That’s right. The Unseelie bite each other to mark someone as their mate. How could I have forgotten that from our first unofficial date in the café? “Why didn’t you bite me?”
His frown deepens as he glances away, toward the water. “What is that?”
Wonderful. He’s changing the subject. Does he not want to bite me?
Stop that. Don’t let the bad thoughts win.
We can discuss mating scars on our way home.
I look to see what distraction caught his eye, expecting to find nothing there, only to come across an Unseelie child wearing what appears to be . . .
Heavens, it looks like a Seelie guard’s helmet.
Maddox’s hand slips from mine as he stalks toward the child playing with two others. When she sees him, her tiny mouth pops open in awe. Smiling, he kneels in the dirt to speak with her in the Unseelie language.
The little girl responds in a whispery voice, casting uneasy looks my direction. Who can blame her? She’s probably never seen a Seelie fae before.
He comes back, his expression grim as he scans the women, who’ve mostly returned to their duties. A few still watch us, but their faces aren’t as friendly as they were when we first arrived.
“Well? Where did she get the helmet?”
He braces his hands on his hips. “It would seem our hosts are the ones who killed the Seelie architects working on the new bridge.”
Maddox fires off a bunch of words toward the women, his voice deeper than I’ve ever heard it before, anger vibrating off him, compounding my own. What possible reason would these people who live at the bottom of the canyon have to climb all the way to the top just to murder innocent fae?
As far as I know, none of the other Seelie in Rosehill even realize there are fae living down here. Why intentionally provoke and murder a peaceful people? Even when the Unseelie were only allowed to cross the bridge on Wednesdays, we never had such violence.
These women aren’t friendly.
They’re enemies masquerading as friends.
Raven’s face appears in the crowd, and the women part as she walks through, coming to a stop where Maddox holds the helmet.
The irritating woman still hasn’t found a bloody shirt. If we were planning on staying here for any length of time, I’d knit her one.
Her gaze drops, and her lips press flat. They exchange a few words, then she jerks her head to the right. Maddox takes my hand, and we follow her to one of the larger houses.
Raven shouts, and a woman I’ve never seen before emerges, draped in colorful fabric that looks suspiciously like Seelie silk. How did she get it? Did she kill someone for her dress as well?
She descends the ladder, smiling at Maddox like he’s her next meal.
He asks something in Unseelie. The woman’s smile curves higher.
Someone grabs my arms, yanks me back, and presses a dagger to my throat.
Bloody Raven.
I knew we couldn’t trust her.
A violent storm descends over Maddox’s features, his hand flying to his dagger even as Raven drags me back toward the waiting crowd.
The woman speaks three words, and Maddox’s shoulders stiffen. His hand slowly falls to the side, and he makes no move to keep them from stealing me away, through the fae spewing words I do not understand, though their meaning is clear. Their hatred for me lives on their scowling faces, manifests in tight fists.
They killed the architects, and now they’re going to kill me.
Raven brings me to a small hole cut into the lower cliff wall, where four Unseelie women stand guard, swords in their fists and rage in their dark eyes. She drops the dagger biting into my throat and shoves me through the gap in the stones. I stumble in the darkness, dampness filling my lungs as my eyes slowly adjust.
The sound of shifting emerges from the far corner.
