Heart's Price (MxM)

Chapter 27

"Julian!"

Scrambling to my feet, I stare in horror at the space between the stones.

He's gone.

Fear tingles in my chest, and I scream his name again. My cry rings out, but a mocking echo is the only answer I receive.

I'm alone.

The air between the stones still shimmers, though; the Passage open enough that I can see the way.

I hesitate. For Wolf to enter Faerie uninvited is to ask for death.

The shimmer fades and then, rash with fear, I decide: I'd rather face Fae justice than Dane's wrath.

Taking a breath and holding it, I walk forward and pass between the makeshift arch.

Cold, heavy air washes over me like freezing water and I gasp and then fight a sense of panic as it fills my lungs, feeling almost too dense to breathe. Then, with the abruptness of an ended dream, I'm on the other side.

In Faerie, it is night, and Julian is nowhere to be seen.

"Julian?" I whisper.

The stones look almost the same, except more carefully arranged, but otherwise I only just recognize the shape of the land.

Instead of an open field, I stand in a forest of ancient trees, their trunks so thick that three or four men with arms outstretched would barely encircle them. The ground is covered in tangled, moss-clothed roots, and overhead a roof of boughs hides the stars beyond.

"Julian?" I call again, daring a louder voice, but there's no sign of him. He was only seconds ahead of me, and I can't see where he could have gone.

A slight breeze stirs the trees, and I catch an otherworldly fragrance on the air—flowers and aromatic leaves, living earth, and something warm and sweet, like honey and butter and fresh-baked bread.

There's a hint of sound, too: a whisper of song and light voice laughing on the wind. It makes me shiver, but I have little choice but to steel myself and make my way towards the source.

I Shift my ears and creep forward through the trees, noiseless and keeping to the deepest shadows I can find. Soon I see a flicker of light ahead—the orange and yellow glow of fire, and the scent and sounds grow stronger as I near.

I can almost make out words and distinguish between several voices—one of which might be Julian's—when the tip of a sliver spear slides like a lancing moonbeam from the dark and comes to rest against the base of my throat.

A Fae woman holds the other end, tall with white-gold eyes and hair, and features made sharp by shadow. When she speaks her voice is cold as the metal touching my skin.

"Give me a reason not to kill you, Wolf."

"I'm looking for the half-Fae, Julian," I say, holding still. "He came through the Passage at the stones. I just want to find him and bring him home."

"Find him?" she asks and lowers her spear, but only to place the point above my heart.

"Please, I—I'm the brother of his mate. I'm Astrid Hunter's son."

Her expression flickers at these last words, but she remains still a moment longer, eyes glinting. Then she relaxes and lowers her weapon to her side, regarding me with a keen, piercing, and humorless gaze.

"There was a time—not so long ago, in our reckoning—when I would have slain you where you stand, Wolf," she says. "Your mother is the reason you still breathe. You may thank her for that."