Page 73 of A Thief Among Fae

Or were the stories not true?

“What is your sister like?” he asks.

“Kind, a little naive.” Remembering her, a pang of homesickness threads through me. “Growing up, I saw myself as her protector. But then the innkeeper’s son bullied her, and I didn’t notice until I caught him shoving her face into the dirt and telling her to eat it. I felt nothing but rage.”

Tears had streamed from Evie’s blotchy eyes. When she saw me, a hopeful smile had quivered on her lips.

“I slammed his face into the ground and told him to see how he liked eating dirt,” I continue. “He lost a tooth. I lost my butter privileges for half a year. It was worth it.”

I’ll never forget how Evie, so meek at six years old, could finally relax while shooting marbles and playing tag between the houses. She had snuggled up to me in bed that night, resting her head on my shoulder. The “thank you” she whispered meant so much, making up for all the trouble I was in. That must be how his own sister felt when she fed him salt to free him from the berries’ enchantment.

“I’d do anything for my sister, even now,” I tell Desmond. I mean every word.

Yet my parents don’t see me as a protector. To them, I’m just a farmgirl with an Average Gift. They warned me. They said the world is no place for solitary mortal women, that if traffickers didn’t take me, the fae would rip me to shreds.

I clench his hand as if it can anchor me as waves of sorrow rock through me.

His thumb brushes over the back of my hand. “What’s wrong?” He must feel it through our bond.

“I left home to prove that my parents are wrong about me. That I can take care of myself. Once I return with Olin’s treasure, they’ll have to see that. I don’t know what I’ll do if they don’t.”

“Leave.”

“Leave?” I raise my brows at him. “It’s not that easy.”

“Yes, it is. You don’t need their permission or their validation. You bring them the treasure, and then you leave.” The finality in his tone leaves no room for argument. He means it.

It occurs to me that nothing may appease my family when I leave. I could buy them mattresses stuffed with the fluffy down of goslings or a manor whose balcony overlooks the Bay of Teeth. And even still, they might spurn my dreams. At least they’d be safe. At least they’d be wealthy.

“It will be the hardest on my sister,” I admit. “This is the first time we’ve ever been apart for more than a day.”

“Bonds between siblings can transcend even realms. If you stay honest with each other, you won’t lose her,” he says.

I wonder if he feels that way about his own sister. “What is Deitra like?” I ask him.

“Strange,” he says with a fond smile. “Level-headed, absolute in her decisions. Emotions rarely sway her.”

“Sounds like someone I know,” I muse, smirking at him even though he still watches the stars.

“Emotions do sway me.” He closes his eyes and sighs. “I need to stop letting it.”

I don’t understand what he means, so I return his gesture, rubbing my own thumb along his.

If I don’t imagine it, his shoulders relax.

“Deitra is different,” he continues. “She’s learned to assess any situation and solve it with logic alone. She had to, when precognition tends to blind its holders with paranoia.”

“That’s her Gift?” Not only is it an Elite power, but it’s incredibly rare. Much more useful than untethering.

“Hey,” he murmurs. “I can feel that. You don’t need to doubt your magic.”

“It’s not just that I doubt it,” I admit, tensing. Sometimes I forget that the bond goes both ways. What else has he felt from me?

Desmond watches me, waiting.

I take a deep breath, steadying myself to be honest with him, no matter how vulnerable it makes me. “I’m afraid,” I tell him. “I beat a draugr wight by dumb luck. I almost lost my sister. I panicked when cornered by a fire-wielder and when Auri glamoured me, I couldn’t do a thing about it. What if I’m not cut out for this?”

He sits up and tucks a small white flower behind my ear. “Your fear may know your name, but so does your strength. And your strength has carried you through every battle that was meant to break you.”