When All is Lost

25.

Later Nate is holding his doctors' bag staring at it as I unpack the clothes I brought. We are in our hut before heading over for food. We've cleansed all of the bodies, the afternoon full of stories that fill me with heavy sorrow, again. Under it all though, there's an undercurrent of excitement at my newfound talent, I feel reckless and I know I need to be wary of it.

"So, you can go anywhere?" Nate asks again.

I nod, removing a shift that can act as a nightgown.

"And you can look anywhere, see, hear everything that's being said."

"I think so, Will said he'd show me more later."

"And Tommy is hunting us down?" Nate seems sad that I'd seen our friends without him.

"Me, more than you. Apparently, I've kidnapped you." I sit in a wooden chair by the fire, stretching my legs out in front of me.

"From a locked cell?"

"I'm the world's best kidnapper." I smile at him.

He sighs, "Adam will try to reign him in. I think."

"Adam said he's going north, he's going to find out who gave the order to kill the Fae." Which means Tommy is unchaperoned, never a good thing.

"Why were they in my room?" Nate wonders, ignoring me completely.

"Hiding?" I return to my unpacking.

"Are they still there?" He asks and it takes me a moment to realise he's asking me to check, through the shadows.

I pull Inkspot to my hands, thinking of the shadows by the doorway of Nate's room. It appears before me, dark and cold, there's no fire in the grate now, the table and desk tidy. I return to our hut.

"No, your room's empty."

Nate is staring at me, "And you're not Fae?" He's holding the woollen coat tightly in his hands.

"My blood doesn't shimmer."

"Maybe we just don't know all the kinds of Fae. These, Shadow Mages, they're rare, right?"

I nod, "You think I might be Fae but a type whose blood doesn't shimmer?" I check.

"I think it's worth considering." He sits on the bed thinking. "If you are Fae, and my father knew that, maybe he wanted to bring the two races together."

We consider that idea in silence as the evening settles in around us. Inkspot is hovering near the fire, enjoying the flames and I find myself locking eyes with him. He might be the only person who knows who I am, I wonder if he'll ever be able to speak to me.

"We should get food." I look back to Nate and catch him staring at me again.

He covers it with a smile, but unease creeps over me. Could Nate be happily married to a Fae?

He nods and pushes his arms into his jacket, buttoning it up as I wrap a black cloak around my shoulders. Happy with my rescued clothing I leave first, letting Nate stack up more logs on the fire before we leave. Inkspot settles into my hair, weightier than he used to be, and we head across the strange courtyard towards the warm smells of bread and stew.

"You should have brought food too." Nate mumbles as we walk.

"I could always pop back to the kitchens, we could raid the larder."

Nate's eyes brighten, "That would be the best use of this new talent I could possibly think of."

"Now?" I ask, enjoying how excited he seems at the idea. He nods and so I pull the shadows to me, checking the pantry beside the kitchen to make sure it's empty.