Chapter 8 Ivy
Ivy
I sneak down the tunnel the next morning, head pounding like a drum. Hopefully, Tegwyn left to hunt; I don’t think I can face him today, not after what happened last night.
To my relief, he’s nowhere in sight when I step into the kitchen, just like he was nowhere to be found when I woke, my bedside empty and devoid of his presence. I can’t believe I begged him to stay.
I just couldn’t bear to be alone. Not after the nightmares...
The dream had felt so real—I was absolutely convinced that the soldiers had found me.
I must have looked completely hysterical. Worst of all, I exposed a vulnerable side of myself.
I’m not sure if I can wholly trust that Fae. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he has a trick waiting up his sleeve for me. Any way to exploit me.
I’m greeted with a wall of darkness when I enter the cave. Holding my lamp out before me, I shuffle into the cold chamber, letting the soft light wash away the shadows.
It looks as if a certain someone left the kitchen in complete disarray, pots and pans scattered across the floor. Something cracks beneath my boot.
What on earth did that mischievous faerie get up to last night?
Something shifts in the corner of my eye, and I jump, dropping the lamp. It clatters to the ground, yet I can’t tear my gaze away from the haunted figure sitting at the table.
Has he been in the kitchen this whole time? Or has he just arrived? I can never tell with him.
I’ve seen him in action—he’s fast. One place one moment, and another the next.
The lamp continues to roll, making the shadows dance across the cave. Tegwyn doesn’t move an inch. He merely stares with that vacant expression, eyes glowing like firelight.
Something isn’t right. Still, despite my trepidation, I brave a step. “Tegwyn?”
No reply. He doesn’t seem to hear me or even acknowledge my presence.
My hair spikes along my arms, yet I try his name for a second time, “Tegwyn? Are you all right?”
Slowly but surely, the faerie comes back to life, blinking his eyes. Then with a deep inhale, he peers off, voice hoarse, “I’m fine.”
I wince. His throat sounds sore. Maybe I should offer him a drink of water.
Bending forward, I pick up the lamp and place it down on the table. “Have you been sitting alone in the dark all night?”
He looks right through me when he whispers, “Wouldn’t be the first time.”
I open my mouth to speak, but no words escape. Truth be told, I’m at a loss. He really is a strange creature.
Though strange he may be, he seems… lost. As if he can’t quite remember where he left his shoes.
Grabbing the pot, I collect some water from a barrel, wondering what flavour of tea he likes as I place it over the hearth.
In the end, I grab some lavender, sprinkling it into the water.
From the corner of my eye, I watch him as he studies me carefully.
So far, he hasn’t mentioned the nightmare, and I hope it stays that way.
But then I freeze like a rabbit when he utters, “So… I’ve been wondering…”
A lump sticks in my throat.
He leans forward on his chair, yellow eyes burning in the lamplight. “What happened to you before you arrived here?”
I bow my head, swirling the pot with a wooden spoon as the lavender infuses with the water. Sweat beads on my forehead, but I resist the urge to wipe it away.
“Answer me. Truthfully.”
There’s no point in lying. But I don’t have to tell him the whole truth, either. After all, I owe him nothing.
He got what he wanted from me. And I won’t give him any more of myself.
“No. It’s my business and mine only.”
He rises, and before I can blink, he’s by my side, making me drop the spoon in fright.
I place my hand on my heart, trying to calm my rapid breaths. This is ridiculous; if I hope to live with the faerie peacefully, then I must get used to his lightning reflexes.
Tegwyn merely smirks when he sees the effect he has on me, his eyes burning my skin like a brand. “You know I’ll find out eventually.”
“No, you won’t,” I reply, stirring his tea for him.
I hope he likes it bitter, like his soul.
He leans in closer, flaring his nostrils, and I turn to him, aghast.
Wait. Is he sniffing me?
Tegwyn chuckles when he meets my horrified expression, giving me back my personal space. “You’re cocky all of a sudden. What happened to the snivelling baby I had to tuck to sleep last night?”
I whirl around, finding his scheming eyes. “I did not snivel!”
And there he is again, the wicked creature…
I can almost hear the cogs of his evil mind spinning as he keeps that calculating gaze on me. “Something happened to you out there. And I’m going to find out what.”
With one last scrutinising glare in my direction, he slips away into the shadows, leaving me speechless.
I glower at the spot where he vanished. He can try all he likes, but I will never spill my secrets. They will die with me.
Forget lavender tea. He can die of thirst for all I care.
I start cleaning up his mess, picking up what looks like a calendar. There are notes attached, things he reminds himself of time and time again.
It looks as if he plans his heists. Every town and village he plunders.
My heart thumps when I spy the name Charstown in his notes, and then a hazy memory returns.
Well, I think it’s a memory, but it’s blurred at best. A scuffle in the cottage, vulpine eyes gazing back at me from beneath a dark hood.
And blood. Fae blood, leaking between the tiles of our kitchen…
I drop the calendar, gasping for air. Something pounds behind my eyes, and I lean back on the table, gripping my head.
Maybe we have met before... In another life, perhaps.
Back when I was still carefree.
Back when I still dared to dream.
To distract myself, I read the current date on the calendar. October tenth, two days before my birthday.
I’m going to be eighteen.
That’s when the tears fall from my eyes. My parents were going to take me to see the ocean, but now, they never will.
Well, not if I can fix it.
Yanking my cloak from a hook, which is just a pair of mounted deer antlers on the wall, I storm up the tunnel, heading to my cave.
I will see the ocean.
And no soldiers or scheming, manipulative faeries will get in my way.
It’s time I resumed my journey. My Aunt Elly will be waiting for me in the Veil, after all.
I slip several times as I go down the slope, meandering between the tall trunks of pines.
The contents of my rucksack jostle behind me, bouncing in perfect rhythm to the beats of my heart.
It’s not like he’ll miss me. I was just a means to an end—a way to get his grubby hands on some jewellery. He can have the necklace. In the end, it’s just a thing.
It could never replace my parents.
Adrenaline flares through my veins, filling me with a confidence I haven’t felt in weeks.
I can do this.
Unfortunately, fate has other ideas in store. I spy a mass of thick black smoke weaving between the trees at the foot of the mountain. It lurks in the dark, misty forest below, searching endlessly for prey, and cold waves of dread ripple down my spine.
At least…I think it’s smoke. Its body is incorporeal, yet it moves like a tangible thing.
I backpedal, hoping it hasn’t sensed me yet.
It is alive, as I previously feared. And hungry…
It pauses the moment I stumble on a rock, swivelling its head slowly in my direction. The creature’s face is nothing more than a vortex of spinning shadow, yet its teeth are bone-white and jagged like knives.
It floats closer, stopping at the foot of the mountain where I stand, six feet away.
I can’t look away from its swirling shadows. It’s like gazing into an abyss, a place where there is no beginning or end. Only darkness.
Finally, it changes form, morphing into a black wolf with quicksilver eyes. It howls, and I yelp, stumbling down the slope towards its gaping mouth.
Luckily, I grab onto a sapling tree, getting my fingers sticky with sap, but I hold on for dear life.
The creature is taunting me, knowing exactly what keeps me up at night.
It saw inside my head.
This thing is nightmare personified.
Something moves in my peripheral vision, and before I can turn, a gloved hand clasps my mouth, dragging me back.
I’m shoved hard against a tree, and before I can protest, a warm finger presses to my lips, shushing me. Tegwyn’s face hovers into view, and I meet his vulpine eyes.
“Don’t make a sound,” he whispers.
Behind us, the smoky creature shrieks in anger, and I shudder, closing my eyes.
This is it. I’m about to die…
Whatever that thing is, it’s going to kill me.
Tegwyn doesn’t remove his finger from my lips, yet all I can think about is the wolf and my possible demise.
“Ivy,” he rasps.
I shake my head, just wanting it to be over.
“Ivy, don’t let your fear consume you. Think… think about something else…something that makes you…happy…” He spits out the last word as if it’s venom on his tongue.
Finally, I open my eyes, meeting his shining yellow pair.
All the breath leaves my lungs. He has shimmering flecks of gold inside the yellow, and I stare at them, captivated.
A ring glows around his pupils, resembling an angel’s halo, and I can’t look away. Never before have I seen so many shades of gold…
There are shades I can’t even describe. If only I could paint his eyes…
His pupils dilate, and a hush spreads through the forest.
What…what was I afraid of again?
“It’s gone,” he observes.
What has gone?
“It seemed you repelled it. As soon as it sensed your happiness, it fled. Bugbears feed on pure fear, after all.”
I shake my head, disoriented. What on earth is he talking about?
A sardonic grin sneaks across his face, upper canines making their appearance yet again.
The metallic gold of his eyes still catches the light of the sun, and…when did the weather change?
Before, it was grey and murky.
“What were you thinking about?”
I try to think back. Of course. That creature—bugbear. It morphed into a black wolf, and I froze in terror. I thought it was going to eat me.
But then he came to my rescue.
It was only when I looked into his eyes that I stopped feeling afraid. All I could think about was painting his golden eyes onto a canvas.
My cheeks flush, and then I look away, embarrassed.
Tegwyn’s smirk stretches. “You were staring at me awfully hard just now.”
I inhale a breath. “No, I wasn’t.”
He narrows his gaze. “Hmm, I may not be able to tell a lie myself, but I can still sense a lie on your sweet lips, Ivy…”
Oh, how I wish the ground would swallow me whole. Maybe that bugbear would be inclined to come back and finish the job.
His finger is still pressed to my lips, tucked neatly in the hollow beneath my nose, yet his claw remains inside his glove.
Finally, he removes his finger, taking his warmth and piney scent with him.
I shiver in their absence.
He steps back, amber eyes appraising me as he looks me up and down. The golden rings encircling his pupils burn even brighter than the sun now.
I can still feel a ghost of him on my lips, and I reach up, massaging where he pressed his finger.
A speck of blood beads on my fingertip.
Tegwyn’s eyes track the movements of my finger, and if I’m not mistaken, he appears ashamed.
“Sorry. Sometimes my claws have a mind of their own.”
I keep rubbing at the graze on my lip, swallowing hard. He truly is capable of so much horror. Yet, there is still some beauty to be found inside him, albeit hard to find.
I spy it whenever I gaze into his gilded eyes. He’s the worst kind of puzzle.
The faerie shows me his back, marching up the mountain. “Well, let’s go before the bugbear returns.”
I shut my eyes. I guess I really was a fool, thinking I could go at it alone. I’m lucky he arrived on time. If he hadn’t, I’d be dead.
That’s twice he has saved my life.
Whether I like it or not, he’s the best option I have right now. The Veil will have to wait. I need to survive first.
Finally, I follow him up the mountain, turning my back on the forest.