Court of Nightmares and Ruin

Chapter 40

Jen

I was going to throw up...If these damned trees didn't stop spinning above my head, I would blow chunks all over this pompous Day Realm king, which certainly would not improve his shiny disposition.

I squirmed in his arms. I was so uncomfortable that being still was nearly impossible. My movements caused him to grip me tighter and scold me with his evergreen-colored eyes. I temporarily forgot about the excruciating pain in my arm as I fell headfirst into his deep eyes. There was something about his eyes that the beast in him couldn't control. They revealed his passion and hurt. Try as he might, he couldn't hide his loneliness and pain. I was starting to believe he wasn't so much the monster he made himself out to be. He was just a male greatly wronged by the world we lived in.

"Let's take shelter in that cave." Kohl's deep voice startled me, and I looked away quickly before he or Icelyn caught me staring at Leon.

I was starting to think I had hit my head in the battle as well. What was I thinking? I was a changeling, and he was a King. I shouldn't be thinking about him at all.

Leon carefully lowered me to the ground and quickly made a fire. Kohl's magic settled around us, and I figured he must be cloaking us and our little fire from being detected by the Enforcers. Icelyn sat beside me and pulled at the arm I held protectively to my chest. I hissed in pain as the movement caused my muscles to shift.

"How does it look?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"Not good." Her blue eyes betrayed her concern.

"Well, don't sugarcoat it or anything," I scoffed, pulling my arm back to my chest.

I knew it was terrible. I didn't need Icelyn to tell me it wasn't good. Most of the flesh on my forearm was gone entirely. Blood and clear fluid seeped from the wound and dripped to the ground.

"Give it to me." Leon startled me by holding out his hand and yet again commanding me to do something without asking.

I would have told him exactly what I thought of his domineering demands, but at the moment, I didn't care what he did as long as he made the pain go away. I gently held my arm out again, trying desperately to ignore the queasy feeling that overtook me. Leon crouched before me on bended knee and gently pulled my arm closer. When his fingertips touched my arm, I felt a pleasing electrical shock run up the length of my arm, but that was his magic, right? I watched him carefully as he looked at the wound.

"Do you have enough magic left to heal it?" Kohl bent next to him and looked at my arm.

"We don't have much choice. She likely will not make it through the night with an injury that bad on a human."

I swallowed the bile that threatened to rise up my throat. Was it really that bad? I guessed it was by how the two kings looked at me.

"Do it," Icelyn commanded him.

"If I do, I may not have enough power left to free the book." Leon looked at Icelyn and then at me.

The seriousness of the situation hung in the air like a looming storm on the horizon. It was either me or the book, and Icelyn's mortality depended on getting that book. I opened my mouth to argue that I would be fine, they just needed to bandage it for me, but before I could speak, Icelyn interjected.

"Do it," she said again with a harsh voice that dared anyone to question her.

Leon nodded his head once and gripped my wound. The pressure of his hand on my exposed flesh and muscles had my head spinning. I was going to lose consciousness; the pain was so great.

"Hang in there, Mouse. It will be over soon."

Just when I was sure I would be claimed by the darkness of my mind, I felt a strange, warm sensation on my arm, and a bright light flashed between my arm and Leon's hand. The pain slowly started to subside, and I could breathe normally for the first time since being shot with the Enforcer's scepter. Leon slowly took his hand away, and all that was left of my injury was puckered, burnt skin, and a scar.

"I'll heal it completely once we are back in Gregorian, but that will have to do for now."

I was surprised that Leon offered to fix the ugliness of my skin once he had full use of his magic. The only thing that mattered to me was that the pain was gone, and the wound was closed.

I looked over at Icelyn and smiled at her. I never had anyone care for me like she did. She just sacrificed her only chance of being turned back into a fae and being with Kohl for eternity for me. My throat burned with emotion as I witnessed a tear slip from the corner of her eye and down her cheek. Try as I might, I could never repay her for the sacrifice she just made for me.

Kohl pulled Icelyn to his chest, and a pang of jealousy twisted my gut. I wasn't jealous of Kohl, just of what they have together. What I wouldn't give for just an ounce of the love that the Night Realm king showed towards Icelyn.

That simple thought had my eyes shifting toward Leon. He was brooding in the shadows nearby. His eyes turned menacing when he caught me looking at him. I stared a little longer just to piss him off.

He was like butter on bread fresh out of the oven, with his glamour concealing the beast. He wasn't quite as big as Kohl, he was leaner and stealthier, but as far as males go, he was still more extensive than most. He had an air of mystery about him that made me grind my teeth with unwanted desire, and his wavy black hair had me wishing to run my hands through it.

My cheeks heated with a mixture of desire and shame. I shifted my body away from him before embarrassing myself by doing something stupid like drooling over him. With Icelyn tucked close to his side, Kohl led her outside the cave, and my nerves immediately increased, being left alone in the cave with Leon.

"Come here, little Mouse."

My heartbeat pounded in my ears as he beckoned me forward, and like the fool I was, I stood and walked into the shadows where he lurked. He roughly pushed my back against the stone wall and anchored me in place by placing both arms on either side of me against the wall.

"I can sense your desire for me. Tell me, do you really want to know what it is like being with a beast?"

The audacity of his words had me foaming with anger but also created an unwanted desirable ache in my lower stomach. Before I knew what I had done, I raised my hand and slapped him soundly across the face. The sound of my palm against his flesh echoed throughout the cave.

"Maybe everyone would stop seeing you as a monster if you stopped acting like one," I hissed and shoved past him.