Page 56 of Renegade Kings

Fuck, I was an awful person.

I took off at a slow jog, letting my magic seep out of me and move between the trees. It was as easy as breathing now. The problem wasn’t reaching for the magic and bringing it forth; it was keeping it controlled and contained.

It only took five paces for me to meet the treeline, before it would have been a solid five minutes. Yet, even knowing what had happened to the people here when the forests of Nymeria had reclaimed the land, I wasn’t afraid. I could feel the growing magic around me and it was too familiar for me to be scared.

I recalled the empty magicless sensation I’d found in the forest when Rhidian had marched us to the palace door. A shudder rippled down my spine at the memory. The ground had felt dead, devoid of the very essence this land should contain—Nymeria. Nothing could be further from the truth now. There was a buzz in the trees, an anticipation that whatever was building was reaching its crescendo, and Nymeria’s creatures were excited to see, whatever it was, happen.

Given the ruthless nature of most of Nymeria’s creatures, I had a terrible feeling that it wouldn’t be good. And yet, there was something about the magic itself that made me think it actually could be.

I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. A memory at the edge of my mind made this whole thing seem familiar in some way. But every time I tried to look at it, to draw it to the front of my mind, it slipped through my grasp.

I came to a stop in a small clearing, and knelt, pressing one hand against the ground and concentrated on the echo of magic that radiated back to me. I let myself slip into the flow, to feel the waves and movement as it swept across the landscape.

When the forest had moved to reclaim the land, there had to have been magic here. So whatever had happened had to have been relatively recent. And it could still be here now, drawing this new emerging magic back to it.

I couldn’t let that happen.

Not without knowing the cause. I couldn’t create a whole new weapon that could potentially be used against us and just idly sit by while it happened.

Something further in amongst the trees caught my attention. The sensation of something other than the magic here had attached itself to. It wasn’t drawing power, though. If anything, it was reaching out and trying to join with it. To give itself over to whatever I’d created.

My head lifted as my brow wrinkled in concern. It didn’t feel malevolent, but there was no way to know for sure without moving deeper into the forest.

I climbed to my feet and glanced around, trying to get a bearing of where I was in the court. It was difficult. Nothing was the same as it had been when I was last here. Hell, even the trees weren’t in the same places. The forest had become so dense, I couldn’t even see through the canopy of leaves above me despite standing in the small clearing I’d found.

I knew if I pulled on the bond I had with my mates, I’d be able to follow it back to them. I couldn’t get lost in these trees when I had them as my anchor. But the palace was completely obscured from my view and something about it had a disconcerting feeling, making my skin pebble in fear.

I felt so alone out here, so isolated. And for the first time, I doubted why I always felt like I had to act alone to solve our problems.

As I turned back towards where I thought the palace should be, I considered if I should go back and ask the others to come with me. It was then that a noise deeper in the trees drew my attention. It sounded like the creak of wood that came from a tree losing its fight with gravity. But when the trees were more likely to move than fall to the ground, it wasn’t exactly a sound that filled me with confidence.

Unfortunately, because I was as foolish as a fae could possibly be, it inspired some curiosity in me. And of course, like the idiot I was, I set out to investigate.

“This is why the blonde one always gets murdered first in movies,” I mumbled to myself. “I’m genetically coded to walk towards danger.”

The fact that I hadn’t thought to bring a weapon out here with me was evidence enough of that. But this wasn’t a world where weapons won a fight. I had magic; powerful magic. I was a weapon in my own right… if I could just get it under control to fully access my whole potential.

The light in the forest dimmed as I ventured further away from the palace. The trees were denser here, and with every step I took, I could feel the magic pulling at my body. It felt like Nymeria begging me to join with it. Like it was calling me home.

The magic inside me reached out for the power that travelled through the land, and I stumbled to a stop as the two started to merge together. A whispering need formed in my mind that I knew wasn’t my own, and I shook my head to try to free myself from the pull.

It was like listening to the beginning notes of a song on the breeze. The more you tried to ignore it, the more the melody pulled at your subconscious.

Before I knew it, I was walking again, drifting between the trees, following the pull of the magic as it invaded my system, reaching into the deepest parts of me. It felt like I was disconnected from my body. I was shoved into the back of my mind, lost in the dream. The magic invaded every part of me and even the panic that I was losing control couldn’t gain any traction in me.

The sound of my muffled footfalls in the forest was the only noise in this dense part of the forest. There were no signs of any animals or creatures, just the thick sensation of magic hanging heavy in the air. So dense, it became hard to breathe.

This was why the forest had felt dead before. All the magic had been drained from the outskirts and was collected here. But for what purpose?

This couldn’t be Arik. If he had the power to do something like this, to collect this much magic in one place, he’d have used it to destroy every court that stood in his way.

But if this wasn’t Arik, who else in Nymeria had the potential to do something like this? It was a simple question to answer—no one. There wasn’t a fae alive who could do this sort of thing. So what the fuck was happening here?

It was a humbling thought to realise you were so small in a vast and powerful world, and I was done fighting it. There was no point. Something greater than me was going on here and I was powerless to do anything but to witness it.

The sound of groaning wood echoed around me again. It was closer this time. Too close.

Movement off to the side flickered between the dense trees as my body twisted and turned of its own volition, moving deeper and deeper into the forest. Whatever it was, it was tracking me, mirroring my movements like a hunter stalking its prey. It didn’t even bother trying to hide itself. The trees did a good enough job of that, but I could tell that it was taunting me with its closeness, knowing there was nothing I could do about it.