Dane gives me a commiserating look. ‘Of course, though not for the same reasons perhaps.’
Then, he looks past me, his attention finally settling on Bryn and his eyes narrow almost imperceptibly.
‘Who is this you bring with you?’ he asks more quietly.
‘This is Bryn,’ I say, gesturing to her. ‘Bryn, this is Dane. He’s one of the leaders here.’
‘My lord,’ she greets meekly, keeping her eyes on the floor and I grimace.
Dane gives me a look and draws me off to the side a little.
‘A Dark Realmer?’ he whispers.
I nod. ‘She helped us. She saved my life. I vowed to bring her here. I’ll vouch for her, and so will Jak and Morgan. We want her to be given a place here. She deserves that and more.’
Dane glances over at her. ‘It doesn’t matter who vouches for her. She’s still a slave of the Dark Realms. You know the laws that were put in place after the fire. Newcomers from outside the Light and the Underhill must be treated with suspicion.’
‘Yes, I know the laws,’ I say in a whisper, ‘but I hoped you might be able to help. I couldn’t leave her there, Dane. Please. She helped with the mission. Without her, I’d be dead and we’d have no leads, nothing on Fiana after over a year of work.’
I can almost hear Dane’s teeth grinding. ‘Fuck! Fine. I’ll do what I can, but she’ll need to be interviewed, Locke, by an enforcer.’
‘You can’t do it?’
He shakes his head. ‘The Underhill won’t allow it. The Five ruled it so last year. One of the enforcers has to speak to her.’
I glance at Bryn. Interrogate her more like, knowing the Underhill’s fear of someone infiltrating Halsford in order to get to the Underhill.
‘It will likely be Avendel,’ he continues. ‘He’s on duty here tomorrow.’
‘Fine,’ I snarl, making Dane’s eyes widen a little and I see Bryn’s eyes dart up to me and then away again. ‘Sorry. The past days have been difficult.’
I lower my voice. ‘Can she be allowed to rest tonight and spoken to tomorrow?’
Dane glances past me and makes a sound. ‘All right, but only because I know no one will come this evening, and if I send a message to say that she’s here, I’ll be ordered to put her in a cell until Avendel gets here tomorrow. But you keep her with you, Locke. Every moment. Don’t let her go wandering.’
I let out a sound of derision. ‘Gods, Dane, she isn’t here to destroy the village!’
‘I’m not worriedfor the village.’ My friend shakes his head. ‘Things have changed over the time you’ve been gone, my friend. Trust me. Keep her with you until she’s given leave to remain tomorrow.’
‘All right,’ I acquiesce, breathing a sigh of relief.
At least if she can stay with us tonight, we can ensure she has a decent meal, and let her see that she’s safe here. ‘We’ll keep her out of sight in the cottage.’
Dane gives me a thump on the shoulder, shaking his head. ‘I’m glad you’re back safe, my friend. I’ll see you both tomorrow. Early. Bryn, welcome to the Light Realm.’
As I turn to Bryn, I see her eyes are narrowed at Dane ever so slightly. Does she still think this is all a lie, that I told Dane to say that?
‘He’s part of the ruse,’ I say to her a bit sardonically and she gives me a dark look as she comes with me back outside while Dane returns to the table to continue reading his papers.
‘Where are we going, now, my lord?’ she asks.
I turn back to her. ‘Stop calling me that. Use my name.’
She says nothing, just looks at the ground.
‘You’re going to have to stop doing that too,’ I tell her as we walk on. ‘The humans here don’t keep their eyes lowered. It marks you as…different.’
She snorts softly but then stops short as a small group of men who are probably walking to the tavern pass us. They ignore me mostly, though one of them nods in greeting. Bryn turns and stares after them, and a couple of them glance back to look at her.
