I give a scornful huff. 'Perhaps you can show us as well. If you truly are that same fae who saved my life in Merediea.'
He looks away, staying where he is for a few minutes, and then scrambles from the pool with a curse. Wrapping a sheet around himself with angry motions, he stalks from the cavern.
I chuckle and then look down at my little human who’s slumbering against my chest.
‘I don’t want to wake her,' I say quietly. ‘Her day has been a long one.’
‘And it was only the first of many with Voss,’ Jak nods. 'Wrap her in a bath sheet and a cloak and bring her back to the cottage like that. There’s no need to disturb her.'
'Good idea.’
I leave the pool, wrapping her in a dry sheet and giving her to Jak to hold. She's so tired from the day's activities that she barely stirs. I frown as I look down. Our little human is stronger than she looks, but these trials were made for the fae, not for a human female who is still far too thin for my liking.
I dress quickly and then snarl at Jak when he doesn't want to return her to me. He winks and leaves, and I'm forced to trail after him like a lovesick pup.
In the cottage, we don't put Bryn in her room. We take her upstairs. My chamber is the biggest, so that’s where I tell Jak to bring her, and he doesn’t gainsay me. Between us, in my bed, she’ll sleep.
CHAPTER 9
BRYN
The village feels like more and more like my home with each passing day, I think as I bandage a young man’s hand where he burned it on a heated sword handle in the smithy this morning. The realization hits me not as a thunderclap, but more like a rolling fog coming down from the hills.
My days are still spent training with the fae, and although the time with them is difficult, it isn't impossible, and I've noticed that my body feels even stronger. I'm not so tired afterward, and, in the evenings, when Voss snarls that we can go, Jak is usually waiting and we go to the healer's rooms to spend a bit of time learning his art and helping people with their ailments.
As a result, many of the villagers have begun to get to know me. They say my name and speak to me. They nod at me and greet me in the street.
The side-eyes and the whispers that followed in my wake before have all but disappeared, and it seems as if they're finally accepting me, much to Jak, Morgan, and even Locke's clear delight.
Jak was right.
Or, perhaps I should say, Locke was right.
Working in the healer’s rooms really is starting to change the perception of me as an untrustworthy Dark Realmer to a woman who isn’t dangerous, and one who could be an asset here.
The later evenings after the healer's rooms are pleasantly spent in either Jak's or Morgan's beds, along with their skillful and very pleasurable hands. Sometimes with just one, other times with both. I fall asleep between them sated and safe every night.
I thought the Light Realm might be a false hope when I first came to Halsford, but I think that I can see myself settling here properly, making a life in this place, perhaps even with Jak and Morgan.
I don’t know about Locke. He still doesn't speak to me much. I always seem to see him out of the corner of my eye when I'm walking through the village, though, and he watches me often whenever we’re at home in the evenings.
He thinks I don’t notice.
I haven't spoken much to him either. I’m not sure what to say. I'm still angry about what he did, but over my time here in the Light Realm, he's been different. Although he still seems to be the leader of the group in some ways, he hasn't ordered anyone around, nor made any decisions for all of us, even if he disagrees with the others over something.
And, to my utter annoyance, I’ve begun to find myself looking for him. Wondering where he is when I haven't seen him in a while.
The mantra that I was saying to myself stopped working days ago. These fae males have wormed their way into me somehow. Whether it's this ritual, or just that I’m getting to know them as one of the freefolk, I’m not sure. Perhaps it's just the camaraderie we've begun to share. It mirrors that which I felt when we were in the Dark Realms journeying to Merediea, but now without the dark cloud of my status as a slave following me.
Being free agrees with me. I no longer feel the urge to look to anyone for orders. I even help Morgan cook our meals along with the others without being asked. We do things for each other. It feels as if we are a unit, dare I say the beginnings of a family. It should terrify me, but it doesn't. It feels natural, like this was how it was always supposed to be with them.
It’s not perfect here, of course. There are still some in Halsford who don't like me. Tavish himself seems content to ignore me now. I don’t know if Dawn, his wife, ever told him that she sought my help, but his men in particular give me angry looks, and a wide berth.
Though, after the incident in the alley, I go nowhere near any of them alone. Even when I’ve gone to the Trading Post with one of the others, the men’s comments to me have ranged from righteous anger to sneering, whispered innuendos that I don’t quite hear, but unnerve me, nonetheless.
I thought I noticed two of them trailing after Jak and me one evening while we made our way to the healer’s rooms after my training, but I’m not certain they were actually following us, or just going home.
Perhaps I’m paranoid, but they make me feel uncomfortable. I’m very glad that Morgan and Locke have been teaching me better fighting techniques. I can use a knife with some finesse now, and my foot work is some of the best Locke has ever seen, I overheard him telling Morgan yesterday.
