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“Inside and out,” Gareth agrees
“Are we stopping there?” I stretch, and Leander grips my waist
“For supplies, but not for the night It’s not safe We’re better protected on the road where we can see what’s co my shape to memory
“I was really hoping for a bed” Beth frowns “I haven’t slept in a bed since …” She pauses and stares into the rain sacks counts as a mattress”
She’s had such a hard life The bitestory I want to know more, but she deflects every ti slave I do the same when she asks about my past, so I can’t blame her for it Soh they’re never forgotten
“Your master was Granthos?” Gareth asks
“Yes,” she says tightly
He grunts in response but doesn’t say anything else about it
Beth shoots s and turns back toward the town “I hope they have bread”
“Me too” That is a train I’m happy to ride “Carbs are life”
“Carbs?” Leander blows against ain, and I want to moan
“Carbohydrates What bread is mostly made of”
“Spoken like a true alchemist” He says it with pride
“I’m not an alchemist Just an almost-chee that bread has carbs It’s why I love it so much Carbs are my jam”
“I know jah Mountain full of it” I can hear the smile in his voice “Any flavor you’d like”
I laugh and lean against him His chest has become my back pillow and his arms my seatbelt “In that case, I’ll be sure to raid the ja of hurt slashes through oal, but soets harder to think about Not to mention the bonds I’ve built with Beth and Gareth I don’t have anything like it back home—my only pseudo-friend, Cecile, is the one who sentenemy I still ponder why she did it but haven’t been able to piece it together Then a thought stings me like wasp, and I almost jump off the horse
“Hang on HANG ON!” I yell so loud that Kyrin startles
“What?” Leander tenses and draws his sword
“Byrn Varyndr” I clap a hand over my face
“The capital of the suht and wary “What about it?”
“It translates to Long Island” I grit ether “I didn’t realize it until I learned fae, and I didn’t think about it until right this second But in English, itIsland”
“You lost me” Beth’s eyebrows crinkle
“Cecile always said she ca Island!” I take a breath and try to keep ht sheI think what she really meant was Byrn Varyndr”
Beth’s eyebrows unknot “So your roommate is a summer realm fae?”
“Yes!” Kyrin ju to be quieter But yeah, I think that must be it She’s a sue? I don’t know”
“Exchanges don’t realize they’re fae” Leander stows his sword “She’s soe”
“Then what is she doing over there?” Beth gnaws on her thu like it”
“Neither have I” Gareth frowns “We’ll need to speak with Ravella about it e get to High Mountain She’s the only one who may kno Cecile is in the human world, and why she sent you here, for that matter”
I sigh and settle down One thing has become clear, but the rest of it is still hidden froinning to tangle with each other, the wires crossing Leander seems to hear the noise in hts away froentle touches instead
Gareth leads us to the river, the surface covered in a low fog dotted horls, as if soetimbers and y approaches, and a ives us a simple nod as he passes
“What was that?” I try not to stare
“Lesser fae They can be a h fae blood in them”