Page 11 of The Heir the Fae Forgot
All the times before, he’d found me.
Now that I was here, in his very court, I had no idea where to find him. No idea, even, where to begin.
Zev and I weren’t alone in the treetops of his court. Other fae skirted by us, giving us a wide birth as their searching eyes lingered on us in the moments when they thought we weren’t looking. I could ask one of them, but did I want to? Would they even give me the answers I sought, or like all the other fae before them, would I be met with silence and half-truths?
Or better yet, more lies.
“He’s with his council.”
I did look at him then, if only to make sure he got a full view of the disbelief on my face. “And how do you know that?” I snapped back.
Zev shuffled his feet beneath him. “Some of us didn’t sleep the entire day away.”
I bit my tongue, feeling the sharp spike of anger ebb as quickly as it had come.
“And his council is?”
Zev was silent for a long moment before he admitted, “I don’t know.”
I swore beneath my breath.
“But what I do know,” Zev added, hastily, still several steps behind me. “I’ll be happy to share if you just let me join you.”
I considered this for just long enough to give him hope, it seemed.
His next response came out breathless, as if he’d sensed his chance and was rushing to take advantage. “There’s to be another council held tomorrow. A proper one. Icarus moved it when he heard you needed to rest. It was only me, Shiel, and Icarus today.”
“And what did you say?”
I felt Zev’s presence slipping up behind me. “You want to know?”
Though part of me longed to lean into Zev’s warmth, his familiarity, the larger part of me couldn’t forget who he was—or what he’d done.
“No,” I said, decidedly. “It doesn’t matter. Anything you say is probably going to be full of lies anyway.”
I heard the intake of breath as Zev prepared to defend himself, but I was already moving again. A new resolve had overtaken me.
There were other ways of learning what this new world had to offer than the lords and their lackeys were willing to tell me. If I was this so-called secret heir to the kingdom, then the last thing I needed was to rely on anyone other than myself.
Besides, if I really wanted to learn about this court and its secrets, then I knew exactly where to look.
* * *
The sight of the Wildness’market, strange as it was, caused an even stranger sense of familiarity to wash over me. The winding streets, the stalls of wares, the hurried steps of merchants passing by with bundles slung over their shoulders—the sight of it brought with it a rush of that happiness I’d once shared with my sister, Ada.
But all those happy memories were tainted now.
Because this time, for the first time, I was at the market alone.
I’d been careful not to think too much of the sister I’d left behind. She wasn’t my blood, but that didn’t matter. She was my sister still, and I’d left her.
I’d left her.
I might not have had a choice, but that fact remained.
And it quickly soured any fleeting happiness the market had brought me.
I started along the narrow path between the stalls with heavier footsteps than the ones that had carried me down here. I focused on the wares spread out at the stalls to keep from thinking of the price I’d paid to be here, now. They were, at least, a more than adequate distraction.
