Page 14 of The Heir the Fae Forgot
This was the very reason she’d called me in here.
And no one in the market had stopped her.
Not a single one.
I knew how they watched me, how their eyes never left me. They’d seen me answer this murderess’ call just as they’d watched countless others go before her.
So much for a loyal court.
I may not have had a court of my own yet, but it seemed there was still one fae in this world who’s loyalty to his own court meant he was still, in a way, loyal to me.
“One step more, and I will start a war this world will be unlikely to survive.”
Zev stood in the doorway, the sword he was always so ready to draw now held between fingers so tight, they’d begun to turn white.
The female only dug her fingers deeper, and this time, finally, a scream managed to claw up my throat as those claws of hers scraped bone.
“You wouldn’t dare,” she hissed at Zev, sizing him up and finding no threat there.
Not, it seemed, until he moved with an unnatural speed so even she had no time to prepare. In a flash of silver, Zev was suddenly standing behind the female, his blade pressed to her throat.
He stood head and shoulders above her, his form a great looming shadow behind her willowy one. His head bent lower as his voice dropped too, his whisper somehow even more terrifying.
“Are you quite sure of that?”
The female bared her teeth as she let out another hiss, but her fingers finally let go of me.
I stumbled back, clutching at the arm now dripping red droplets onto the fine dark fabric of my gown.
Zev remained in his place a moment longer as he contemplated killing the fae anyway. I didn’t know much about politics in this new world, but I did know killing one of Icarus’ subjects was unlikely to spark friendly relations. Things were already strained enough between the courts, so as much as I might hope to put an end to any future traveler’s pain at this fae’s hands, I reached out my bloodied arm to rest my hand upon Zev’s shoulder.
The moment I touched him, the murder in his eyes softened. He let the female go with a final, angry hiss, before he led me from the shop, one hand clamped protectively on my shoulder now. I didn’t shrug him off until the market was far behind us, the sound of it disappearing into the quickly darkening night.
“That’s twice now,” Zev said, the moment I pulled away from him at last. “Twice that I’ve saved you, and you still can’t forgive me?”
I froze, one hand on the railing of the stairs I was about to climb. I shot Zev a look over my shoulder.
He stood several paces behind me now, his sword returned to his scabbard, and his hands now dangling listlessly at his sides. The adrenaline, now faded, had left him defeated in its wake. He looked up at me through the messy strands of his long hair, his braid having come half undone in the scuffle beneath the shop.
“Do you even know what it is you did, Zev?” I asked, hand wrapping around the railing to grip in a little tighter. “What it is you’re asking me to forgive?”
It was all I could do to keep him from seeing the way I shook, still. He wasn’t the only one who was still processing how close we’d come to death or war beneath the roots of the great trees towering over us.
“Honestly, Aurra, no,” Zev admitted, which was perhaps what surprised me the most. It was the closest thing to true honesty I’d gotten from the Western Court. “I understand you’re mad at Shiel, but even that…” He shook his head. “What was he supposed to do?”
“Telling me the truth would have been a good start,” I snapped back, immediately feeling guilty as I looked once more at his downcast face. I was angry, and I had every right to be, but Zev was right. He’d saved me now. Twice. That had to count for something. I forced my face to soften, pried my fingers up one by one from their vice-like grip on the railing as I took a deep, steadying breath.
“How did you even find me, back there?”
Zev paused a long moment before he answered. “You know the…the tattoo?”
I shot him a look, then. “You mean my name? The one you had me carve into you without telling me what it was?”
He nodded again, and for a moment, even in the dark, I thought I saw his cheeks flush. “I think…it created a sort of bond between us.”
“A bond?”
That blush deepened. “I could feel you,” he admitted. “I could feel your heart beating next to mine. I knew you were in danger, so I found you. I don’t know how I knew where to look…I just did.”
