Fire Weaver (Fall of the Fey #1)

Chapter 25

Faux started, he heard the rattling of chains. His eyes were caked with crust and swollen. When he finally prised them open he could only see burs, the suggestion of shape and nothing more. His Adams apple bobbed, his throat was so raw that it clicked while he tried to swallow the metallic taste of blood still coating his mouth.

He had been ambushed from the street. He shouldn't have been surprised, being of fairer skin than the average person it would be stupid if the king's men didn't take him and see if he had powers, or assume he was a spy of some sort. They had tortured him relentlessly for hours. The part of him that believed he would be saved withered as the hours passed and he was left with himself, without hope. He would have laughed if his face didn't hurt so much.

As it stood he had no idea where he was or how he got there. Faux only knew that the king's men weren't aware of Carmel. While he was there they found out about some plot that seemed like something that Carmel would have created. Faux had watched the old bastard tell the minotaurs all about it, in the hopes that his family would be left alone – a naïve hope. Faux had laughed when the deal was struck and that had earned him another beating.

He had no way of warning anyone so now he was going to waste away in a cell because he had used all his magic on the goddamned ship over to the wretched country to avoid being seen by Carmel. He hated how petty he could be sometimes particularly when it led to him being trapped like he was now.

Faux let his head fall back and rest against the damp brick of his cell. He should have just told her why he was pissed, then he wouldn't be in this situation but he didn't want her to look at him with horror in her eyes. The way everyone did when they fully realised he was a monster. Worse than the vampires who kidnapped and keep their victims alive for years not letting them want for anything, worse than werewolves whose bloodlust over the full moon is so bad they have to leave their homes and seek the shelter of the forest so they don't kill their neighbours. No, Faux actively went looking for a meal, gave them an illusion of their desires and leave before their lives fall apart and they realise that the gift was a curse as they slowly withered and died inside. They sold their soul for a pipe dream and die because of it.

For a moment he resented his wife for her far-sight, without which he wouldn't be in this situation. Moments later he was berating himself for even thinking something negative about Cherise. She knew things he never would have thought to consider. He found himself thinking back to the last conversation he had with Deadly. What, indeed, would Cherise say if she saw him now? With his hunger gnawing at him, making him unable to consider the very thought of trying to heal himself.

He looked up to the door when he heard it's rusty hinges squeal, stealing himself for the next round. No way in hell would he sell out his friend's like that bastard wolf sold out his.

The minotaurs walked in and picked him up, the chains connecting his hands and feet clang and clatter as they dragged him out, he didn't have the energy to fight and he saved what was left of it the only way he knew how. He fell asleep.

***

They were not twenty paces into the forest when Gregor sensed the people surrounding them, seconds before his body froze. He had taken point so he didn't know if the others were afflicted but assumed they were when no one started moving in front of him or asking why he wasn't moving. He saw the glow step forward through the forest until it stood before him. He had no idea what it was but his instincts told him to be weary and he didn't become Pack leader without listening to his gut.

The figure didn't glow as was suggested through the trees, intricate patterns were all over a distinctly female body, and they shone silver-white, like starlight. The rest of her was pitch-black. She laughed when she was in full view, her hands sliding across her belly, head thrown back in ecstasy. The sound was off key, the sound of insanity, Gregor wanted to cover his ears and make it stop.