Page 11 of Cursed By the Veil

We lapsed into silence for the rest of the day. None of us had a particular desire to talk. I kept sneaking glances at Wyn to make sure she was okay, and often caught Ronan doing the same thing.

The two of us were making sure to take care of the weakest member of our group, which was the opposite of what Thorn seemed to be doing. I wanted to yell and scream and rail at him. My anger pushed my steps faster, and I had to remind myself to slow down so I didn't leave Wyn behind. I doubted if she fell behind Thorn or Trevor would stop to help her. The third manhad basically been a shadow all day, barely speaking and not interacting with anyone if he could avoid it.

Night began to fall as we climbed the other side of the valley. Thorn was getting more and more agitated and Ronan had started to join him. I glanced over my shoulder at Trevor and yet found him scanning the tree lines and the surrounding areas instead of looking annoyed like I'd expected. It made me think that they hadn't actually been lying about the ghouls.

"Welcome to Sanctuary," Ronan said, holding his arms wide as we approached the forest line.

A giant tree, bigger than any I could ever have imagined, stood just beyond the front line of trees, as though the smaller trees were protecting it. It was almost like a mushroom circle that we used to find close to the veil when we were scavenging as kids. Rumors said they were bad luck but worse had already happened to us by that point so we didn't pay them any mind.

"I just see trees," Wyn said, sounding as confused as I felt, only I wasn't willing to admit it.

Ronan grinned, "Exactly!"

When he didn't expound any further I had to fight, releasing a frustrated sigh. I figured they would show us the way, tell us what was going on when they deemed us worthy enough of knowing but that didn't help my curiosity any. In the meantime, I just kept moving forward. Thorn and Ronan could keep their secrets as long as they weren't endangering Wyn's life.

As we grew closer to the giant tree the scale of it became jaw dropping. It was the biggest structure I'd ever seen, including the palace and right at the very bottom. There was a door. As my eyes scanned the structure, the bark of the tree once more, I could see windows dotted throughout.

"Sanctuary is the tree, isn't it?" I murmured.

"Yep. That's why the humans never put two and two together." I raised an eyebrow in question at Ronan's words. "The fae livewithour world. We don't take it over."

I snorted. "You've hollowed out a tree. How can you call that not taking it over?" They sounded like a bunch of hypocrites to me.

Ronan frowned. "We've offered the tree extra sustenance in return for its shelter and removing part of it."

"Quit your gabbing and get inside. If you don't hurry up, the ghouls are going to get our scent and be here before you know it." Thorn disappeared through the door and Ronan followed with Wyn and I following after and Trevor bringing up the rear.

Inside there was a cozy little living space with stairs leading upward toward the back of the room. Some seats and storage trunks took up most of the room. There wasn't a fireplace, which made sense. To my surprise once the door shut I realized that there was no need for one since it was warm enough in the tree as it was.

The men dumped their packs and closed the door, pushing two giant wooden bars, each the side of a tree trunk in its own right, across the entryway. Once those were in place nothing would be getting through the door anytime soon. At least not without a good amount of forewarning for us.

Wyn collapsed into the large chair that was just inside the door, still breathing somewhat heavily. It wasn't that we had been pushing too hard. More just that she was exhausted. The chair made her look even tinier than she already had and when I sat down next to her she barely even had to move to make room. The two of us occupied the oversized arm chair with minimal difficulty and it was surprisingly comfortable considering it was primarily made of wood.

"Do you have any water?" I asked, looking at Ronan and turning my gaze pointedly toward Wyn.

He scowled slightly before he said, "Yeah. Let me get some."

In the back of the room. There were a couple different structures that I didn't recognize. One of which was shaped like a bowl. With a hook over it. Ronan muttered something and water began to flow from the hook into the bowl. My jaw dropped in astonishment. He took a couple wooden tankards and scooped them into the bowl, capturing the water before bringing it over to Wyn and me.

"Thank you," I said, meaning the two words more sincerely than I had in a while. If nothing else, he seemed to want to take care of Wyn, which I was grateful for. Whether that extended to me or not, I didn't know and didn't particularly care.

"Is that normal here?" Wyn asked, sounding exhausted.

"Is what normal?" Ronan tilted his head slightly at her words.

"Using magic for things. You just called water with magic, right? Would I be in trouble if I used magic here?" Her voice was half hope and half fear. If he said she still wasn't able to use magic then why had we gone through all that?

Ronan's face stretched with a kind smile as he looked down at her, his gaze softening. "You can use magic freely here. No one will imprison you for it, but I would urge you not to do so until you've met with the College of Mages."

I could tell that Wyn wanted to ask more, her inquisitive mind buzzing with questions judging from the sparkle in her eyes, but she was too sleepy to do so. Her questions would keep, of that I was sure.

Once we were settled with our drinks, he went over to a storage chest and withdrew some packages. When he unwrapped one, I could see a loaf of bread. The sight of the golden crust and wheaty scent made my stomach growl audibly.

If we were close enough for somebody to put a fresh loaf of bread in there. Surely we were close enough to just push throughto a town. It wasn't my choice to make. He cut off a couple large chunks and withdrew something that looked an awful lot like butter before handing them both to us. He even added a knife for us to spread the butter on the bread.

"Are you sure you trust me with this?" I asked, flipping the blade around in my hand.

"If you can kill me with that, then I deserve to be dead," he replied, completely deadpan.

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