Page 10 of A Dream Shrouded in Fury
“Frankly, I’m amazed you can speak at all.We’re told you’re all slavering beasts.”
When I opened my mouth to retort, I caught the faint sparkle in his eyes, the barest glimmer of amusement.“Catch us at the wrong time of night and you might not be far off,” I grumbled, and he bit down on the inside of his cheek.To stop himself from smiling?I wish he’d give me a chance to see it.
“Well,” I said, “we might not have access to overflowing libraries, but we find what we need.Although based on our information, I’m amazed you’re deigning to look at me.Aren’t all fae supposed to keep their noses so high in the air they can’t see their feet?”
“All the better to tread on the rest of the world,” Jael said, and this time no teasing lined his tone—only a thread of bitterness that weighed down my heart.
“I don’t suppose you want to tell me what you were doing out here?”It was a weak attempt on my part.Unsubtle, not graceful at all, but if he was going to spin me a story anyway, why bother being clever?
Pain crossed his green eyes, then was gone, and I realized how often he did that.These brief flickers of emotion before he buried them again.
He shifted his attention towards the exit.“Fighting for a cause.Failing at it.”
I noted the slight hitch in his breath, the droop in his shoulders, the haunted emptiness in his stare.If he was skirting the truth, he was very good.
I sat carefully on the edge of the bed, giving him space but staying close enough to create a connection.Classic manipulation.“It looked like it was quite the battle.”
The line of his jaw hardened, and his focus slid into the middle distance.“Someone betrayed us.It would have been a challenge regardless, but they were prepared for our attack.They brought double the number we were told they would, city guards to back up the royal contingent.They slaughtered us, and she got away, and now Leonine will take it as proof that he’s untouchable.”
Unlike his pain, his bitterness didn’t vanish under a veneer of indifference.It was visceral, and the power of it laced every word.In this moment, I understood what Jael meant about death being his purpose.He carried a lot of anger against this Leonine person.
And still I didn’t catch any sign of creative truth.
“She?”I asked, getting up again to fetch him a bowl of the stew I’d left simmering.Putting distance between us had nothing to do with the strange, twisting jealousy that clawed my gut at the mention of this mystery woman.Jealousy was not the tool of a well-trained scout.
“Princess Brynna.”He scowled.“The king’s daughter.If we’d succeeded, she’d be dead and he’d be preparing for a war with Golthwaine he could never win.”
All jealousy shrivelled into shock.“Wow.War.That’s quite the cause you were fighting for.”
Jael shot me a wide-eyed look, as though remembering I was in the room, and his shoulders sagged.“The others wanted the war.I wanted Leonine to crumble.Instead, it’s one more regret for me to carry.”
I wondered how many regrets one needed to wish for death instead of another sunset.
I debated calling him out on his story, accusing him of sharing irrelevant details so I could see his reaction, but the words caught in my throat.Thorn’s warnings were loud and clear in my memory—vampires were the only people I could trust—but he looked so dejected, and I couldn’t fathom how it would benefit him to admit that his aim had been to start awar.
If his story was true, then he and his band of rebels had come up here to kill their princess.She’d obviously escaped, which meant she was still on her way to the capital and more guards might follow.All things Thorn would want to know.
I’d done what I’d set out to do in a matter of heartbeats.I should have felt victorious.Proud at the very least.Ready to sink my fangs into Jael’s neck and give him the oblivion he clearly craved.I should have wanted to do my duty, rid our territory of this non-vampire, and go home.
Instead, I ladled stew into a wooden bowl and set it on the small table beside the bed.“Let me help you sit up so you can eat.”
Keeping my touch gentle, I set my hand on his shoulder and swallowed the whimper that threatened to slip through my lips at the warmth of his skin.So much warmer than a human mortal, as though the sun were hiding inside him.
I slid my fingers over his back, taking note of the muscles between his shoulder blades and the raised marks of yet more scars, until I had a solid enough hold on him to support his weight.
Maybe it would have been wiser to step away for the sake of propriety—and my sanity—but I couldn’t bring myself to leave.Even with all the warnings and practicalities screaming at me to put distance between us or do my duty andkill him, his warmth, his presence, his newness, was a gift I didn’t want to let go of.
I kept my place at his side and watched him reach for the food, relieved that his attention was so fixed on the bowl that he didn’t notice the way I took in the bare skin across his ribs, the flex of his biceps, the twitch of thick muscles along his shoulders.
I swallowed around my dry tongue, then frowned when Jael set his bowl down after a single bite.
“Not to your taste?”I asked.
“It’s fine.”
For the first time, I caught the way he skimmed the truth.Although his reply came smoothly off his tongue, I spotted the faint curl of his lip and the subtle shift of his pupils.
“As you said, we don’t eat a lot of food,” I explained, “so I’m not great at making anything special.But it’ll stick to your ribs and give you the energy you need to heal.Assuming you want to.”
