Chapter 12 #3
“I’ve seen some particularly brutal Seelie draw on vines and… well, I think you get the idea. Is that unsavory enough to feed your bloodlust?” He asks, eyes twinkling with amusement.
I blink at him. All this magic sounds absolutely horrifying. Offensive or not. “Is there much fighting between the courts then?” It’s something I’ve been wondering since he told me more about his parents and their feelings towards the other courts.
He purses his lips as he contemplates the question. “Yes and no. We’re not in a full-scale war, but there are some small skirmishes here and there along our borders and in the Twilight Veil.”
“What’s the Twilight Veil?”
“At what point do you think you’ll stop peppering me with questions on this journey?”
“Until I’m satisfied, or I return home. Whichever comes first I suppose.”
He smirks, his entire expression filling with mirth. “I can ensure you’re satisfied and come first. I’m sure that would cease the endless questions.”
I can feel my face heat as I grow flustered with his innuendo.
“Ew, stop.” I shove at his shoulder, hoping to push him further out of my personal space, but he barely even stumbles a step.
He lets out a boisterous laugh and it’s the first I’ve heard the sound leave his lips.
It’s loud and unrestrained and it makes me want to get him to do it again.
It sends warming tingles through my body.
“Good to know it’s not only human men who can find a sexual innuendo in anything.
Seems it’s a general male gender thing.” I roll my eyes.
“The Twilight Veil is pretty much a no man’s land between the two courts.
There have been times when the two courts have come together in the Veil for ceremonies and such but no one has control over the place.
In fact, there’s not a whole lot either court knows about it.
It’s always been around and has always been something of contention between the two.
The Unseelie King and Queen especially want to take control of the Veil.
Although, if they had their way, they’d take over the whole of Alinea. ”
My eyes jump in shock. “The Unseelie royals want to overthrow the Seelie Court?”
“Indeed,” he answers, lips pressed into a thin line.
“What about the Seelie’s? Do they want to take over the Unseelie?”
“From what I’ve been able to discern, no.
They’re merely trying to retain and maintain their court.
They don’t strive for power in the same way as the Unseelie.
It’s probably safe to assume the Seelie would like to have control over the Veil, but in their eyes if they can’t have it, then neither should the Unseelie.
And thus, it remains a source of conflict. ”
The dynamics and politics of the courts are truly fascinating.
I can’t imagine living in a place where people are constantly fighting over territories and control.
My village experiences nothing like this so it’s entirely a new concept to wrap my mind around.
I mean, I understand the concept of wars.
We’ve heard rumblings around previous wars for crowns and land in the human realm, but we’ve been living in a period of peace since long before my birth.
“Is that all the questions?” Bastian asks. It’s not unkind but I can also tell that maybe my pestering is wearing on him.
My shoulders lift in a small shrug. “I guess that’s it for now. We still have plenty of time ahead of us for more,” I say with a wicked grin that earns me a groan of frustration.
We’ve walked for several hours, stopping only around midday when I think Bastian began to pick up on my growing exhaustion.
That, or his super hearing could tell I was starving.
He found a moss-covered log large enough for us both to comfortably sit on, resting our feet, while we tucked into the food he had packed.
It wasn’t anything special, but enough to curb my hunger for another few hours of walking.
For the most part, we’ve both kept to ourselves, trudging forward in a comfortable silence. I’m not sure where his thoughts have gone but mine have been tunneling into several different topics.
My aunt is likely a Fae.
She almost certainly knows that I’m Fae.
My parents are definitely Fae.
And the most important one, I’m Fae.
The last one being the one that I’ve spent the most time on.
Especially after all I’ve learned from Bastian on this trip.
I couldn’t help myself and tried to look inside myself for my magic but I’m clearly doing something wrong because I can’t sense a thing.
Or maybe he’s wrong to assume I have powers in the first place.
The other piece I kept thinking about was what comes next.
What will I do after I speak to my aunt?
Do I stay in Willowbrook with her and Tom knowing that there’s this other world out there?
And one that I should technically belong in?
Or do I leave everything behind to explore the place of my origin?
I know I said I wanted to branch out and go on an adventure, but I didn’t think it would mean leaving my entire life behind completely in the process.
But the more I think about it, what kind of a life did I really have in Willowbrook?
Especially if I was so desperate to leave in the first place…
Would I really be okay leaving Tom and Fleur behind in this journey to learn more about myself?
The answer I keep landing on is: I don’t know.
I’m hoping the conversation with Fleur will help me come to a decision, because at this moment, I really don’t have any clue what the right decision here is.
I can only tell it’s nearing dusk by the sun that’s quickly dropping from the sky. I’m distracted by the surrounding woods that I nearly startle when Bastian finally speaks. “We’re going to set up camp over that hill. It’s the safest place we can find along the path.”
I nod and follow in his path as we crest the hill, and he leads us towards a clustering of trees that create a well-sheltered clearing.
I zoned out for so much of the walk that I didn’t fully take in most of the scenery.
Though, to be fair, it hasn’t deviated too much from how it looks around his cottage.
It’s still a densely packed forest that stretches to the sky, the leaves and grass are that Unseelie muted green-gray.
The branches twist and tangle, almost like bony hands reaching.
It’s not the most idyllic forest to be spending the night, but at least I don’t hear the ominous sounds of forest creatures as I had the first night.
Tonight, it sounds more like a normal, human forest. Crickets and other insects, the nocturnal birds coming out to play.
“I know it’s not an ideal situation, but it’s only for one night, so I hope this is okay.
We’re making pretty good time so we should be able to make it to Grimhallow by sundown tomorrow.
We’ll get a room at the tavern there for the night, which will be safer and more comfortable,” he explains as he sets his bottomless pit of a bag on the forest floor and begins to unpack it.
I simply nod along. “How can I help?”
He pulls two rather large bundles from the bag and sets them off to the side as he removes another ration of the food he packed. “I have to go gather some firewood—”
“I can gather the firewood,” I offer.
“Absolutely not,” he says sharply.
“Why not? It’s a simple task!”
“You don’t know these woods,” he starts to tick off the reasons on his fingers, “you could get lost, you could encounter a dangerous creature—and we both know how much of a penchant you have for that.” He throws a glare in my direction.
“Therefore, I will be gathering the firewood. Can you make a small pit and then set out the bedrolls somewhere near enough to the fire? The temperature will drop even more overnight so we’ll need all the warmth we can get. ”
“Sure,” I mumble, chafing from being properly scolded.
He opens his mouth like he’s going to say something further, but snaps it shut, a muscle feathering in his jaw before he stomps out of our little clearing and into the woods.
Guess that’s it for our short-lived camaraderie.
I collect some fist-sized rocks around the campsite to line the outside of the fire pit.
I find a sturdy enough branch to scrape the inside of the circle to make a slight divot and remove the grass.
It takes me a good few minutes and I’m sweating through my shirt by the time I’m finished despite the chill creeping in with the setting sun.
Wiping the perspiration from my brow, I grab the bundles Bastian pulled out of the pack—the bedrolls I’ve figured out. I place them both on one half of the fire, placing them as far apart as possible while still keeping them close enough to the fire to keep us warm.
I plop myself down on the grass by my bedroll with a huff as Bastian returns with an armful of branches and twigs to use as firewood.
I don’t bother looking at him. I’m not mad at him exactly, because he was right.
Completely and utterly right. Everything he said was the truth.
And yet, it still stings. I’m like him now—Fae—and yet, I’m still a liability.
He silently works at arranging the wood in the pit I’ve scraped out and I can feel the weight of his gaze as it seeks me out every few moments. With the tiniest twitch of his fingers, the twigs ignite and within seconds we have a roaring campfire.
He snatches the rations he laid out earlier and holds mine out for me. I take them without looking and begin to nibble on the small loaf of bread first.
I can hear a rustling coming from Bastian’s bedroll, but I pay it no mind. That is, until a radiating warmth tells me he’s suddenly much closer than before. I flick my eyes over to see he’s dragged his bedroll so it’s right beside mine.
“Once you’re finished eating, would you like to try out your magic?” he asks softly.