“Do you have a name?” The question comes out before I can stop it.
“Why?”
“I can’t keep calling you ‘the fae’in my head.” I stare at my hands.
The silence stretches for so long I begin to wonder if he’s going to answer at all. Maybe fae don’thavenames.
Then …
“Cairn.” His voice is quieter than before. “You can call me Cairn.”
Cairn. I turn it over in my head, trying to fit it to the creature standing by the window. I have the distinct impression it’s not his real name.
He turns his back to me again, staring through the glass to the street below.
“After you find the information you want, then what?”
His answer, when it comes, is barely above a whisper, but there’s nothing soft about it.
“Then I go back, and I make them pay.”
ELEVEN
CAIRN
The femaleclearly thinks I’m mad. Her hands are clasped in her lap, fingers twisting together, and she’s looking at me as though I’m a wild animal that has just told her I plan to walk into a hunter’s trap.
Which, in a sense,ismy plan.
Voices drift up to the window from the street below. Male. Two of them. I lean forward a little, searching for the source. They’re further down the street, talking to someone outside another building. I tilt my head, focusing past the noise of the inn, the murmur of conversation rising from the common room, and the sound of the female’s breathing.
“—to check every establishment. Anyone who has a fae, we need to see their ownership papers.”
“The orders have come down from the crown itself.”
“After what happened with the young girl, the Dell should be investigated. Last thing anyone needs is one of those monsters running loose.”
Those monsters. Running loose.
My lip curls. If we were running loose, they wouldn’t bestanding on street corners complaining about it. They’d be dying on them.
“What is it?” Her voice comes from behind me. I glance back. She’s moved from the bed and is near my shoulder, trying to see what I’m looking at.
The innkeeper’s voice joins the guards. They’re outside now, almost below the window.
“I run a respectable place. We have no trouble here.”
“We’re not suggesting anything else, madam. It’s a routine check. Anyone with a fae, we need to verify ownership, check their papers, and make sure everything is in order.”
“Most of my guests are farmers and merchants. They have no need for fae toys.”
“Most … but not all?”
There’s a pause before she answers, and when she does, I can hear the reluctance to cause trouble in her voice. “There’s a noblewoman … she arrived yesterday with a fae pet.”
“Then if you’ll direct us to her room, we’ll do a quick check. I’m sure it’ll be nothing but a formality.”
“I won’t have you bothering her without good cause. The poor thing has been through enough.”
