Page 89 of Into The Green

"I was taught to never eat or drink anything served to me in The Green, that fae couldn't be trusted. And, well, you don't seem overly concerned for my well-being so forgive me if I don't trust anything you serve me."

Cass rocked back on his heels, hands tucked into his pockets, and nodded. "Not bad advice, I figure. Fine. You need to eat. I can see your bones through your clothes," he said dismissively. "I will have someone come and take you into the woods to get yourself something to eat."

With that, he left. I waited all of two seconds to jump up, slam my feet into my boots, and start piling all my protective items back in, slinging the iron onto my wrists and noticing that Jasper was right, they did kind of burn now that I had been in The Green for longer. It wasn't bad, something like a mildly irritating rug burn really, but it was there.

I had just shrugged into a warm woolen (I hoped) jacket when the door flew open.

And then there was my brother.

There was no mistaking the resemblance to Cass with the intense, masculine bone structure, the severe brow, the stern lips, the tall and lean body. He had Cass' eyes too, just like me. He was a few years younger than me, maybe somewhere around twenty-five. A strange, unexpected, almost overpowering sensation of kinship came over me, something I had never felt with my human family. Maybe they were right with that saying about blood recognizing blood. Mine certainly embraced my brother instantaneously.

That, unfortunately, was not a problem my brother was afflicted with. "Celestine," he said with a chin jerk.

"Ah, yeah. And your name is..."

"Jet," he said, moving into the hall in a way that suggested he was not interested in this particular task, like a twelve year old forced to have their five year old sister tag along to the park.

"Jet, ah, it's nice to... meet you," I said a little awkwardly as I followed him into the hall. He had moved to start walking then stopped and looked back at me.

"Don't."

"Don't what?"

"Get attached," he warned, taking off toward the stairs at something more than a walk, but less than a run, like he was anxious to get the task over with.

I ignored the little sting of disappointment in my chest as I followed him out into the courtyard, eyes falling on us, most bowing, many openly gawking. "These fucking guys," Jet growled as two redcaps closed in on us. "Orders?" he asked when they got close and one affirmed that they were under orders to go with us into the woods. "Fine, but if I hear one mother fucking chant out of your mouths, I will rip your tongues out with my bare hands, got it?"

So, yeah, Jet was positively charming. It wasn't the wish for them to shut up that bothered me, or even the threat, but it was the cold, detached way he delivered it. Like Cass would. Like it meant nothing to rip something out of another being.

"Don't give me that look, princess," he said, his tone still empty as he slowed his pace to walk beside me as we left the courtyard and made our way back toward the woods. "You can't possibly abide their presence."

"They've been haunting my dreams since I was a baby with those chants. I'm sick of them too."

"Then explain the look."

"You sounded just like Cass when you said that."

His head whipped over toward me and, if I wasn't mistaken, a flash of something crossed his eyes. Something like anger, but he squashed it down before I could be sure. "That's most kind of you."

"It was meant as an insult."

"I know you're new here, but might I advise you to not insult the Unseelie king? That is just common sense. Especially when your life is, how should I phrase this, not guaranteed past your next breath."

"You're a real charmer," I drawled, feeling a bit of the weight on my shoulders fall away as we got closer to the woods.

"You don't exactly live long in this Court if you let your emotions rule you."

"Are you sure you have emotions? You seem full-on automaton to me. Really, it's worse than the old man."

"Careful," Jet hissed as we finally stepped under the canopy of trees.

"Don't threaten me. I'm getting pretty sick of that," I said, leaning down and grabbing some dandelion greens as we moved along.

"You did a number on our father's wrist," he said, his voice dropping oddly and I looked over to find him watching the redcaps a little warily.

"He shouldn't grab me if he doesn't want to get burned," I said, grabbing for a strawberry before I thought better of it.

"They aren't spelled. Not this close to the Court," Jet said, reaching for it and popping it into his mouth. "It would be cause for immediate execution, putting the Dark Court at risk. Can you burn people like that on whim?" he asked, voice low again, turning his back to the redcaps, something that struck me as odd.