Page 9 of Taken By Shadows

I wasn’t sure why I was so put out. I didn’t really think of myself as fae. I might look like them, but I had no power, no grace, no magic.

I was failing at passing for human, and I had failed at being fae. Not having magic meant I didn’t have the parts that mattered when it came to being fae.

Maybe I was angrier at all those facts rather than at Bray’s short-sighted view of me.

I left abruptly and found the exit.

Bray didn’t follow.

Chapter three

Outside, the chill air bit at my cheeks. The slopes of the Banes loomed from where we’d come, and their icy planes still grasped the smaller villages and towns in their bitterly cold embrace.

I didn’t know why I had taken it so personally that Bray hadn’t noticed the woman had insulted me. Or why I cared that she had at all. She hadn’t even directly slighted me. I was used to far worse from the people I called my neighbours. And truth be told, it wasn’t out of character for Bray to dismiss my fae heritage or to ignore what it might mean to me. He’d never actually asked much about my background. And maybe that was a good thing. He didn’t pry. He didn’t care. He didn’t seem to notice.

I paced the front of the tavern, the strain of wanting to break something taking hold in my body. I couldn’t go back in and punch Bray. Or confront the woman for her prejudices.

Instead, I kicked a trough. Hard.

I stifled a roar at the pain. It felt like my foot had broken from the impact.

Acting on my frustration might not have been worth it if I’d just broken a toe before I set out anywhere.

Some plan to leave. I get a few hours from Shadowfall, and my adventure stops, in Craven’s Rook of all places, because I kicked a godsdamned horse watering hole.

Bray might be an idiot for not seeing that his words hurt, but I didn’t want my last night with him to be one filled with anger. Against my better judgement, I decided to go back inside. I turned, shook off the pain in my foot, and made towards the tavern.

My steps faltered. A dark, hooded figure leaned against the wall before me. Something about him had me stunned into stillness.

He wasn’t exactly blocking the door. Would he let me pass?

Tendrils of trepidation ran through me at the sight of him. Like an animal that knows it’s been cornered by a predator.

Or maybe I was just still on edge, defensive, and projecting it onto this person before me.

As my hand reached for the door, the dark stranger took a sidestep and came into my orbit. His gravity pulled me to look up, even as adrenaline coursed through me.

I didn’t know what I’d do if he attacked me. Maybe I should have considered getting a blade for my journey.

A little late for that. The thought scurried through my veins.

“You keep interesting company.” The dark voice came from under the shroud.

His face was nearly completely obscured; I could only see his lips as he spoke.

Not ominous at all. Not terrifying.

But his voice wasn’t either of those things. It was like velvet night, and it drew me in.

“How would you know what company I keep?” I was sure I hadn’t seen him in there. I’d have noticed. I was certain.

Clean clothes, the striking stature. Broad but not like Bray. Taller, though. Lithe. Strong.

“Easy to eavesdrop when your husband is shouting through the whole tavern.”

So he had been inside.

“He is not my husband.” The words were out before I could think better of them. Why did I need to let a stranger know that?