The Untold Forest by Elisa Menz (ebook offline reader TXT) 📕

but she was near to the truth. “You can feel attracted to a million people, but it is love when you do it. When you decide.” Maeve let her words sink in. Somehow her explanation made everything simpler. The butterflies in her stomach morphed into a warm, fuzzy sensation in her chest. She smiled while Flyg hugged her waist, resting her chin on her shoulder. “You birdbrain. If you truly are in love, don’t forget to tell him. And you can’t do that magic-feelings thing, that’s cheating!”

Their laughter rang in the Forest, startling the birds from their branches and adding color to the peaceful surroundings. Traveling with the Ancient, Maeve’s fears diminished, even though she was still eager to meet with the others and run to the Warlocks. Hua turned to them with a grin and winked seductively to the half-breed. “I like the way your mind works, Flyg. You’re an interesting woman.”

Flyg raised her hand and shook her head vehemently. “No, no, sir! My heart belongs to another.”

The Ancient gave them the most captivating smile before picking up his pace. “I can make you change your mind.”

Hakken

He could smell her! He had almost lost his mind since the faint trail was gone, but his nose didn’t fool him. Maeve’s pleasant scent was near. He followed it with Regn close behind.

Just a little more! His body begged for him to stop, but he kept pushing. All his fears, his doubts, whether he was worthy of her, he didn’t care about that anymore. All it mattered was for her to be safe. His limbs grew heavier, and he couldn’t even see straight because of exhaustion.

They arrived to a clearing, and in the distance, trailing along a rocky slope, Maeve rode in front of a half-breed girl. She looked unharmed and calm. Despite the gap of land stretching between them, as soon as their eyes met, she smiled.  When he saw her beautiful smile, Hakken sighed in relief, and his body finally gave in.

His legs refused to take another step, and he fell to his knees. If not for his remarkable stamina and sheer willpower, he would have passed out on the ground.  He took one deep breath, two, three... his eyelids closing against his will. But as soon as Maeve knelt in front of him, his eyes looked for hers.

She was concerned. He probably looked awful. He felt awful.

“I’m sorry, my love. I let them take you.” The words slip out, not registering in his mind.

But he must have said something good because it made her smile. “It’s all right, Hakken, you can rest now. I won’t leave your side.” That was exactly what he longed to hear from her, and he said to himself that was all he wanted. But that wasn’t the truth. He wanted more, much more. When Maeve took him in her arms, pressing her warm body against his and enveloping him with her sweet scent, his tired muscles relaxed, and he let himself go. And then, the most wonderful thing happened. A soft, fluttering kiss. It lasted but a second, but he hadn’t imagined it. He could never imagine such a delicious taste. He stared at her in wonder, witnessing how she slowly lost her confidence and flustered.

“Your lips are so sweet.” He was a brute with words. But before he could say anything else, and before Maeve succumbed to her bewilderment, his body decided it had enough. He fell forward, not able to stay awake for another second.

While he drifted into a very pleasing sleep, he heard Maeve worrying about him and an unknown male reassuring her.

“He is just exhausted. They both are, after running for an entire day.”

Who the hell is that? He didn’t acknowledge anyone else after he saw Maeve. Then a woman spoke. “This one passed out the moment they saw us.” Hehe... take that kid! Right before losing the battle against sleep, he rejoiced in the fact he had resisted a minute longer than Regn. He was winning this fight.

Maeve

The next morning, introductions were in order. Hua had departed during the night, after helping them lay both unconscious men next to a fire and make sure there were no immediate threats to their safety. He left the vial with the red dust in their care, advising them to ask the Warlock for help.

So, while eating some roasted rabbit Flyg hunted the previous day, Regn and Hakken completely recovered from their nerve-racking race.

They both recognized Flyg as a mountain half-breed, and Maeve couldn’t be prouder of them since neither gave her a dirty look or tried to kill her. After all, they had witnessed too much to believe their tribe was simply ‘bad’. Both men waited for an explanation.

Since the dust had compromised Flyg’s consciousness most of the time, it was up to Maeve to tell them their story. She quickly recounted her abduction, being drugged, the weird naga, Flyg’s aggressiveness, the Ancient Hua driving away Astika.

When she mentioned the intervention of a god, she received a couple of odd looks, but Flyg soon backed her story.

After telling them about how she freed Flyg from the dust with her magic and the help of not one but two Ancients, it was clear their heads were spinning. Regn was the first one to snap. “Hold on... are you sure you were put to sleep by magic?”

Maeve shrugged. “I only remember a sweet aroma, and then my body went numb. I can’t tell for certain it was magic. It could be some sort of drug.”

“The same happened to me. The effect was so strong he put me to sleep even when I was possessed. That naga might have some loose morals, but I’m forever in his debt. Thanks to him kidnapping me, I wasn’t forced to kill anyone.”  The thought still shook Flyg.

After a moment of pondering, they raised more questions.

“The Tree is an Ancient... and the other Ancient was a stag?” Hakken frowned, shaking his head in confusion.

“Yes.” Maeve was losing her patience.

“And you thought he was