“There’s been a lot of…enemy activity in the area lately. We’re not sure why.

That’s all I can say.” He shot a quick look back up the path. “Let’s get farther in.”

He took her hand and continued down the path.

The first step shot pain up her leg as a stick dug into her scraped foot. “Stop, please.” Her voice was a strangled plea, but she was beyond feeling embarrassed tonight. Tears slid down her face as Tamani stopped and turned.

“What’s wrong?”

But now that the tears had started, Laurel couldn’t turn them off. The panic and fright of the evening washed over her as tangibly as the current of the Chetco and she gasped for breath.

Then Tamani’s arms were around her, his chest warm despite the cold air. His hands stroked up and down her back until he touched the gash where she’d been cut by the window and she couldn’t hold back a groan. “What happened to you?” Tamani whispered in her ear as his hands pushed through her hair.

Laurel’s fingers clutched the front of his shirt as she tried to keep her balance.

Tamani bent and swept his arms underneath her, lifting her off her aching feet and curling her against him. She closed her eyes, hypnotized by the graceful cadence of his feet that never seemed to make a sound. He walked a few minutes down the path and settled her onto a soft spot on the ground.

A spark flared and Tamani lit what looked like a softball-sized brass orb.

Flickering light shone out of hundreds of tiny holes, filling the small clearing with a gentle glow. Tamani slid his pack from his shoulders and knelt beside her.

Without saying a word, he placed a finger under her chin and turned her face one way, then the other. He moved on to her arms and legs, murmuring at the scrapes and abrasions he found. Gently, he lifted her feet onto his lap and Laurel caught the familiar scents of lavender and ylang-ylang as he rubbed something warm into her tattered soles. It tingled and almost burned for a minute before cooling and soothing the stinging ache.

“Are you hurt anywhere else?” Tamani asked after treating all the injuries he could see.

“My back,” Laurel said, turning onto her side and lifting her shirt.

Tamani released his breath in a small whistle. “This one’s pretty bad. I’ll need to bind it.”

“Will that hurt?” Laurel said slowly as warmth from the small orb seemed to wrap around her body.

“No, but you’ll have to be careful for a few days while it grows back together.”

Laurel nodded and settled her cheek onto her arm.

“Where did you get these, Laurel?” he asked as his soft fingers worked on the deep gash. “Faeries aren’t known for being clumsy.”

Laurel’s tongue felt thick and slow as she tried to explain. “They tried to kill us.

David and me.”

“Who?” His voice was soft, but Laurel could feel the intensity behind his words.

“I don’t know. Something ugly, inhuman. Men who convinced my mom to sell the land.”

“Ugly?”

Laurel nodded. She closed her eyes as she told him about her dad and Jeremiah Barnes, her words starting to slur.

“A toxin?” Tamani pressed as her eyes grew heavier and his voice seemed farther and farther away.

“Papers are supposed to be signed tomorrow,” Laurel breathed, forcing herself to relay the most important message as her skin tingled gently as if she were lying in the noonday sun.

A few seconds later an arm slipped around her and Laurel clung to it as Tamani’s cheek settled by her hair. “Go to sleep,” Tamani whispered. “I won’t let anything else hurt you.”

“D-d-david, he’s waiting…”

“Don’t worry,” Tamani soothed, stroking her arm. “He’s sleeping too. Shar will make sure he’s safe. You both just need to rest now.”

All she could do was nod as she nestled against Tamani’s chest and let everything else slip out of her mind.

Gentle fingers trailed through Laurel’s hair as she slowly stretched and rolled onto her back. Her eyes fluttered open and met Tamani’s.

“Good morning,” he said with a soft smile as he sat beside her head.

She grinned, then her eyes looked up at the star-filled sky and the small lamp still hanging from the branches above her. “Is it?”

Tamani laughed. “Well, it’s very early in the morning I suppose, but yes.”

“Did you sleep?”

He shook his head. “Too much to do.”

“But—”

“I’ll be fine. I’ve done worse.” His smile dropped away and his jaw squared. “It’s time to go.”

“Go where?” she asked, sitting up.

“To take care of the trolls before they finish killing your father.”

“Trolls?” She shook her head. Surely she’d misheard. She’d sat up too quickly, that was all. “My father? You can help my father?”

“I don’t know,” Tamani admitted. “But it won’t matter unless we take care of the trolls first.” Tamani tilted his head very slightly to the side. “Come on out, Shar. I know you’re listening.”

Another man stepped silently out from behind a tree Laurel would have sworn was much too small for him to hide behind. He had the same confident stance as Tamani and the same green eyes. His roots were green too, but the rest of his hair was light blond and long—pulled back away from his face. Shar had the same perfection she still wasn’t accustomed to seeing in Tamani; his face was rougher though, full of sharp angles where Tamani’s was soft. He was taller than Tamani—almost as tall as David—with long, wiry limbs and solid arms and chest.