Page 33 of The Heir the Fae Forgot
At least for a moment.
“Is that…an apology?” All the animosity of a moment before had drained out of me, “from the Lord of the Western Court?”
I glanced over my shoulder, as if someone was watching us, before turning back with a smug look spreading across my face. “I thought you didn’t make apologies, even to fae like me.”
A slight smile tugged at the corner of Shiel’s mouth, but it was Finch who, having been unable to hold his tongue a second longer, threw his arm over his lord’s shoulders and beamed at me as he answered for him.
“If not, it’s the closest thing to one that you’re ever gonna get from our delightful Shiel, here.”
Zev was already trying to pry Finch off Shiel, but he wasn’t having much success. The sight of the two of them wrestling was so ridiculous that I couldn’t fight the laughter clawing its way up my throat.
It was a welcome feeling, the way it bubbled up and over, carrying with it some of the weight that had come to settle over me in the last days.
“What’s gotten into you?” I asked Finch, once Zev had finally managed to get him to let go of their lord. They both stood beside him now, panting and hair falling into their eyes, as they struggled to catch their breath.
“I’m just glad you’ve forgiven us,” Finch said between gulps of air.
And just like that, the brief moment of weightlessness was gone.
“I see who you’ve been talking to,” I said, glaring at Zev for a moment. “But it’s not so simple as that. You have to realize that.”
“Why not?” Finch asked, confusion painting his face with concerned lines. He glanced first at Shiel, then Zev, then back at me, his eyes pleading. “Can’t we just start over?”
“Maybe not start over,” Shiel said, locking eyes with me again. “But we can start something new. Something that can build real trust between us. If, of course, you’ll allow it, Aurra.”
I stepped away slightly then, looking over the three fae warriors looking at me with bated breath.
It wasn’t long ago that I’d promised myself not to trust them, that I’d felt the sharp sting of their lies and betrayal twisting in my gut. I couldn’t forget that feeling, no matter how much I might want to.
But telling them that, rejecting them now, what good would that do me?
I took a deep breath. “If we’re going to build trust between us, then there can be no more lies.”
“Of course!” Finch said, answering for Shiel before he had a chance.
Zev nudged him into silence while Shiel bowed his head.
“I can’t promise to give you an answer on everything,” he said, “but I can promise not to lie.”
I nodded along. “I suppose that’s a place to start.”
“And now, as good as ever.” Shiel held out his arms to either side, gesturing up at the wall of water and the roar that might help conceal our conversation. “What else do you want to know from me?”
There was so, so much, but one thing in particular came to mind.
“How did you really plan on figuring out who I am?” I asked. “Before Icarus, before this court, these stupid tests.”
He opened his mouth for a second, but then he hesitated.
“I suppose, I planned on taking you somewhere safe first, and just hoped the rest would fall in line.”
It sounded honest enough. I cocked my head at him, examining him.
“You really don’t think Icarus’ tests are going to work?”
His face darkened then. “I think the only thing you’re going to get out of spending time with that lord is poisoned, mind and body,” he said, voice closer to a growl with every word. “There’s something wrong with his glamour. There always was, but now…now it’s worse than ever.”
“And what does that have to do with me, if you’re so sure I’m not one of his fae? One of the Wildness?”
