A few heartbeats later, the small shadow hovered over my right eye—the green one—and remained there. It felt warm and cool against my skin at the same time, but this shadow was quiet. Itdidn’twhisper against my skin like some of the others seemed to do.
It was waiting, followingmylead.
I reached up and shifted my bangs to help conceal my right eye, too, and once I was satisfied, I looked back towards Rayven.
The shadow made my vision slightly darker, but I adjustedfairly quickly, likely thanks to my Northern blood.
“Well?” I asked when Rayven didn’t immediately say something. “Did it work? Can you tell about… about my eyes?”
Rayven, whose jaw had fallen slightly ajar, quicklyrecoveredand said, “Yes, it most definitely worked. Youcan’teven tell,and if you keep your head down,it’llblend in perfectly with the shadows of the cloak hood.”
Matea, who had come to stand besideme andRayven, nodded her agreement. “Plus,that was a crazy cool move for a newbie to pull.”
Smiling slightly atmy wellingpride, I took a second to be grateful the two of them were at least agreeing on somethingfor the first time this entire journey.
“We’regoing with you, butit’llbe just like what we did during the battle,alright?We’llstay in your shadow, and wewon’tintervene unless you give us the signal,” Drayven said.
Before I could utter a word, Matea added, “Don’t argue, because we’ll just follow you intoGenisynno matter what you say.”
Sighing, I knew there was no way I was going to be able to shake themboth. Plus, it would be comforting to know that if I needed them, theywerethere.
“Alright,” I agreed. “Then let’s get moving.”
***
The breeze blowing down the dirt road I walked along caressed the feathers of my wings like an old friend. As if the wind and sky were asking,Whyare your feet still on the ground?
I didn’t have an answer.
I longed to give into the urge to launch into the sky and fly freely, but thiswasn’tHollis, the Tower City, where each wingedfaeflew to where they needed to be. It wasGenisyn, which I was ready to call thecity of mudas the slight heel of my boot sunk into the ground below me withalmost everystep.
Genisyn, or at least the section of the outskirtsI’dfound myself in, was nothing like the North’scapitol. Where Hollis was all cobbled roads, towers, and pristine buildings,Genisynwas theopposite. Made up of uneven dirt paths and stout, seedy looking structures, everyhairand feather on my body was standing on end.
I’d never left Hollis growing up—I had been fortunate if I were allowed to leave Gatlyn Castle.I had no idea that so many of my Northern people were living in such conditions.I’dnever given it much thought, what the North was like outside of my hometown.I’dalways imagined each Northern city was like Hollis.
Oh, how wrong I had been.
Thefaehere matched their surroundings—unclean and sad. Some, I found, were even underweight withsunken infaces and hungry expressions.
Was the entire city like this?
Hollis was rich inmore ways than one, and my father had been wealthy enough beyond his wildest dreams.
So why were my people suffering to this extent?
Did Dimitri know?
Overwhelmed with the guilt I felt for what I could only assume was my father’s greed and inability to supply his people with bare necessities, I bent my knees and leaped into the skies for a better look.
I felt Matea and Rayven leap with me, sticking to the shadows of my cloak and wings, but they knew thishadn’tbeen the plan. Rayven had given clear instructions to not draw any attention to myself—and in a city where almost nobody else was making use of their wings, I most definitely stood out.
Not to mention that without my naturally light-colored wings—which were now stained so dark they lookednearly black—I stood out against the sparsely cloudy sky.Not onlythat, but true black wings were fairly rare in the North, my father having been one of the few with that precise coloring.White, gray, and brown wings made up the majority of the population.
Once I was high enough over the nearby buildings, I could finally see the city as a whole.It waslarge,I’dgive it that—it simply stretched on and on, nestled here within therocky mountains.
From what I could see, it appeared thatthe closer you got to the center of the city, the better the living conditions were. There, the buildings grew cleaner, taller, andmore sturdylooking. Some of the pathways werestoneor cobbled instead of only packed dirt, and there was at least onefaeflying into the town, from what I could see.
A small part of me took comfort in knowing that not theentirecity was living in unclean conditions.
