The female spins to face me, her head snapping at an unnatural angle as she eyes me curiously.
“She can have one of my stones!” I tell her. My outburst reached more fae, who are now all completely focused on me. “I have plenty! I can share! I don’t need so many!”
A couple of other women mutter in agreement, but as one, the fae break into hysterics.
“Did she just…”
“I have never heard such a-“
“Stupid human!”
I keep my head high even as blood rushes to my cheeks. Fuck them for laughing at my kindness. I knew it was stupid. The males had chosen to huntme. I had no say in the matter. But I couldn’t just stand here and allow these women to be sent to certain death.
As they laugh, they wave slim, bony hands carelessly in the air, and the unChosen fall through the ground. Small portals in varying colors pop in and out of existence all over the clearing, sending the unChosen to the Forest. Their screams falling on empty ears. My stomach churns as I watch them disappear. One after the other. Their faces painted in varying degrees of terrified.
Another portal opens nearby, and someone shoves Georgia, the large tattooed woman from my first day at the hotel, through. I barely manage a blink before something huge and cast in shadows dashes past the portal with a scaled and slimy claw. One second, Georgia is there, the next, the portal is empty save for a spattering of thick, crimson blood, some of which has landed onthisside of the portal. The fae cheer at her demise, and the portal flicks out of existence just as quickly as it had appeared.
But I can’t stop looking at the blood; everything around me blurs while the sounds turn to distant hums. I couldn’t stop thinking about how quick it had been. She hadn’t even seen what killed her. A blessing, I supposed. I had only seen its claw, but I certainly did not want to meet the creature when it was my turn to cross a portal.
It’s an hour or so later when the male announces it’s our turn.
“Now, I forgot to mention, the males also have 12 hours to find you. If 24 hours pass from the moment you step through your portal, and you remain unclaimed andalive, you will be freed and returned to your Earth,” he pauses, then laughs madly. “But that’sneverhappened before.”
He jokingly asks for a volunteer, and everyone shrinks back a step while the fae hoot and
holler.
A ferocious burn of pure anger crawls its way up my belly, and I let it take control of my body. Fuck them if they think they were going to get the last laugh here.
“I’ll go.”
They don’t hear me at first, so I say it louder, stepping forward until I’m just a couple of feet away from the male seemingly in charge.
The field quiets unerringly fast, and all focus falls to me.Again.
“Ah, yes,” the fae smirks past his surprise, “the fiery little human who caught the eye of High Lord Draekoh of Light. I see now what he saw in you.” Louder, he jokes, “I suddenly regret my choice of not Hunting this year!”
I fold my arms across my chest and cock my hip as laughter fills the clearing once again. This fucking smart ass needed to be taken down a peg.
“Too bad,” I say boldly, my voice causing the fae nearest to hush. “I would have really enjoyed kicking your ass out there.”
He steps close, his humor disappearing in a flash. His anger is kind of terrifying, but I hold my ground, tipping back my nose so my eyes never leave his.
“You’d better hope some hungry faerie creature gets to you before the High Lord does. Dying by them would be a mercy. Lord Draekoh, though… he is going to fucking flay you alive.”
He steps away then and summons a portal. This one is the same sickly yellow of his eyes. Gross. I don’t know why, but a portal of literally any other color would be so much easier to cross through. My stomach flips as if the very thought of my skin passing through it. What a horrible color.
“Well? Shall we give you a push?” the smart ass asks with a spark of humor lacing his voice.
“No,” I tell him, giving myself a firm mental slap across the face. I would not show weakness in front of this male. “I just absolutely loathe the idea of this disgusting color touching my flesh. It’s a real bummer you have to live with it in your eyes.”
I step through before he can tear me limb from limb.
Chapter Fourteen
The portal disappears with a pop almost immediately after my feet touch the thick, black, compost-like dirt of the Wylden Forest. I immediately set my legs apart and bend my knees in a defensive position. I hold my arms at the ready and freeze, scanning my surroundings slowly and with a critical eye.
I’m on my own. Fuck, I hope Akari was ok. And Jasmin and Jabira. At least Jabira didn’t have to partake in this ridiculous and cruelgame. Wherever she was, whatever was in store for her, I hoped it wasn’t as lethal and cruel as The Wild Hunt.
