People move through the streets without giving us a second glance, women with baskets on their arms, and children darting between their legs. The small market area is filled with merchants calling out their wares.
As we pass a rain barrel, I catch sight of my reflection andstop, lips parting. I don’t recognize the face staring back at me. My features are softer, my hair darker than it should be.
Is this what he did when the air shimmered?
I look like a stranger.
“Move.” The order is a low mutter, and I stumble forward again.
The inn sits on the corner of the square, a wooden sign swinging above the door announcing its name. The door opens into a common room that smells of wood smoke, ale, and roasting meat. My mouth waters, and my stomach grumbles.
A few patrons look up from their meals. Farmers eating bowls of stew, a woman alone sipping from a cup. Their eyes move over me, cataloging and dismissing, and then slide to the fae standing silently behind me in his tattered tunic, collar tight around his throat.
I brace myself, waiting for them to tell us to leave, or attack us, or … I don’t know. Question why I’m with a fae, maybe. But they don’t. And after a couple of seconds, they all go back to what they were doing before we entered. Taking a deep breath, I make my way to where the innkeeper is standing behind a dark, wooden counter.
“Can I help you, miss?”
“I need a room. We were attacked on the road. Bandits killed my guards and took everything …” I don’t have to fake the tremble in my voice. “I barely escaped with my life.”
“Gods.” The innkeeper shakes her head. “Are you hurt?”
My fingers creep to my throat, where his fingerprints are stamped into my skin. “I’m not badly injured. Just shaken. I have some coins they didn’t find before we fled … I can pay for a room.”
“No. I’ll not hear of it.” She’s already reaching under the counter, then slides a key across to me. Her eyes flick to the faestanding motionless behind me. “Is that one yours?”
“Yes.” The word sticks in my throat.
“Will it behave itself?”
“He … It’s well trained. It won’t cause trouble.”
She studies him for a moment, and whatever she sees satisfies her, because she nods.
“There is a messenger post at the north end of the town. You will be able to send word to your family there. Your room is on the top floor, at the far end of the hall. I can arrange for water to be sent up for you to wash. I will also have some food sent up.”
I fumble for my purse, and she stops me.
“I will not see a woman on the streets after an ordeal like yours. Keep your coin, miss. Now go and rest. You look like you need it.”
“Thank you.”
I take the key and turn toward the stairs, forcing myself not to check where the fae is. My legs feel like they’re going to give out with every step up the narrow staircase. The hallway at the top is dim, lit by a single tiny window, and the room is the only one on this floor. I wonder if she gave me this one because I have a fae with me.
I open the door to discover a small but clean space within. There is a dresser, an empty washbasin, a single window with the shutters closed, and …
One bed.
I stand in the doorway staring at it. I’ve never shared aroomwith anyone, let alone a bed. Not even with my sister. And now?—
A slight pressure on the small of my back propels me forward and inside. The click of the latch as the door shuts behind me, followed by the scrape of the bolt sliding home, is loud in the silence.
I turn to face him, and find the glamour he’d used has gone.The collar is no longer around his throat, and his shoulders are straight and broad instead of hunched inward. He stands in the middle of the room, so tall his head almost brushes the ceiling beams. The room was already small, now it seems to shrink further.
His eyes move over the space with a predator’s assessment.
The window. The dresser. The bed.Me.
Then he moves past me to the window, cracks the shutters, and looks down at the street below. The tension eases slightly from his stance.
