Read Guardian for Free Online Page B

of perspective.
    “Binding potion. If you leave my side you’ll suffer excruciating pain.”
    Ian stared hard into my eyes for several beats and then turned to Tana. She shook her beautiful head in disgust. “You have no idea what you’ve done, Monad. Stupid, stupid spirit.”
    “Then tell me.”
    Ian walked away from me to pace the room. “I have to return today or all will be lost.”
    “Mayhaps we should just kill her.”
    Oh boy. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. The potion has bound him inextricably to me. He needs me now. He’ll descend slowly into madness if I’m killed.” I didn’t know at all if this was true. But I thought it sounded good. And I really didn’t want him to test the theory.
    Ian swore and the intensity of his pacing increased. Finally he looked up at the faery queen. “I’ll have to take her back with me.”
    I smiled smugly.
    Tana’s jeweled gaze widened. “How? You can’t just add her to the group. You know how suspicious they are. They’ll kill you and disband.”
    Ian swore again and resumed pacing. “I don’t see any way around it. If what she says is true I’ll be next to useless. Maybe I can keep her in the deep travel layer so they don’t know she’s there.”
    I frowned, not liking that option at all, but I wisely chose to keep my mouth shut. I’d fight that battle later, when I wasn’t outnumbered.
    The air before the queen shimmered and her gaze flew to Ian. “The Watcher comes. Go now!”
    Suddenly the invisible bands around my body dropped away and I hit the floor, hard, falling to my knees. Ian grabbed my hand and threw faery dust over our heads, and we were off.
    ~ ~ * ~ ~
     
    He dragged me through Tana’s kingdom and out through the golden gates. The wood was quiet and dark, with the sun fading away overhead so that its essence couldn’t filter through the dense umbrella of tree growth overhead. Using the deep layer, our footsteps moved us through the wood at an impossibly fast rate. Although I knew it would still take us until morning to reach the outer edges.
    The sprites appeared to have gone home to dinner, if sprites did such a thing. And in the deep stillness of the prehistoric place, it felt as if Ian and I were the only ones alive. I watched him walking ahead of me and was struck by the grace and confidence with which he moved.
    The silence started to weigh on me so my mouth, in its usual fashion, began to move. “So how do you and Tana know each other?”
    He glanced at me and shrugged. “Her father and my father were fathers together.”
    Alrighty then. I thought about this for a while then tried again. “So you were friends as children?”
    “You could call it that.”
    Okay, he was starting to annoy me. I forced my face to remain blank. “I’d heard she spent some time among humans as a child. I hadn’t really believed it though.”
    He threw me a strange look but said nothing.
    We approached a cave and Ian ducked into it. I frowned, following. “We aren’t stopping for the night already are we? I’d rather keep moving so we can get out of here.” I rubbed my arms. “The wood at night gives me the creeps.”
    Ian just stared at me for a moment and then stepped out of the layer. “This is a portal.” He started toward the back of the cave. “If you’re coming with me you’d better hurry up.”
    I frowned, wondering at which point I’d lost control of the situation, and stepped out. The cool, dank air hit me first. The smell second. Something had apparently died in the cave. Not all that long ago if the depth of stench was an indicator. Rubbing my arms I started after him.
    I heard him cry out and took off running, my weapon in my hand before I took the first step. I found him writhing on the floor a little further into the cave. I took a battle stance, looking around for whatever had attacked him. There was nothing or no one there, other than Ian, thrashing around in apparent pain. Then I realized what it was.
    The potion