Page 31 of The Heir the Fae Forgot
No matter how I stained my arms with that dark, muddy water, the only stones I found were by chance—enough trial and error that my back and legs were sore from trekking back and forth from pool to waterfall without so much as luck on my side—let alone a shred of glamour.
Vanya and the others tried to nudge me in the right direction, but their attempts were…unsuccessful, to say the least. They were as patient with me as they could be, but it wasn’t long before even they were matching my own muttered swears under their breaths.
“Great,” Vanya hissed at long last, after another unsuccessful trip back to the waterfall. “Now there’s three of them?”
I followed her gaze, then felt my body seize a little when I saw what she meant.
Shiel had come to stand beside Zev and Finch, who’d already been inching ever closer, their own sleeves stained with the dark water as if they’d gotten bored enough of keeping watch that they too had started looking for the sand-sized gemstones buried deep within the mire.
“Should we invite them to sit with us?” Nissa asked, her gaze flitting first to Envi, then to Vanya—avoiding mine entirely. “They are kind of cute.”
I felt my teeth grit together until my jaw began to ache.
Before I could answer, Envi leaned forward a little, her black eyes taking in the sight of the three gold-haired fae standing just far off enough that they were unlikely to hear her whisper.
“I’ve never been with a fae of the Western Court before. Do you think it’s different?”
“What I want to know,” Vanya said, her voice as tired as the rest of my felt, “is whether or not they like to shift in bed, too.”
I could hold my tongue no longer.
I told myself it was Shiel’s glance, the way his lips pressed together in distaste as he looked at me still hunched by the riverside, that made my blood boil. I told myself that, even though I knew it was a lie.
“They shouldn’t be here. I’ll deal with them.”
I started to rise, but all three of them, Vanya, Nissa, and Envi, suddenly shrank back a bit.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Vanya said, reaching out to touch my arm, but not quite reaching me. “We thought you didn’t care for the fae who coerced you into coming here. Or were the wrong? You know how court gossip can be.”
“No, actually, I don’t,” I said.
“Then what is this all about?” Vanya asked. She shared a glance with her two companions, and something in them softened, just a little. “If they’re your friends…why can’t they help you with this?”
I narrowed my eyes at her, still keeping sight of Shiel and the others watching out of the corner of my vision.
“If you don’t want to be here, you don’t have to do this.”
Vanya waved her hand and shrugged, the other two matching her posture. “Icarus called on us, and so we answered,” was all she admitted.
“Usually, the demons do the sifting using their own magic,” Nissa added with a small sigh as she examined the dirty nailbeds of her own short, blackened claws. “I thought this might be some kind of test for us.”
“Or maybe a punishment,” Envi added, her own lips pressing together in thought.
That…actually made a lot of sense.
Vanya was the only one still watching me closely. “If you don’t mind me asking…whatareyou and Lord Shiel doing here?” she asked. “You’re clearly possessive of them, and yet you seem to hate them. We’ve only rumors to go on, and in a court as small as this, you can imagine how those rumors spread.”
“I’m not…I don’t…”
I had to wrestle not to defend myself. What was I even getting so defensive about? Vanya was clearly trying to get something out of me, an answer she could add to the rest of the court gossip she was all too happy to keep reminding me of.
I opened my mouth to respond, still unsure of how I planned to answer her, but before I could say anything, a shadow suddenly hovered over us.
“I think it’s time you leave Aurra with us,” Shiel said, a dangerous, deep grit in his voice.
My head snapped up to look at him, and I was ready to snap back, only what I saw in his face made whatever I’d been about to say wither and die.
Zev and Finch stood behind him, at the ready. I doubtedanyfae would look at them and think they were ‘cute’ now.
