Page 16 of Faerie Trials

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Bronwen and I took to the streets for our first patrol later that night. We chose to stick to our human forms, feeling it would be less conspicuous despite the snow. Two girls walking along and catching up with school gossip and such would be better than two crows continually circling.

She cast a spell around us to keep the cold from affecting our limbs and I had to say I was grateful for her magic. I wasn’t sure I could cast a spell for light at this point, and those were the first things they taught at school.

“Try to keep up,” she said with a small chuckle. “You’re dragging your feet and leaving a trail.”

I did my best to answer her smile for smile, failing miserably.

“I know this seems like the wrong time to say this, but I’m happy we had a chance to reconnect.” Bronwen shivered. For show. Her spell definitely kept the worst of the winter wind at bay. “Too many years went by when we couldn’t see each other. I wasn’t sure we would ever see each other again.”

“I know. I’m happy too,” I agreed with a nod. It never hurt to have another friend in your corner.

Bronwen and I had met during our childhood when her mother, part of the Alderidge pack, brought her to the park where I used to play. I didn’t know then that she was a halfling like me, or that the reason behind her disappearance was anything other than a normal household move. Her mother thought it would be better for Bronwen to be away from the pack and brought up in Faerie.

“What do you think about these murders?” she asked. “I mean, your honest opinion. Scary, right?”

The word fell hard between us and now it was my turn to shiver. “I’m no stranger to murder,” I answered carefully, “but it seems like this is too big of a coincidence.”

She turned moon-wide eyes at me. “What do you mean?”

“I mean it feels like whatever trouble I had in the mortal realm has followed me here. You remember me telling you about my last semester at school?”

It was better to be honest with her, I decided. She knew what I was, and she had just as much to lose if found out. Well, maybe not just as much, but enough so that I knew I could trust her to keep what I said between us. Selene also knew about the difficult circumstances surrounding my arrival here. I had nothing to fear from the members of the Claw & Fang.

At least, I didn’t think so.

“I mean, I understand you being worried about how the murdered Fae share a resemblance to you. But it stops there,” Bronwen told me above the crunch of our boots through the snow. “You have nothing to worry about. None of this is your fault.”

Did I not have to worry? Somehow, I didn’t feel as confident as Bronwen on the matter.

We passed another couple walking the street and fell silent, not wanting anyone else to overhear us. I nodded briefly to them in acknowledgment before we continued on.

“You’re saying you don’t think this is a terrible but random occurrence?”

“I’m saying I think there’s more to this than Selene told us,” I stated. “It’s clearly a half-shifter doing the dirty deed, I have no doubt about what she said there. It’s impossible to mimic or imitate the depth and trajectory of a real wolf paw. And no one else has the power to overthrow a full-blood Fae, unless it was another Fae, but their magicked claws wouldn’t be able to do the damage like we saw. Not to mention the sheer viciousness of the attacks.”

Bronwen muttered her agreement. “It still doesn’t make sense why a half-shifter would do it, though. Most of us have come here to escape a bad situation. It’s no secret that our kind, no matter what half we are, are hunted. We aren’t supposed to be alive. Why would someone take the time to make it into Faerie only to throw it away and risk exposure?”

No, it didn’t make any sense to me either. Unless someone from Kendrick’s pack managed to infiltrate this world—a very big assumption, because the alarms would be raised—then it had to be one of us. The Claw & Fang had members across the land, so there might be a stranger in our midst.

Still, I couldn’t figure out a motive.

Not surprising. I was so tired it took me double the time to remember how to tie my shoes. Just raising a fork to my mouth took effort these days.

“Hey.” Bronwen caught me by the arm to slow my strides. “Do you smell something?”

I stopped beside her and closed my eyes, drawing in a deep breath and trying to pinpoint what she sensed. My spine went rigid as I sniffed.

Unfortunately, Ididsmell something. The coppery stench of fresh blood. A fresh kill.

Our eyes met. “What are the odds,” I said slowly, “that on our first night on patrol we find the very thing we’re supposed to be patrolling against?”

She’d gone pale. “I’d say the odds are pretty damn good.”

We broke into a jog and followed the scent, bolting around the side of a building and into a back alleyway filled with flowers even in the dead of winter. Their soft blue blooms did nothing to dispel the very obvious aura of death hanging like a black cloud in the air.

Bronwen and I didn’t care about our footsteps, visible in the snow. We didn’t care about the panicked cries escaping our throats as we approached the dead body. Well, my friend’spanicked cries. I hated how unaffected I felt, how numb everything inside of me was despite the Fae woman’s red hair spilling around her head. I was more focused on the blood seeping from her empty shoulders. Her arms had been yanked clean out of their sockets.

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