A Thief of Nightshade(25)

Lipsey had moved to a branch that hung near Given. He leaned out. “Oh my, what are you doing so far south?” Aubrey thought it an odd question.

Aislinn stopped his agitated rustling and looked up, half an apple sticking out of his mouth. He didn’t say anything but listened intently to the conversation.

Given held out her arm for Lipsey.

She seemed nervous. “It’s a boring story.

I’m sure it wouldn’t interest you in the least. You three are quite a ways from home; I overheard that you were on your way to the Winter Court. I could take you there.”

Aislinn spit out his last bite, wiping his mouth as though the fruit had been spoiled. “We have no need for your kind or what you offer.” He tossed the bag back at Given, his dark eyes seething.

“Aislinn, what is wrong with—”

Aislinn snatched Given by her arm.

“She’s a Shade,” he spat. “A half-breed Fae.”

Lipsey had leaped to Aubrey’s shoulder in the tousle. “But she’s part human,” he said innocently. Given whimpered as Aislinn’s hold tightened.

“It doesn’t matter. We have no way of knowing where her allegiances lie. She could have easily been sent by Saralia to stop us.” He looked at Aubrey, “Don’t forget, sweetheart, the Wraith’s poison that you have coursing through you right now is just one small example of their cruelty. Don’t be gullible.”

Aubrey pried his paws from Given, who was shaking like a leaf. “And if you’re wrong?”

“I’m willing to take that chance.”

Aislinn kept his eyes trained on Given.

Aubrey rubbed Given’s arm where Aislinn had grabbed it. “Jullian would be horrified if he could see you now, or were you always so lacking in compassion?”

“Please, I don’t mean to be trouble, really.” Given looked at Aislinn with a shocking amount of kindness in her eyes.

“You’ve been hurt more than I can imagine. You are Ellohim. I knew it when I saw you. I guess that’s why I brought the food. I knew you’d been marked. The journey from here won’t be easy for any of you, considering.”

Aislinn eased off a little. “I can handle myself just fine.”

“Marked?” Aubrey asked. She’d forgotten that the Wraith had called him Ellohim.

He whipped around to her. “Do you ever stop asking questions?”

She frowned. “Do you ever use your manners?”

A long pause ensued before he answered her. “To be marked means to bear the punishment of what her Majesty calls treason. Fae and Shade alike can see through the curse. Ellohim means ‘cursed one,’” he huffed. He was still angry but seemed to have been swayed a little by her comments. “If you so much as consider turning on us, you’d better make sure you kill me or you won’t live to try it again.”

Given

looked

at

Aubrey

questioningly. “I don’t want to be a burden.”

Lipsey smiled. “No, no. He’s just hungry. He gets like this when he hasn’t eaten.”



Aislinn scooped him up from the ground. “I haven’t had squirrel in a while,” he said nonchalantly.

Lipsey giggled, unmoved by the threat.

Aubrey sighed, “We do need to get going. Besides, we’ll have plenty of time to talk about all of this on the way.”

“Fine,” Aislinn growled. “But keep up, Shade, or we’re leaving you behind.”

“Are you all right back there?” Given yelled from beyond the marshes. The fog was so dense that Aubrey couldn’t see a thing and she had progressively felt less and less lucid as the day wore on. She’d expected the drug to wear off by now but its effects seemed only to intensify. Lipsey clung to her shoulders as she mucked her way through the mud and mire. Aislinn wasn’t too far behind them.

“Yes,” Aubrey called. “Have you found dry land yet?”

When she didn’t answer, Aislinn came up beside her, his fur caked with mud, and said, “Maybe she got lost or changed her mind and went back to Rheavon or got eaten by a Tylas tree.”

Aubrey ignored his attitude. “Who is Rustin? You knew him, I gathered.”

Aislinn lost the slight trace of humor that he’d carried for the last half hour.

“Rustin was a friend of Jullian’s. He apparently turned on him or else he wouldn’t still be breathing. Doesn’t shock me in the least, but it would kill Jullian to know it. They were close.”

“Jullian had a lot of friends when he was here?”

Aislinn

smirked.

“Let’s

see,

extremely wealthy, smart and not entirely dreadful in appearance and then there is always the whole royalty thing. Please tell me his popularity doesn’t surprise you.

Did he not in your world?”

“No, he didn’t. He was somewhat reclusive. You’re telling me that you were social at some point?”

“Sweetheart, I was a lot of things at some point that I’m not now.”

“I’m hoping one of those things you’re referring to is a gentleman.” She rubbed the soreness from her neck. “And stop calling me ‘sweetheart’ with such acid in your voice, it ruins the pleasant memories of when Jullian would say it with sincerity.”