The forest felt alive, but not in the way a forest should. The air was heavy, thick with moisture and the faint, cloying scent of something sweet and rotting. Shadows stretched and twisted unnaturally, shifting in ways that made my stomach churn.
Every now and then, I caught a flicker of movement—a darting shape just at the edge of my vision—but when I turned my head, there was nothing.
Estella's voice broke through the suffocating silence. "I swear something touched me," she muttered, her hands fluttering nervously over her hair. "Everything is gone!"
I sighed, barely resisting the urge to roll my eyes. "You weren't wearing a necklace. Or a moon clip," I said flatly, for what felt like the hundredth time. My patience was wearing thin, but I couldn't shake the feeling that she wasn't entirely wrong.
It wouldn't be farfetched to assume the pixies had been playing tricks on us before we even stepped foot in Erem Hadar.
My dagger had gone missing who's to say Estella's necklace wasn't snatched as soon as she tried to catch up to us.
There was something wrong here. The kind of wrong that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and my fingers itch for a weapon I no longer had.
Estella huffed, still fiddling with her hair. I ignored her and turned to Kiaran, who was walking ahead of us, his spear resting casually on his shoulder. He moved like he was completely unbothered by the forest's suffocating energy, his steps confident and steady. It was infuriating.
"Let me get this straight," I said, my voice sharp. "You pissed off the Queen of Pixies, and now her little minions are messing with us?"
Kiaran didn't even bother to glance back. "Yes, Princess," he said, his tone clipped and filled with irritation. "I pissed off the Queen of Pixies. But it's not my fault."
I narrowed my eyes at the back of his head. "What exactly did you do to her?"
He let out a long, weary sigh. "Your father sent me here," he said, his voice tight. "It was my first mission as General of the Aranbiyan Guard. A couple of guards had gone missing in Erem Hadar, and I was ordered to bring them back."
He paused, his jaw tightening. "I found them—or what was left of them. The Queen... didn't appreciate me trespassing in her territory."
I tilted my head, scrutinizing him. "So, what? She just decided to fixate on you for no reason? That seems... excessive."
His voice turned low and dry, laced with sarcasm. "She asked me to stay. Be with her. I said no. Apparently, rejection doesn't go over well here."
I frowned, my curiosity piqued. "Why was she so obsessed with you?"
He didn't answer right away, his crimson eyes fixed firmly ahead as though he could will me to drop the subject. But his silence only made me more determined. My gaze drifted back to him, and for the first time, I really looked at him.
It wasn't hard to see why someone might fixate on him. He had the kind of beauty that felt out of place in the middle of a haunted forest, sharp and almost too perfect to be real.
His dark hair fell loosely around his face, strands of it catching in the faint light that filtered through the trees.
His fair skin looked like it would be cold to the touch, but it made the reddish-gold of his eyes even more striking, glowing faintly like embers in the shadows.
And then there were his arms—corded with muscle, his grip on the spear so steady it made the movement of his biceps almost hypnotic. He looked like a Celtic prince or warlord
"What are you staring at?" Kiaran's sharp voice jolted me out of my thoughts.
I blinked, heat rushing to my cheeks. "Nothing," I said quickly, shaking my head as though I could physically push the thoughts out of my mind. "Just... nothing."
Kiaran looked over his shoulder at me, his expression caught somewhere between annoyance and suspicion.
Before I could say anything else, a cold draft swept through the trees, raising goosebumps along my arms. A low, rattling sound whispered in my ear, like the rustling of leaves—but when I turned, there was nothing behind me but shadows.
Then, the giggling started.
I stopped in my tracks, my pulse quickening. "Do you feel that?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
Kiaran tensed, his spear lowering slightly. His crimson eyes scanned the darkness, narrowing. "They're toying with us," he muttered. "Stay close, and don't—"
Before he could finish, the first pixie darted into view, its glowing wings slicing through the gloom like a shard of light.
The buzzing grew louder, filling the air like a swarm of angry wasps. The pixies surrounded us, their tiny hands grabbing at anything they could reach.
One darted past my face, its claws raking across my cheek like a burning scratch. Another latched onto my cloak tie, tugging until the knot strained. A third tangled itself in my braid, wings thrumming wildly as it yanked hard enough to make my scalp sting.
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"Don't provoke them," Kiaran barked, his voice sharp and commanding. "Just swat them away and keep moving!"
"Provoke them?" I snapped, swatting at a pixie that had latched onto my sleeve. "They're biting me!"
"Ow! That's it! They're not cute anymore!" Estella swung her arms wildly as the pixies darted around her, giggling.
One of them darted too close to my face, yanking at my hair again. Without thinking, I swung my arm out, backhanding it hard enough to send it flying into a nearby tree.
It let out a pitiful cry as it hit the bark, its wings crumpling slightly. For a moment, it just lay there, its tiny hands clutching its head. Then it looked up at me, its glowing eyes welling with tears.
I froze, my stomach twisting with guilt. "Oh, no—"
"Princess!" Kiaran's voice was sharp and furious. "What did I just say?!"
"I didn't mean to!" I said quickly, raising my hands defensively. "It was an accident!"
The pixie sniffled, a single tear rolling down its cheek, before it screamed.
The shrill cry echoed through the trees, rising higher and higher until it was almost unbearable. The forest seemed to hold its breath, the oppressive silence broken only by the faint rustle of leaves.
And then they came.
The pixies were everywhere. Their claws scratched at my arms, their tiny teeth sinking into my skin like needles. Pixies dive bombed into me causing me to stumble, my boot caught on a root as I fought to stay upright, while another gnawed at the strap of my satchel until it snapped loose.
"Swat them and keep moving!" Kiaran barked, his voice cutting through the chaos.
Kiaran drove his spear through the air with precision, striking a pixie mid-dive. His movements were fluid, controlled, as if he'd done this a thousand times before. While I flailed and stumbled, he never missed a beat, his focus cutting through the chaos like a blade.
"I'm trying!" I snapped, swinging my arm wildly to shake off a pixie that had latched onto my sleeve.
Estella let out a sharp cry, stumbling backward as three pixies darted around her, pulling at her skirt and hair. She swiped at them with trembling hands, her golden eyes wide with panic. "They won't stop—they're everywhere! I can't—"
Her voice cracked, her breathing shallow and erratic. For a moment, she froze, overwhelmed by the chaos around her.
"Estella, focus!" I shouted, trying to shove a pixie off my shoulder.
She didn't respond. Her hands balled into fists, and her breath hitched as her panic turned into something sharper, something darker.
"Enough!" Estella's voice cut through the chaos, shaking with desperation and fury.
She dropped to her knees, slamming her hands into the ground. The earth trembled beneath us, and vines erupted from the soil in a storm of green and gold. They twisted through the air, their jagged thorns glinting like daggers. Roses bloomed along their lengths, their petals vibrant and glowing faintly in the dim light.
The vines lashed out, striking with deadly precision. The pixies shrieked, their giggles replaced by cries of panic as the vines tore through their ranks. They scattered, their glowing bodies falling one by one until the air was still again.
I stood there, chest heaving, as I took in the aftermath. The ground was littered with tiny, broken bodies, the roses blooming over them like a macabre burial. The scent of flowers and blood hung heavy in the air, making my stomach twist.
Estella rose slowly, her hands trembling slightly as she looked at us. "That should... hold them back," she said, her voice tight.
The forest fell into an unnatural silence, the kind that made my ears strain for sound. No buzzing, no rustling—just the oppressive weight of the stillness pressing down on us.
Something was wrong. The air felt heavier, colder, like the forest itself had turned its attention to us. My skin prickled with the uncomfortable sense of being watched.
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Kiaran raised an eyebrow, his expression unreadable as his gaze swept over the aftermath. Broken pixie bodies lay scattered among the thorny vines, their glowing light dimming like dying embers. The air was thick with the scent of crushed flowers and something metallic
Kiaran scanned the treeline, his crimson eyes sharp and unyielding. His spear rested lightly in his hand, but the tension in his grip betrayed him. Whatever he was looking for, he was ready to strike it down
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That's when he noticed it. A flicker of movement at the edge of the clearing.
A tiny pixie woman, no larger than a sparrow, was flitting toward the shadows, her wings a blur of silvery light.
Kiaran moved before I could even register what he was doing.
In a single, fluid motion, he reached out and snatched the pixie mid-flight. The creature screeched, its wings thrumming violently as it writhed in his grasp. He held it up to eye level, his crimson gaze sharp and unyielding.
"Talk, Rat Wings," Kiaran growled, his voice low and dangerous. "Where's your Queen?"
The pixie hissed at him, baring needle-like teeth. Its tiny hands clawed uselessly at his fingers, but his grip didn't waver. "Let me go, you brute!" it shrieked, its voice shrill and grating, like nails scraping glass. "Or I'll—"
Kiaran didn't wait for it to finish. He gave it a sharp shake, just hard enough to make its wings falter and go limp. The pixie let out a startled yelp, its glowing eyes widening.
"Try again," Kiaran said, his tone like ice. "Where is she?"
The pixie's eyes narrowed, and for a moment, it looked almost amused. Its lips curled back into a wicked grin, sharp teeth glinting faintly in the dim light. "You think you scare me, mortal?" it spat, its voice dripping with contempt.
It twisted in his grasp, and suddenly its tone shifted, the shrillness replaced by something darker, heavier. When it spoke again, the words slithered through the air like venom, curling around us in a language I didn't understand—but that Kiaran clearly did.
Before Kiaran could respond, the pixie's glowing eyes flicked to me, and its grin turned almost... reverent. "Tá sé ag éileamh a chroí," it repeated, softer this time, as if savoring the words. "He is coming to claim her heart. It beats for him now."
A cold shiver ran down my spine, and I took an involuntary step back. The way it looked at me, like I was some kind of prize, made my skin crawl.
Kiaran growled low in his throat. "Enough of your games," he snapped, but before he could do anything, the pixie lunged. Its tiny teeth sank into his hand, sharp as glass, drawing a bead of blood that glimmered faintly in the dim light.
"Damn it!" Kiaran snarled, jerking his hand back. The pixie used the moment to wrench itself free, its wings buzzing furiously as it darted toward the shadows.
But it didn't make it far.
Kiaran moved in a blur, his hand flying to the dagger at his belt. The blade gleamed as it left his grip, slicing cleanly through the air. A split second later, the pixie let out a high-pitched shriek as the dagger struck, pinning its delicate wings to the rough bark of a tree.
It writhed and hissed, its tiny hands clawing at the blade, but it was trapped. Kiaran strode toward it, his expression cold and unrelenting. "You're not going anywhere," he said, his voice like steel.
"Good," Kiaran said flatly, his gaze never leaving the pixie. "Now we have bait."
The creature let out another dark, guttural laugh, its tiny body trembling against the dagger's unyielding grip.
A cold gust swept through the clearing, making the trees groan and sway. The roses Estella had summoned quivered, their petals curling inward as if recoiling from the touch of the wind
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