The Ravaged Fairy by Anna Keraleigh

of lying with a smile in a willing woman’s bed.”
     
     

 
     
    Chapter Seven
     
    The voice was so familiar but unexpected
Thame blinked twice before sitting up. Flance stood in the door with his wings
displayed proudly and a grin from ear to ear.
    “Sweet Goddess!” Bray sounded behind
Flance and shoved him over so she could run into his opening arms.
    They’d found him. He hugged her as tight
as he could and closed his eyes in relief. He was no longer the lost fairy.
    “Thame!” she mumbled against his chest as
her butt landed on the rickety bed.
    He felt her hands roam his back before
she locked eyes and her hard features turned soft.
    “I’m well,” he assured her with a tight
smile
    “We found your wings man.” Flance
maneuvered his wings through the door.
    A ping of jealous surfaced but he quickly
shoved it down. His wings were already growing back; there was no need to be
envious when they had come to rescue him.
    “So, you ready to come home?” She renewed
the hug.
    Was he ready? He had a king and queen to
protect, a war to fight, and a score to settle with the trolls. He stood on
shaky feet and leaned heavily on Bray who just hugged him closer.
    “I can’t believe the mighty Thame let a
few trolls capture him.” Flance said with a smug grin.
     His quip was a low blow, but he knew
they were meant good-naturedly. The words brought memories crashing in and his voice
was thick with emotion as he spoke. “It wasn’t a troll.” The room settled into
silence.
    “What are you talking about?” Flance
asked. His tone lowered as his brows knit.
    “It was the trolls but they didn’t defeat
me alone. Someone or something else was there. It was agile enough to catch me.”
He didn’t understand the fragments assaulting his mind, but he did know the
trolls had a dangerous ally that helped in his abduction. What did he see that
night? The memoirs were too dark to wade through. The need to protect his
family took precedence over the aching in his heart. Beside Breena was safer
here away from him. The question was answered. He was leaving.
    There was a gasp that seemed to echo
through the room. Whisper was suddenly behind Breena’s Gran. His blade wined at
the little ladies throat. “No!” Where had he come from? Her chin was high
despite the threat that loomed near the delicate skin of her throat. “No, it’s
okay. She helped me.”
    “Your fooking right, I did,” She spoke in
an unwavering voice.
    Whisper raised a dark brow, and lowered
the sword then slunk away until Thame could see nothing of him. She studied
Flance’s face then a frown enhanced a few lines around her mouth. “Will you
tell Keyn that Abigail says hello?”
    Flance’s mouth flopped open and shut. He
looked confused.
    “I’ll tell him.” Thame offered. “Breena...”
What to say. What to do. Should he wait for her?
    “I’ll tell her you said goodbye.” She
clasped her hands together and moved to the side of the door. Her eyes lingered
on Flance’s brown and orange wings.
     He had to say goodbye. No, he had to say
he would return for her. She had become a big piece of his lonely heart. Never
before had he felt such loneliness. He was the solitary fairy, the one that
didn’t mind living alone, and his sole purpose for waking in the morning was to
protect his king. She’d changed that. Breena brought his heart back to life. “Tell
her I will return.” It was safer if the trolls didn’t know about her and the
only way to do that was to go home as quickly as possible. “I will return.”
There was no reply and he didn’t bother to wait for the cold shoulder response.
    He wobbled with Bray and Flance’s help
through the house and out the back door. His eyes lingered on Breena’s bed as
the doors opened and the chilled breeze swept over his flesh. The sun tried to
warm him but there was a persistent chill in the air.
    “We’ll carry you home.” Flance murmured
as they stepped from the house that had become so