Ruthless Fae - Ingrid Seymour Page 0,40

slipped as blood welled between my fingers.

With one violent shake from Bael, my hold came loose, and I flew through the air and landed on my side, skidding in the dirt. Blinking, I tried to get my wits about me as Bael stalked over and prepared to strike.

I tried to plead with my eyes for mercy, but the huge creature that had been Bael didn’t even flinch as he raised his talons.

A shape roared in, blasting Bael from his feet. I heard them hit the far wall and then tussle. I jumped up and turned to see what or who had saved me.

A swirl of red hair was attacking Bael, tangling him up so that he couldn’t fight. Tendrils lashed his wrists together while others bound his feet.

Red hair.

Sinasre!

I ran up to find my cousin using his magic hair to finish the final touches on securing Bael. While Sinasre was no longer a monster, he wasn’t quite himself either. He was pale, thin, and worn-looking, his filthy clothes tattered and unrecognizable.

But it was Sinasre, alive and in one piece. My heart leaped.

“Melthelel.” I ran and threw my arms around his neck.

“Tally,” he whispered but stepped back, scenting the air. “You’re hurt.”

I glanced down at my arms, noting the ragged injuries. Blood dripped down my shredded forearms and pain sent shivers up to my shoulders, but I had other concerns. I gritted my teeth.

“It’s all right. Never mind that. You’re here. You’re yourself again. You saved us. But, oh, Vaughn!”

I whirled back to find the wolf getting up and shaking his large head. He gave me a nod, letting me know he was healing and would be fine. I nearly crumpled with relief.

Turning my attention back to the first mystery, I looked my cousin over. “You’ve changed back. How?”

“No need to thank me,” a familiar voice said.

Walking in from the far side of the cavern, Becca tossed dirty hair over her shoulder like she was sashaying down one of those human fashion walkways.

I gaped in surprise. “Becca! There you are.”

“Becca!” Ronnie came running from behind the boulder, tearing toward his friend with his arms out. As he pulled her into an embrace, my aunt walked up to us, her face a mask of pure shock and disbelief.

She stepped tentatively toward her son. “Is he… Are you real?”

She sounded as though Crescent might have played mind games on the Queen of the Seelie Fae as the mentalist had on me. But I knew Crescent was dead. My aunt was likely not privy to that knowledge.

She took another step toward her only son, one hand extended in his direction as tears wavered in her eyes.

“I am real, mother.” Sinasre stepped up, taking her hand and kissing it.

Kiana collapsed into his arms, sobbing. Her large body shook as Sinasre held her, barely keeping her on her feet as she wailed, “My son. My boy!”

I stood back, watching the reunion with overwhelming joy in my heart.

A warm presence stepped up behind me. “Tally,” Vaughn said quietly. “You’re bleeding all over the place. Will you please let Ronnie heal you while these two catch up?”

I glanced back and found Vaughn, Ronnie, and Becca standing behind me. Vaughn had dressed, and beside him, Ronnie held out his hands ready to administer his expert healing spells.

I obliged, allowing him to cast his magic over my injuries while my eyes found Becca. “Tell me everything.”

The girl shrugged. “After the crash, I knew I had to work on my transportation spells. I’d been learning them in school but hadn’t really been paying too much attention so when you said we had to jump into the water, or whatever, I figured that was a good time to try.”

“You thought that was a good time to try to teleport yourself?” Vaughn asked as if he thought that was the dumbest thing he’d ever heard.

“Sure.” Becca twirled a strand of orange hair around her finger. “I didn’t want to get wet.”

“Go on,” I said, wanting to speed things up. We had enough to discuss without spending time on Becca’s ridiculous ways. Behind us, Bael gave a garbled growl and then went quiet. The fight must’ve exhausted his energy.

“So I did the transportation spell, but like I said, I didn’t know it well so I found myself in a dark cave. It was gross.” She made a face. “Then I wandered around until I found a cave where I could see. There was glowing water inside like the cave with Crescent, but this one