“Oh.” She stood upright then pointed to the animal track. “I guess we’d better get looking then.”
She ducked down the small path and I had to practically bend right over to fit along the overgrown track too where the thorny shrubs collided above the height of whatever creature had created this track. But as Darcy realised I was getting hooked on every thornbush we passed, she used her earth magic to part all the foliage around us, pressing it back so I could walk along without touching any of it.
We started climbing the winding track, hunting for the grass while my eyes occasionally strayed to Darcy’s ass, and I had to force myself to focus. But she was the definition of distracting.
We searched around every rock and grassy knoll, but there was no sign of the colourful grass we were looking for.
“I bet it’s right at the top,” Darcy laughed, looking out over the incredible view as we crested a high ridge.
“Well at least I’ll get to spend the whole day on this mountain with you,” I murmured.
“What?” she called back, glancing over her shoulder with the light spilling over her shoulders in a glorious haze. She was so fucking beautiful, it was like the stars had plucked her from my most desperate fantasies.
I opened my mouth to answer but then a rasping, sucking rattle sounded somewhere to my right and I fell deathly still. I locked eyes with Darcy and drew the Phoenix sword from my hip, my muscles coiling in preparation of an attack.
Nymphs.
I raised my hands, Phoenix fire licking my fingertips as I listened for the creatures lurking out in the thick bushes running down the side of the mountain.
Orion braced for an attack, his head cocking to one side as he listened for their movements too.
I cast a silencing bubble around us, drawing it in tight so we wouldn’t be heard as we moved back into the cover of the trees.
“How many?” I asked as adrenaline sped through my veins.
“Three,” he said, his eyes darkening to nightshade.
“We’ve handled more,” I said, a part of me excited for the fight. A part which was starting to feel as innate as breathing, and I knew it had everything to do with me embracing my inner Fae. We were born for challenges and the thrill of a battle, and I’d face our enemies now as surely as we’d faced them in that arena. Nothing would ever be as terrifying as that, kneeling on the ground certain I was going to watch the man I loved die. So I could take on any opponent now, I knew it in my bones. Maybe even Lionel fucking Acrux if he decided to show up at my door.
“You should use your speed to circle behind them,” I suggested and Orion looked to me with a frown as another rattle shuddered through the air and I felt it cutting me off from my magic bit by bit.
“I’m not leaving you,” he said simply, raising his sword and setting his gaze on the bushes ahead.
I gritted my teeth at his stubbornness, seeing that primal protectiveness in his eyes which made him act like a caveman.
“How many times do I have to tell you I don’t need protecting?” I hissed.
“And how many times do I have to tell you, that I will protect you regardless?” he tossed back in his stern professor tone which just angered me even more.
“You’re infuriating,” I huffed.
“And you’re cute when you’re angry. Shall we air more facts about each other, Blue, or go and kill some Nymphs?” He gave me a devilish grin and I ran my tongue over my teeth.
Cute? I’ll show him cute.
I raised my hands and blasted away the bushes before us with a blaze of red and blue Phoenix fire, revealing the three Nymphs as they ran up the hill toward us in their shifted forms, their hungry red eyes locked on us and their probes reaching for us as they came. They were like trees come to life, their skin made of a thick barky armour that was hard to penetrate, but certainly not impossible.
I started running to meet them, a storm of hellfire in my veins ready to be unleashed.
“It’s a Vega!” one of the Nymphs cried in a voice that sounded like wood grinding against metal. “Don’t kill her, take her to the king.”
“Not before I get a taste of that magic,” another one grunted and I released a blast of fire that took the form of wings, gliding towards them and knocking two of them onto their backs. The other one was faster, darting toward us and Orion shot past me in a blur of speed, swinging his sword as flames ignited along the length of it before he slammed it directly into the Nymph’s chest. It died with a shriek, bursting into ash as I ran full pelt down the hill towards the other Nymphs who were scrambling to their feet.