Nadi sighed, drearily. “They’d been following us,” she continued, keeping her voice low. “Not long after we entered the Deep Wild. It wasn’t until they saw you were about to die that they saw fit to get involved.”
“How charitable of them to finally intervene.”
“The only reason you’re alive is because their laws—our laws—forbid killing someone who’s injured and seeking aid.” She glanced toward the wagon’s entrance. “And now you’re a guest. Which means they can’t kill you for three days and three nights. Unless you give them a reason.”
“Mmh.” His head was aching. “And I’m certain they are itching to have one.”
“Exactly.”
Now that he could think a little more in a straight line, he took in his surroundings more fully. They were in some sort of wagon, but like nothing he’d ever seen on the surface. The entire structure seemed to have been grown from a single organism. Through gaps in the twisted vines that served as windows, he could see other wagons arranged in a circle. “Whatisthis thing?”
“Living wood. Fae grow them from seeds. Takes decades to cultivate a wagon like this.”
He pulled his hand away in disgust.
“It’s alive, but it’s notthinking.It isn’t sentient.” She chuckled, watching his discomfort with amusement. “Think of them like…very specialized trees.”
Through the window gaps, he could see the camp properly. Each wagon was pulled by creatures that looked like a cross between oxen and beetles—massive, armored things with too many legs and horns that curved like scythes. They were arranged so the creatures faced outward, creating a defensive ring with the wagon openings facing inward toward a central fire.
“Those things?—”
“Ushil. They’re herbivores, mostly. Unless you threaten the caravan.”
“Mostly?”
She smirked knowingly. “They make exceptions for threats.”
Beyond the wagons, he could see the camp’s inhabitants. Figures moved between the vehicles. By his count, only a few were clearly fae with their distinctive features, but the rest were human. Interesting. “Where are the rest of the fae? I see mostly humans out there.”
Nadi nodded. “Most you would consider ‘fae’ are human, Raz. Only maybe one in a dozen are true-blooded fae like me or Luciento. Or like—” She paused before clearly changing her mind on finishing her sentence. “The rest are like my sisters or my brother. Or my mother. Human, for all intents and purposes.”
Raziel furrowed his brow. “You are simply…born one way or the other? Human, or like you?”
She nodded again and looked out into the camp. “Luck. Or you marry in, like my mother, who was human. We take in people with nowhere else to go.”
Odd.
Odd, and a very dangerous way to live.
But he had never once paid attention to the Wild, or the fae, so he couldn’t be terribly surprised to learn he had gaps in his knowledge. Better to focus on the now, he supposed. “I take it these aren’t coming off.” He lifted his chained wrists.
“Right now, they’re the only thing keeping some of these people from gutting you.TheSerpent himselfis in their camp.”
Which led neatly to his next question, and precisely why he was growing a little suspicious. He was restrained. She was not. And while she was fae, the only reasons he could see for leaving her unbound were beyond foolish and sailed right into the territory of sheer idiocy. He couldn’t figure that a band of fae—be they fae in name only—lived in such a dangerous and violent place and could also be so stupid as to trust her.
It meant something else was going on. “And why are you not similarly chained?”
The slump in her shoulders and the fact that she wouldn’t meet his gaze confirmed his theory. She kept her tone flat when she replied, “The fae who found us is a name you’ll recognize.” He watched as she shut her eyes, and visibly braced herself for what she had to say. “Kalo Lohti.”
The shock he felt was brief but total. It snapped over him like a strike of lightning. Kalo Lohti. The flesh trader who was selling his own people to Braen?Kalowas the name of the fae the Rosovs were doing deals with, according to the ledger Nadi had stolen.
Once the shock had faded, all he could think of to do waslaugh.The odds were impossible. So impossible that it meant someone had put Kalo there on purpose.
Here, he had foolishly believed that in the Wild they would be free of schemes, if only momentarily.
That they’d have a chance to cut the threads that bound them to their respective families. But now, he knew that that was just a lie he’d told himself. They were trapped right back in the thick of it. They were simply just underground, and even worse off than they had been before.
Shutting his eyes, he rested his head back. “This isn’t a coincidence.”
