I pushed myself up from the presumed floor and allowed myself to adjust. My weight shifted from one leg to another. I dragged my feet towards the path, but as soon as I stepped onto the first tile, the whole world shifted, and I found myself in front of the cabin’s door. I could feel her presence behind me. “Open it,” she said, in a whispered slither. “Open it.”
I reached my hand towards the round doorknob but hesitated when I felt warm wind brushing against my face. I could smell the wind. It smelled…familiar. More familiar than the cabin before me. Another warm whiff fanned around my face, the scent of hay. Then I felt a tickling sensation across my face, smooth and wet.
Another warm whiff.
Cinnamon.
I drew back, retreated a step, then two.
“Open it!” the Seer persisted. I couldn’t tell where she was, she wasn’t behind me when I whirled around. She was nowhere, yet her grating voice echoed from everywhere. “Open it!”
“No!” I exclaimed. “No.” I stumbled backwards and fell, but there was no floor to catch me. So I fell and I fell and I fell.
I watched the Seer hover above me, snarling as she reached out her arms. She grasped and clawed at my face, her black lips sneering as I fell away.
My eyes snapped wide, finding the silhouette of Cinnamon’s face. Dusk.Gods, how long was I out?
I crawled to my knees, gulping down the warm air that once again surrounded me. Then I heaved and emptied the contents of my stomach. Black. I dragged myself towards the nearest water trough and immersed my head in it. With my back slumped against the trough and lungs heaving, I scanned the shadows of the stable for her.
Cinnamon wasn’t at all happy with what I’d done to myself.
CHAPTER 38
Nadya propped up in her bed the second I entered our room. “Where have you been!? Are you all right?”
Tears burst out of me like a faulty fountain. She leapt out of her bed and hurried towards me, her slender arm wrapping around my side. Then she helped me get into my bed and slipped beside me, covering us both with the worn sheet.
She whispered, “Are you in love with him?”
“I’m a fool!” My sobs and shudders did not subside. It reminded me of my first day at the orphanage, my earliest recollection.
“Shh. Don’t say that.Heis the fool for breaking your heart.” She wiped my tears with the back of her fingers.
“I knew I should have stayed away, but—but I couldn’t resist him. He—”
“It’s all right. It happens to the best of us. It’s the way things are, unfortunately.”
My tears persisted, but I managed to choke out, “I did things with him. I did things for him. And he, for me.”
She removed strands of sticky hair away from my face, wiping my tears once more. “I’m sorry I have the need to say this, but Delia, isn’t this how relationships are where we’re from? Men can have many companions.”
“But—but it’s not like that where he’s from. I wanted it to be like that. He promised me things.”
She looked into my eyes and her face softened. “I’m sorry.”
“It felt so real,” I whispered. “He made me believe that he cared for me, that he wanted me. How could he possibly do that?”
“I don’t know much about Fae, Delia, but rumours often describe them as merciless and vengeful beings.”
My brow knitted. “But what have I ever done to—” I forced a blink. “Vengeful,” I repeated. “Oh.”
“What?” Nadya asked, her voice tense. “Did you do something to offend him?”
I swallowed. “When he first came here, I—I may have done something to dent his pride and ego.”
Her cheek became taut. “You have your answer, then.”
“He—he lashed out at me.” I thought I’d whispered to myself, remembering the way his piercing eyes had glowered.
