Page 16 of Midwinter Wiles & Valerian Dreams
I refuse to feel bad as those vibrant eyes dart back and forth between me and Mikael. Her head turns with the movement, making her hair (both versions) sparkle and shimmer in the pale evening light.
“You…She…Oh.” She looks at my arms holding the child, and her lower lip wavers.
Eevi settles fast, her warm cheek tucked into my shoulder, her cries already slowing with a few hiccuped sobs. As the princess finds my gaze again, my brows lift in accusation.
“I’m so sorry,” she blurts, “I thought—I didn’t—”
Then she turns on her heel and flees.
Chapter 7
Talvie
“Ifeel like a monster, Lumi. That was humiliating.”
“It was difficult to watch,” the traitorous little moon agrees. She took my hiding in a storage room as opportunity to rise from her moonstone form, and now floats above my head. I’m crammed in the tight space between crates of food, curled into a ball to avoid disrupting the preservation charms.
“I’m such an idiot. First it was all the things I dropped, the flour explosion, the glass I shattered into a ready meal… The chef was so mad, I think Beron might have competition for the honor of my beheading. Then those Point Fae males made me feel stupid and dirty, and when someone actually helps me, what do I do? I insult the kind stranger who rescued me, and make his baby cry. Everything I touch here goes wrong. Taynia was right about me. I’m useless.”
I drop my head into my hands, curling my arms tighter around my knees. “I knew it was a mistake to pretend to be Wilder. Itold you! Daria must be looking for me to toss me out, and then where will I go? I almost yelled at those awful men and told them who they were actually speaking to. If you hadn’t warned me…”
“But Lumi did, and Valkie is still safe.”
“It’s just…I’ve never heard anyone be so terrible.”
“Those in power rarely treat those beneath them well. This is not uncommon.”
“Well, it’s not okay. Why would these folk put up with that?”
“They can’t fight back, Valkie. Not when their lives are dependent on the favor of the queen. For a Wilder Fae, causing unrest with Point Fae would be a swift way to have everything they care about torn away from them.”
“That’s— That isn’t— Oh, this town is awful.”
It can’t be like this everywhere. This place must be so backwoods that it’s been forgotten. That doesn’t excuse the bad behavior, but most of us simply ignore the Wilder Fae. We don’t mistreat them this way. “I’ve only been here two nights, and I’ve been insulted and pawed at already. I don’t understand how these people tolerate this.”
“No?” Lumi asks, her tone implying that I’m still missing the obvious.
Footsteps approach the storage room door, and Lumi dims. I hold my breath, waiting for it to open. For Daria to tell me I have to leave for all my mistakes and for not playing along with whatever her Point Fae customers wanted. The steps slow, then resume as they retreat in the opposite direction. The breath eases from my lips.
Lumi brightens again, looping over me while she can move about. “Lumi supposes it is good that handsome young man stepped in before you reacted to the taunts.”
“Handsome?” I wrinkle my nose. “I guess if you think rugged, pale, and strange are handsome, that’s your right, Lumi. I’m too embarrassed to judge.”
After the mistreatment from those two scummy males, I jumped to conclusions about my rescuer too. “Drown me,” I groan. “Did you see how cute his kid is? I don’t know why that makes it worse.”
“Oh, so youcanfind Wilder Fae cute.”
I roll my eyes. “She’s a toddler. All toddlers are cute.”
“Lumi assures you they are not. Though that one certainly was, with the dark curls and big eyes.”
I groan again. “And I made her cry. The poor guy helped me, and this is how I repay him.” I need another moment to recover from the fresh guilt. “That other guy looked at me like I killed a puppy. Do you think that was his partner? He looked rather young despite his size.”
Maybe if I think of my rescuer as a sleazeball, then I can stop this icky itching sensation in my chest every time I think about the encounter. My hand rubs the offending spot on my sternum to no avail.
Is this what shame feels like? Because it’s awful.
“Maybe I should just turn myself in. Go home.”
