Page 4 of The Secret Keeper's Daughter

Except my mother moved to Skoro to keep me safe—probably from them. I’m the lowest of the low, after all. Despised by everyone.

Before I can worry about assimilating with my real father’s family, I need to escape my stepfather. First I need to pack what I can carry with me. It’s time to start over.

Completely on my own.

Chapter

Two

The two bagsweigh heavily on my back as I stand in the doorway to give one last glance to the only bedroom I’ve ever known. Just like Mother, I’ll never see it again. I’ve burned her image in my memory, and I attempt to do the same with the sleeping space sparsely decorated with four single beds, one dresser, and plain white curtains over a tiny window.

More than anything, I want to give my sisters a tight squeeze goodbye, but Gunnar will never allow that. Maybe one day after I’ve figured out my powers, I can return and make him wish he’d been nicer to me when he had the chance.

Or I could choose to forget all about him and never give him another passing thought. That might be the better sort of revenge, though making him pay would be more fun.

I shove those thoughts from my mind and head for the kitchen, grabbing enough food to tide me over for the night until I figure out where to get my next meal.

Wailing sounds from the big bedroom. My chest tightens, and a single tear trails down my face. Unfortunately, I don’t have the luxury of the mourning week the rest of my family will take.

Come to think of it, returning to make my stepfather pay does sound like a good idea. There’s no reason other than spite that he wouldn’t even let me take time to cry over my mother. It wouldn’t cost him anything to give me a few more days here, but he wouldn’t wait until her body cooled to toss me out like trash.

So be it. The sooner I’m away from him, the better. My only regret is not being able to say goodbye to my sisters. We’ve always been close, despite Gunnar’s many attempts to turn them against me. He can’t take away the fact that we’re blood—as much as he hates that fact.

I let my bags slide to the floor and return to my bedroom. Once I find a pad of paper and a dull pencil, I scribble a note letting my beautiful sisters know how much I love them and will never forget them.

It will crush them to lose me on the same day as Mother, but there’s nothing I can do about that. I’m not sticking around to marry that wicked man. I have to get out of here as fast as I can, before he arrives.

My siblings losing me is on Gunnar. As much as I want to tell them so, I refrain from mentioning him in the letter. It’s important they know I didn’t want to leave them. They’ll understand the subtext. Maybe not little Runa, but the others will explain it to her.

I’m losing everything today, and I can’t even take the time to think about it. I leave the note in a place my sisters will find it then return to my things in the kitchen. My heart aches to join my family in the remembrance of Mother. I should be here for all of it, especially the funeral march two days from now, but the best I can hope for is to watch from a distance.

If I’m safe staying in the village.

Even that is nothing more than wishful thinking. I need to get out of Skoro completely. Gunnar is well respected here, somost everyone in town would jump to help him find me. He will stop at nothing to get a fat dowry from my marriage.

The people I’ve known my entire life will form a mob and drag me through the village to return me to him.

Tears blur my vision. Every time I turn around I face another loss. More than my mother, family, and home, it’s everything I’ve ever held dear. I’m forced to abandon all I’ve ever known.

The only thing I can afford to think about is survival. I don’t know what lies outside the walls of Skoro—only frightening rumors about the fae. And given Mother’s last words, I’m one of them. Kind of. Half.

There’s a chance they’ll accept me, small as it may be.

Here in Skoro, every male who reaches maturity joins the military and serves time protecting our human colony, even though fae rarely make the trek here. Not with the extreme cold weather. They like to be comfortable, so they’ve taken over the moderate climate areas, leaving the humans to make due in either the snowy regions or scorching deserts. Our kind can only live free in those rare pockets of protected land. From what I’ve heard, humans in fae territory are either slaves or in hiding.

Not that I can even call humansmykind anymore. Will I ever adjust to being both—and at the same time neither? It’s surreal to think I’m half fae, yet it does make sense.

A small fire burns in my chest. What powers do I have? How can I figure them out and use them to my advantage? Will I need to find my father to get any of those answers?

If only my mother had been able to finish her sentence. Of course it had been Gunnar who kept that information from me. Even without trying, he still manages to ruin everything for me.

My stepfather’s voice sounds louder. He must be coming closer.

I pull myself from my thoughts and realize I’m just standing here thinking. Trying to make sense of everything that justhappened. Despite how much Gunnar hates me, I want to stay. The farm is all I’ve known, even if my stepfather hates me and wants to make my life miserable.

Loud footsteps echo from the other room. Soon he’s speaking with someone… It sounds like his brother. Of course he would bring his family here at a time like this, and not to mourn my mother. Gunnar wants backup should I flee instead of marrying. He’s protecting the dowry, coveting the rich man’s payment for my servitude.

Heart pounding, I quickly tiptoe toward the door. If he sees me trying to escape, he’ll tie me up or lock me in a room until Vog arrives to have his way with me.

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