I swore to help this town. And if helping Emma means standing up to the Elf King then this is just another day at work. “She needs to rest. You must let her go.”
“She is free to go.” The king gives a nod to his knights and they allow Emma and Ruth to pass. “Because you are right, she is not my queen. I have found the woman I seek.”
“Good, leave,” I mutter under my breath. But when my gaze sweeps back I find his attention solely on me. The weight of his stare reminds me of just how bold I’ve been and my insides liquefy.
“You hid yourself,” he says, dangerously quiet.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He takes a wide step forward, encroaching on my space. This close, I can smell him. The air around him is perfumed with a cologne of sandalwood, moss, and a bright fresh note like the air before a storm. It’s a lovely, earthy, intoxicating aroma that is in stark contrast to the scowl of disgust he wears.
I try and step away but I am snared. He reaches forward, sliding his fingertips down my throat. I shiver, frozen in place.
The king’s finger hooks on the necklace Luke gave me all those years ago. They slide down to the pendant and he makes a fist. His expression darkens to something almost sinister and I wonder if I should be begging him for my life.
His other hand has worked around the back of my throat, cradling my head. His fingers move. Is he about to snap my neck? Is this how I die?
“You will know, soon enough,” he says before he yanks the necklace away.
The world goes white, then fills with screams.
Chapter 4
I’m dizzy and breathless. Energy sizzles and cracks across my body. Inexplicable power I shouldn’t possess threatens to tear me apart.
Like fireworks, magic explodes out from me in bursts. It strikes the lampposts surrounding the square. The glass shatters and falls to the ground as cherry blossom petals. Where iron once stood are now trees.
A lush carpet of moss and grass unfurls across the cobblestones of the square. Brush and vine spring from it and creep up the buildings like writhing, sentient tentacles trying to reclaim the buildings. The world around me is transformed, exchanged from constructed to natural. It is as if nature has erupted from my feet to oppose the audacity of mankind’s hubris to stand against it.
I can see it now. It? Everything. I can see everything.
My eyes have never been more open. I see every pulse of magic—of life—in those around me. I see the raw essence of existence and it steals my breath and composure.
Bitter cold tears flow down my cheeks. I’m suddenly hot. I’m molten fire in a world that has become ice.
The king finally releases me and I stumble backward, landing on my bottom, arms back to brace myself. The moss grows over my fingers. Tiny vines spring forth, grabbing my wrists. I yank my hand away and grip my shirt over my chest, panting. My red hair curtains my face around my jaw and I use it for a brief second of privacy as I press my eyes closed.
That can’t have been real. Tell me this is all a nightmare, I want to scream.
But as I straighten, I can’t help but see. The square has become something out of a storybook. Plants and humans pulse with a greenish light. Inanimate objects are gray.
I blink several times, watching the auras fade in and out of my awareness. Everything around me is awash with the same color…except for him.
The king is a pale blue. The aura that surrounds him is unlike the still, orderly magic of life. His magic is writhing, angry, and violent. Much like the scowl on his face. Whatever vision I was granted fades as I continue to gape at him.
He stares down at me, eyes unreadable, brow furrowed.
“What…” I rasp, trying to find my voice. “How?”
He tilts his head to the side. “So you truly did not know.”
“I…” My throat closes and I choke on air.
Know.
Know I am the Human Queen, he means.
“Tell me what’s happening?” I manage, but am ignored.
“So the question becomes, who?” The king turns, sweeping his eyes across the square. The people I once knew, my friends and family, gaze in shock and awe. “Who hid her? Who gave her this?” the king demands, holding up the necklace he tore from my throat.