“Attend me? Why would she want to do that?”
He shrugs, as if it isn’t the strangest thing he’s ever heard.
“Fea rarely explain themselves to mortals, but I do not doubt she has good reason for it. Though, whatgood reasonis to a fea often alludes me,” he chuckles to himself.
Felias takes my hand and his face grows serious.
“It’s not often their kind are bold enough to reveal themselves so fully to a stranger. To other fea or human alike. You’d do well to treat that trust like the honor it is. There is a reason the fea fled this veil, and a reason the ones that remain are still in hiding.
I mean no offense when I say that if I had it my way, you’d have left A’kori without ever knowing of the sisters’ existence. But as it is, all I can do is ask you to keep it to yourself. There is power in the friendship of a fea, and power in the secret of that friendship as well.”
Some of what he says puzzles me but the last of it I understand in a deep primal part of the Drakai I was fashioned to become. Knowledge is power, and the right secret is powerful indeed.
“You trust them?” I wonder aloud.
He’s clearly anticipated my question when the answer tumbles out of his mouth without a second thought, “With my life.”
“Withmylife?” I ask deadly serious, because those are the stakes, and that is exactly what I forfeit if he’s wrong about the sisters.
Awri didn’t speak as if the fea worked closely with the feyn, she’d even made the fea sound allusive, but I’m not about to make assumptions that can jeopardize my mission, or my life.
“Especially withyourlife,” he says.
I open my mouth to ask what he means just as my head snaps up to investigate a quick movement out of the corner of my eye. Enrik darts across the lawn at a pace far too hurried to be considered casual. He arrives out of breath, delivering a letter to Felias who pales upon reading it.
“If you’ll excuse me, Shivaria. I have some things to attend.”
The man rushes off before I can speak a word, and the hundreds of questions I still have about the fea sour on the end of my tongue. I immediately regret that I hadn’t asked him about the Vatruke while we still had time to speak privately. Standing, I brush an invisible crumb off my dress, resolved to make sure we have another opportunity to speak, soon.
CHAPTER 13
THE MANOR, A’KORI
Present Day
It’s been three days since I left the cottage, three days of silence and boredom. Every day it becomes harder to suppress the anxiety tightening my chest. Despite my expectations, I’ve received no word from Awri. While I certainly failed in my attempts to be the perfect lady,she hadn’t seemed to mind my banter. I constantly remind myself that she asked me to help plan the king’s party, and she had nothing to gain from the request if she never intended to see me again.
Felias at least is encouraged by my growing reputation and apparent budding friendship with the king’s favorites. He cast a wide net into the upper echelon of society and in the last two days I’ve received a handful of friendly visitors that would like the benefit of my newfound connections. The social luncheons are tedious, and I find that my favorite times of the day are when Tig and Eon come to attend me. Unlike the social climbers, the sisters are entertaining and easy company to keep.
Lounging on a soft velvet chaise, book in hand, I watch the sprites and chuckle as they argue amongst themselves. Eon, while still timid, hasstopped hiding behind the furniture, and I’m beginning to think Tig might have preferred her when she still acted shy in my presence. It hadn’t taken Eon long to devise that I preferred the comfort of the silk pants beneath my dresses. Though it seems the sprite may have become bored with color coordinated fabrics as she is currently in the middle of a heated debate with Tig that I assume has something to do with the blue dress and green pants she tries to offer me.
A light skid along the hardwood floor has both sprites snapping their heads toward the hall, a wary growl escaping Eon’s lips. I glance past them to find a letter, slipped beneath the large doors. Tig takes advantage of the distraction, pulling the colorful silks out of Eon’s arms, as she points her sister toward the letter with the stomp of her foot. Eon lets out a string of windy words that flit past my ears as she walks to the door, snatching the sealed envelope off the floor despondently.
I’d taken Felias’s advice seriously when he told me to listen harder and spent the last two days straining to understand the sprites. I find them in my suite every morning and night and while I still don’t understand them, they do not lack for conversation among themselves. It wasn’t until last night that I’d finally managed to grasp a single word as it attempted to glide past my ears. It was an enchanting sound, a breathy echo on the wind, and only made me more determined to listen until I can hear every word.
Eon hands me the letter, her arm stretched as far as she can manage, nearly bending backwards to keep herself away from me. The sprite is fearfully determined to keep as much distance between us as she can. At least she isn’t hiding behind the furniture anymore. It’s progress.
The moment my hand closes over the envelope she darts to the center of the room, her eyes wide saucers of violet.
“Tha’haynah,” the sprite says as she dips her head, and my own head tips curiously at the strange windy word.
I repeat the word, curious about how it will feel on my tongue, and the sisters share a glance at one another as they smile.
“What does it mean?” I wonder aloud.
I can hear the excitement in their voices as they talk over each other, but the words themselves are once again lost in the wind. I do my best tohide my disappointment and tuck the word away so that I can ask again, another time.
My eyes fall to the letter in my hand, and I puff out a breath, relieved to see Awri’s seal. I was beginning to wonder if she changed her mind about being my friend. I certainly wouldn’t blame her.
