Page 39 of Tell Them That I’m Coming

He gives a small, crooked smile. “Because if we did, we wouldn’t need slavers.”

I swallow, then because I can’t help myself, I ask, “And you? Do you have a lover?”

He shakes his head. “Nah. Not me. Not now.”

It’s the truth. Even if I didn’t know that the fae can’t lie, I feel the honesty as it plucks at our bond like it’s a string.

“Thane—”

He pushes himself up to his feet. “I should head up and be look-out. Sleep tight, Alana of Sombra. Tomorrow we push harder to find your friend.”

As I watch Thane shimmy easily up the tree, I bite down on my bottom lip.

I don’t tell him what I know. I don’t tell him that the pull I feel toward him, or ask if maybe he feels the same. I don’t tell him that he must be able to bond because fate and the gods have given to me… and I tell myself it doesn’t matter.

For now, only Rafe matters.

All of the rest can wait.

CHAPTER 12

ONE BED

It’s been four moons in Noctavara—four nights where I sleep under the stars… and beneath Thane’s perch in the tree he chooses for the eve—and there’s still no sign of Rafe.

On the plus side, we’ve finally reached the end of the Shadowed Woods with only one more challenge from a fellow bandit. There was another swarm of goldcaps that Thane eliminated, two more trolls, and a kelpie that would’ve attempted to drown me in one of the mirrored lakes if Binx didn’t nip at my heels warning away from the creature before Thane sent it away with a command in the old Faerie language.

Now, I don’t think I would’ve died, but spending the rest of eternity as the captive of a creature that was a mix between a mortal horse and fish didn’t seem like a good time to me.

Thane warns that the dangers don’t end just because the dark Shadowed Woods give way to a forest that gleams with gold. From the gold-tinged leaves fluttering on bronx branches, the sky a mix of magenta and burnished gold swirls, and a sun that actually looks like the human sun instead of the constant silver moon that shone over the Shadowed Woods… it’s exactly what I imagined a fae forest to look like, especially since the monarch butterflies seem more at home here when they inevitably reappear.

They don’t stay long, and whenever Thane edges out of the woods, finding the main road that’s designated for the traders and other caravans, they disappear completely. I almost think that he does that on purpose, as though he’s trying to avoid the butterflies. Since the golden forest means that we’re one step closer to reaching the Gilded Court, that’s fine with me.

At the same time, he’s careful to guide us back into the thick trees where we’re out of sight of any travelers. He still puts the glamour over my horns whenever he senses someone—or something—coming too close, but more often than not, it’s just a fae bandit, a travelworn halfling, and Binx, who is having the time of his life bounding around the golden forest, sniffing the plants, and trying to eat the strange fruit growing on the trees no matter how many times I have to warn him that he’ll be trapped in Noctavara forever if he does.

Only once my ungez understands that he’ll be trapped here without me does he scamper up Thane’s leg, nosing the pouch that stores his dried meat so that he can have a snack.

It’s only been four moons, but it feels like forever. Like I’ve known Thane forever. Even Binx has decided he’s not so bad, though I can’t tell if my matebond with Thane is affecting the soulbond I have with my soul-pet. It’s possible, but damn if it isn’t sweet, seeing Binx get along with Thane.

I want to flag down travelers and ask if they’ve heard anything about slavers visiting demon realms and returning with outsiders. Considering they had been in Brille Rouge, prepared to bring Katrin and her kin back with them only to settle for Rafe when his barrier saved the demonesses, it seems like a very common occurrence.

Of course, Thane points out that, if I accept that demons and demonesses fetch a high price in Noctavara, all it would take is a more powerful fae seeing through his glamour for me to be snagged next. So far, he considers me his; after the amount of gold coin he earned by other marauders challenging him, I am worth a lot. I asked him pointblank if he was going to sell me to earn more now that we’ve left the Shadowed Woods behind us.

He laughed, said ‘why would I do that’, and surged forward to check out a concerning sound long before I realized that he didn’t answer me.

That’s what he does. When he doesn’t want to answer a question—and he can’t lie—he gives me a non-answer. Like when I asked him how old he was after Morgane’s comment had me wondering. Dad was more than centuries old when he mated Mom, and I’ve always known that once a spawn matures—and that happens at about two decades for halflings versus two centuries for demons—a mate of any age is appropriate so long as they’re immortal.

To my surprise, Thane revealed he was not even that old. A hundred-and-fifty fae years, with the last two decades spent as a fae bandit staking out his corner of the Shadowed Woods and earning as much gold as possible.

I didn’t bother asking about his fixation with the metal. He changes the subject every time, and I knew it wasn’t worth it.

However, I did ask, “What did you do before that?,” because I… I want to know everything about my mate that I can before the essence exchange ruins all the fun.

He’d smiled and just said, “Nothing half as interesting.”

I still don’t know what that means.

I’m not the only one who asks questions. He seeds them into normal conversation, but I finally notice that he’s interested in my relationship with Rafe, what it’s like in Sombra, and how exactly my shadow magic works. He wants to know about my soulbond with Binx, though he’s careful to never mention mate bonds around me after his admission that the fae are cursed to never have them on their own.