A Court of Shadows and Pain

Eighteen

Valery had talked to the woman for a few more minutes before they left. Azriel noticed the way Valery reacted to this interaction. Spy or not, this wasn't something she could hide.

The moment they stepped outside the bookstore her shadows came back the her. Clinging to her for dear life.

He had ordered his own shadows away after he saw Valery do it. She must've done it for reason, so he followed.

He decided not to speak to her unless necessary, remembering what Rhys had told him about her temper. And if he said the wrong thing now, he would probably be dead in a few minutes.

They were still walking around the streets of Velaris when Valery turned her head to him. He had been quietly watching her for a few minutes now. The way her shoulders hung, the lack of confidence she usually carried with her had disappeared.

She turned her head away before speaking. "I spent years with them before I met Rhys. They gave me a job, a roof to live under, a family" she said, crossing her arms over her chest while she kept walking.

Azriel couldn't find the right words to say, so he chose to stick with, "I'm sorry."

Valery shrugged. "It's okay." she said quietly, her head hanging low.

The streets of Velaris were as good as empty as they strolled through them. Azriel had let some of his shadows scout the city for anything unusual, but they hadn't found anything so far.

"We should check out the forest around my house. Where the other murders happened." Valery said.

Azriel nodded in agreement. "Do you wanna do it today?"

"Yes. Let's go now."

Azriel stopped walking, looking at her. "Are you sure?"

Valery also stopped walking, turning around to look at him with those cold grey eyes. "Stop asking me those questions." she snapped. "Let's go."

She grabbed Azriel's hand. Before he could progress what was happening, they stepped out of the shadows in front of her small house. Traveling with her shadows had felt much different than with his own. Much wilder.

"They never came past these wards. So we have to look outside them." she stated.

Azriel only followed her in silence. Their shadows had both disappeared into the woods, scanning the place.

Azriel couldn't bear the silence that hung between them. Valery was walking a few feet in front of him.

"So how did you even get those wards around your house?" Azriel decided to ask.

Valery kept walking, not even bothering to look back. "Helion." she only answered.

Azriel looked at her with surprise, making bigger steps to keep up with her. "You know Helion?"

She nodded in response, "I've known him ever since I started working for Rhys. We helped each other Under the Mountain. I saved his ass multiple times, so he owed me. I asked him to do this for me." she answered, still not looking at Azriel.

Azriel took that as a sign to stop asking her questions. She clearly didn't want to answer them.

Valery stopped dead in her tracks in front of a tree. Azriel's eyes fell on the thing that had stopped her. Two arrows shot into a tree. Normal people would assume this was just someone hunting in the woods, but Azriel knew better. And by the looks of it, Valery knew better too.

Those were Fae bane arrows. Heavily laced Fae bane arrows.

Valery now turned to him. "Did Rhys tell you how the murders in the woods happened?" she asked, her shadows slowly coming back to her.