Page 148 of Flirting with Darkness

A wall.

Not craggy and ancient like the Queen’s Wall that I’d crossed… Gods, had that only been the day before yesterday?

This wall was so smooth, it almost looked freshly built. Around ten feet high, it stretched away, left and right, disappearing into the distance. I was about to turn around, because there certainly hadn’t been a wall on my original route, when a flash of colour caught my eye. Shiny, crimson red glared against the subdued tones of the forest, hanging over the wall a few yards away.

An apple.

And just within reach.

Faolán’s cuisine consisted of cheese, cured meat, and chutney. Admittedly, it was the best cheese I’d ever tasted in my life, and the chutney was incredible, but still… I’d been brought up in a bakery. For all that we were poor, I’d always managed to sneak a sweet treat from the batch, having it to myself at first, but later sharing with my brothers and sisters as they’d come along.

The promise of a sweet, juicy apple had my mouth watering.

I plucked it from the branch and slipped it in my pocket. It only seemed fair to share it with Faolán—after lunch, maybe.

Just needed to find him first.

With the wall at my back, I set off again. This had to be the right way. That was what I told my heart as its rate sped, just a little.

What if it wasn’t the right way?

What if I was lost?

What if…?

But the trees ahead opened up, and that—yes, that fallen log, splintered in the middle—that reallywasfamiliar.

And as I stepped out onto the path, I spotted something else familiar: arms folded, leaning against a thick trunk a few yards away, Faolán scowled into the forest. “Got lost, huh?”

I picked my way across the needle carpet to him—he actually waited for me this time rather than stomping off as soon as I was in sight. “Only a little bit.”

“Mm. Well done for finding your way back.”

I was still blinking in shock at the praise when we set off.

* * *

“So, wherearewe going?”

It was hours since I’d found the apple, and he hadn’t pulled out any food for lunch yet.

He sighed, and I thought he was going to brush me off again, but… “To the nearest town. Bastian isn’t responding, so I need to try a scryer.”

From nothing to throwingallthe information at me at once. “Bastian? Responding? Scryer?”

“Bastian’s my boss. Responding to me.” He straightened his arm, revealing the braided cord around his wrist, and tapped the silver ring. “That’s how I tell him I need to speak to him. He’s…” His gaze slid to mine, then his eyes narrowed. “He’ll know who has your friend. Your description could match dozens of Dusk Court lords, but he knows their business better than I do.”

My mind juddered to shift from Faolán’s reticence to his sudden outpouring of information. “And why couldn’t you tell me this before?”

He shrugged, steps silent where mine creaked on the needles.

And that was when my stomach decided to growl.

A huffed breath out through his nose might’ve been a laugh—the closest I’d seen him get, other than that humourless snarl last night. Shaking his head, he pulled the water canteen from his belt. It didn’t seem to ever get empty. “What’s the point in you knowing? You can’t get us there quicker, and I’m sure it isn’t exciting information.”

“No, but…” I spread my arms. “It would’ve been nice to know you weren’t… I don’t know, taking me to the Night Queen so she can bathe in my blood.”

He spat out the water he’d just taken. “You… What?” he spluttered and wiped his mouth.

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