Page 60 of The Secret Keeper's Daughter

Harek rests a hand on my shoulder. “What do you think?”

I stare at the glorious city with a sinking feeling. “We came all this way. It wouldn’t make sense not to try to enter.”

“Exactly! Do you want to change clothes or march in as we are?”

“Change.”

We spend a few minutes hitting our coats against trees to get as much dust and dirt off as possible without washing anything.Then we hide ourselves and change into clothes from our bags. We do look better, but we still have streaks of dirt on our skin and through our hair. My fancy braid lost all fanciness days ago.

“You don’t look convinced yet,” Harek says.

“Is there any water to wash our faces and hair? I’m not saying we need a full bath, but I’ve got to do something about this.”

“I have some water in my bag. It might be enough for our faces, but I can’t help with the water. I don’t think it’s going to be worth our effort to try washing our hair.”

Says the guy who could cover his hair with a hat. I keep the thought to myself. “Okay, let’s do that.”

While he digs into his bag, I undo my braid and shake my hair out. Tiny remnants from the woods fall to the ground.

He hands me his water bottle. “You look amazing. They’ll definitely let you in.”

“I’m a halfling, so there’s no guarantee.” I take some water and rub my face and hands. Without a mirror, I can only hope I’ve made myself look better instead of worse.

Harek and I help each other until we look as presentable as possible given our journey.

He returns his bottle to his bag. “You ready?”

I take a deep breath. “I’m not sure I’ll ever be, but let’s do this.”

“That’s the spirit!”

My heart hammers as we start toward the sparkling city. We have to make our way down an incline, and dust ourselves off again at the bottom. The gates are now visible—daunting and intimidating. A lump forms in my throat.

I never imagined I’d even see a fae city, much less try to enter one. But I’m half fae, as evidenced by everything I’ve experienced over the last week. I can’t believe it’s been that long since I’ve seen my mother or siblings. Surely Mother’s memorial is over now, and life has moved back to normal.

The closer we get to the walls, the more noises reach us from inside. Machinery, music, and other sounds I can’t place—things that must be normal and humdrum for the fae but are a complete mystery to me.

“Relax.” Harek rubs my shoulders. “It’s all going to work out.”

If only I had his confidence.

We reach the gates. Two enormous fae stand on either side.

Everything in me screams to run.

The bulky men look us over, one with a deep scowl, but neither says anything. No protests or questions. They simply let us walk inside.

I glance at my palm, which is normal, and throw Harek a bewildered expression, and he returns it with an I-told-you-so one.

Inside, the streets really are paved with gold—or at least a golden color. Tall buildings loom everywhere, and something in the air is sweet and pleasant. Finely dressed people walk around, all appearing to be on a mission.

Now to see if we can find my father. If we chose the correct city, he was here before I was born, but who’s to say he’s still here? Time to find out. If I’m lucky, we might even learn something before nightfall.

Chapter

Twenty-Two

It takes foreverto get through the business district of the fae city—that’s what someone told us it’s called—because I keep stopping to stare. Many of the fae are nicer than I expected. The ones who came to Skoro always led me to believe they’re a frightening species. So far none we’ve run into are anything like the ones in the woods, the ones whose magic is still wreaking havoc on my system. Coming here seems to have activated those ingested powers, which are now swirling around again as if fighting each other.

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