Page 15 of A Court Bright and Broken

Still, everyone knew they were dangerous creatures. I had the sudden impulse to run away.

If I obeyed it, Sam would collapse here in the road. And if he fell, one of his broken ribs could puncture his lung, and he could die.

Even if he didn’t, who knew how long it would take for someone else to come along and find him? He could suffer for hours, helpless and alone.

Deciding I could not just abandon him, I kept moving. But I was nervous now. Conversation, which had come easily before, had dried up completely.

It was impossible to make small talk when my mind was full of questions I didn’t know how to ask—or whether I even should.

Finally, I could stand it no longer.

“Why did you not save yourself from those men?” I asked.

“What?”

“I thought your kind was supposed to be very strong.”

“My kind?” he repeated, darting those inhumanly beautiful eyes at me.

“Yes. The Fae. You’re Elven aren’t you? The books I’ve read said the Elves are the largest and most powerful of all the Fae races, even bigger than the Satyrs.”

His eyes when he looked down at me were wide, the mesmerizing pale blue nearly obscured by their black centers.

“You knew?”

“Not until we turned onto this road,” I said. “My kind usually avoids your lands at all costs.”

“And yet you’re still here with me. Why?”

I thought about that for a moment. In spite of my shocking realization about him, I didn’t feel a sense of impending doom as I would have expected when encountering a large Elven male.

This one at least seemed to have no desire to hurt me.

“As I said before, what kind of person would I be if I abandoned you, injured as you are? I’d hope someone woulddo the same for me. In fact, you may have prevented me from suffering a similar fate.”

“Thatwasmy intention,” he said.

Looking him over, I said, “What happened to you, if I may ask? How did you come to be in this… state? I thought all Fae were powerful. And rich.”

“Not all of us, but we have our advantages,” he admitted with a smirk.

“What is your glamour?” I asked, desperately curious. “That is what your powers are called, isn’t it?”

I’d heard of Fae who could trick you with their appearance, make you see things that weren’t there. It was said that some could control animals or the weather, and some could read minds.

“Not a very valuable one,” Sam said. And that was all he said. But his expression told me a lot.

After only a few minutes of truth telling, I was already seeing his race differently. It seemed there was a hierarchy with them, just as there was among humans.

This man was clearly on the lowest rung.

In spite of myself, I felt a little sorry for him. Perhaps the High Fae lorded it over and oppressed the lower Fae, just as they did my race.

We began to see a few estates and then entered a Fae village. I tried not to stare, but it was difficult to resist. Every villager I saw appeared to be Elven—and they were almost impossible to look away from.

The women had long, curling hair, and they were all quite tall. The men’s heights were even more impressive.

In some cases, their wavy hair was cut to shoulder length or shorter, but many of them wore it as long as the women’s locks. That was a big difference from the men in my village, but I doubt any of the chaps back home would dare to taunt one of these—every man I saw was muscular like Sam and moved with athletic grace.

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