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Unsure what to think, I hold it out to her. She grasps my fingers and places my palm on her stomach. I flash my eyes to her in horror. While I did hug my parents, I never touched a stranger in such an intimate way. I want to remove my hand, but she holds it steady, winking at me.
My breath catches as a sensation rolls against my palm. “What was that?”
“She’s kicking.” Agnes releases my hand, but I keep my palm firmly against her stomach, desperate for more of this new life. The foot pushes against her stomach again. “Due in about a month.”
“Aggie insists it’s a girl.” Cooper throws an arm around the woman I assume is his wife. “There’s a bet running among the men in the village.”
Besides the dangers lurking in the darkness, this is the fundamental difference I see between the life of a Redeemed woman and a Citizen: the freedom to choose and express romantic feelings by having a child of her own. It draws me to this life more than anything else.
Walking away from Agnes and Cooper, I slip my fingers beneath the straps of my backpack, lifting it higher on my shoulders. “Why do Bastian and Evie hate me so much? I mean, I know I grew up in Avren, but so did Gray.”
“They don’t hate you.” He takes my hand. “They don’t understand you.”
“And that’s the thing.” I skirt around a pile of horse dung in the middle of the road. “You don’t understand the Avren mindset, but you welcomed me with open arms.”
“I’m a quarter fae, part of the deaf community, and lived in a pigsty for over a year.” He stops and takes both of my hands, his eyes large behind his glasses. “I know what it’s like to not fit in—to be the one who’s ostracized. Bastian and Evie have always held a place among the Redeemed. If I don’t accept others after finding my own place to fit in, I’m the worst kind of hypocrite.”
I release his hand and hold my palm over his chest. “I think it’s your heart. You don’t have a mean bone in your body.”
His lips tug into a warm smile as he turns to continue walking, still clinging to my hand.
The sun is high above us when we reach the Lake of Glass. It is a massive body of water reaching as far as my eyes can see. Light shimmers on the crests of tiny waves lapping against the shoreline. Other than in books and the stream following the path from Avren to the cabin, I’ve never seen a natural body of water, and it’s as breathtaking as the luminescent forest.
“It’s called the Lake of Glass because of the way it looks in the early morning and at twilight. It’s so calm, you can use its surface as a mirror.” Removing his glasses, he crouches, scoops water into his hands, and washes his face. “I believe there’s a magical element to it.”
“What do you mean?” I kneel beside him, fascinated by small fish darting in schools through the shallow water.
“Legend has it that if you enter the lake when it’s completely calm like glass, the water has transformational qualities. An old woman who submerges herself completely can exit as a young woman again.” He raises a shoulder, then signs without talking.
I adjust myself so I’m facing him. “What did you just say?”
“Sorry.” He gives me a coy smile. “I don’t like to swear out loud. The others think it’s a bunch of shit—tales made up by the fae on the other side of the lake so they can drown unsuspecting people when no one else is around.”
“And do they?” Maybe Levi didn’t tell me the complete truth about the Seelie Court.
“People have drowned in the Lake of Glass, but there’s no proof it was the fae any more than there’s proof it was a Miscrete or even an accident.” He stands, stretching his arms over his head. “We still have a long way to go.” In other words, he doesn’t want to talk about the drownings. Opening his pack, he removes a piece of bread, slices it with his dagger, and fills it with bacon.
I do the same as my stomach growls for the first time since we left the cabin. Other than the piece of bacon I swiped from the pan, I haven’t eaten anything all day. The energy the food brings is evident within minutes as I finish the sandwich.
Levi hands me a canteen, and I wash my food down with cold water.
“Rumsford sits at the south end of the lake. There’s an inn I like to stay at when I travel to Mafekadi. It’s not too much farther to get there, but it’s safer to stay with humans than with the fae.” He helps me lift my pack over my cloak.
We skirt the edge of the lake along the well-worn trail, climbing over boulders and wading through offshoot streams. With the breeze from the lake whipping through my hair and the sun warm on my face, never have I ever felt more alive. In the city walls of Avren, I witnessed artificial nature—a fountain, houseplants, an occasional animal brought in to garner oohs and aahs from the crowd. This… this is a whole other level. And in a small way, it makes me understand why my father left to live here.
By midafternoon, I see the gables and rooftops of a town poking out from the trees on the edge of the lake. It must be Rumsford, but I can’t ask Levi because he’s too far ahead to hear me. Foothills and tall mountains rise behind the forest, adding to the breathtaking beauty of the lake. Mafekadi lies somewhere in the hills above Rumsford. Exhausted, I add a slight jog to my step to keep up.
“Keep close to me in the town,” Levi says, finally stopping to let me catch my breath. I hope he doesn’t walk so fast when we’re going uphill tomorrow. “People are friendly, but like most places in the wilderness, there’s always a mixture of creatures who pass through.”
Images of the werewolf tearing into Tanner’s neck and the feeling of the vampire’s ice-cold breath on my own send ripples of fear through my body. While Grayson and Bastian are bigger men, trained to kill, I’m not sure if the same is true for Levi. And it’s definitely not true for me.
Rumsford’s buildings are much larger than the small cottages in the Grove. Brown wooden structures rise two stories beside us as we walk into the town. People mingle in the streets, some walking, some working, others standing in groups. The weight of stares is heavier than the pack on my back.
I lean into Levi, looping my arm through his and keeping my free hand on my dagger inside my cloak. We need to appear innocent but not easily manipulated. The strict laws in Avren, along with the fear of eviction, keep most Citizens in line. This is the wilderness where those safeguards no longer exist.
A tall man with long, silver hair bumps into me as he passes. Not bothering to stop, he turns his head back and glares at me with eyes of glowing amber. I want to ask Levi about him, but I’m too scared to stop so he can see my lips. It’s better if we keep moving.
The Ironhorse Inn lies on the far end of town closest to the foothills. A metal sign with a horse on it sways, squeaking in the breeze.
