Page 12 of The Heir the Fae Forgot
Most of the stalls carried things I couldn’t begin to comprehend. There was searing meat and bubbling cauldrons, steaming mugs of something that had to be far sweeter than ale, if the looks of delight instead of grimaces that crossed the fae’s faces that tipped the glasses to their lips was any indicator.
Zev still trailed behind me, as close as he could without eliciting another tongue-lashing. I knew it was pointless to try and get him to leave me alone entirely. He was acting, once again, on Shiel’s orders—orders I’d long since learned neither he nor Finch would defy.
Not even when it meant betraying me.
Future queen or not, I knew where their loyalties lied. If it was the same for all the courts, then I didn’t much see the point of having a queen at all.
What was a queen, after all, without the loyalty of her subjects?
Shiel, it seemed, wasn’t the only fae who commanded a loyalty my own rank didn’t yet possess. I drew glances here too, but true to Icarus’s promise, that was the extent of his court’s assault. I was growing used to ignoring them, but couldn’t get used to the way their footsteps skirted mine to make a path for me wherever I walked. It was unnatural in the bustle of the market. Part of the draw of market day had always been the ability to disappear into those crowds, to forget for a moment who and what I was.
There was no forgetting that, here.
As loyal as Icarus’ subjects may have been, however, it seemed the promise of a little coin was still worth something. As I drew near to one of the shops built into the sprawling roots of one of the great, towering trees, one of the shop owners not only caught my eye, but started to wave me over.
I paused in my tracks, checking over my shoulder to see if the female fae was waving to someone else—but there was no one else.
That was when I saw my opportunity.
Zev had gotten stuck behind a cart. The driver had apparently been trying to swerve to the side to give him a wide berth, but in doing so, had gotten one of the wheels stuck and sent the small cart sprawling—barring the entire path for a moment.
And a moment was all I needed.
While Zev was distracted with trying to push his way past the cart, I slipped into the shop and hurried around the first few rows of shelves until I was sure Zev couldn’t see me. If I was lucky, by the time he figured out a way past the cart, he’d think I’d gone on ahead along the road.
It wasn’t until I’d slowed my steps and the fae female who’d waved me over was sheepishly sidling over to greet me that I took a moment to look around at the shop I’d entered. Dried herbs hung from the rafters and peeked out of bowls made from bleached-white skulls on shelves packed too tight with more oddities than I could name.
It looked something like an apothecary shop, but only in the loosest sense.
There was a counter at the back of the shop, and behind that were long glass containers filled with strange, glowing liquids. They bubbled as if heated from an unseen flame, and in front of them, along the counter itself, were small cauldrons from which dark steam crawled like the fingers of creatures trying to escape.
Or, perhaps, to beckon you in.
I was so engrossed in this that I’d nearly forgotten the fae that had waved me in, right up until her hands were suddenly reaching out to grasp my arm.
Her touch was gentle, however, and her expression closer to thinly-veiled excitement than it was any kind of malice. She looked at me the same way I looked at the curiosities of her shop.
“Welcome, welcome,” she whispered, her eyes darting towards the door as if she too was wary of watchful eyes. “I hope you don’t mind. I know we’re not supposed to bother you, but I couldn’t help myself.” Her eyes flitted over me in curiosity. “It’s been so long since I saw a human, I was starting to wonder if they’d been made up.”
I laughed aloud. “The humans think the same thing about fae,” I said, finding it surprisingly easy to talk to the female now gently leading me back towards small paper-wrapped packages lined along one of the shelves. “But sorry to disappoint you, I’m not actually a human, either.”
Her eyebrows raised when she looked back up at me. “I’ve never seen a fae like you before.”
“Well, you know,” I shrugged, “I don’t know what else to tell you.”
She stopped suddenly, her grip on my arm tightening just a little bit as that tiny spark of excitement in her eyes grew to something brighter.
“I have just the thing for that!”
“For being human?” I asked as she finally let me go to dash behind the counter. She disappeared behind it for a moment, the only sign of her now the words she muttered to herself as boxes scraped out of the way and small glass vials clinked between her searching hands.
She reappeared a moment later, holding something small and round in her hands. It was wrapped in cloth, but the weight of it was enough to make the muscles in her forearms strain.
“For not knowing.”
She motioned me to step closer to the counter.
I checked once behind me, and seeing no sign that Zev had followed me, I did as she asked.
