned streets of the City of Night. His head bowed over a fae’s body, claws dripping with blood extended from his fingertips.
Sensing me watching, he looked up into my grief stricken stare.
Gold eyes bore into me. “No!” I whispered.
Chapter 12
“Remnant!”Ishooktheshadow fae hard, frantic to pull her from the nightmare that held her hostage and caused pain to etch permanently into her gorgeous face.“Please, wake up, my little umbra.”
Her screams, the exact replica of the ones I heard while in the soul mirror, had alerted me that something was wrong.
The moment I got to her side, shadows exploded violently and hit me with such force that it had knocked me out for several hours. When I woke, I was sprawled out on my ass with a whimpering unconscious Remnant curled into my side, and the night had passed into midday.
Worse than that, we were no longer in the Balsam Plains, her shadows were missing, and so was my goddess damn satchel.
I shook her harder this time her lashes fluttering against her pale cheeks. “For the love of the Goddess, please, please wake up. I need to see those beautiful emerald eyes open for me.” Brushingback her hair tenderly, I added. “One day of your glaring at me wasn’t enough. I want to see them sparkle when you laugh, the fire in them when you find your pleasure, the death in them when you take your vengeance—” My forehead dropped to hers and my voice broke, “come back to me…”
“Her shadows have transported us near water.”My beast growled and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.“And we are no longer alone.”
“Fuck.” I snarled. Never mind the fact the shadows could transport…we had bigger problems. I pulled away, regretting my choices while I was making them. “Time to wake up, Remnant Dark. The water fae are here.” Before I could change my mind, I raked my knuckles hard against her sternum. Hoping the sudden jolt of pain would be enough to wake her.
But she only groaned loudly and I watched in horror when a lone tear slid down her pale face.
“Goddess damn it!” I snarled, shaking her again.
“Unmask your bond and use it to wake her before it's too late. They cannot discover she's alive.”My beast commanded harshly. He was prowling with agitation inside my mind.
“Piss off cat.” I growled back at him. “You know I can’t do that. I vowed I would give her the choice when the time came. I refuse to be added to the list of things taken from her.”
“Irrational. What choices she has won’t matter when you’re both dead. It is unsafe here.”The cat snarled at me.
I looked over my shoulder and could see a new waterway forming, its crystal depths swirling ominously towards us. I was not well versed in the waterways of Faerie but I knew this river had not been on the maps I studied. Scooping up Remnant, I tucked her protectively into my chest. “We might still have time to get away.” I muttered.
“You’re a fool. That waterway has changed in seconds. There is no place to hide now. I can smell their rotten stench even with your meager fairy senses.”He warned me.
Before I could respond, a sultry coo came from behind me. “You aren’t leaving, are you handsome?” The siren-like voice was a soft caress on my skin that made my stomach curdle where I stood.
“Fuck me.” I sighed and tilted my head up to the cloudless sky, mouthing a worthless prayer…more like a plea to a goddess that never listened.
“That can be arranged.” The siren voice purred again.
Shielding Remnant with my arms I turned around. “I’ll pass this time, Kira.” I said cooly to the naked water fae standing within the banks of the small river. Like all water fae, Kira was exceptionally beautiful.
Her skin glittered like the water she waded in. Long waves of pink hair covered her breasts and flowed over her toned naked legs, and down into the water around her. Red lips smirked at my perusal and her jeweled rose colored eyes blinked innocently back at me through dark lashes. Water droplets fell from them like crystals into the swirling water, alluring in her sexual innocence that broke the strongest of mind into mindless desire.
Except Kira was anything but innocent. She was a powerful water fae, taking over leadership of her people when their precious Atlantis fell. Her selfishness made any alliance with her a tremulous affair, one that I appealed to stay far far away from.
Recognition crossed her face while she attempted to peek at what I was guarding. “Emon! How delightful that we have crossed paths yet again. Searching for your way back home now? I can take you there.” She said huskily, indicating the water around her.
I held back a snort at her clever attempt to discover my homeland. There was a reason the water fae could not travel the waterways to Finlandia and it had everything to do with their conniving leader.
“One would think that our paths are crossing purposefully.” I finally said wryly.
