LOFTIN

She relaxed the moment we backed out of the forest and re-entered the meadowed hills, but her mood turned pensive, a fact that didn’t bode well for me. What did the Shades tell her? I considered all the possibilities as we walked alongside one another. Whatever they said, it didn’t shatter her faith in me; however, I wondered if they splintered it. Like a crack in a glass, given the right conditions, the crack would spread and eventually the glass would break apart.

Karis walked beside me, allowing me to lead her through Faery, but as we crested a hill, she came to an abrupt stop, her face alight with awe.

The thought never occurred to me that we would skirt one of the human cities along our journey. It was inevitable now that I considered it, but she clearly hadn’t expected to see another, and so relatively close to her own.

“I always wondered if there were more cities out there, or if Ironton was the only one. I know you told me there were more, but seeing it is a little surreal, to be honest. What city is this?” she marveled as we topped the hill and glimpsed down on the dome of smoke covering another of the human towns. The smoke was thick, like that of Ironton after she left it. She truly had thickened the barriers between our worlds when she crossed through.

“Briarwood.” Most fae knew the names of the human towns because of the humans who foolishly dared leave their safety. I wasn’t sure how the human superstitions began, but each seemed to have formulated the idea that they should send one of their own to fetch smoke for their walls. The smoke was supposedly from Faery, and thus into Faery they flocked every Midsummer eve.

“How many are there?” she asked, staring at the city.

She was beautiful; the wonder on her face heartbreakingly innocent. Nemain was going to shatter her. She wouldn’t last a minute in her mother’s presence. I swallowed the thick knot of that knowledge, then answered, “Less than a dozen remain.”

“Were there more?”

“There were,” I confirmed.

“What happened to them?”

“Disease, or fighting within the city itself until little was left and the survivors had no choice but to leave and seek refuge in Faery.”

“—where they could not survive at all,” she concluded softly.

“Yes.”

“What happens to the domes? Are the dead still trapped inside?”

I shook my head. “Somehow the magic that made them knows. It’s like it senses there’s no life within it and the dome disintegrates.”

I was so entranced in watching her stare at the human city, at the emotions rolling over her face, I didn’t sense the danger. I didn’t know they’d snuck up on us until Karis’s body went sailing into the air and she landed with a dull thump halfway down the hill. The blow twisted her body so she landed on her back, the breath knocked from her lungs when she smacked against the rocky soil.

“Karis!”

A flock of Sluagh surrounded me—incorporeal, they had no bodies—more shadow than anything. One of the oldest of the Unseelie fae, they were made of pure evil. And they were strong, attacking in packs. Writhing forms of darkness, they kept together as a group, some hovering just over the ground and some higher. My sword would be useless, but the one thing shadows hated more than anything in the world was fire and light. And that was one thing I did have.

I just had to get to Karis before they did, so I could protect us both.

I took off down the hill in a sprint, sending a wall of flame toward them as I ran in the opposite direction. Frantic shrills filled the air behind me, but that wouldn’t hold the survivors off for long. I skidded down the rocky path, stopping beside her, shooting more flame from my hands as the Sluagh approached once more. The survivors had regrouped, and they were mad as hell.

“Karis?” I kept my voice steady, though I was anything but. Adrenaline pulsed through my body. I felt her arms and legs. Her bones weren’t broken.

She clawed at her throat, gasping for air.

“Calm down,” I soothed. “You took a fall and the breath was knocked out of you. You’ll be fine. Just relax.” I hoped it wasn’t anything worse than that.

Shooting more flame at the growing mass of shadows that had merged into a large, rolling wave and that threatened to break over our heads, I closed my eyes. Laying over Karis, I shielded her as my power burst from me in every direction, consuming everything in its path.

I held the burst steady, flame swirling all around us.

Karis’s mouth gaped open, water leaking from her eyes. “Shh. It’s okay. I promise, it’ll be okay.” She pinched her eyes closed against the heat, but she saw what I was capable of.

I closed my eyes, feeling the power drain away, hoping it was enough to drive the Sluagh away or incinerate them. At this point, I didn’t care which. They were the worst of the Unseelie demons. They didn’t belong in Faery. And they hurt Karis. How badly I didn’t know, but tears still flowed steadily from her eyes into her hair.

The fire inside me burned out. I glanced over my shoulder, hoping for the best, expecting the worst, and found nothing waiting to strike. The Sluagh were gone. Bits of ash rained down from the sky onto Karis’s face as I lifted my body from hers.

Her breaths were steady now.

“Karis?”

Her lips wobbled.

“Talk to me. Where are you hurt?” I felt her legs, arms, and stomach for injuries, then lifted her head off the ground.

“I’m okay,” she croaked.

“Can you sit up?” I asked.

She lay there, staring at the sky, and shook her head.

“You can’t, or don’t want to yet?” She was scaring me.

“Just... give me a minute,” she rasped, closing her eyes again. With my forearms propped on my knees, I kept watch all around us. I wouldn’t make the mistake of letting my guard down again.

She finally lifted her head, slowly curled into a sitting position, and took a deep breath. “Are you okay?” she questioned.

Befuddled, I regarded her. “Am I okay? Are you okay?”

“The canteen broke my fall,” she confessed with a wince. She was stiff. Her posture, the way she gingerly moved, everything indicated that she wasn’t hurt badly, but would feel the effects from this for a few days.

Thank goodness she’s okay. I couldn’t bear to see her hurt. The thought startled me.

I contemplated the top of the knoll, at least fifty feet above us. The memory of the sound of her body hitting the earth surfaced. I shook my head. If she were human, she wouldn’t have survived the blow, let alone the fall.

“I knew you could make fire, but I didn’t know you were an inferno. At the end, I could feel your forearms shaking. You burned yourself out, didn’t you?”

“I did.” It wasn’t the easiest thing to admit. There was a time when my power was an endless well. Now, it felt that there was only a drop or two left.

She rolled her shoulders. “Will they come back?”

“There are more Sluagh in Faery, but the ones that just attacked us no longer exist. When you’re able, we should start moving. It isn’t wise to stay here after what just happened. The fire could attract some creatures we’d rather not deal with, especially with my power depleted.” I pushed to my feet and offered her my hands. She accepted them and rose gingerly. My hands glided to the back of her neck, where I felt the muscle.

“What are you doing?” she squeaked, tensing but leaning into me.

“Making sure you weren’t injured.”

My fingers slid down her spine and the muscles that flanked it. Her hands found my chest and I realized that the tension in her muscles wasn’t from the fall at all.

Which was bad for both of us, because it meant she was as affected by my touch as I was by touching her, even though I didn’t mean for it to be intimate.

* * *

KARIS

His arms were wrapped around me as his fingers kneaded my flesh and muscle. No man had ever touched me so boldly before. I squeezed my eyes shut. He’s only checking me for injuries.

I didn’t know where to put my hands. They naturally found his broad chest, but that was a mistake. It brought our faces too close together. Trying to pull away from him, I stepped back, but his arms clamped around me, low on my spine.

“No pain?” he asked sincerely, staring down at me.

I was stiff, but not hurting. I shook my head.

I couldn’t relax with his arms around me. My entire body felt hot. Could he feel it? See the flush in my cheeks?

“Loftin?” I had to step away before I did something embarrassing like push up onto the tips of my toes and kiss him at the corner of his lips, right at the edge of thank you for saving me and I want more.

His hands tightened on my skin. An emotion I could not place rolled across his face. “Yes?”

I swallowed. “We should probably get going. I’m okay. I promise.”

He slowly removed his hands and stepped away. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

“For making sure I wasn’t hurt? That’s nothing to apologize for.” I’d wantonly enjoyed the feel of his hands.

First the Banshees, then the Puca, the thing in the woods I refused to peek at, the Shades, and now the Sluagh—which looked like they were made of something that wasn’t from this world. Everything in this damned place was confusing and dangerous. The Shades warned me not to trust Loftin. They said he lied, but he told me not to believe them; that they were only trying to hurt me. I didn’t know what to think or believe, but as far as I knew, Loftin hadn’t tried to hurt me. He hovered over me during the Sluagh attack and completely burnt his power out trying to keep me safe.

I needed to make myself forget how good it felt to be in his arms. They might be the most dangerous place in Faery. Especially for my heart.