“What is going on!” Alun roars, rushing to her side. I ignore them both and look at the saddle. I jump up and grab the top of the saddle to bring myself all the way onto his back. After sliding my feet into the stirrups, I pick up the reins. Finally, I look down at Alun, who is hugging Laelia, and Velia is in the middle of them now, cupping her daughter’s face. A normal family. But as I glance down the stable, seeing Poppy on her horse nearby, I figure not everyone in their family is doing good. Her jaw is tightened, and her eyes are burning with something I think is longing.
“Hey, Poppy,” I call to her, the soft part of me wanting to distract her. “What is your horse called?”
“Mistress,” she calls back, humour lacing her tone, and she looks grateful for the distraction. “She is quite stuck-up for a horse.”
I laugh with Poppy until Torfinn interrupts, walking past with his horse. Dammit, he looks super sexy on that horse. His thick and toned thighs spread nicely around the black horse that seems the same size as mine. The way he holds himself just makes him look good. Like a snack I wouldn’t mind eating in bed.
“Nope. Not angel fucker,” Mossy whispers to me. Torfinn narrows his eyes at Mossy and then uses his legs to nudge the side of his horse, directing him out. Stormfire moves without my command, following Torfinn out of the stable and stopping at his side. My leg brushes against Torfinn’s as Poppy comes out next, followed by Alun. Alun leads the way, with Poppy and Torfinn following. I go last, mainly as my horse doesn’t move until he wants to. I look back to see Velia and Laelia holding each other. A mother comforting a daughter.
The way it’s meant to be for normal people. Just not me.
Chapter 8
Four hours later, my thighs are constantly reminding me this was a bad idea. Stormfire moves quickly down the winding paths in the middle of hills covered with trees and surprisingly, more trees. Let’s not forget the rock I saw an hour ago. That was the highlight of the day. Alun made four spheres of light that float alongside each of us, so it’s not completely pitch black out here, but the shadows still hide everything. The darkness looms quite easily around here.
“We are nearly there,” Poppy quietly tells me after slowing down her horse so we are next to each other. Despite riding all day, she looks pretty put together and refreshed. Maybe it’s just fear for what is coming up that is giving her energy. “Have you shadow jumped with a dark kelpie before?”
“I never even knew these were kelpie. Like the water horses from myths?” I ask her, looking down at Stormfire in a new light. I just assumed he was a normal horse, like the ones the humans have, just a lot bigger.
“Yes and no. The myth the humans have suggests the kelpie live in water and come out of their depths to drown humans. Actually, their homes are in the shadows, and usually, the bottom of a lake or river is quite dark,” Poppy explains, patting the side of her kelpie. “The humans misunderstood them, that’s all. They aren’t murderous unless they are hungry.”
“Sounds like me as a teenager,” I joke. Poppy laughs along with me. I’m starting to like this girl, and that’s weird for me. I’ve never had a friend who is a girl—or a real friend at all. Getting close to people was always a big risk, one I never thought was worth it except for that one time. And I don’t think about him anymore. I have a bad feeling Poppy is going to attach herself to my side and not let go.
“Back to the topic I started with. The only entrance to the city now is through kelpies after the queen locked all the gates and pathways about ten years ago,” Poppy tells me. “So Stormfire will take you through the shadows and bring you out in the city.”
“I hate travelling through shadows,” I groan, and Poppy nods her head in agreement.
“Same. It’s easy to be seduced by the darkness and get lost,” she replies. “But don’t worry, Stormfire is your kelpie now and will come when you need him.”
“The shadows don’t call to me,” I tell her, and Mossy hits my ear with his hand, reminding me to shut up, when her brow furrows in confusion. I tap my legs against Stormfire’s sides, and he moves forward, stopping at Torfinn’s side. He doesn’t look my way, though his body tenses up when I’m close.
“Why are you here, demi-god?” I say. “Did you just fancy hanging out with us reapers? Do you like the dark side, Finn?”
He turns and looks down at me, his eyes full of questions. “What I do, and who I am, has nothing to do with someone like you.”
“You’re a bad-tempered demi-god, aren’t you?” I reply around a laugh. His eyes narrow, and I let out a sigh. “I think we got off on the wrong foot. Want to say sorry?”
“Fuck no,” he replies.
“Language!” Alun shouts back to us, clearly eavesdropping, and I grin.
“Yeah, Finn. Your language is just fucking terrible,” I say, holding in a laugh. I swear I see Finn’s lips tilt up, but I might be imagining it.
I look forward, seeing a pit of darkness right in front of us just as I hear the sound of drums. Torfinn stops his horse, as do Alun and Poppy, and Stormfire just slams to a halt, jolting my whole body, and I nearly fall off his back.
“Get them out of here, Alun!” Torfinn commands, and his wings appear out of nowhere, in a puff of gold dust just as dozens of people smother the path’s exit, and I look behind to see more. Their shiny weapons reflect the moonlight, as do the sheer number of them. We are trapped. Poppy looks at me with frightened eyes as Torfinn flies right into the men behind us, with two axes that I didn’t see on him before. Where did he hide those? He is ruthless, cutting down the people like they aren’t even real. No one gets close, he is like a machine. Within seconds, all I can see is blood.
I pull the dagger out of my bra and jump off the horse. Alun jumps off and runs alongside me with his scythe. He looks my way and nods, an understanding forming between us. Kill or be killed is the new game. I slam into two of the men at the front, stabbing one in the chest with the dagger and he falls. He groans as I jump on the other and punch him hard in the face. He kicks my thigh, the force pushing me off him and onto the dusty ground. I grit my teeth and stand up quickly. Two more men appear behind me, and a fourth steps over his fallen friend to completely surround me.
“Come on, boys. Stop staring, I’m getting bored,” I say, waving the biggest of the bunch over. His size makes him the clear alpha of the group, and even though I can’t see his face through the black mask, I suspect he is an ugly asshole. He lifts a beefy fist surprisingly fast, and I duck, narrowly missing the hit. He grabs my hair as I drop, and I headbutt him hard in his stomach to distract him. Eyeing the silver whip tied to his hip, I grab it as I roll out of his grip and flick it out in my hand.
“Oh my. This is just what I’ve been looking for,” I say, tightening my hand on the handle of the whip before I jump and smack it hard into the face of one of the other men. He roars, falling to the ground, and his friend makes the mistake of looking his way. I rush and jump on him, landing a solid punch to his throat that makes him gasp for air and struggle as he falls. Two down, two to go. I turn around just in time to see Torfinn effortlessly grab the arms of the two remaining men, and they scream. Gold light blasts through their blood, making them look like the sun, before they explode into nothing but dust and blood, splattering all over Finn and me.
“You did well,” Torfinn sarcastically comments and holds his hands out at his side. Two axes swing through the air and land in his hands before disappearing into dust once again.
Hot damn, that was sexy.
“You aren’t exactly playing fair with that power,” I mutter, wiping blood off my cheek. I look around and see the remaining men that are left are either passed out or dead, and Alun is cleaning his blood-covered scythe on one of the men’s clothing. Poppy is crying and shaking on her horse. Crap, it’s going to be hard to keep her alive. Just like that pet fish I got and forgot it existed. Mossy has only survived because he can feed himself when I forget.
“Is it safe now?” Mossy asks, peeking his head out from Stormfire’s dark mane of hair.
“Yes,” I shout back. I step over some of the bodies and make my way to my dagger. I pull it out of the man’s chest and lift it, but someone takes it from my hand.
“You stole my dagger?” Torfinn growls in my ear, his whole body pressed into my back. It should scare me, but if anything, it’s actually
“Technically I didn’t,” I answer. I turn around, and he glares down at me. “Mossy got me a present.”
“I hate that damn monkey,” Torfinn growls and storms off back to his horse. Mossy is well and truly hiding as I walk to Stormfire and pull myself back on. Poppy rides to my side as I grab the reins, and I meet her eyes.
“You can’t crawl into a ball and hide from the world every time you’re in danger. If you plan to always do that, you will die,” I tell her firmly. “Fear is in your head, push past it.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispers, and that strange place where feelings are plays up in my chest.
“Don’t be sorry. I used to freeze like that, and I did it one time...and let’s just say I was very badly injured. I just don’t want you to do the same thing I did,” I softly tell her and don’t mention that I was a kid. “I wish I had run, that way I would have had a chance. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I get it. Thank you for explaining,” Poppy says, a small smile appearing on her lips. She looks at me like a friend. Dammit.
