Page 43 of A Dance With Fire
Shula extricated her arm from his hold and turned to look out at the trees. They canopied over their heads, soft buttery sunlight filtering through the leaves and casting golden colors on the dry earth. Soon, winter would come. The evidence of the change of seasons lived in the array of reds, oranges, and browns scattered across the floor. It was still the beginnings of fall, so not everything looked dead. Green still burst vibrantly above them.
There was something melancholy about the change of seasons, but Shula liked the fall the most. Even though it reminded her of a far more complicated time. Even though the bursting of red and orange leaves reminded her of fire. Even though the crumbling, dried earth reminded her of ash.
Even though everything reminded her of death.
It also reminded her why she had to live.
“I’m sorry, Fire Dancer.” Clay brought her back to reality. “Please, please give us all a chance. We will protect each other; we will protect you.”
“I can protect myself.”
Storming footsteps came up behind them. Shula didn’t have to turn to know it was Ryker. Her body instinctively tensed up.
“Evidently, you can't,” he growled angrily, shoving past Clay. Ryker stopped, hesitation breathing over his movements. He half turned to glare at Shula with that single white eye.
It was eerie, unnerving.
“You were captured by the Brotherhood. Now that they know what you look like and have your scent, they will never stop hunting you. And theywillfind you if you’re out there on your own. And if you even think about escaping, Valerio will be worse to deal with than the humans ever were.”
Fear sliced straight down Shula’s body.
Clay let out a hissed curse under his breath. “Great going, Ryker,” he admonished. “Becausethat’sgoing to make her want to stay.”
Ryker didn’t look apologetic. “You are a wanted criminal now. Why? The seer didn’t say, so we can’t know. But we are the lesser of two evils, Fire Dancer.” He turned from her, but his voice hung in the air like thick, dense smoke as he walked away. “You need protection, and we will give it to you.”
As he stalked away, Clay glared at his wide back. “Jackass,” he muttered, not concealing his annoyance. Then he turned back to Shula and offered her his arm again, only this time, she didn’t take it. “You hungry?” He lowered his arm back to his side. “Let’s go get you some food. The journey ahead is long. You’ll need your strength.”
So Shula followed him. Because, what other choice did she have? She didn’t want to contemplate that what Ryker had said was right.
Evil lived at every turn.
But whether or not the Fae were a lesser evil still remained to be seen.
“Yeah,” she murmured. “I’m pretty hungry.”
15
Plan of Escape
They’d given her a meal of dried meat, fruit, and cheese. It was a bland meal that made her miss the kabobs at the circus rather fiercely. While she chewed on the tough meat outside, she watched with detached attention as everyone packed up their things into the wooden cart.
She was careful to keep her expression guarded, focusing on eating while her mind whirled like a storm. She could feel eyes on her, though she couldn’t discern whose. Ryker’s? Clay’s? Worse, Valerio’s?
She’d caught a glimpse of the Fae prince again, wearing his stoic expression as he hauled heavy packs onto the cart without even breaking a sweat. He didn’t look at her, but Shula didn’t doubt that he knew she was there.
That was the only reason she didn’t look towards the line of trees and contemplate her freedom.
She couldn’t escape with all of them near. They would easily follow Valerio’s orders to retrieve her and then she would be truly fucked.
She needed a better opportunity to escape, one where they weren’t close, where they weren’t near her at all.
She nibbled on a bit of cheese as she thought things over. They wanted her to stay with them, but they didn’t trust her. It wasn’t like she hadn’t noticed how closely Clay was hanging around her. Like a babysitter.
She almost sneered but stopped herself by shoving the whole piece of cheese into her mouth.
If they had Clay following her, it was because they didn’t trust her. That was fine; she didn’t trust them either. The only problem with this was that it made escaping difficult.
Shula knew they wouldn’t leave her alone. Not unless they trusted her.
