He nods. “Yes, Leannán. If you let me, I’ve come to take you back to the Summer Court.”
If you let me?
Try to fucking stop me.
10
Before Saxon leaves, he assumes the same glamour again. I didn’t really get it at first. I thought he was going to take a portal to wherever he’s going off to so that the Unseelie glamour was unnecessary, but I was wrong. After having another whispered conversation with Rys, he nods over at us both, then slips off into the shadows.
Once he’s gone, Rys pushes me to go a little further. After we’ve walked for another hour or so, he decides we’ve found a place that’s as good as any for us to make camp for the night. After my eventful day, I’m totally down with collapsing in the snow, even without the warmth and protection of my cloak. I’m still bitter that I didn’t manage to take it with me, but it’s not so bad when Rys notices me shivering and drops his cloak over my shoulders.
It warms me all the way to my bones. The fabric is silky, yet thick, and the heat from the Light Fae is trapped in its folds. He doesn’t actually need the cloak. He only wore it to add to his disguise, just in case someone thought to use a seeing stone on him or they had the sight. Hidden out in the woods of the Shadow Realm, it’s just the two of us.
Still, I’m surprised that Rys is willing to spend the night in the Winter Court. And camp? I never, ever thought he’d camp.
Rys doesn’t seem like the “roughing it” type. Actually, none of the fae do. They all exude this elegance, this untouchable arrogance, that Rys and sleeping under a tent just doesn’t… I don’t know… click
Of course, that’s before I watch as he creates a pocket from the shadows, his faerie fire burning a square into the darkness. He pulls a large satchel from inside of it.
Whoa.
I can’t stay silent anymore. I have to ask. “If you can do that, can’t you just create a portal to zip us back to the other side?”
I don’t care that Rys just “bought” me. I feel uncomfortable, knowing that the Faerie Market isn’t so far from where we are now. Sure, I’m tired, and I’d kill to just sit after the brutal pace Rys pushed me to as we put distance between us and the market, but I’d rather keep on going than give one of those assholes the chance to find me again.
After he drops the satchel at his feet, Rys waves away his fiery square.
Which is, you know, exactly the opposite of what I was hoping for.
“Rys?”
He shakes his head before dropping to a knee, pulling the satchel toward him. “I can’t. It’s not possible. We’re still in the Shadow Realm. I can access my pocket, but that’s all. Portals will have to wait until we cross over into the Seelie Court.”
Well, that explains why he told the redcap that he’d take care of a portal on his own. His glamour made the redcap believe that Rys was one of the Dark Fae. If he was, he should’ve been able to use the shadows to travel through the realm. But, since he’s not, this is the best he can do.
The satchel he has is as magic as his portal. It’s large, but as he pulls the materials to create two small tents out of it, I’m not sure how it holds everything. A single blanket follows and, like when we were still sharing a cell, Rys makes sure I have it.
He’s bewitched me. It’s the only way I can explain it. The more time I spend with him, the less I’m wondering why he’s here and just enjoying having him with me again. It won’t last. It can’t. So far, he’s only committed to bringing me back to the Seelie Court with him. After that, I don’t know what’s in store for me—but, no matter what he promised Siúcra, I still want it to be with Rys.
My whole time in the Shadow Realm, all I’ve wanted to do was find my way back to Rys. And now he’s here, now he’s found me, and I hate that I don’t know what’s going to happen next.
Hell, I don’t know what’s going to happen now.
I was sure I’d never forgive him for giving up on me. On us. But now that he’s risked coming into the Shadow Realm when very few Seelie do—now that he’s rescued me from the auction block—I hate that my fingers are itching to touch his newly bronzed skin.
But I don’t. I might be immune to his faerie fire, but this new Rys might burn me all the same. So two tents? That’s probably a good idea.
Once he has them set up—and he does it much quicker than I thought he would—Rys holds open the flap on one of the lean-to tents and gestures for me to go inside. “You need to get some rest. If we hurry, we should be able to reach the borders of the Summerlands in a day or two, then we can take a portal the rest of the way.”
I don’t have any idea what he means by “the rest of the way”, but I decide not to push it.
I’m also not ready to go to sleep yet. I’m tired, I’ve been through another terrible ordeal, and I haven’t forgotten that just this morning, I fell fifteen feet into a pit of fairy moss. I ache. Everything hurts, including my wrists. I already ate the apple Rys gave me. The cuts have healed up, and I know I’ll feel one hundred percent in a few more hours, but now the only distraction I have is the gorgeous Seelie male standing a few feet away from me.
I don’t want to rest. Hell, I don’t want to close my eyes. I have this sinking suspicion that, when I open them again, he’ll be gone, our reunion only a memory.
I missed him. Now that he’s here again, I can let myself admit just how much I missed him.
“Can’t we talk some more?”