Excalibur's Seven | ✓ [LGBT]

~ 4 ~

THE GROUND RUMBLED WITH the pounding of hooves and feet as the knights cut through the trees of the dense forest. They made no effort to be silent until they reached the deepest corners of the woods, where the trees were the thickest and the magic was the strongest.

They tied their horses, lighting torches as they waded through tall grass and ducked beneath vines and avoided swarms of fireflies. The magic was almost tangible there. It left some dizzy, while others had a higher tolerance and pressed on.

"There," Lord Herwarde whispered. He motioned for a small clearing. Right in the center was a ring of fungus.

Lord Herwerde was the strongest and the wisest. Naturally, he took the step into the ring.

For a long time, nothing happened.

"This one's a dud," he said, moving to leave. But just as he lifted his foot from the ring, he was stopped by a sweet voice.

"You're supposed to put both feet in," she said. "You're looking for Faerie, aren't you?"

"We're looking for a faery," he corrected pointedly.

"Well, you found one."

Herwerde looked between his comrades. "And who might you be?"

"I'm a faery, did I not say as much?"

He sighed. Pressing would be no use, but she was his only choice. "Now," he ordered.

The small woman hardly made a fuss as she was apprehended by several guards. The strangest part, however, was her kind smile, as though she knew with certainty that she would be okay. As though she had a plan.

* * *

Lady Selene had business to attend to. She had no time to follow her dimwitted nephew and his strange new companions into the woods at night, but she had no other choice. She didn't trust anyone else not to kill him on sight and she had to admit, she was curious about that druid.

The moon was at its highest, lighting up the ground as she sped through the woods on her mare. They would be at the exit of the tunnel any minute now, and Selene had no other option but to cut them off at the exit if she had any hope of apprehending them.

It was fascinating how this boy could make her so angry that she longed for her husbands mild incompetence. At least Conan knew not to run right to the face to the Unseelie who nearly succeeded in assassination. Unfortunately.

She'd figured out what the three were up to when she went to check on the thief. When she noticed her absence, a guard had told her the prince had business with her. It was bullshit, but she knew why the guards believed it. No one disobeyed a Knight of the Round Table, even if he was the most disgraceful prince the kingdom had ever seen. The only reason he was even recognized as a prince was because of her late sister's persuasion.

She missed her sister often, though they didn't know each other well. Keyondra was a decade older than Selene, they were never on the same page. But Selene saw everything about her that she loved—and hated—in that frustrating, golden-haired bastard she was chasing through the woods.

She told herself this was about discipline, but she knew the truth. She was worried for him.

"Gotcha," she whispered as she neared the exit of the tunnel. The druid was in need of a hood if they wished to properly hide in the future. Selene had the same problem with her own moonlit hair, curse her mother's northern genes.