Page 41 of Curse of Thorns

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I am the villain.

To these fae here, and even Rev, I am a shadow fae murderer.

So, like so many times before, I’ll play the part again. I’ll use my pain as my strength and be who they all expect.

My expression falls into that cold indifferent mask I’ve worn so many times, and I march into the crowd of murmuring fae that parts for me as if I were the plague itself.

A yellow-eyed fae with glimmering gold horns gasps as I march past her, head high, eyes distant. “It’s the murderer,” she says.

“What is she doing here?”

“Did she come with Rev?”

Rev watches me, eyes darkened, but I avoid his gaze. With so much attention, it’s a challenge to get away and find a shadowed corner where I can disappear entirely, but behind a large, twisted green tree, I find my opening. I duck behind the tree and curl my shadows around me until I’m all but invisible to the fae around me.

This is where I belong. Hiding in the shadows. My only real friends.










Rev

Shit.

That’s the extent of my very eloquent thought process as Caelynn marches into the crowd with her head high, face slack and eyes hooded. Once, I would have believed her act.

Powerful. Indifferent. Intimidating.

She marches through the whispering crowd that hates her. It’s the exact reason I didn’t want to be seen with her, but, God, my gut twists as I watch her face them alone.

I should have been there. I should have stood beside her, damn the consequences. Because now, I know better, and I can see the pain through her façade.

She disappears into the crowd without looking in my direction, and I know I’ve failed her.