Page 12 of Shade of Ruin

Cole points at the pile of sticks and branches he’s gathered, and a blazing fire catches in an instant, illuminating the ground in bright light. He sighs and pulls off the green cloak, tossing itonto a blanket. Underneath, he’s wearing armor, but it’s not like any I’ve seen before.

It’s a normal quilted gambeson except that when he turns around to pick up a branch, I see two long slits in the back. Curled strips of metal form strange spring-like coils that are riveted all over the thick, flame-red fabric.

I sit in the tree and watch him, no different from when I was spying on Thomas Milligan after Hazel said she was interested in him. I’d heard Alayne Fairfax’s screams and cries while they were in the woods from a tree just like this.

I’m sure that I’ve ruined the match that Uncle Trevor had arranged. No self-respecting man would marry a girl who’d been cursed with Fae magic. If Thomas found out that she’s supposed to die in a year, there’s no way he’d willingly enter into that marriage.

At least I kept her safe from him.

Cole looks just as serious as when he was talking to me in my room. Sitting on a log and staring into the fire, he doesn’t hum a song or smile or talk to himself like so many other people do. Silent and stoic, like the statue he seems to have been modeled after.

Calum wasn’t wrong about how pretty he is. I don’t know if every High Fae looks like him, but if they do, maybe that’s why humans shouldn’t go into Draenyth. They’d never want to marry a human again after seeing an entire race of the most gorgeous people in the world.

Or maybe he’s the pinnacle of the race. Regardless, it’s not his looks I need right now.

Sleeping silently in a tree will be a challenge. At least that’s something I feel I might successfully do. My arms and face have healed completely, not leaving a single cut on them, and I bet I could fall out of this tree, hit my head on every branch on theway down, and still get up. I’ve always healed quickly, but I can’t remember having a major wound to worry about.

I lean forward and wrap my arms around the thick branch. This seems secure if not all that comfortable. The crackle of the fire is a relaxing melody, and Cole moves less than the grass and trees do. My eyelids grow heavy as I watch the fire just as he is, and it’s not long before I feel myself falling asleep for the second time tonight.

“You don’t listen well, do you?” says a voice from a foot away.

I react instinctively, pulling myself up into a sitting position and scooting backward on the branch. I may have slept in the tree, but it was the lightest sleep I’ve had in my life. My hand goes to the spear I know lays across two branches a foot away.

I do all of that in little more than a second. It’s fast enough of a reaction that I should be able to fight back if someone tries to attack me.

Except that it’s Cole who’s standing on the tree branch in front of me. Bright dawn light floods the world around his silhouette as he balances precariously in front of me. Even though he’s wearing that green cloak, he looks gorgeous, and it’s hard to remember how terrified I was when he held me in the air.

“What was I supposed to do?” I snap back.

“That doesn’t matter much to me, Wyrdling. Following me was a mistake. Didn’t I already show you that you should listen to me?”

He looks so unconcerned. If a man had been following me, I’d have reacted violently or at least been wary, but Cole just looks annoyed. “If I don’t follow you, then whoever’s trying to kill me will finish the job. Plus, we may be headed in the same direction. You never answered before. Are you going to Draenyth?”

He glares at me. “I could just kill you and not have to worry about you annoying me for the rest of the walk.”

I try to think quickly. What could I offer someone as powerful as him? Food. Everyone eats, even Fae, and just because Cole can fight doesn’t mean that he knows how to hunt. “Then you’d have to hunt for your own food. Wouldn’t a couple of fat rabbits be nice for supper tonight? I bet I could find some, and you wouldn’t have to lift a finger for your dinner.”

He blinks sleepily, like he’s waiting for me to tell him something interesting. Then he turns around and steps off the branch. It’s shocking how he does it so stiff legged, and I expect him to plummet twenty feet to the forest floor. But he doesn’t. He falls, but it’s as slow as a leaf falling in the autumn wind.

I still don’t know if he said yes or no. Regardless, trying to hide in a tree and follow him isn’t going to work. I might as well climb down and walk like a normal person.

I just hope he doesn’t decide I’m too annoying. Or too delicious? I don’t have a problem getting him dinner, but becoming his dinner sounds like it wouldn’t be quite as enjoyable.

I climb down the tree and can’t help but wish I had a thimble's worth of the magic that Cole seems to use constantly. Making a fire with flint and steel takes effort. He doesn’t even have to snap his fingers. Climbing trees takes effort. He just acts like the air is solid.

Why couldn’t my first experience with magic have been using it to wash the floors or cross a river without getting wet instead of almost killing my cousin? I glance down at my wrist again,quickly reminded of my debt. The tally mark seems to shift and dance ever so slightly, like my eyes are playing tricks on me.

I climb down from the tree. My ripped clothing catches on bark constantly, tearing the linen even more. I feel like my world is falling apart, and I shouldn’t care what my clothes look like, but it matters. My body has healed, but my clothes haven’t. Bits and pieces of bare skin peek out, and each time my clothes catch on the bark, it tears them just a little more, exposing more of me to the elements. And to Cole’s eyes.

He doesn’t seem to care at all. I guess that a worthless human isn’t worth ogling unless she’s on a spit.

He’s shouldering a pack, his blanket already tied around it. “You think you can hunt to pay for your keep? What happens when we get closer to Draenyth? Are you going to go hunting inthosewoods? The beings there… they make those harpies look tame.”

“What do you want from me?” I ask, stopping in the clearing near where the ashes of last night’s fire lie. “I don’t have a choice. Either I follow you and hope you protect me, or I don’t, and when something finds me, I die. This is literally a life or death issue, so how do I convince you to let me follow you?

He stands up straight and gives me a hard look, almost like he’s finally truly sizing me up. He walks toward me, standing tall and looking menacing, and every inch of me wants to shy away, to create distance between us. I stay still. I don’t run even though I know that he’s the fiercest predator that’s ever looked at me like this.

“You don’t scare easily,” he whispers as he comes within inches of me. He slowly walks around me, looking me up and down like you’d appraise a horse when you doubted its breeding. “Whoever your immortal parent was, she must not have been very strong. Your scent is barely even recognizable, but itisthere. If I’m not mistaken, it might even be shadow, which would explain why you’re being hunted.”

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