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The marking on my wrist started to ache as we ran. It was still only in the throbbing stage when we stopped in what I assumed was their version of a marketplace. I hadn’t been to a market since I was a kid, but I’d always liked walking around to see everything.
The marketplace was a cluster of small shops built into trees and connected by dozens of bridges, ropes, and vines. There were a few icy walkways too. Those were all dripping water, so I wouldn’t be going near them. With a little bit of moonlight streaming down on everything through the trees and those small floating lights moving around lazily, it was absolutely beautiful.
My eyes moved over one shop after another. Some had food and others held clothing or jewelry.
Eisley climbed off Sharp’s back and led me inside the marketplace. It was flooded with fae and their companions, and I noticed there were three different types of animals. The esu, along with creatures that looked like huge white bears, and some that seemed to be monster-sized wolves with gray fur.
“What kind of animals are those?” I asked Eisley, tilting my head toward one of the busiest shops.
“Oh, the giant wolves are called xuno. Xuno bond with the fae who live in Vayme Vooth’s city beneath the mountains.” She pronounced xuno like zoo-no. “The bears are called idorr, and they bond with the fae in the ice city on the ocean that Ravv Loire is the king of.” She pronounced idorr, eye-door.
Ravv was the one bonded to Laeli, if I remembered right.
My lips curved upward at the irony of a male fae who lived in an ice castle needing a human woman with fire magic to keep him alive.
I didn’t have anything to say though, so I just nodded in response to her explanation.
“We’ll find clothes first. Hopefully, that’ll give some of these fae time to marvel over the sight of a human so they don’t obsess over you when we sit down,” Eisley added.
I agreed, and then followed her into a building full of dresses and shorts. All of the clothing hung from large wooden racks around the space, which intrigued me. My fingers brushed the rich fabrics, all of them smoother and more luxurious than the clothes humans created.
My town had held me captive for so long to feed them and make money for them, yet they could still never have had the funds to buy the kind of clothing the fae wore. It was a pity for them but gave me a sense of satisfaction.
Perhaps that satisfaction wasn’t healthy, but I didn’t particularly care.
“What do you like?” Eisley asked, gesturing around the shop. Much of the clothing was brown, black, or dark green. I supposed the faewerewarriors, and the dark colors would help them hide better.
But my eyes were drawn to the bright colors on a rack in the corner.
“I’m not particular,” I told her, pulling my gaze back to the racks nearest to me.
“Nonsense. Everyone is particular, whether they like to admit it or not. Pick what you like, Nissa.”
I reluctantly walked to the back of the room.
Having opinions was dangerous when you were a prisoner. And even if I technically wasn’t one any longer, it still felt like I was. Not because of Kierden or Eisley, but because of the darkness in my mind.
“Just grab two or three dresses. We’re going to get some meat on those bones fast, and then you’ll need new clothes again,” Eisley said.
I nodded and started looking through the dress options. They were short and fairly scandalous by human standards, but that didn’t really matter. I’d get over showing more of my body sooner than I’d get over the years in the tower.
“Which ones are your favorite?” Eisley checked, when I’d gone through all of them.
“I’m not sure,” I admitted, rubbing the silky fabric of an extremely pink dress between my fingers. It reminded me of the flowers I’d seen in the jungle—and the ones I’d watched my mother burn so many times from my tower.
She always said they were useless, but theyweren’t. They made me smile, and that meant something. It meant a lot.
Eisley sent me an exasperated look.
My lips curved upward a bit.
She wanted me to have opinions.
Fine; I’d have opinions.
I wanted the dresses that reminded me most of the flowers my village had cut down, the ones that had grown back again, again, and again. The ones that made me happy and brought me hope. I wasn’t going to dress like a fae; I was going to dress like a damnflower.
“This one,” I said, pulling the pink dress off the rack. Two more steps, and I grabbed a vibrant orange one, and a purple one too.
