Chapter two #3
“Thank you,” I intoned. I had no idea why she had felt she should warn us and not leave two clueless travellers to their fate of being robbed by the first sharp-eyed thief that caught sight of us.
“More people passing through here these days. And not all of them are good people. Dignitaries and such, along with the worst of thieves. Always been a haven here for the worst and the strangest of people.” Her eyes fell to me as she said the last bit, and I suddenly felt like a butterfly under a scope.
Observed closer than I would like. “North Corner soldiers too. Seeing more and more of them around here in recent times. There’s talk of more fae coming this way. ”
Skitters ran over my skin at the mention of fae, but I tugged my hood farther over my ears instead of smiling up at her. I had never even met another person like me.
“You’ve seen them?” I asked, unable to stop the words pouring forth as I tipped my chin up. “Fae?”
She didn’t answer except to let her features curl into something hard.
The soldiers from the Northern Corner were likely fae at any rate, most soldiers were.
My eyes darted through the room, searching for any hint of their presence.
Fae. My mind wandered to the thought of my parents.
I was leaving here to find where I belonged.
I wasn’t even sure my parents were still alive.
But fae were immortal, weren’t they? The aching thought that they were dead was almost as harrowing as the one that they were alive and didn’t care what had become of me.
Would it be worse if I found them alive?
My parents’ fate was a thin thread I used to pull me along, to leave.
But I think I would have left even if I’d known everything there was to know about them already, because staying in Shadowfall was not my future.
“Are there any … fae … here?” I hedged. I wasn’t sure I should be so blunt. Not to the woman before me. Not in front of Bray.
She regarded me like she knew trouble when she saw it. “Don’t be seeking them out. All of them are no good.” I had thought she meant well, but the rounded tips of her ears had flared red.
I had to bite down on the urge to flip my cloak down and have her say that again to my face.
But that wasn’t me. I wished it were. But I just nodded.
Bray said nothing either.
“You two be careful now.” She walked off without anything more and filled empty mugs for other patrons.
My eyes darted to every spider-webbed corner of the room, alert and curious.
Was anyone out of place here?
The problem was, I wasn’t particularly practiced at noticing others. I spent most of my time keeping out of their way rather than observing them.
It was mostly men around the musty tavern, unwashed and layered in clothing thick with mud and days of travel.
I caught the glint of a man with a small dagger lodged in the tabletop, swirling the tip on the beaten wood.
At another hobbled table, a man with a harrowing scar across his jaw spoke to the barmaid.
My eyes fell back to the table with the man with the golden teeth, still deep in cards and ale.
A quick glance from one of them in our direction from behind their cards had my eyes moving on again.
“Nice woman,” Bray said in loose thought.
My eyes twitched to Bray. “Nice?”
The ice in my tone was perhaps something I should have flung at the woman instead.
“To warn us,” he said around a gulp of the rancid ale. “Can’t be too careful.”
I tried not to look as sour as that ale he kept sucking on, but my eyes felt hot and my breath quick.
“She insulted me.” Anger pinched my words. Bray was either drunk or stupid tonight.
“Gen, she was talking about fae. About people who don’t belong where they’re not welcome.” Bray’s laugh was raucous in the hum of the tavern.
He’d said similar things before. Maybe not as harsh, but he was very much of the opinion that fae could stay in their cities. And humans didn’t have to be bothered by them. I didn’t know if it was out of fear of their magic or something else.
“And me?” My words were strained.
“You’re not really fae, Gen.” He puzzled his own words and took my hand in his. “You’re you.”
I snatched back my hand like he’d burned it. Was that a compliment? Somehow twisted into a way that made sense to Bray.
“What’s wrong with you?” he shouted, and a few heads turned as he raised his voice.
“What’s wrong with me?” My bottom lip wobbled as I stood.
He grabbed for my hand again, but I took it out of reach before he could touch me.
“Sit down,” he ground out as he eyed the patrons around us who were all taking note of the scene.
I wasn’t sure why I was so put out. I didn’t really think of myself as fae. I might look like them, but I had no power, no grace, no magic.
I was failing at passing for human, and I had failed at being fae. Not having magic meant I didn’t have the parts that mattered when it came to being fae.
Maybe I was angrier at all those facts rather than at Bray’s short-sighted view of me.
I left abruptly and found the exit.
Bray didn’t follow.