Page 36 of A Legacy of Storms and Starlight

Her stomach flipped as she wondered if this was a bad decision, but Kopi was quiet on her shoulder.

A shutter opened and closed, and the door swung wide, a young woman with black hair holding it open for them. “Another one?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Zylah glanced between the two of them; the similarity was undeniable. Raif and the young woman were related.

“Liss, meet my sister, Rosanna. Rosanna, meet Liss.”

Rosanna took a step back to let them in, and Zylah tried not to gawk at the space.

Brightly coloured fabric lined the walls, sections of it draped across the ceiling to a centrepiece made of coloured glass, no doubt lit with an orblight. Lanterns of green and blue glass dangled on chains, some shaped like stars and moons with lights inside. A wooden counter sat in one corner, a low lounger and a round wooden table beside it. Doors opened up at either end of the room, and Zylah guessed it was a reception area.

“Nice to meet you, Rosanna,” Zylah said, at last, bringing her attention back to the Fae and doing her best to hide her intake of breath at Rosanna’s delicately pointed ears, pierced from lobe to tip with silver rings and interconnecting chains, some with little moons and stars that dangled down.

Rosanna had the same striking blue eyes as Raif, and her mouth quirked into the same smile as she said, “Just call me Rose. My brother likes formalities—”

“But we’re far too common for that, aren’t we?” Another Fae stepped out from a beaded curtain behind the counter, running a hand lightly over the tight curls of her jet-black hair that was cut far shorter than Holt’s, and wearing a matching set of earrings to Rose’s. The Fae’s amber eyes roved over Rose in a way that made Zylah want to step outside for some air.

“This is Saphielle,” Rose said, leaning back into the Fae’s embrace. “Saphi,” she added quickly, after Saphi playfully touched a hand against Rose’s ribs, her face pressed close to Rose’s.

“Cute friend.” Saphi held out her palm near Kopi, and a worm appeared. The owl snapped it up and swallowed it whole. “Just like Pallia’s owl,” the Fae added, adjusting the bangles against her russet skin as a frown creased her brow. “You smell like—”

Raif laughed and shook a finger at the pair. “She was exercising this morning, be nice, girls.”

Zylah feigned looking around the room again to sniff at her tunic. Gods above, did she need a bath that badly?

“Exercising?” Wide grins broke out across both the Faes’ faces, but it was Saphi who spoke. They shared a look, but Zylah thought better than to snap back at them. It wouldn’t be the best way to make a first impression.

“Liss and I are going to have a little one-to-one time, and then I’ll send her your way for some kit, if that’s alright?” Raif added, steering Zylah away from the two Fae.

Zylah raised an eyebrow at him, but he just winked and led her through a doorway at the far end of the room.

“Jilah tells me you only recently found out about your Fae heritage. Half Fae? Extraordinary,” he said as they walked through a narrow corridor lined with wooden panels leading to another door.

“What is this place?” Zylah asked, tilting her head up to look at him as he paused by the door, covered in strange markings carved into the wood in a language she’d never seen before.

His gaze lingered on her for a heartbeat longer than it should have, until Kopi ruffled his feathers and broke the stillness. Raif pushed open the door, holding it open for Zylah. “One of many. A place to train. A safe space, for you. For others.”

It was a plain room. Orblights dotted here and there, a training mat in the centre, weapons on one wall, not unlike the room she’d trained in with Holt that morning. Her muscles still ached, but she wasn’t about to admit that to Raif. This was what she wanted. To learn to fight. To stand up for who she was, even if she didn’t fully understand herself yet. Kopi flew off her shoulder and perched on a wooden shelf above the racks of weapons, cosying down for a nap.

Zylah’s head was full of questions. “What’s the difference between the Fae uprising and the Black Veil?”

“One is the hand that feeds the other,” Raif said, watching her as she walked along the wall of weapons. Here a sword, there an axe, beside it something with two balls attached to a wooden handle by a chain, a weapon that Zylah had never seen before.

“But which is which?” She hadn’t considered before that he could be part of the Black Veil. Jilah didn’t seem the type to involve himself with anything…bad, did he? But Raif certainly had aqualityabout him… She stopped in front of the training swords and reached out for one.

Raif held a hand out to stop her. “I’ll withhold that information for a future lesson, I think.” His fingers brushed against her wrist for a moment, and then he straightened the sword in its stand.

“Why?” Zylah asked, taking a step back to put space between them. He clearly had no sense of boundaries.

“Because I like the way your eyes light up when you think you’ve finally figured everything out,” he said with polished charm, tugging at the end of her braid. He’d closed the distance between them again, his gaze playful as he looked down at her.

She gave a firm shove against his chest, and he didn’t budge an inch. “You’re kind of insufferable, you know that?”

“Most women find it charming.” A corner of his mouth twitched as he said it, his blue eyes bright and playful.

Gods above, he was in love with himself. “I’m not most women, Raif.” She wouldn’t call it charm, but he certainly had a way of making her feel at ease. Maybe being around Holt so much had helped more than she realised, and yet for some reason, the thought sent a twinge of guilt through her.

Raif only smiled at her, a playful glint in his eyes. “You’re right about that. You said you can fight. What can you do? Show me.”

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