Freed (Imprisoned by the Fae 3)

Does he?

Because I sure as hell don’t.

He jerks his chin over at Nine. “You won’t change my mind. Will my geas be enough?”

Nine hardens his jaw.

When Riley realizes that her mate doesn’t plan on answering Rys, she pokes him in the side. “Do you know what he’s talking about?”

Nine might avoid answering Rys. When it comes to Riley, it seems like he can’t.

“Yes,” he admits. “It’s foolish. I know the prison you saw. I can lead him there without invoking the Hunt.”

“Or I can bargain for a ride that’ll get me there all the faster.”

“I wouldn’t.”

Rys throws a glance toward Riley. “For your ffrindau, would you?”

Nine stays quiet for a few seconds. I know that Rys hit a bulls-eye with his comment, though, because the Unseelie finally lets out a frustrated sigh. “You can call on the Hunt. You want one rider? You’ll get him. But I don’t guarantee that he’ll give you his mount.”

“Fair enough. Let’s just hope that he will.”

“Rys?” I’m barely following the conversation between the two fae, but what I understand, I don’t like. “What are you doing?”

“You’ll see.”

Nope. Don’t want to.

I don’t get the chance to even try and argue. Before I can say a single word to stop him, Rys backs away from the rest of us. As he puts space between us, he reaches for something on his belt. It’s hidden beneath his cloak, and by the time I realize that he’s pulled a dagger out—a freaking dagger—he’s already slashed it across the meaty part of his forearm.

The words explode out of me. “What the fuck?”

In fact, my screech is so loud that I don’t hear the foreign words he murmurs as he flips his arm, letting his silvery blood drip onto the ground.

But you know what I do hear?

The super loud hoofbeats that seem to come out of nowhere.

9

I… I know that sound.

I spin in place, searching for the source of it. Like the last time I heard the sounds of a horse galloping toward me, I don’t see where it’s coming from. It’s loud, a thundering drumbeat that rattles inside of my skull, and it could be heading from any direction.

One thing for sure, though, it’s heading toward us.

How could I have forgotten about the mysterious rider that haunts the Shadow Realm?

Is this the Wild Hunt that Rys and Nine were talking about? I don’t know, but as the hoofbeats only grow louder and louder, the ground shaking beneath my boots, I’m about to find out.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watch as Nine yanks Riley away from the open clearing. He wraps his arms around her belly, lifting her off the ground the same way that Unseelie snagged Jim. He melts right into the shadows, hiding from sight.

Rys notices, too. “You don’t have to stay. You can follow after the Shadow. She’ll cover you even if Nine won’t.”

I’m sure she would. I don’t know if it’s because she’s half-human or because we’re both chicks, but Riley would do her best to help me. Shoot, she already has, if you count the way she tricked her own mate to go the extra step to look for Jim.

But if I abandon Rys, that leaves him to face the mysterious rider alone.