And then he’s gone, leaving an empty void behind.
I fall flat onto the bed and cover my stupid face with my hands. With nothing else to do, I eventually fall asleep.
I wake to Emlyn standing in the shadows next to the bed. His eyes glow with a soft, golden light as he caresses my arm.
A tender smile tugs at his lips. “Are you hungry?”
“For…?”
His laugh ignites a spark in my chest. “For food.” He pats my shoulder. “But you need to relax—at least pretend you enjoy my company. Or I’ll have no choice but to get you drunk.”
“Idoenjoy your company.”
I latch onto his honey-colored eyes. They were one of the first things I noticed about him—such a beautiful shade—and now they glow as if the sun shines within them. It’d be so easy to draw him down to me. To engulf him in a fiery kiss.
But I hesitate.Why do I hesitate?
“Then come on.” Emlyn wraps his fingers around my hand and pulls me out of the room.
The inn spirals around a grove of enormous pine trees, with a precarious wooden ramp leading to the forest floor. There’s not a single straight line to be seen, and I can’t for the life of me figure out how everything’s fused together.
“How do you build without metal tools?” I ask as we circle down.
Emlyn runs his fingers along the tree trunk, still holding my hand with his other. “Shaping. When mortals incant, they steal from the Land to create what they want. Our magic shapes what we’ve already been given. We can easily mold wood and stone, we just have a limited supply. This village has existed for millennia, slowly growing piece by piece.”
The tavern isn’t far—a large building on the forest floor, with walls of massive tree trunks shaped to fill as much horizontal space as possible. When we step inside, the rush of familiarity startles me. Itfeelslike walking into the Kettle Maker, despite its interior being completely different. Its irregular shape follows the trees’ growth, leaving no corners, and fae apparently don’t waste wood on chairs, so the tables all sink low. Most are crowded with fae, drinking and laughing between boisterous conversations, just like the people back home.
Emlyn guides us to one of the outer tables that offers a decent view of the room. He sits with his back against the wall, and I move to the opposite side, but he pats the spot next to him and waves me over.
“I can’t have you blocking my view,” he says, leaning in as I sit next to him. “We’re here to eat, but I’m still working.”
“But it’s too loud to hear what anyone’s saying.”
Emlyn chuckles. “Maybe for you. But it doesn’t matter—I’m meeting an informant. That’s what the figs were all about.”
He sticks his arm up in the air and waves. A minute later, a woman comes over, and he orders some food and fig wine, handing her a couple of those wooden disks from before.
“Is that money?” I ask after she leaves.
Emlyn fishes another one out of his pocket and hands it to me. “Don’t lose that—I don’t have much left.”
I flip the disk over in my fingers. The smooth wood has intricately braided patterns carved into both sides, with a small, golden sphere set into the middle.
“That’s a piece of antler from a type of deer no one outside of the Evermoor family’s allowed to raise. The larger the chip, the more valuable it is.” Emlyn leans in so his voice is audible over the buzz of the room. “Supposedly, there’s a trick to making those patterns that only the crown’s shapers know.”
The woman returns with a tray of food and a jug filled with thick maroon liquid. Emlyn pours it into two clay cups, the liquid flowing at the speed of molasses, then passes one to me. The sickeningly sweet smell tugs at my gag reflex.
I lower it away from my face. “I don’t see how this classifies as wine.”
“Just try it.” Emlyn takes a sip of his.
I eye him suspiciously, recalling Caeo’s reaction to the last—and first—drink Emlyn bought me, then take the smallest sip possible.
The second it touches my tongue, I nearly spit it out. I force myself to swallow and immediately regret it.
“Ancients, that’s awful,” I sputter, trying to keep it down. “I can feel it dripping down my throat.”
“Hey, you said Ancients!”
