that cut through my mind like a sword dipped in acid. No, it was worse than that. This was like claws on stone, like a perpetually squealing tire.
Who in their right mind would tell the fairies to sing Rick Astley?
And then my mind cleared. The spell of sleep had shattered.
My eyes focused, but the pixie ropes still bound me. I strained against them, but they were strong as steel.
I snarled with rage at the sight of the Emperor pressing Ali to the wooden dining table. His head turned slowly toward me, his lips curled into a broad smile.
Incandescent rage coursed through me.
Because of the curse, when my emotions got out of control, I burned. My body turned hot and fiery. And right now, I was incendiary. Fiery hot, the curse poured into me like molten steel from a crucible, ten thousand degrees boiling and incandescent like the surface of the sun. I was burning—but so were the ropes.
Freed, I burst into the air. The Emperor’s hand was at his belt.
Howling with rage, I charged through the bonfire as if it were only a guttering candle. With one hand, I tore him off Ali. I lifted him into the air by the throat. I’d be ripping that open in a moment.
Gasping, eyes wild, he stared at me, skin blistering under the heat of my grip.
A strangled shout: “Help!”
Hunger tore through me. How would the soul of an Emperor taste? I brought him closer, ready to plunge my teeth into his skin.
But, like a lightning bolt, Ali streaked past me. Her dagger was in the Emperor’s heart before I got the chance to taste him.
I spun, hurling his body into the bonfire.
Vanir warriors charged from the forest, pointing wands at us.
Hearing a warning shout from Ali, I spun round as spells whipped through the air. Driven by instinct, I covered her body with mine.
Chapter 32
Ali
Marroc crouched over me as spells and hexes whizzed through the darkness. The fairies scattered, and I curled in on myself, pulling my knees to my chest. Marroc’s massive frame absorbed the damage, and after what seemed like an eternity, the guards’ wands ran low and the spells stopped.
Marroc rose above me like a conquering god, soaked in an Emperor’s blood. Still clutching Skalei, I stood next to him. Before I could say a word, he wrapped his arms around me, his body still warm. He lifted me, and I clung to his neck. As he broke into a run, the piney air whipped over us.
Part of me hated the thought of being carried by a High Elf—like I was a damsel in distress. But the other knew he was far faster than me, and this was the smartest option.
He ran nearly as fast as the hexes, but a spell arced toward us. Marroc dodged away from it, picking up speed as he raced past the Vanir warriors, beyond the stone circle, and into the forest.
Moving like smoke in a storm, we raced between the trees. Despite his speed, his movements were smooth. A welcoming darkness closed around us as we wove between the trunks of the primordial trees, great boughs hiding the moon.
Exhausted, I closed my eyes, pressing my face closer to Marroc’s chest. He ran like a stag, untiring, his legs flying over the thick carpet of pine needles and brushing past ferns.
Then, distantly, I heard a sound that chilled me to my core. Far away, but clear nonetheless, an eerie keening rose. It sounded like hounds. The Emperor’s men were hunting us—and we still didn’t know how to get out of here.
I felt Marroc’s muscles tense, and he rushed faster through the forest, but the dogs kept calling for us as they followed our scent.
“Marroc,” I said, “we need to find a stream. We can use water to hide our scent.”
But it seemed like he already knew what I had in mind, and he began heading downhill, to a low-lying area. The forest thickened; the tree trunks grew larger than I’d imagined. Still, Marroc dodged effortlessly between them. I kept my arms tight around his neck, breathing in the scent of wood smoke and sage.
Now, he wasn’t hot at all. He was nearly cool to the touch, his breath coming smoothly and rhythmically. When I first heard his feet slosh in water, I nearly cried out with joy, but the crying of the hounds, closer than before, silenced me.
We were running through the center of a brook. Bows and branches slapped into my exposed back.