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She climbed down from the rock, her eyes darting around the dark forest. When she reached the forest floor, she stood too near.
I coughed and stepped backward. “It isn’t safe here. I am not…safe for you.”
Her mouth parted, and for several seconds she hesitated; the anger and defiance on her face warned me that she was preparing to battle each of my efforts to push her away. She had no fear. I would need to change that.
“You saved my parents from poverty, and me from a life of ruin, which would certainly not be safe for me.”
Her fiery demeanor brought a slight smile to my face, but I quickly shuttered my expression. A second too late. Encouraged by my smile, her hand reached out and touched the small splinter on my forehead.
Stars and sun, it was torture not to wrap my hand around her warm fingers and press my lips to her palm. Stay your hand. Stay your wretched heart, I commanded myself.
Fists formed at my sides. She noticed and quickly removed her hand. In that withdrawal, a world died.
Good. It was a world I could never have.
Talia pulled her eyes downward. “Everence mentioned that dangerous creatures lived here. But she said they stayed in that direction.”
“They obey my commands, but never before has a human wandered these woods at night. Alone. In our world, human blood is valuable for many things.”
“Valuable?” She croaked out the word.
The fear in her eyes was exactly what I’d aimed for, and yet I hated it. Turning away from that fearful look, I pressed on, stepping over moss-covered stones. “Your blood is resistant to iron and, considering the amount of iron it contains, can be used as a weapon against us.”
Talia clamped her hands around her forearms, as if to shield the blood pumping just under her skin.
“But the reason you should be most afraid is that human blood is able to end many a fae curse.”
As her eyes again scanned the forest, she sidestepped toward me, entirely missing what I was telling her. My cousin’s warning echoed in my head.
“Everence should have told you not to leave the starlight behind.”
She glanced up at the thick trees. “How does starlight help?”
There was much she didn’t know. “Light has power. Sun, moon, stars. We have delegates that see to these powers, courts for each source of power, and—”
“Oh, I’ve heard of those,” she interrupted. The corners of her lips formed perfect points when she smiled.
“Very good.” I nodded, certain that whatever stories she’d heard included many half-truths. Fae couldn’t lie, but we could plant misconceptions and brew prejudices, especially among gullible humans, as was the delight of many a bored immortal. “Shadows also have their own power. It’s a stolen power and a greedy one. That’s why it’s unwise to venture into the shadows when danger is so near.”
I scanned the sky for signs of Shadow lords but saw none.
This time, she took a step away from me and grasped her horse’s saddle. This was a much safer move, and I nodded my approval.
“You should return.”
“You are not?”
The disappointment in her voice stung me.
“Rafael,” she blurted, perhaps louder than she’d intended as she cringed almost the moment she’d said my name. “Why did you marry me?”
I ground my teeth as I stared down at her. A thousand answers passed through my head, unable to fall from my lips. Each one was a lie.
After a lengthy silence, her gaze hardened. “What am I to do here?”
Sun above, for such a tiny human, she had grit. I needed to control myself, for her determined eyes were clawing my composure and my willpower into shreds.
“You may assist in training the horses, of course.”
