She hated to see it.
A grin stretched across my lips. I fought back the urge to laugh at her. That might be pushing it a bit too far, even if adrenaline was making me overly cocky. While Beryl struggled to contain her wrath, I reached to cradle the heavy lump of guilt in my gut like it was a seedling in need of nurturing.
I poured power into my guilt and turned it into something green and brimming with life. It was no longer the weight of my failure, but a new start to everything that was to come. It made me think of Addie. I acknowledged the death of things long gone so that we could all welcome new growth.
Beryl spoke, but I couldn’t hear her. I was sure that she was spouting some sort of rhetoric about how the Seelie were the weaker fae and that only the Unseelie could survive. We no longer had to rely on survival of the fittest. When there was love and community, all could thrive.
I shoved the new seed into the ground as Beryl entertained herself like a proper monologuing villain. Before I could ask the seedling to grow, Beryl thrust her hand into my chest.
Stunned, I looked down at her too-long fingers embedded in my flesh.
Well, I’d royally messed up.
A black monster dropped out of the sky and onto Beryl’s head. Her startled cry split the air as she tumbled back, her fingers ripping free of my body. I, too, fell. My back slammed into the ground.
I couldn’t see the fight beside me. My stunned stare stayed on the sky while I listened to snarls and grunts. Beneath me, the seed of new growth thumped in time with my stuttering heart.
“Cerri!” Rhoan’s monstrous voice roared.
I touched my chest and lifted my fingers to find them coated with blood.
Though I wanted to find my endeavor foolish, I thought of the people back home who still needed an antidote so that the taint of fae food didn’t make them waste away. Without the antidote, Ness and Ryder would have to watch over each and every poisoned Pack member to help them through a rough detox. They were two people. They couldn’t do everything on their own. They couldn’t stand watch over my parents and Vi while keeping an eye on everyone else. It was too much to ask of two people.
I had to get back to them. If I died here, then I wouldn’t be able to fulfil the promise I’d made.
Beneath me, the ground rumbled. The hedges shook and stones fell in the distance. My blood trickled into the ground and sank down towards the seed of new growth. When the two touched, the seed exploded. Power unfurled in all directions like the new pink petals of a fresh blossom.
I gasped as that power slammed into my chest. Healing energy coursed through my body and pulled my flesh together.
Before anything else could happen, a dark shape blotted out the sun. I shrieked when feathered arms wrapped around me and lifted me high into the sky. The familiar smell of leather and whisky told me who’d grabbed me, but my eyes refused to believe.
Together, the monster that smelled like Rhoan and I careened towards the crumbling castle at the center of the hedge maze. The monster pulled his wings into his body and sent us tumbling through an open window. We hit the floor and rolled across it. The monstrous man cradled me in his arms. He kept a taloned hand on the back of my head so that I wouldn’t crack my skull.
This had to be Rhoan.
Here was the beast he’d tried so hard to hide from me the night that he’d saved Taliesin. This was the reason that he hid his true self from me.
Rhoan braced himself above me and looked down to study my chest. At first, my face burned red-hot.Now was not the time—Rhoan lifted my shirt and cocked his head at the healed wounds. He wasn’t checking me out. The man had been prepared to tend wounds.
“I watched her hurt you,” Rhoan said, softly. He lifted his angered gaze to meet mine. “How could you just stand there and let her attack you like that? It was like you weren’t even paying attention to her. I tried to reach you, but I…I was…”
I cupped his face in my hands and stared into his glowing beast eyes. His pupils had slitted, and his irises were bright with a myriad of colors dancing over a deep darkness. Blots of black speckled his cheeks before turning into feathers at the edge of his jaw. Even his ears were longer.
This was what he’d been trying to hide from me. I ran my thumb along his lip and felt the sharp fangs beneath. Worry pinched the corners of his bright eyes when he pulled away from my touch.
Fuck it,I thought.
I wanted Rhoan to know that I felt the same about this form as I did about his fae body. There was only one way I could think of showing him.
I yanked him close and pressed my lips to his. Once more, I expected him to pull away and remind me of his vow. This time, his beast took over. Rhoan opened to me with a lust-filled growl and pinned me to the floor. His tongue explored my mouth while his teeth grazed my lips. My heart leapt in excited anticipation.
The seed of power that I’d planted in the earth thumped in time with my heart, which was now fluttering at Rhoan’s touch. He pressed the length of his body into mine so I could feel just how grateful he was for my show of trust and affection.
Yeah, that’s what this was. It was trust and affection.
My heart didn’t belong to him, this man who’d attacked a fae queen to save me from bleeding out on the ground by myself.
Rhoan pulled back. His breath was heavy in my ear. I felt him shudder under my hands. “I thought you were dead,” he whispered, the words strangled. “I didn’t know what I would have done if you’d died.”