Page 73 of These Fractured Bonds

“Thank you,” she mumbled, adjusting her cloak. Flashes of silver drew her attention; it was a jewelry merchant, his wares in his hands. She remembered the night of the fall festival and the bear Leo had gifted her. Her heart clenched. When she returned, she would meet with him to resolve their argument. She was angry he had put her in danger, but she missed him and his easygoing laughter. It was a complicated matter, liking Leo but still…feelingthings for Augrys. She peered at him.

Augrys’s fake blond hair caught the light from the midday sun, glowing golden. He had donned a disguise to enter the city unannounced, but she couldn’t help the snicker that came from her mouth.

“What?” he asked, but his eyes remained fixed ahead. He took her elbow and guided her through the crowd.

“An odd thought came to me—you remind me of a surfer,” Yareli answered.

“I may not be from California, but I am an avid swimmer. The Water Court does have something similar to surfing, you know. You’ll find I’m quite skilled.”

She tried to imagine him on the water, but all that came to mind was Augrys surrounded by the shelves at their college’s library.

“Hmm, no. I can’t see it.”

“Grew up by the ocean.”

She brushed past a group of Fae crowded around a shop. “Mhm, nope. Still can’t.”

“Then, I have no choice but to show you the wonder of water waking.”

“Sounds like fun,” she said, taking his hand as they made their way through a particularly dense part of the crowd.

A quiet current of energy buzzed where their hands met. Her shoulders drooped—against her will—when he let go of her hand. She eyed his hand, tracing his slender fingers. Once, she had wished to have them woven through her hair, tracing every line and curve of her body. She clenched her fists. She had accidentally fallen into a rapport with him that was eerily similar to their old interactions as August, the college student, and Yareli, the ignorant human.

Erick tapped her shoulder, his eyebrows raised. He gave a pointed look at her hands, where blood dripped. Her eyes widened, and she wiped her palms on her cloak. She had dug her nails hard enough to draw blood. Had it been fueled by magic? Her body was undergoing changes she wasn’t entirely aware of, but she didn’t have time to think it through further. The crowd thickened, and it took her entire focus to keep Augrys in front of her.

He took a left at the intersection and immediately took a right into a narrower, quieter street. Instead of shops, cafes were interspersed between residential buildings with patrons idling in the outdoor seating. Their chatter was a nice lull compared to the roaring crowd they had left behind. A large inn named The Ox’s Tail awaited them at the end of the road. Yareli followed Augrys and Erick inside to a homely waiting room with rich browns and reds. Augrys walked to the front desk, checking them in without a hitch, and the concierge led them up the stairs.

Yareli noted their rooms were adjacent to each other, but before she could scurry to her room, Augrys said to her, “Be ready to go in an hour.”

He disappeared into his room before she could ask him why. She turned to Erick, ready to interrogate him, but he gave her a thumbs-up and waved good-bye, closing his own door. Annoyed, Yareli stomped to her bathroom, shutting the door behind her and ripping the cloak off. Her anger faded at her reflection, submerged in the stillness that settled over her. Earlier that day, Augrys and Erick had performed the transformation spell on her, masking her humanness under a Fae facade. She had been given a mirror to inspect the results, but this was her first private moment since then. Here, in the rustic bathroom with no bathtub—much to her dismay—she could finally take in her new reality.

Although mostly unchanged, her face glowed with a Fae’s ephemeral beauty; any skin blemishes were gone except for a beauty mark under her right eye. She had fought to keep it; her mom had its matching twin under her left eye, and she wanted the one thing that connected them. Her eyes traced her perfect eyebrows straight to her—very much pointed—ears. She tentatively touched the tip of one, feeling strangely nauseated at the flesh she felt.

Yareli closed her eyes while her feelings warred with one another. She had refused to change her appearance, only allowing the ears and the perfect skin because shehadto. Her reason for doing so was simple: she wanted Tuom to seeherface when he died at her hands. And yet, the woman who stared at her from the mirror was a stranger. It was not the face she was accustomed to seeing every morning. This face exuded effortless beauty, and that frightened her. The truth was hard to swallow, but it scraped its way down her throat anyway, leaving it raw.

Her face no longer matched the one in her memories.

Anhourlater,Yarelisat next to Augrys in a dimly lit, underground bar. She played with her sleeve’s hem, picking at a loose thread, while absentmindedly drinking her beer. The bar bustled with the energy of a rowdy crowd; Fae crowded around barrels used as tables, beers in hand. On the other side of the room, there were ongoing card games, and the audience hooting and hollering whenever someone folded. Yareli wanted to ask about the game, but nerves held her tongue.

They were meeting Hale, the leader of the largest organized crime group in Nuiwen. His group, the NightSingers, held the largest monopoly in the shadow market, which meant they also had the best information brokers. How Augrys knew Hale was beyond her, but it did not surprise her that powerful people—which Augrys undoubtedly was—had unofficial channels to conduct their shadier business. Just as she had gathered enough nerve to open her mouth to ask about the game, a figure slipped into the seat across from them.

Tall, slim, with bright blue hair swept to one side, his long face matched his body. Hale was dressed in a pressed blue suit, and Yareli caught a whiff of a strong, sweet scent that irritated her lungs. She cleared her throat and took a sip of her drink. He glanced at her, his gaze resting on her ears for long enough that she had to resist the urge to cover them up.The transformation was solid, she reassured herself.

“Auggie, what a pleasure to see you again,” he drawled.

“Hale, the blue suits you, but I do miss the green,” Augrys responded, sipping his drink.

“Green is out this century, and you know how I like to stay on top of the current trends.”

“Well, lucky for me, gold never goes out of fashion.”

Augrys slid a velvet purple pouch toward Hale. He flicked it open and nodded. It popped out of existence a short moment later.

He leaned forward, his eyes flicking to Yareli once more. “Rumor has it, gold might lose its crown to something far harder to come by.”

“What could be more valuable than gold?” she asked, the question slipping from her lips before she could stop herself.

She resisted the urge to flinch when Hale gave her his full attention. “Ah, so shecanspeak. Well, darling, the only thing more coveted than wealth is the taboo. Fae want what they can’t have, and nothing is more forbidden than human goods. It’s why the shadow market exists.”