KARIS

Finean. That was his name? It was familiar, rolling through my mind and threatening to slip off my tongue even though Loftin was so close... so close it was hard to breathe.

He’d handled me so roughly, with thin lips and eyes that caught flame when I told him where the Asper came from. I thought he was going to incinerate us both. He had the power to make fire. I knew that.

I thought his words would be harsh, fueled with anger.

I didn’t expect a more tender side to emerge from the flame. I didn’t expect him to pull me close, for his breath to wash over me, making it difficult to breathe.

“I almost lost you today,” he drawled quietly, resting his forehead against mine.

His body felt warm against mine. So warm and comfortable, that it took me a moment to form a coherent thought. “You didn’t. You saved me. You have a talent for saving me when I get into trouble.”

He brushed a wet strand of hair behind my ear. “Can I give you a piece of advice?”

“Sure.”

“Stay away from Finean. Second to the Dark Queen, he’s the most dangerous creature in all of Faery.”

Loftin stepped away, leaving me light-headed and weak-kneed. He searched the morning sky and glanced back to me, smiling at my undoubtedly dazed appearance. “We should get as far from the fire as we can. The beasts will be looking for a free meal soon, and I’d rather them feed on the remnants of our breakfast than for them to feast upon us.”

I wholeheartedly agreed. Another Unseelie encounter was the last thing I wanted to face, and though I was sure more monsters stood in the distance between me and Iric, the soft morning light was comforting.

Side by side, Loftin and I quietly set out into the Eastern Forest. In the ponderous silence, I tried to ignore the way he affected me. Soon, I would find Iric and he could lead us back to Ironton. I wasn’t sure what I’d do after that, but it was clear that once he helped us and collected his favor, Loftin would move on. He had a life, and I was only welcome in it for a short time.

“Can I glamour myself?” I blurted.

Loftin gave me a side glance. “With practice, I’m sure you could.”

“So if I learned how, I could go back to Ironton?”

“You were blind there. Would you really choose that life?”

“Maybe I’d prefer the darkness. I can’t imagine Ironton’s much to look at.”

“What do you think it looks like?” he asked curiously.

“Poverty. I can count the ribs on Iric’s youngest brother. I could feel his ribs and collar bones protrude more each day, and feel him grow thinner each time he hugged me. I’m not sure I want to see him waste away.”

“What if you could change things? You grew the vine. Maybe you could grow food for the people. Would they accept you then?” he proposed.

“I doubt it.” It was the sad truth of the matter. Prejudices and fears ran deep. It was simply how the Slopers treated the Trenchers, and the Trenchers accepted their lot in life instead of fighting for something more, something better.

“I’m sorry you’ve known hunger,” I told him.

He slowed his steps, sniffing the air. I could tell he didn’t smell Iric’s scent either. “How do you know I have?”

“You didn’t react or judge when I told you about the boy. You’ve noticed my clothes, how they don’t fit and how worn they are, and yet you haven’t made fun of me for wearing them. Maybe you assume they’re the best things I have. Maybe you’re right.”

“Am I?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve seen hunger. I’ve felt it, Karis. I’ll never judge you for battling it.” He smoothed his own clothes. They were somewhat worn, but finer than anything I’d ever touched before. The fabric was thick and sturdy. Where it had torn, he’d mended it.

I wondered what life was like for the Seelie who didn’t know how to hunt.

The terrain changed drastically to rolling hills, more meadow than wood. Between the tall, dry grasses were boulders and small rocks that littered the land. Trails snaked their way over and through the rocky fields, and I couldn’t help but imagine what it would have looked like if it were alive and thriving once more.

There would have been wildflowers and butterflies... Wait. Why did it feel like I’d been there before? Why could I picture the scene in my mind as it should be?

As we ran the paths that cut over and through the hills, I couldn’t help but replay the morning’s events in my mind. The Puca. It seemed so sweet and harmless, but I was fast learning that nothing was as it seemed here. Everything was a deception, luring you in just so it could ensnare or kill. This entire world and everything in it was fighting so hard to survive, it had lost its beauty, or maybe because its beauty was lost, the world fought to survive. Either way, it was heartbreaking to witness.

With everything in this place charged as a predator, maybe Loftin was right about Finean. If the Puca hadn’t gotten to me first, maybe he would have dragged me under. I decided to stay far away from him... and all sources of water.

What if Finean was the one who sent the Puca to kill me?

“You’re quiet,” Loftin mused, interrupting my thoughts—thoughts that made me feel as though there were spiders and crawling things all over my flesh.

Not ready to share the course of my speculations, I asked, “Have you picked up his scent yet?” I couldn’t. We’d run for miles, but I hadn’t picked up Iric’s scent again.

“No, but I know where he’s going,” Loftin replied, jogging beside me.

“Where’s he going?”

“The Northern Forest. Great plumes of smoke rise from the ice fields there.”

The thought curdled in my stomach. “How far away is that?”

“A couple of days away on foot.”

“Can’t you fly?” I teased. “I thought faeries could fly.”

“Some can,” he answered with a shrug.

“But you’re not one of them,” I finished for him.

He gave me an apologetic look.

I’d been in Faery less than twenty-four hours. Iric had a small head-start, but this world was unforgiving. Did he manage to meet someone to help him through it, too? My heart swelled with gratitude for Loftin. Loftin—at times a raging inferno, and at others a steady comfort.

“If a human wandered into Faery some time ago and didn’t return, where might I find him?”

“Iric is probably fine, Karis.”

“I’m not talking about Iric. I’m talking about someone who disappeared years ago. Where would a human go for so long?”

Loftin’s lips flattened. “You won’t find them.”

“Alive, or at all?”

“To my knowledge, the longest a human has survived Faery in the last fifty years has been two to three days at most.”

The breath was knocked out of me. There was no hope for Gregoire, then. And Iric’s time was quickly running out.

He slowed his pace as more and more rocks and boulders littered the path. “Why do you ask?”

“One of Iric’s younger brothers disappeared from Ironton. Some suggested one of his friends pushed him through the smoke, while others claimed he was dared to walk through the wall. One boy admitted he’d been talking about leaving for weeks and planned the whole thing, and that he even left with a bag of supplies.”

“You’ll never know what happened for sure, but how and why doesn’t matter in the end. If he didn’t come back, he didn’t make it,” Loftin affirmed softly.

“When I told Iric’s mother that he’d left and I was going after him, she asked me to bring both of her sons back.”

He was quiet for a few moments. “You speak of Iric like he’s a brother to you. You know his family. Yet, you distance yourself from him with your words. Is he truly like a brother, or do you have romantic feelings for him?”

I wrinkled my nose. Gross. “Iric is the closest thing I have to a brother. He’s like family you get to choose, family that might be stronger than blood ties. He and his brothers adopted me as their own, and I adopted them as mine.”

“How many brothers does Iric have in total?”

“Seven. Five are living. I already told you about Gregoire, and his brother Roane died in a mine collapse when Iric was a baby.”

He offered an empathetic smile. “You have five brothers to guard you, and still you managed to find yourself in Faery.”

“Three of them are young, too young to fend for themselves, even though they do it anyway. Iric and I help whenever we can.”

“And their mother? Did she raise you?” He glanced over at me, unblinking as I answered.

“As much as she raised her natural-born, I suppose. Vivica... She’s complicated.”

“I have time,” he baited with a grin.

I loved it when he smiled. All of his expressions were handsome, but his smile made my knees weak and butterflies take flight in my belly.

“She’s detached and cold most of the time, but on rare occasions, she’s not so bad. Her profession is one that isn’t conducive to having children around much.” I prayed he would drop the subject.

Loftin lacked the ability to read social cues, or didn’t care that I didn’t want to tell him. He asked anyway. “What’s her profession?”

“She’s the town harlot.”

Loftin’s eyes widened and a faint blush spread over his cheeks as he coughed. “Oh.”

I smiled at his embarrassment, sure I might never witness it again and loving that I had, even if for the briefest of moments. “Everyone in Ironton is just trying to survive as best they can. I’m sure the other human cities are the same. Though the meaning of the word ‘survive’ changed drastically when I stepped foot in Faery.”

“What does it mean in Ironton – to survive? Tell me about your life there,” he solicited. “I know of the hunger, but tell me about the city itself.”

I began, “The people are divided, and how good a life you have depends on who you are. If you were born into money, you live on the Slopes; the foothills and mountains that seem to rise out of the earth from nowhere at all. Then there are the Trenchers; the poor who live in the bottoms and on the dregs the Slopers toss aside. Life’s easier for the rich. Slopers have plenty of iron, can buy as much food as they want—often more than they need—and have extra to spare for a poor Trencher to deliver goods to their homes, so they don’t have to carry it up the mountains themselves. Iric’s a runner. He delivers their things for them, for an iron price. Though he won’t turn down a pheasant if a Sloper has an extra one to pay him with.”

“Why iron?”

“Because the fae hate iron. To keep them away, there are bells hanging everywhere. Tiny iron bells that tinkle in the wind and drive me absolutely out of my mind.”

He laughed out loud then. “It’s because you’re fae and were living amongst the iron. Did you ever touch it?”

“Yes.”

“It didn’t burn you?” he asked, astonished.

I thought back to the times I collected alms. My palm tingled when I accepted it, but I always put it in the pockets of my skirts. I never handled iron for more than a few seconds at a time.

“I did, but not for any length of time. In Ironton, if you’re damaged, the Governor gives you a regular allotment of iron.”

“Damaged?”

“Blind, in my case. Some were injured in the iron mines. Others were born with disabilities. If anyone couldn’t provide for themselves, through no fault of their own, they could collect alms.”

“No fault of their own?” he asked.

I cringed at the thought of Mage’s hand. “Once, one of Iric’s younger brothers, Mage, was caught stealing. As punishment, the Border Grays served justice in the form of cutting off his hand. He was only six at the time.”

Loftin blinked rapidly. “That’s barbaric. What did he steal?”

“Bread,” I answered softly. “And because he lost a hand as punishment for a crime, he’s not allowed to collect alms.” I mused, “Iric is a Border Gray. It’s why I was near the wall when I realized I could see out of it.”

He muttered a curse. “Iric is a Border Gray? Did he mete out the punishment on his brother?”

“No, and he wouldn’t have. He would’ve defied an order and faced the same punishment for disobedience, and then been stripped of his title and shunned. Thank goodness they didn’t ask him to be the one to do it.”

Loftin had no words. He just shook his head and muttered, “Six years old.”

“Iric and I try to help them, but the three youngest brothers are basically on their own, by choice. We’ve tried to keep them with us. We offer them food, shelter, and love. But they never stay long. Duncan lives on his own, but does the same for them. The boys just won’t stay put with us for long. It’s only a matter of time before Mage gets caught again, and if he does, they’ll push him into Faery as punishment.”

“A thief without a hand cannot steal,” Loftin offered carefully. “Couldn’t they take his other one?”

“They would force him out with one hand to defend himself with, and tell him he deserved it.” Even if he was only a hungry boy whose only crime was stealing food. Even if the Slopers had more than enough food to share so no Trencher should have to starve, especially the children.

Loftin didn’t have to say it. Humans didn’t stand a chance in Faery, and one who was mutilated would be the first to die in this unforgiving place.

“Why would anyone hide a fae inside a human village?” The question had been eating away at me since I first came to realize I was fae.

He pursed his lips and offered, “Perhaps it was to keep you safe.”

There was a hint of hesitance in his tone. It gave me pause, and the dark thought bubbled to the surface, the one I’d been trying to keep at bay. The memories of what happened in my home, the bubble in the lake…

“What if it was to keep Faery safe from me?” I questioned.

His back stiffened. “What harm could you cause?”

I’d only nearly gotten us killed twice now. Or was it three times? I stopped and took out my canteen, extending it to him.

“No, you drink,” he argued. “I can go days without water.”

“You can, but should you?” I asked, sipping the water and extending the canteen to him again.

He took a sip and handed it back, his eyes softening at the corners. “Thank you.”

“Loftin, I owe you everything. You’ve already helped me so much. I’m sure I could try a lifetime and never thank you enough.”

He glanced away for a moment and sniffed once. “We should start running again if you’re rested.”

“Sure.”

* * *

LOFTIN

She thanked me. Said she’d never be able to thank me enough. But that was all going to change the moment I took her to Nemain and betrayed her. I wanted to tell her who I was and what I was doing, that I was a liar and a manipulator. But my father’s life was on the line. The fate of Faery, my whole world, and everything in it was at stake.

But if I gave her over, and Nemain absorbed her power or killed her, would it mean that every hope I had would die along with her?

I needed to think. I needed more time.

The grasses thinned, giving way to a sparse forest of dead trees, their branches clawing toward the unforgiving sun. It wasn’t hot, but there used to be billowy clouds accompanying it in the sky any time one entered the Spring Court. Now, there was nothing but pale blue surrounding the large ball of fire that baked the forest at a relentless, but low temperature.

From the north, plumes of ash rose, appearing like curls of smoke. The smoke I told her Iric was going after. I’d picked up his scent again, and so did Karis, so we pushed harder than we ever had. She wasn’t kidding when she described the boy as a fast runner. We should’ve caught up to him by now.

“Into the forest?” Karis asked.

“Into the forest,” I confirmed. Dead leaves crunched beneath our feet, not as thick as those in Summer, but drier and more brittle. The balance in Spring had been so important, but here there was no balance to be found.

We didn’t make it very far into the woods at all.

Beside me, Karis stilled, staring straight ahead. I scanned ahead and saw nothing, sniffed and detected no new scents. Iric’s faint trail hung in the air, along the leaves, slicing through the woods, heading due north, right where I needed him to go.

“What is it?” I whispered, taking in the changes in her. With pallid skin, she gripped her chest with one hand and her staff with the other.

“What are they?” Her voice trembled.

I scanned around, desperate to see what Karis was seeing. Her breathing was erratic and her eyes darted all around as she turned in a circle, refusing to even blink as she took in something I could not sense.

“What do you see? Describe it to me,” I urged quietly, unsheathing my sword.

“I can see Shades,” she gasped, her lips quivering with every word, “and they’re telling me not to trust you.” She stared beyond me, and when I reached out, my hand touching hers, she flinched and jerked away. “Who are you?”

“I told you who I was. I am a hunter.”

“They say you lie,” she stammered. It was true.

Her heartbeat quickened. I could hear it, and see her chest heave under the energy they were using to manifest and speak with her. “Don’t trust them, and whatever you do, do not let them touch you,” I warned her.

“What? Why?” she asked, frantically looking around her. “What do they want? They’re all talking at once,” she whimpered.

I needed to get her away from them. “We should run through them, but make sure that none of them touch you.”

“Why? What will happen if they do?” Her eyes delved warily into mine.

“They can drag you into the Underworld.”

She shook her head when I tugged her forward. “If I run through them, there’s no way I can avoid them all. They’re everywhere.”

“Then we take another way. We retrace our steps into the meadows and double around the woods toward the sea.”

She all but crumpled. “But Iric’s this way. He has to be close.”

If the Shades were that thick and she could see them and they her, I couldn’t risk them telling her about my deal with Nemain, or who she truly was. And I didn’t lie to her about them or what they were capable of. Shades were powerful. They could drag fae to the Underworld, and I’d be damned if I’d lose her now that we were so close.

We had to get away from them. I’d earned a measure of her trust, and I needed to keep it.

Karis wasn’t evil like Nemain. She was kind, caring about the smallest things like being helpful or offering a drink of water. She wanted to pet the Puca, for goodness sake. And whenever she was sad or upset or hurt, and she turned her eyes to me, I felt her pain. I’d never sensed anything like it.

She hadn’t manifested any dark powers. She made things grow. She brought life back to a desolate and dying land. Karis acted human because she was raised as a human. I chipped away at her fear and made her trust me, which meant I had become one of the creatures who preyed upon the weak. No better than an Unseelie beast.

Predator.

Hunter.

Manipulator.

Part of me realized the necessity of becoming these things and worse. The other part of me hated myself for it.

I took her soft hand in mine, letting my thumb graze her skin. Her eyes left the Shades and found our hands. “Let’s retrace our steps and go around. Iric wouldn’t have seen them. They wouldn’t have bothered a human. They’re only attracted to certain fae.”

“You’re sure?” she asked.

“I can’t see them, Karis. Iric shouldn’t be able to, either.”