Chapter Forty Six

Chapter Forty Six
Chapter 46: POV Anne

The canopy above us felt less like a shelter and more like a cage.

"Stay down, Lilly," Silas commanded, his voice a low, gravelly rasp as he shoved the little girl gently but firmly behind a thick outcrop of moss-covered rock.

I didn't need to ask why. The air had turned foul, thick with the stench of rotting copper and old graves. Out from the dense thicket slithered Draco’s hunters. They weren’t human—not even close. These were the dark, twisted things of the deep Fae realms, creatures of ash and malice who hunted the fringes of our world. My stomach violently turned as I looked at them. Everyone knew the whispers. Everyone knew these demons literally fed on half-born children, consuming the innocent to gorge on their raw, unspent magic.

Silas didn’t hesitate. He drew his blade, the steel catching a rare glint of sunlight through the leaves, and threw himself into the fray.

He moved like a tempest, a devastating blur of lethal grace. I watched him parry a rusted scythe, his muscles straining beneath his leather armor, before driving his elbow into a hunter's jaw. He was a warrior through and through. For the first time, looking past my own stubborn pride, I saw him clearly: this wasn't just a man holding a sword. This was the vanguard. This was the force that could actually save my people.

Silas pinned the lead demon, Marcus, to the forest floor, the tip of his blade hovering inches from the creature's black, pooling eye.

"Speak," Silas growled.

Marcus let out a wet, rattling laugh, his pointed teeth coated in dark fluid. "We don't want the brat, half-breed," he hissed, his eyes shifting past Silas to lock dead onto me. "We want her. We want Anne. She’s going to help us find the rest of the half-breed children. Her magic knows where they hide."

A cold spike of fury shot through my veins. I stepped forward, my hands curling into fists, my voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "I would rather tear my own magic out by the roots than help monsters like you touch a single child."

Marcus sneered, but he never got to reply.

A sharp gasp cut through the tension. Lilly. The poor girl had panicked, trying to scramble backward away from the horrific sight, but her foot caught a root. She tumbled down a small embankment, crying out in terror.

Silas flinched, his head snapping toward her sound. "Lilly!"

It was a split-second distraction, but in a fight against demons, a split second is an eternity. Another hunter, dynamic and silent, lunged from the shadows. His jagged dagger flashed, sinking deep into Silas’s side.

Silas groaned, a choked sound of agony, dropping to one knee as dark blood began to bloom across his shirt. The hunter raised his blade for a killing blow.

"No, you don't!" I screamed.

The magic inside me roared to life. I didn't think; I just acted. I swept a broken branch off the ground, channeling a burst of raw energy through it, and drove it straight through the hunter's chest with a sickening crunch. The creature dissolved into ash before it even hit the ground.

I rushed to Silas's side, catching him before he collapsed entirely into the dirt. He was heavy, panting heavily, his face turning an alarming shade of pale. But even through the pain, those stubborn eyes of his looked up at me.

"Look at you," I managed to tease, though my heart was hammering against my ribs. "Needing a girl to fight your battles. You’re a total little girl, Silas."

A breathless, pained smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Shut up, Anne."

"Save your breath. You're a mess."

We had to work fast. Lilly crawled back up the ridge, tears streaming down her face, but there was a fierce determination in her young eyes. "I can help," she whispered, her hands already glowing with a faint, iridescent Fae light. "But I'm not strong enough alone."

"You are today," I told her, pulling her close.

I scrambled into the brush, my hands tearing through the soil to find the herbs I needed—wild ironwood bark and moon-leaf, things that could bind a spirit to its vessel. We laid Silas flat and drew a hasty rune circle of healing in the dirt around him, using the herbs and a few drops of Lilly’s own potent Fae blood to activate the ancient geometry.

As Lilly began to chant, the air inside the circle hummed. I placed my hands over Silas's wound, feeling the hot rush of his blood and the steady, frantic thumping of his heart. I closed my eyes, letting my magic flow into him, weaving his torn flesh back together alongside Lilly's pure power.

Seeing him like this—vulnerable, yet breathing because of me—something shifted in my chest. I looked at the sharp lines of his jaw, the rugged warmth he usually hid behind an annoying smirk. I had spent so long pushing him away, terrified of what it meant to rely on someone. But why was I fighting it? The attraction was there, burning hotter than the healing magic under my palms. He was fiercely loyal, undeniably brave, and he actually cared. Fine, I thought to myself, a quiet resolve settling over me. If we survive this, I'm giving things a go with him.

The wound sealed, leaving only a dark, jagged scar. Silas exhaled a long, deep breath, his color returning.

While he rested, I walked over to an ancient, towering oak tree at the edge of the clearing. I pressed my palms flat against the rough, coarse bark, closing my eyes and breathing in the scent of damp earth. Please, I whispered into the wood, sending a pulse of my magic deep into the root system. Lead the way. Help us find Lilly's parents. Get this girl to safety.

A gentle breeze rustled the leaves above, a low murmur vibrating through the trunk. A path seemed to clear in the thick fog ahead, a silent guidance from the forest spirits themselves.

We were safe for now, but the weight of the world pressed heavily on my shoulders. My sisters were still out there, scattered across the realm, hiding from Draco's shadow. I needed Silas. We needed his sword, his tactical mind, and his strength to gather them back together.

As I leaned my head against the tree, a sudden, heavy wave of exhaustion washed over me, dropping me into a fleeting, waking dream.

The forest disappeared. I was standing in a void of mist, and through the haze, I could hear them. My sisters. Their voices were a fractured choir, whispering my name, crying out from the dark places they were cornered in. Anne... help us... Anne, find us...

I snapped my eyes open, my breath catching in my throat. The vision vanished, but the echoing pleas remained locked in my mind. They were calling for me. Time was running out, and with Silas by my side, I was going to answer. He was the warrior that was promised to me and my sisters.