many hairs that my skull stung. Remo’s boots crunched over the cracked earth before vanishing from my line of sight.
Even though I didn’t want him to witness how low I’d sunk, I also didn’t want to be alone. What if more of those things dropped from a cactus?
“Please don’t leave,” I murmured.
His knees clicked and then his warm breaths hit the shell of my ear. “I wasn’t going to.” He pushed my shaky fingers aside, then gently began disentangling the trussed beast.
I pressed my trembling lips together and focused on calming down. “Is it dead?”
A soft snort ruffled my hair. “Yes.”
Thank the Skies.
“Were you picturing my neck when you strangled the life out of it?”
The corners of my lips ticked up. “Maybe. Was your improvised weapon meant for my face?”
“Maybe.” I heard his smile.
Slowly, the weight tugging on my scalp vanished. I turned, wanting a closer look at it. The creature’s pink wings were fuzzy and its pistils were hooked and tinged red from my blood. A bead of cool sweat slithered between my shoulder blades.
“Thank you, Remo.”
The faerie’s green eyes lifted off the fanged flower. “Did a Wood just thank a lowly subject?”
My gratitude seeped right out of me, and I climbed back to my feet to glare down at the crouched Seelie. “What did I ever do to you?”
Lobbing my tiny assailant aside, he rose. I hated that he was taller, even by a few inches. “Woods think they’re so much better than everyone else. Your diverse blood doesn’t make you superior to any of us, Trifecta.”
I would’ve spit on him if I’d been the type to spit. “Me and my diverse blood say screw you, Remo Farrow.” I added the middle finger to drive my point home before stalking off. I’d never flipped anyone off and felt cheap for having succumbed to the vile human gesture, but I was so angry. And tired. And annoyed. I was pretty sure that if anything attacked me right now, my aura would electrocute it.
Down the steep flank of the mountain I went. Instead of sticky mud, the vertiginous ground beneath my feet was bone-dry. Would’ve been too convenient otherwise. Even though I almost lost my balance twice, the crumbly surface made getting away from Gregor’s cruel heir faster.
Little rocks skidded against my boots as Remo fell into step beside me.
Without turning, I snapped, “Leave me alone.”
“A second ago, you begged me to stay, and now you want me gone?” He released a humorless snort. “Did it ever occur to you that I’m not following you? The world doesn’t revolve around you, Amara Wood.”
I spun and lashed out at him with my fist. My knuckles grazed his jaw as I fell backward, my arms windmilling.
Aw, crap.
Remo launched himself at me, probably to shove me in case I miraculously managed to recover my balance. One of his arms snaked around my back, and he squatted so hard I toppled forward. His back slammed into the ground, and I slammed into his front. I shut my eyes as our fall and subsequent skid down the steep slope lifted dust and rocks that came at us like sharp projectiles.
I wasn’t sure how long we fell, but it was too long. Then again, a single second pressed against Remo, inhaling the musky scent of his sweat tempered by the mineral smell of wet earth, was too long. As soon as we stopped, I picked my head off his chest and rolled onto my back. In between pants, he groaned.
“Serves you right for trying to push me down, Farrow.”
He twisted his head to the side, shooting me an impressive glare. “Push you down? I was trying to stop you from falling, Trifecta.” He glowered a couple seconds longer before turning his head back toward the dirty sky and shutting his eyes, his nostrils flaring as though he’d just played a grueling game of Floatball.
“Why would you do that? I punched you.”
“Was that what that was? A punch?” A corner of his mouth tilted.
I sucked in a long breath, then pressed it out. “What did you think it was?”
“Not a punch.”
I pushed myself up onto my forearm and stared down at Remo. “My fist connected with your jaw.”
His smile grew, which fed my desire to smack it off his face.
I took the high road, though, and rolled myself up, dusting the back of my legs, even though at this point, I didn’t think the fastest cycle in a human washing pod with an entire bottle of detergent