Page 20 of Ruling the Green

“I need to speak to Vishen for a bit,” he told me. “We will be across the hall in the office. If you need anything, you can come get us. I will leave Knight here with you.”

I nodded at that then watched him pet the wolf-dog’s head before leaving.

Alone, I made my way over to the bed.

I’d never slept on one before, always rested on a soft bank of grass and moss beside my lake, often with my arm in the water so I woke up feeling mostly refreshed.

The bed was softer than the moss, soft enough that I felt myself sinking into it.

Huh.

I guess inside living wasn’t all bad.

Reaching down, I pulled the covers up over my bare legs as a chill seemed to move across my skin and start to settle deep.

That was a strange development.

I’d lived outdoors my entire life, through every ice storm, every snowfall, each deep freeze. I don’t recall feeling cold except when I wandered too far from my lake.

But goosebumps had risen up on every inch of skin. Even as I pulled the covers up to my neck, the chill just seemed to burrow deeper.

Knight moved to the side of the bed, resting his head on it, almost as if seeking permission.

I patted the bed and smiled as he jumped up and sprawled next to me, his head resting on my legs, gaze on the door.

I didn’t expect to fall asleep in a strange, dangerous place. But the day had been long, stressful, and terrifying. On top of that, the headache hammering behind my eyes, making me squeeze them closed to try to ease the ache.

In the quiet of my mind, I tried to reach out to my lake, to feel it, hear it, see what it was seeing.

But all there was left was a distant echo.

Before the misery could completely overwhelm me, the blackness of sleep claimed me.

CHAPTER SIX

Jet

“What are you going to do about your father in the morning?” Vishen asked as we both tipped back some whiskey I’d imported from the human realm the last time I’d visited.

It wasn’t something I’d been able to do for a long time—not since my father’s madness really started to take root.

Before that, I’d been able to slip away from Vishen when he had some sort of training or meeting or simply was bathing, slip through the veil, and go explore the human world.

It didn’t matter how many times I went. Because of the way time moved much more slowly in The Green, each time I dropped in on the humans, their whole world had changed so much.

On those trips, I’d developed certain preferences. Showers. Whiskey. Coffee. Records.

Since being locked down and followed endlessly by the damned redcaps, I’d tried to make do with what I had—nursing the whiskey and coffee I had left, and learning to dig deep and appreciate the music I’d already compiled. But I was antsy for another trip.

“What do you mean?”

“He’s going to notice your new bride can’t speak—if it doesn’t wear off by then. With his paranoia, we both know how wrong that could go,” he said, reaching for an almond from the bowl on my desk.

He wasn’t wrong.

Not only might he punish Grimwood for the lie, he might want to punish my new bride as well. Someone who was completely innocent as far as I could tell.

“I suppose she doesn’t need to break her fast with the family. She could be… recuperating.”