Page 69 of Faerie Marked

I was both halves of myself, thoroughly, without the spell to protect me. Which meant she saw my true nature and still treated me, had probably taken my blood and tested it to make sure …what?

I panicked. The nurse knew. The jig was up. I was going to be kicked out of school.

“I have to go,” I managed, swinging my legs over the side of the table despite the mild concussion and the dizziness that would have brought an elephant to its knees.

Get out,get out,get out. I had to get out of here and quickly, before the Headmaster came for me, to send me back to Uncle Will.

To send me back to Kendrick.

“Miss Alderidge, please.” Strong hands fell on my shoulders to steady me. “There’s no need to worry. Try to relax.”

It took me the longest time to recognize her smile. Even longer to know what it meant and why she was looking at me with such focus. In comfort, in camaraderie.

“You’re not the only one who can go furry in this joint. Oh, stop looking at me. No more despair on your pretty face,” she continued with a waggle of her brows. “That’s how you get wrinkles. I won’t be telling anyone unless I want to outmyself, too.”

She wouldn’t…wait,what?

I slowed my hysteria enough to lean back and take her in for the first time. The blue skin, the wings. And…a werewolf shifter? The two pictures didn’t compute to me.

“I don’t understand,” I said stupidly.

“Oh, honey. You think you’re the only one in the world looking for a way out of bad circumstances?” Nurse Julie sighed, drawing over her wheeled stool and placing it so she and I were closer to eye level. “I know all about pack relations and the strict guidelines placed on females. Trust me, I know.”

“But you don’t look like a shifter,” I tried to tell her, wincing when she took my non-broken arm and ran some gauze soaked with disinfectant over the wounds. They would heal soon enough. Once I got my strength back and some food in my stomach.

“You mean the wings? The skin?” She shrugged her shoulders and those wings rolled out to their full length, nearly touching each wall and reflecting the light in shades of rainbow brilliance. “Yes, they were a gift from my father before he ran off. Some species of Fae are notorious lotharios. He was one of them, and he left me with my mother, never to be seen again. There really aren’t a lot of options for females in the pack, especially for someone like me, because the blue skin isn’t something I can will away with magic. The wings I can make appear and disappear whenever I please, at least. My mother and I had to go to some crazy lengths to find a potion strong enough to hide my skin color.”

A snap of her fingers and the wings disappeared in a whiff of smoke. Another snap and they appeared again.

I thought of Barbara, the unorthodox apocalypse-prepping witch withhersnapping fingers. Asking her for a potion like mine seemed small in comparison to finding a way to change the color of your skin. What had Nurse Julie or her mother promised to get the spell?

“How did you get here? I mean—” I cut myself off, shaking my head and instantly regretting it. I really shouldn’t be moving.

Nurse Julie smiled at me. Kindly. Openly. “It’s not prying, really. I came from a pack in Iowa. Most packs operate on an old, outdated traditional patriarchy. There are too many rules oppressing women and no one willing to make the necessary changes. Especially for those of us who are seen as less than because of our bloodline. Andwomen. Don’t get me started. And they all hate halflings, whether you’re half human or half something else,anythingelse. You want to hear my story?”

“Yes, please,” I managed.

She finished addressing the cuts and abrasions on my free arm. They would more than likely heal in a few hours. “I’ll share mine if you share yours, young lady. My only request, if you will. But…let’s see if I can sum this up for you.” Julie slapped her knees, her attention turning inward, then said, “My mother wanted the best for me, truly, but the decision wasn’t hers to make. Once I reached a certain age, my alpha made a match he thought would benefit both me and the pack. It wasn’t his fault. He didn’t know about me, about my dual nature. My mother made sure to keep my half-Fae nature a secret otherwise I would have been killed on the spot. The prejudice extends to both sides, you see.”

“Yeah, so I’ve learned.”

She paused, drawing in a breath. “I didn’t want the match. Why would I want to tie myself to a man who, if he knew the truth of who I was, would hate me? Would make it his business to ruin my life and maybe even kill me? I was desperate to get out. I would have attacked anyone who came at me. I ran. I ran until I realized. I didn’t know where I was going and I had no other options available to me. I didn’t even say goodbye to my family.”

“You found yourself here,” I supplied.

I watched her gather the dressings for my broken arm, keeping it contained to a soft cast until the bone could reset on its own.

“It seems most who are lost eventually find themselves on the doorstep of the Halflings Academy. Out in the open, we are sitting ducks. There are too many weapons pointed at us. Now, I wish I’d slowed down enough to think it through. I haven’t seen my family in many, many years and I miss them greatly. But if I go back, I would not be welcome. Odds are good I’d still be killed on the spot.”

“You’ve never gone back?” I asked. “Not even once to see your mom?”

“No, I haven’t. I miss my mother dearly but I never want to go back. I imagineyoudid the same thing I did.” Nurse Julie shot me a look from under her brows. “You packed up and you bolted, for whatever reason I’m sure you’ll tell me about. I live at the academy and I love my life here. I’ve managed to work the magic to completely suppress my shifter side while I’m here. I’m sure you will find your new life too, in time.”

We sat in silence for a moment, her staring at me and me staring at my hands. She had found a way to suppress her shifter side fully? I wondered how she did it. If maybe her distinct Fae heritage gave her some kind of edge the rest of us hadn’t discovered yet.

I told Nurse Julie the barest minimum about my story, an eerily similar echo to the one she’d told me. I kept Kendrick’s name out of it in case she’d heard of him. And when we were done, she stood, gathering up the IV and tapping the vein in my arm. The needle slipped through the skin and she wrapped it with gauze and tape to keep it in place.

“Your fated mate doesn’t know where you are?” she asked.

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