A few more steps and we come upon a campfire where two Unseelie fae wait, not facing the flames, but turned toward us.
I recognize them from the well, but when I offer a tentative smile, neither of them returns it.
“Told you she would be here. Pay up,” the one with long hair says to the surly-looking one, his palm extended toward him. The blazing fire at their backs makes their gigantic silhouettes appear even more imposing.
Everett’s lips press flat when the man hands over a small knife.
How much did Everett tell them? Do they know we’ve been meeting in secret?
The one who won the bet rolls to his feet and saunters over. “My name is Maddox Finch. You must be the Kerris Dawn we have heard so much about.” He holds out a hand, but before I can give him mine, Everett growls at him.
Actuallygrowls.
Chills race up my bare arms. Heavens, he can be intimidating when he wants to be. “You’ve heard about me, have you?”
Despite Everett’s menacing glare, Maddox claps him on the shoulder. “Heard? This lad does not stop talking about you. It is all: Kerris Dawn this and Kerris Dawn that.”
Everett’s hands flex into fists. “If you do not stop speaking, I will throw you into the canyon.”
Maddox huffs a laugh. “I have heard that before and yet here I stand. Welcome to our humble outpost, Kerris Dawn.” He sweeps his hand to where the other Unseelie still sits, gnawing on something by the fire.
So this is where Everett spends his nights, guarding our land from the dangers in his. “It’s lovely to make your acquaintance, Maddox.” The third man still hasn’t looked up from whatever he’s eating. “What’s your name?”
Maddox glances over his shoulder. “Oh, that is Gryffin Hew. He does not talk much—which is for the best since we are in the presence of a female, and he speaks mostly in curses and snarls.”
“You speak enough for the lot of us,” Gryffin mutters in a gravelly voice, not bothering to acknowledge my presence.
Is this the same Gryffin who told Everett to share his “feelings?”
Nope.Nope.
I am not thinking about that right now.
It’s nice knowing Everett isn’t out here all by himself. What a lonely life that would be, always looking out for people who don’t appreciate your sacrifice. The next time someone brings up the Unseelie, I’ll have to set them straight.
With a heavy sigh, Everett gestures toward the wide, flat stones encircling the fire. I follow him closer, the crackle and snap of the glowing logs unlocking horrific memories. Suddenly, the breeze shifts, blowing a plume of smoke toward me. My eyes start to sting, and my chest locks up.
Fires in a hearth are one thing, but a bonfire like this?—
It takes everything in me to keep from dropping to the ground where the smoke cannot reach me, cannot remind me… “Can we sit somewhere else?”
Gryffin snorts. “Too good for us, Seelie?”
I don’t owe the man an explanation—I don’t owe him anything. But for him to believe this has to do with my dislike of them isn’t how I want to start this night. I swallow past the lump in my throat, hating the tremble in my voice when I whisper, “My mother died in a fire, and the smoke brings back awful memories.”
Everett kicks the back of the log Gryffin sits on, sending the man sprawling into the dirt.
Gryffin scrambles to his feet and whirls on Everett, his stark features twisted in fury. “What the fuck was that for?”
“I told you to be nice.”
“How was I supposed to fucking know about her mother?”
Clucking his tongue, Maddox shakes his head. “Language, Gryff.”
“Fuck you, too.”
I expect him to stomp off, but instead he sits right back down and drags something from a leather satchel on the ground.