Steph,” he whispers as he lifts me up onto Eliph’s back and hoists himself behind me.
I jab an elbow into him, trying to fight him off, but his grip tightens around me as Eliph takes several quick steps. Those steps break into a trot for only moment before he’s galloping. The trees zip past and then faster and faster. I feel like I’m nearly floating as he increases his speed, the light of his horn blazing as familiar aetheric wings unfold and we burst forward at the speed of a falling star.
A falling star… Of course. That explains what I saw.
My star is falling now and taking me to the end of our journey, and I want to scream at the unfairness of at all.
“Sleep,” Grimsal whispers against my ear, the sparks of magic dancing off the word. “Sleep.”
So I sag in his embrace and sleep, unaware of the passage of space and time, locked in only the turmoil of my mind as my beloved mate carries me away to the Heart of Wells.
Chapter 32
Steph
When I wake, I’m surrounded by a mist that lays over me like a sparkling blanket of magic. Despite that, the sun is warm on me as it filters down through the trees. Birds sing somewhere, and I’m pretty sure that I catch the buzz of a bee nearby. My body aches as I force myself up into a seated position, but the pain in my thigh is surprisingly absent. I pull up my skirt to examine the injury only to find that the bandage is gone and there’s a pinkish stripe of newly healed skin. I explore it tentatively with my fingers. How is this possible? Unless…
“The power of the unicorn’s well has completely healed you, Stephanie Bennet,” a deep, melodic voice intrudes.
Startled, I glance up to find a somber fae male seated on a nearby rock. Although he is handsome and ageless in appearance, I still get the distinct feeling that he is beyond ancient.
“Beforal, I presume.”
His pale blue eyes watch me with a quiet interest before the corner of his mouth tips up in a smile.
“You are a very observant one, aren’t you?”
I shrug. “Just a matter of putting two and two together. I’m obviously in a unicorn’s grotto if I take all this sparkly mist as a clue. And you are a unicorn. And I also know that we were heading to the Heart of Wells… therefore, Beforal.”
“Yes, I suppose so,” he agrees with a light chuckle.
I glance around curiously, seeing only sunlit forest, fields of flowers, a few darting lights that might be some sort of bug or pixie, and lots of the sparkly mist… but not Eliph.
“Speaking of my mate, where is he?”
“He is awaiting you at the well, but I wish to speak to you first.” At my raised eyebrow, he grimaces. “Very well. I demanded it and reminded him who is guardian of this well.”
“And he respected that?”
“Not particularly. But the threat of summoning the great serpent of the deep waters to set him straight was enough to gain compliance… as begrudgingly offered as it was,” he observes.
I chuckle at just how unhappy he probably was and shake my head. Even here, he was going to be ridiculously overprotective, and yet still thought he was doing the best thing by getting rid of me.
“Okay, I’ll bite. What did you want to talk to me about?”
His expression turns grave as he eyes me critically.
“Are you certain that you wish to dissolve the bond between you? Rarely is it that I’ve seen such a bond between a unicorn and his mare in all the centuries I have been alive.”
“Nope,” I say, making it pop with emphasis. “I definitely do not want to dissolve the bond, and that’s what I was telling his hardheaded ass when he carried me here. I want him and me together forever, happily ever after in his grotto, maybe even popping out a few little unicorns after a century or so once the honeymoon period winds down.”
“I see. I fear that I have gravely misunderstood the situation. If you will come with me,” he mumbles as he stands with a grace that I would kill to have.
Oh well. Maybe after a few centuries, I’ll get there. I’m certainly not graceful now as I stumble to my feet and trot after him.
The winding path that we take through the forest is enchanting. I would almost believe that we’re walking through a carefully tended garden with all the