Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 123190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Felicity
“AND WHY, WHEN THE MOON is this high in the sky, does my child want to be taken to the northern mountains where the wild horses roam?” Nigel asks.
I fake my smile, even knowing I’m not fooling Nigel. “It’s time. I can’t wait any longer.”
“I would like my child to stay here in the pretty castle where she is treated like the princess she should be. Where she is safe,” he says, wringing his hands.
I step toward him. “My mind is made up.”
He grumbles something about foolish little girls, but he takes my hand, and moments later we’re flying and spinning and folding into nothingness, and as always, just a moment before I feel panic starting to rise, just a moment before I feel this time it’s taken too long, my feet are on solid ground.
I scan the moonlit, rocky mountainside and shiver. It’s cold, and I’m glad I dressed in my fleece-lined leathers, but there’s something else that sends a shiver through my blood. Something primal warning of the danger lurking in these mountains.
“Perhaps my child would like to return to the castle now?”
Yes. Please. Please take me back. But what’s waiting for me there? Heartache. Discovery. Worse? “Not just yet, though you can wait here if you wish.”
Nigel reaches behind his back and produces a fist-size gem from thin air. “Take this,” he says, and as I take it, it glows to life, casting light in a ten-foot radius around me.
“An illumination gem.” My heart tugs. I was going to use my own magic, but since I have so little practice with anything other than taking another form, I’m not a strong enough magic user to reliably conjure light. He knows that. “Thank you, Nigel.”
My boots scuff on the rocky ground as I turn toward the north. I spot the fluffy red flower of the hiluca tree ahead, and my heart stumbles over itself. This is it. This is the area Misha came to before he visited the other faerie realm, which means the portal to the Hall of Doors is hidden somewhere on this mountain.
I roll my shoulders and begin my hike.
Behind me, Nigel mutters incomprehensibly. When I look back, he’s gone.
I draw in a jagged breath. If I were hiding the court’s most important portal on this mountain, where would I put it?
I follow the trail for hours—until my thighs are burning from the incline and the skin that felt so chilled when I first arrived is covered in a sheen of sweat. I’m not getting anywhere and have no way of knowing if I’m any closer than I was when I started.
I could have Nigel come back for me now, but I can’t return to Castle Craige. Not now that Misha’s been in my mind.
If I can’t find the portal, I’ll have to go somewhere else. Start over like I did when I first came to Faerie. The thought makes me feel lonelier than I have in a very long time.
I sink onto a fallen log to catch my breath and drink from my canteen. When Misha returned from using the portal, he had the hiluca’s blossom tangled in his hair, meaning he’d been off the path. If I had to, I’d guess I’m looking for an underground burrow or a cave.
I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand and stand up with renewed determination. I’ll search every cave on this mountainside if that’s what it takes.
I hike for another hour before I see it—a fresh trail in the leaves on the forest floor and boot prints. Boot prints.
I follow them around a thick patch of underbrush before I lose them again and have to search the area blind. The illumination gem is starting to lose its light. I’ll need to call for Nigel soon—I won’t die out here. But I’m so close.
So I search. And I search, and even when I feel like I’ve strayed too far from those prints, and I’ve turned myself around too many times to know which way to go to get back to the main path, I search.
The gem gives out right as I find the mouth of a cave.
It’s low to the ground, covered by brush and trees, and would be the perfect place to hide a portal. All I need to do is see it. If I know it’s there and pay close attention to how I return to the main trail, I can bring Hale back here.
I lower myself onto my belly to enter the cave, but the opening is even smaller than I thought, and I find myself wriggling through mud before the mouth of the cave finally opens and I can climb to my knees and then, finally, my feet.
I need light to find my way any farther, so I take a deep breath and focus my energy on the palm of my hand, willing it to glow.