Page 47 of A Dance With Fire
Orna bit her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded.
“What does that mean exactly?” At Orna’s incredulous look, her face heated and she elaborated, “I was raised in human lands on the reservations and my parents died. Since then I’ve been blending in…”
The reservations were where the hierarchy threw the Fae after running them out of their homes. A “safe” space on human lands where they could be themselves in a controlled environment. The reality of it was that they kept them locked up, controlled, not because they respected the Fae and their culture, but because it was easier to access them that way. Easier to pull them out of the fenced land and take them away.
Orna stared at her with fierce understanding but didn’t comment to degrade her like Ryker had. It made Shula grateful not to know her true thoughts on the matter. “The High Fae are from the Seelie Courts. Before the war and before Tir na Faie became uninhabitable, the courts were ruled over by the High Fae nobility while the Seelie Court was ruled by the Ashera bloodline.
“Deeper to the south lived the Unseelie. Fae, but different from the High Fae. Goblins, pixies, mermaids, banshees…” She held up her hands, her black, depthless eyes raking over her blue skin. “I’m part pixie. That’s why my skin is blue.”
“And do the Unseelie have… powers?”
“The Unseelie are tricksters and are considered savage by the High Fae. Some have glamor, some have song, some tails and such things. We don’t have powers like you.” She looked straight at Shula’s chest, as if she could see the flames inside her soul. “You’re an Elemental. The power of Mana lives within you. You’re special.”
Shula was really starting to hate that word. She sighed and focused her gaze forward. “So I keep hearing.”
Shula felt the slip of Orna’s arm loop through her own. When she looked at the other Fae, there was nothing but friendly understanding in her eyes. She didn’t speak, but then again, she didn’t need to. Shula got it just the same. This was an understanding between the two.
Shame, and not being happy within their own skin. It was quick and inarguably what Shula needed.
Someone who knew what she felt inside and who wouldn’t judge.
A friend.
Thoughts of Fanny tightened her throat. She tried not to give into her emotions, tried not to think about that betrayal. It was still a raw wound against her chest that she knew was festering, yet she didn’t want it healed. It was a sharp reminder that nothing was safe. Nowhere was safe. No one was safe.
She wanted to pull her arm from Orna’s and wallow in her own self-piteous thoughts, but the Fae kept them tightly tethered together, pulling them behind the cart and other Fae.
They walked together in comfortable silence and not once did Orna’s hold slip from Shula’s. It wasn’t until night descended along the horizon that the procession finally came to a stop.
Valerio started barking out orders and everyone quickly got to work.
Orna pulled on Shula’s arm. “Come. You can help me hand out the food to the others.”
Shula didn’t want to; she didn’t want anything to do with this, but her stomach rumbled loudly. She hadn’t eaten since that morning; none of them had. Plus, Orna’s expression was hopeful. Like she wanted a friend as much as Shula wanted to push her away. But Shula couldn’t give in to the urge.
Orna had done nothing wrong. She couldn’t possibly know that Fanny had betrayed her and that Shula was still hurting. It wasn’t anyone’s fault but Shula’s. Deep down she knew that her friendship with Fanny had been doomed from the start. That’s why she’d never told her the truth. But the moment Fanny had found out, Shula had hoped…
A fool, she’d been.
But Orna was Fae herself, and the friendships weren’t the same. If this could even be considered a friendship.
Orna had seemed to know that Shula had wanted silence, so she hadn’t pressed the entire way. That had to count for something.
“We feed the children, elderly, and women first,” Orna explained as she hauled down a box from the cart. Shula rushed to help her, taking one end so they could carry it together. “The men take up their positions for the watch. If Valerio deems everything safe, sometimes we can build a fire and the men can hunt so we all have fresh meat.” She took the lid off the wooden box and began pulling out little scraps of wrapped food. Dried meat and cheeses. “Here, take these around. When we’re finished we can take them to the men.”
Shula was quiet as she did what she was told. It gave her a small sense of purpose as she placed the bundles of food into the Fae’s awaiting hands. They thanked her, and Shula’s heart twisted as she recognized the hunger in their eyes.
She knew what it was to starve, and it made her wonder exactly what these Fae had been doing before Valerio had supposedly saved them. Where had they lived? What had their lives been like? How similar had it been to her own?
“Now, we have to take this to the men. Since I know where they typically keep watch, I’ll take it to those on guard duty. You stay here and give it to the others.”
Shula handed food out to the human men first, where she met the blacksmith.
He was a scraggly man, with shaggy hair and a robust belly and big arms, but he looked timid as he’d ducked his head while she thanked him for removing her shackles.
Then she moved on to the Fae men, going around in a circle until the last ones left were her captors. She gritted her teeth, hating that she would have to serve them like some maid, but she sucked it up and walked over to where they were convened in a semi-circle.
She handed a bundle to Clay first, the lesser of four evils.
