‘How did you get here?’ I ask and grit my teeth, at once wanting to take my next impulsive question back.
How did this turn into a discussion about his tragic past? I don’t want to know any more about this man, this fae mage who lied to me, took me to the pits, stole my memories, put something in their place that made me do anything to live without remorse no matter who I hurt…killed. I don’t want to feel sympathy for him, excuse his actions.
But I am curious, I realize. More than curious. Perhaps he worked some other conjure on me as well, one that makes me unable to ignore him despite my fury and my abject disappointment in his true character.
‘I travelled around the Light, joined some mercenary groups who modelled themselves after the disbanded mercenary army, the Dark Brothers. But nothing really stuck. I was young. Impulsive. Then, I met a man in a tavern one night. I’d begun to look more fae by then, and the humans were starting to notice. He told me a story he’d heard about a village in the Ranges where it was said there were fae folk. I hadn’t met any of my own kind, so I came here to find them.’
He shrugs. ‘Anyway, joined the fae guard when I was told that the Underhill had a spy network who were saving humans who’d been taken as slaves to the Dark. I suppose I thought I might find some clue as to where my family was taken. When they realized I had an affinity for magick-wielding, they sent me to study conjuring in Dead City for a time.’
‘Did you find what happened to your family?’
He shakes his head. ‘I never have. But that’s why we were in the Dark Realms, why we were travelling with Bere and his group of slavers. We’re trying to save humans, Bryn. That’s what all this has been about.’
‘A noble cause,’ I say quietly, pushing my plate away. ‘But not all humans. Only the ones from the Light. You don’t give a fuckabout the slaves in the Dark Realm who were born into their chains.’
‘Bryn.’
His hand moves across the table as if he wants to touch me. I snatch my hand away, afraid he actually will, almost afraid I’ll let him.
‘It’s not that we don’t care,’ he says with a sigh. ‘We did try to save them. At first. At the beginning, all humans were welcome here. Even other creeds of Dark Realmers as well.’
I regard him with some surprise. I’m not sure what I thought, but it wasn’t that everyone had lived here all together.
‘Why not anymore?’
‘Because the ones who had been in the Dark Realms for too long or were born there… It’s as if they couldn’t live outside of their chains, Bryn. Life out here was too different for them. Some ran off in the middle of winter and were found dead in the thaw. Others killed their brethren for scraps though everyone here is given a roof over their heads at the very least and never allowed to go hungry. We tried putting the Light Realmers on one side and the Dark on the other, but that just made things worse.’
He lets out a deep sigh and shakes his head a little.
‘Some of the Dark Realmers got it into their heads that the Light Realmers were keeping food hidden from them, that they were lying to them. One night, they started a fire and they killed more than twenty other humans. Some were from the Dark, but many were women and children who’d settled here after being stolen from the Light. Then, they tried to get to the Underhill. They weren’t successful, but the destruction of Halsford was complete. The winter that year was very hard, even with the Underhill’s help.’
I look away.
‘I’m not surprised, I suppose,’ I say softly, remembering the other humans I grew up with, lived with. How they were with each other. With me. There was little honor amongst them. They’d tell tales to the masters on each other to get a blanket or an extra portion of food without a second thought. Many would betray their own kin for whatever they could get.
‘But they’re notevil, you know. There were some who were kind, who tried to make things better for the others.’
‘I don’t dispute that, Bryn,’ Locke says carefully, ‘but how can you trust such people when a small misjudgment of their character can cost you your life, your children’s lives, your home?’
I say nothing. I don’t have an answer.
‘Anyway, the fire was still smoldering when it was decided by the Underhill that the Dark Realmers could no longer stay here. It wasn’t my decision. It wasn’t even Dane’s. But, now, only those from the Light Realm are permitted except with special permission, and there are strict rules for everyone.’
‘So that’s why I have to go to the Council.’
‘Yes. I had hoped, since you helped with the mission, that Dane might be able to grant my request that you stay, but he says the Underhill won’t allow such things anymore.’
Locke stands, taking his empty plate to the sideboard.
‘We’ll enter the Hall as we did yesterday. The Council will be in attendance. Dane, who you met. Tavish, a human who owns the Trading Post in the village, Calder, a fae who’s also on the Fae Council, and two other humans called Wren and Shore. An enforcer from the Underhill will take you aside. Do not lie to him. He’ll know if you do.’
‘And, after that, I’ll be allowed to stay?’ I ask, clasping my hands together only to release them when he notices.
He says nothing for a moment too long.
I frown at him, my heart beginning to beat faster. He said he’d bring me here, I realize. He nor the others ever said I could remain. That wasn’t part of the deal.
Tricky fae.
