It wasn’t an easy hike, but at least the rain didn’t return.
Neither did Flynn.
Every so often, a branch cracked behind her, but when she looked, there was nothing there. The bag remained at Octavia’s side, the emerald tucked deep within it.
On the fifth day, the shining sun greeted Octavia as she woke up. The air carried hints of salt, the dense woods thinned, andthe crashing of waves against rocks grew louder by the hour. The Indigo Coast was near.
Excellent. A flutter of excitement bloomed in her stomach. It wouldn’t be long before Octavia made her delivery, and then, finally, she’d be done.
Thank Kydona,the dragon growled.The sooner we get rid of the object and shift, the better.
The creature beneath Octavia’s skin was getting testier with each passing day.
Octavia’s mood wasn’t faring much better. Flynn’s betrayal had taught her an important lesson: she couldn’t trust anyone.
Once she completed her mission, she’d be embarking upon a long vacation. She’d heard it snowed a lot in the north of the Rose Empire. Maybe she’d go explore some frozen lakes, far away from everyone else. Fire ran through her veins, and it would keep her warm.
Octavia was so entangled in her thoughts about what she’d like to do after she shifted that she didn’t catch the change in the air.
One moment, the forest was filled with joyous birdsong, animals running around, and the wind rustling leaves. The next, absolute silence blanketed the woods.
The hairs on the back of Octavia’s neck prickled, and she extended her senses.
“Hello?” she called out to the forest and turned in a slow circle, gripping her walking stick. “Is anyone there?”
A long moment of silence stretched on and on. A chill slinked down Octavia’s spine, and a sense of wrongness filled her. Moving her walking stick from her right to her left hand, she took another step forward.
Then, the ground shifted beneath her feet.
One moment, she stood in front of an old, gnarled grandfather tree with brown bark. The next, bright emeraldgreen vines snaking up the trunk. The speed with which they moved was incredibly unnatural until the vines swallowed up the tree.
Octavia shrieked and stumbled back. Or she would’ve, if dark green, almost black vines as thick as ropes weren’t crawling up her legs. She batted at them and tried to get out, but for each one that she struck down, another two burst from the ground. They wound around her, climbing her just like the tree, until she couldn’t possibly move anymore.
And with one swift tug, she ended up on the ground.
A flurry of curses so vile they could’ve curdled milk left Octavia’s lips. Another vine rose and wrapped around her mouth, swallowing her cries of protest as she flailed against her bindings.
Only then did three figures, two with wings and one without, step out of the woods. Their pointed ears and the green ribbons of magic swirling around their fingers were further proof of what Octavia had already figured out. They were Earth Elves.
Unlike the purple wings of Octavia’s dragon, the Earth Elves had pale green butterfly wings that fluttered behind them. The wings, though beautiful, did not mask the elves’ viciousness. The males reeked of danger.
The wingless Earth Elf stepped forward. Green swirls and whorls Maturation tattoos were wrapped around his neck and exposed collarbone. They glowed as vividly as his grassy eyes. His dirty blond hair was cut ruggedly around his ears, and there was a dimple on his right cheek. He probably would have been handsome if not for the malice radiating from him or the smirk marring his face. The weapon hanging off his belt didn’t help matters, either.
“Well, well,” Wingless said. “Look what we’ve caught, brothers.”
The winged elves wore matching smirks as they eyed Octavia.
“Is she a human, Lysandro?” the youngest-looking one asked, a spark of eagerness in his eyes that had Octavia wishing she had a weapon.
Wingless—Lysandro—moved closer to Octavia. He crouched beside her and sniffed the air as though she were a dog. “No.” The surprise was evident in his voice. “She’s definitely not mortal. She smells of…” He sniffed again. “Smoke and ash.”
Octavia tried not to roll her eyes at that description. How incredibly basic. All dragon shifters smelled of smoke, but they had underlying scents. This Earth Elf clearly lacked Octavia’s superior olfactory senses.
His grassy eyes met Octavia’s, and she tried not to wince at the obvious threat of brutality in his gaze. He didn’t look away, not as he ran his fingers over the rounded shell of her ear, nor as he touched her chin. She jerked her head up, slamming her forehead into his with all her might. The resounding crack filled her with deep satisfaction.
“Stupid whore.” Lysandro pinned her down with an arm across the neck, and he bent, dragging his nose along her neck. “We’ve caught ourselves a dragon shifter, brothers.”
The tone of his voice sent warning bells through Octavia. She struggled against the Earth Elf, but between the way he was pinning her and the vines, it was no use.