Hunted by a Night Fae

Chapter 44

For a moment, neither of us spoke. I stood frozen under his gaze, refusing to look up at him. Wind trickled to my fingers, reacting to me as it flew in from the open windows.

He inhaled again. "What are you?" His tone wasn't threatening. No...he seemed curious.

I pulled my arm away from him, taking a few steps back. He made no move towards me, and I finally looked up at him. He tilted his head, his movements fluid in a prenaturnal way.

"I'm leaving," I said instead of answering him. I moved closer to the staircase, but he did not move towards me. I could still feel his eyes soaking me in.

"You're hurt. If you go down there, they will smell you just as I did."

I paused, inspecting him closely.

"It's better than sitting up here waiting for someone else to lock me away."

His dark eyes glinted under the moonlight. A slow smile rose to his lips. "I fear I can relate all too well. Very well, continue one then. But, it will be to your own peril. I would know."

I narrowed my eyes but continued. I wasn't sure what to make of this faerie, I sensed something was different about him. His face was half cast in shadows, the darkness clinging to him as if he would turn to smoke and drift away into the sky at any moment. I moved away slower than I should have.

I looked back to the stairwell, trying to focus. I shouldn't pass up the narrow escape. But... it was almost too easy. Unease settled in my stomach. I looked down at my hands, traces of blood still lingering under my nails despite my efforts to hastily scrub it off.

"How can you relate?" I asked turning. "How do I get out of here?"

Along the exposed part of his face, the smile he had worn before flattened. "You don't, not really. Not truly. Sure, you could go down that set of stairs, then continue down another. Perhaps even slip on by the distracted guests that continue to celebrate the death of a long-dead King." 

He stepped closer, the last remaining shadows peeling away from his body. Despite how alien he looked, there was something vaguely familiar about him.

As he continued, I wasn't sure it was just me he was referring to, "But then you still must slip by his guards. Personified nightmares that work just as hard to keep everyone here as they do to keep threats out. Still, perhaps, you might even manage that. Then there is a long, torturous climb down from here. Our castle is high above the city so that its fae may dance among the stars. All of this could perhaps be done without being seen."

He turned his head, and I knew he was lost in thought somewhere else, a memory or several where he had tried to achieve the same thing. The jewels on his mask twinkled like stars.

"But?" I asked, urging him.

"But even if you do all of that, there is still an entire city that knows your face better than you do. You could hide, but for how long? You could run, and run, and run, but in doing that, would you every truly be free? Then there is them, eternal, and unrelenting. No, there is no true escape from this world. I am sorry, dear, but I do not know the answer. I have been trying to discover it myself for centuries."

I steadied myself, no longer moving towards the stairwell. I knew very well what he was saying was true. If I made it out of this castle, not only would Ankou and Hekate try to capture me again, but Ronan would too. Even if I managed to run, I would never be able to escape them.

But, there was still a way.

"Who are you?" I asked, daring to step closer, needing to confirm my suspicion.