Page 34 of Shade of Ruin

“You know, I’m getting tired of the lies, Cole. I know you won’t tell me everything, but the thing that doesn’t make sense is why you’d keep everything a secret until the very moment that Ineed to know something. Why did it take me eavesdropping for you to tell me the plan you have to keep me safe in Draenyth? Eventually, you’d need to tell me the plan, so why not let me know in advance so I can mentally prepare for it?”

That court smile falls over his lips once again, and he crosses the room. When he’s standing directly in front of me, he reaches down and wraps his fingers around my wrist in a steel grip, and he yanks me to my feet.

“Because you’re not trustworthy,” he snarls as he shows me my wrist with three little tally marks on it. “No one under his influence is ever truly trustworthy. If you weren’t important, I would have left you at the first sign of those debts.”

I want to be angry at him. I want to lash out and defy what he’s saying, but everyone knows that there’s no way out of a debt with the Shade. And I have three.

“I’ve had no one else to turn to three different times in my life, Cole. Unlike the Prince of Flames, I’ve had no control over my life since magic became involved. Not all of us have lived the life ofthePrince.”

Even the court smile can’t hold back the anguish that I see in Cole’s eyes. Mixed with anger, it’s confusing, but the heat that wells up around his fingertips isn’t confusing at all. Cole pushes me backward against the chair and turns around. I don’t miss the flames that surround both hands as he walks back to where Lee is standing silently.

“If you want to learn my secrets, pay your debts, Wyrdling. Until then, trust me. I’ve done nothing but keep you safe.” His head is bowed, and his shoulders are slumped, but he still says, “Tomorrow night, we train with sticks again. You and Darian as well, Lee. The things that are coming won’t care about where you stand on violence, and you know that. We’re in a fight to save everything that matters, and our enemies are the most ruthless Immortals that were ever born.”

Then he walks out of the house, leaving me and Lee alone. Seconds pass as we both look at the door.

“He didn’t have an easy life,” she says. “Nothing about his life has ever been easy. He’s a good one, though. Better than anyone else. He’s… he’s what the world needs.”

I don’t respond, and Lee sighs. He may be a good one, but he’s still a Fae. He still has more secrets than anyone, and maybe that’s the thing that I’m still struggling to grasp. I’m just a Wyrdling trying to help my cousin because of a stupid mistake I made. Let him keep his secrets and his struggles.

I’ll just keep surviving. Which reminds me.

“Lee, is there any way you could help me? There’s a boar…”

Chapter 17

Today is the last day any High Fae of the House of Earth will leave the Keep. We must stand ready. No one in and no one out. The drums of war sound loudly in my ears, and I will not let my enemies surprise me.

~King Roderic, personal journals

After this afternoon’s explosivemoments with Cole, tonight is a welcome respite. An eight hundred pound boar is currently cooking in a pit, and the entire village of Aerwyn is celebrating. I knew that they were hungry, but I didn’t know they were barely getting by. It’s no wonder that they were licking their lips as they looked at me.

They’re not hunters. Most of the Fae here have skills that are suited for killing, but only humans. They’ve been starving after living their entire lives in Draenyth until they were rushed toAerwyn. You buy food at a market in Draenyth, and here… well, Aerwyn isn’t on any trade routes.

“But you’re just a Wyrdling,” Bog the goblin says from his spot on the log. I’d never met a goblin before Bog, but needless to say, he terrified me initially. The mouth full of needle-like teeth were the first things I saw since he kept licking his lips in my direction. His sickly pale-yellow skin that seems to stretch more than normal skin would be the second thing. It reminds me of a toad’s. Then there was the smell of sulfur that he seems to produce. Let’s just say that I didn’t want to sit down across from him.

Until I realized that he’s hilarious. “Yes Bog, I’m just a Wyrdling. Even normal humans kill boars like this.”

Bog squints at the boar and then at me, his oversized ears bouncing as he tries to understand this change in the world. “No, there’s simply no way. That is too large a creature for a Wyrdling or human to kill with a spear. You must have used magic or trapped it. You didn’t poison it, did you? I’d still eat it, but I want to know if I’m going to die.”

I can’t help but chuckle. Darian and Lee are across the fire just like last night, sitting beside Cole. Tonight seems different, though. No matter how hard they try, the twin High Faes can’t seem to make Cole laugh tonight.

He’s the only one that’s in a bad mood. “Maeve, howdidyou kill the boar?” Rivertail, the only faun in the village, seems younger than most of the others here. He looks like a young man from the waist up, but from the waist down, he looks like a goat. Thick, shaggy fur covers his hips and legs, and instead of feet, he has jet black hooves, which he seems to enjoy digging into the soil when he’s nervous.

Barely noticeable in his curly brown hair are two small horns that don’t look all that different from the boar’s tusks. Rivertail is nice in a way that I’m familiar with. Where Bog enjoyspicking on people, Rivertail is just nice. He reminds me of Hazel, truthfully. Always ready with a smile. Never overstepping boundaries.

Before I have a chance to answer Rivertail, Bog jumps off his place on the log. “Yes. How did you kill it? I would love to not starve, and if a Wyrdling can do this, I’m sure that we could.” He looks around at the rest of the village. Nearly forty of them in total.

I follow his gaze and try to come up with a way to explain how to hunt. It’s the simplest thing in the world, and at the same time, it’s impossible to explain in a way that they’ll understand. If they don’t know how to hunt yet, then how could I help them be successful?

“Maybe trying to explain how to hunt an eight-hundred-pound boar isn’t the best way to start,” I say. “Maybe we could talk about hunting rabbits? Or fishing? There’s a river a few hours away that I’m sure we could visit tomorrow. I think that’s something I could show you in a day.”

Bog glances at Rivertail, who nods emphatically and says, “Oh Maeve, that’d be so wonderful. It’s been years since I had fish. We mostly live on things we can forage. Fruit and tubers and the occasional grubs.”

Grubs? I feel a little squeamish thinking about eating bugs. I’ve tried a lot of animals, but I think I draw the line at bugs. “Well, maybe I can teach you a few things so that you’re not so hungry all the time.”

“I will learn to fish and hunt with you, Lady Maeve,” Bog says, suddenly sounding very formal. “I will learn to feed the village of Aerwyn.” He bows his head three times and then turns around to sit on the log.

I notice Darian and Lee grinning as they watch Bog. Many of the other less talkative villagers seem to pay attention too, and they stand up to ask if I’ll teach them as well. I hadn’t expectedthis many people interested in learning to hunt and fish. It makes sense, though.

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