Read Online Forged in Fire (The Forged Chronicles Book 3) by Alyssa Rose Ivy - Free Book Online Page A

all the worlds would you want to go there?”
    “Because I need a guide to Belgard.” I had no idea why I was admitting all of this to a stranger, but I saw no other choice. I had nothing. James had sent me running into danger.
    “Belgard. Now that seems like a more normal choice, but you are nowhere near there.”
    “I know.” I sighed. “Look. I don’t want any trouble. Could you please direct me toward Icentris?”
    “No.” He squeezed my shoulder. “But I will take you to Belgard.”
    “You will?” I asked with surprise.
    “Yes.”
    “I can pay you back.” I dug my hand into my empty pocket. I had no wallet on me. Not that my money would mean anything in Energo. “I think.”
    “But first you need to explain to me how you came to be out here.”
    “I wish I could.” It would help if I understood it at all.
    “You can. I assure you I am a good listener, and I speak many languages.”
    “I don’t actually know where I am. I was taken here by—” I stopped. James was the one person I didn’t want to talk about. “By someone.”
    “Someone you know?”
    “Yes, but it is a long story.”
    “Then we can discuss it over dinner. Come along now,” he urged.
    “Wait, dinner?” That word sounded almost too normal considering the circumstances.
    “Or have you eaten already? Either way I need to eat.”
    “Where are we eating?” I held back the idle worry in my head that I was going to become someone’s dinner. It was too dark to see who I was dealing with. By the feel of his hands and what I could see of his face, he was humanoid, but considering the wolves had seemed normal on the outside, that didn’t actually mean much.
    “To my home.”
    “Uh, yeah about that.” I glanced around debating whether to try to make a run for it. The forest was dark, and I had no idea what else could be waiting for me deeper in the woods.
    “I will not hurt you, but other things in these woods might. We need to go.”
    “Do I have a choice?” Whether it changed anything or not, I was going to ask questions.
    “A choice?” He leaned in.
    “Yes. If I said no, would you leave me?”
    “No.” He tightened his grip on me. “I could not in any good conscience leave you here.”
    “Because I’m a girl?” Sexism was alive and well in Energo.
    “Because you are a powerless human girl.”
    “And there you went and said that. Now I know I shouldn’t go with you.”
    “Why?” There was a hint of genuine surprise in his voice.
    “You called me a human. That implies you are not one.” I sighed. “Great.”
    A loud humming noise came from behind, and my heart started to race. I figured that humming wasn’t coming from anything good. When it was followed by a low growling, I was even more certain. I glanced all around me searching for the source of the sound, but it was too dark to see much of anything.
    “And being non-human means I am bad?”
    “No. Just dangerous.” Very dangerous to me.
    “Why?”
    “Because.” I continued to glance around. Something else was out there with us. I knew it.
    “You cannot fear something simply because it is an unknown.” He said it completely matter-of-factly.
    “Yet I will. I still don’t know why you are in the woods in the middle of the night.” The growling got slightly louder, and I hoped Elron had a plan to get us out of there. Going with him was seeming like a better and better option.
    “I had a vision.”
    “Oh yeah? I have those too.” Too often now.
    “You do?” He took in a sharp breath.
    “Yes. And there I went. Too much information.”
    “You are a far more interesting human than I expected to find.”
    “What did you expect?”
    “I do not know. Maybe an unhappy girl running from her betrothed? But I do not think that is you.”
    “My betrothed?” I raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, not exactly.”
    “Either way I would take you with me. Will you walk or should I carry you to my horse?”
    “What is with men here and thinking I can’t