As her green eyes latched onto mine, I saw the fear behind them. And I smelled it. She wasn’t proud, she was terrified. She talked big and stood tall, but she knew I could crush her with no effort. And the bird—
A bird was nothing to a bear my size.
None of the nobles I worked with would dare argue, much less importune, a monster like myself. Most of them were too afraid of my magic to even argue with me in my fae form. But this human, withher little bird and no magic, challenged me and asked me to stay my hand. Or paw.
I heaved a sigh. “Bring him with us, if you can hold him while you climb up my back.”
She didn’t argue this time, and I tracked her climb as she tugged on different handfuls of fur. After a few short moments, she settled between my shoulder blades and called out, “Is this… Will this work?”
“It is fine,” I answered, hating how my voice always sounded angry in this form.
She breathed a soft, “No fear,” under her breath, but my cursed ears heard the words easily. And just as easily, I heard her heart beating out a rush of fear as I stepped into the shadows.
Chapter 6: Auria
The afternoon light disappeared a moment after the bear started walking. I clung to his fur, warmer than I expected, with one hand and held my cockatoo close to my chest with the other. Between the sudden darkness and thinking about how close Rat had come to being smashed, my breathing stuttered like a flame snuffing out.
Seconds later, the shadows faded away, and a bright sun—brighter than it had been in the grotto—blinded me.
And I breathed again.
Blinking, I tried to make out our new surroundings. The hot sun warmed my cold extremities immediately. We were near the back of some kind of park. Hundreds of people filled a large, grassy field and faced a stage at the front with musicians performing.
People like me! I hadn’t seen another portal, but somehow we’d left the waterfall and traveled to a place full of humans. All their little curved ears welcomed me like special greeting signs. I’d never seen so many humans. Behind the stage, a massive building rose up like a miniature castle.
As everything came into focus, the musician’s song ended abruptly and everyone—hundreds of humans—turned to us. A heavy silence grew between us andblanketed the massive gathering. These people were not expecting us, and we were not welcome.
A knot grew in my stomach. I always imagined if I were to find my way back to humanity again, they would want me. They’d take care of me. This obvious enmity hurt even more than the elves’ prejudice.
“I need to speak to a magistrate,” the bear rumbled. His low, thick voice carried across the crowd easily, and people in the group shuffled, looking around them for the person who would be willing—or obligated—to speak to an oversized bear.
Another fifteen or twenty seconds passed before the crowd parted to reveal a short, bald man getting tugged toward us by a round woman with silver hair. They cleared the crowd but, the closer they got to us, the less she tugged. Instead, she slowed and slid against him, looping her arm in his. He stood taller, and marched forward until the couple was fifty feet away from us.
Apparently that was as close as they were willing to get to a creature with teeth as big as my fingers.
The bear’s grinding voice filled the gap between us. “This human requires a community. I will return in a fortnight to be sure you have found suitable housing and employment for her.”
Wait, what?
The couple exchanged wary looks with each other, and the man stepped forward. “You may leave her, but we refuse to make any commitments or bargains with you.”
The bear looked over his shoulder. He couldn’t quite make eye-contact, but he was clearly shifting the conversation to me. “That may be as good as you can get,” he rumbled.
I slid off his back, clutching Rat to my chest and landing harder than normal because my boots were still wet. I stalked around to the bear’s front and looked up at him. “What is that supposed to mean?”
He tipped his head, as if I’d puzzled him again. “The humans here have a large degree of immunity from fae obligations because of some agreements with the Sun King. I will not force them to commit to your care because I do not want to risk a conflict with a summer court.”
“No.” I shook my head. “You can’t just dump me here and then disappear.” My voice dropped. None of the humans had come close enough to hear me if I whispered. “You said you were cursed and needed to marry someone today. I… want to help you.”
Did bears have eyebrows? This one definitely had raised ridges above his eyes that knit together in an expression I could easily picture on a confused puppy, which was wild because this bear was so huge it would scare a puppy from a hundred feet away.
He lowered his voice too, which was ridiculous because his whisper could be heard across half the field. “You want to marry me?”
I huffed, aware the magistrate and his wife had stiffened in shock. “Well,” I muttered, “wantis a strong word. But you did save my life. And you spared mefrom a torture I fear more than death. And I think you wanted to ask me about it before, but there wasn’t time.”
He tipped his great head again. “Do you know anything about fae?”
I bit the inside of my bottom lip and racked my mind. “Nooo,” I finally said, “but I think I know enough about you to make this choice.”
