AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"I don't think either of those are words that accurately describe us," Vayne said. "Perfect or nice."
"Speak for yourself," Tavian said. He frowned down at one of the dead Fae. "Now that's peculiar."
29
Khala
"What is it?" I peered over Tavian's shoulder.
The dead Fae looked younger than me. Seventeen or eighteen at most. I presumed that made him at least fifty. His face was long, ending in the same angular chin as any Fae. His eyes, still open, looked like those of a cat. His hair was as long, tied back off his face.
None of that was what caught and held my attention. Most of that was on his rounded ears and detached lobes. Judging by the way his hair lay, it usually covered them.
"He's a Fae with human blood." That didn't seem too strange to me. Why did they look so confused?
"Fae don't usually show outwardly human traits like that." Tavian's mouth twitched to one side. "They either look like one or they look like the other." He nodded at me to make his point.
"He might have more human blood in him than Fae." Ryze scratched his shoulder but seemed unconcerned. "It's bound to happen from time to time."
"The Summer Court doesn't usually take kindly to humans," Vayne said. "I'm surprised they let a half breed live this long." He cast his gaze around the rest of the dead border patrol. "That's probably why he's here. In the hope they'd meet trouble and he'd end up like this."
"If that's the case, I feel sorry for him," Ryze said. "If he spoke to us, I would have granted him asylum in the Winter Court." He squinted at the dead patrol as though somehow this was their fault.
"The Winter Court doesn't like humans either," Zared pointed out. He didn't attempt to keep the accusation from his words or tone. If the dead man was ostracised, he blamed the Fae in general. Clearly he believed if he asked for asylum, it would have been refused.
Ryze saw it too and raised his chin until Zared looked away.
"Some humans we do." Tavian glanced back over his shoulder and smiled.
"Some we don't." Vayne gave Zared a much less friendly look. "Especially when they don't obey orders."
Zared's hand twitched as if he was about to give Vayne a rude gesture, but thought twice about it. He must have some grudging respect for the commander, to resist like that. His shoulders slumped slightly, but the irritated set of his mouth remained.
"Don't blame Zared for us going through the portal." If someone didn't defuse the tension, it was going to explode and take us all with it. "It was my idea."
Vayne turned his dark eyes on me. "He could have stopped you. Or stayed behind. He's responsible for his actions. The same way you are." He wasn't relenting even half a step.
"Let's not stand here all day arguing," Ryze said. His commanding tone broke the standoff. "We still have a while to go before we reach the capital." Without glancing back, he started southward, leaving the rest of us to follow.
After a last glare, Vayne hurried to catch up.
"Come on," Tavian said to Zared and I. "Keep your eyes open for any more border patrols. These were reckless, but they still caught me by surprise." The fact he was bothered by that was obvious. Coupled with the dead part-Fae, he looked as close to rattled as I'd ever seen him.
He noticed me watching and smiled, the moment evaporating with his change of expression.
I gave the dead half-Fae a last look before walking away. It seemed to me it was either luck, or the gods' sense of humour that I didn't look the same way he did. What would have happened to me if I had?
I doubted I would have survived my first day of life, given how quick my parents were to move me along to the Temple. The best I might have hoped for was a pillow over my face, or to be left somewhere, abandoned.
I pushed the thoughts aside. None of that mattered anymore. Thinking about it was only a recipe for frustration, and questions with no answers. I needed to consider the future, not the past. The gods knew the future was full of more than enough questions of its own.
"Have you ever seen anything like that before?" I asked Tavian.
"Only once," he said. "The baby looked Fae, but had eyes like a human. No one thought much of it. Peculiarities happen from time to time. It's not as though we don't realise humans and Fae breed with each other. We've been fucking each other since the gods created us. Some of us like to pretend we don't." He looked meaningfully at Vayne's back.
"Only twice and only with Khala," Vayne said without looking back. "I have some standards."
"He likes to let on that he hates humans, but he doesn't really," Tavian said, slightly louder than necessary.
