A Dance with Darkness

by Jenna Wolfhart

  “There’s an Inn here where we can stay,” Liam said after he led the horse into the stable. He slid to the ground and held a hand out for me. When I jumped off, my landing was even worse than before, mostly due to the fact I couldn’t feel my feet. I stumbled forward with a yelp of panic, but Liam kept me from toppling into the mounds of hay. His strong hands held me upright, and that sparkle in his eyes returned for the first time since we’d left Esari.

  “We really need to work on your dismounting technique,” he said with a light chuckle. “Otherwise, we won’t be able to trust you to go for a ride without breaking a bone.”

  “I’ll admit, I’m not the most horse-savvy person around. I didn’t even know it was called dismounting.” Liam’s hands were so very warm. Even though we’d been riding through the rain for the past hour, none of his heat had disappeared. It was as if it was deep within his core, and it emanated from his skin in a delicious, soothing way. Hell, no need to go in an Inn. We could stay here in the stables as long as he kept his arms wrapped around me.

  “What in the name of the forest did you think it was called then?” He arched an eyebrow, still chuckling.

  I shrugged. “Tumbling off?”

  His laugh deepened, but it trailed off just as quickly as it had come. “You really are an enigma, Norah, and you’re so different than any Winter fae I’ve ever met. Don’t ever change, regardless of how they say you should be.”

  A thrill went through my gut and I pressed in closer to him, snuggling against the warmth of his body. Underneath me, his body tensed, but he didn’t push me away.

  “You’re so warm,” I said, voice tight, breath hitched. “The rain was freezing, but I don’t feel cold anymore.”

  His arms tightened around me, and the musky summer scent of him filled my nose. “Be careful, darling. You’re playing with fire. The others might care about the rules, but I’m nothing like them.”

  My heart pattered in my chest. I pulled back and looked up into his orange-red eyes. “What rules?”

  His grin widened as he traced a finger across my cheek. Despite the warmth from his body, I shivered in his arms. “It’s against the rules for the instructors to be intimate with any of the recruits, not until after graduation. It’s to ensure that things don’t get complicated if and when a recruit ends up being in a different Court than originally thought.”

  Intimate. The word echoed in my frazzled mind. He’d said intimate.

  I suddenly felt very, very shy, like I needed to launch to the other side of the stables where piles of hay had been stacked along the wooden walls. The thud of the rain on the roof over our heads was drowned out by the heavy beating of my heart, and the flickering torches on the walls highlighted the dangerous glint in Liam’s eyes.

  He didn’t really mean it, I thought to myself. Surely this fae didn’t want someone like me. I fell all over myself trying to do pretty standard things, and he’d seen first-hand how terrible I was with the bow. Not to mention the fact that I’d shown no signs of being a Summer fae.

  He knew I wasn’t his mate.

  With a light chuckle, he shook his head. “Come on, let’s get you inside the Inn and out of those wet clothes.”

  It turned out that the Inn only had four rooms, and three were taken. So, Liam and I were forced to share. Luckily, the bed had a double mattress instead of a twin, so we didn’t have to battle it out for space, though a part of me kind of wished we could.

  I was feeling a little...out of sorts, to say the least. Liam’s words from the stables had gotten under my skin, and all I could wonder was if he truly did want to break the rules. Rules that, I had to admit, made a lot of sense.

  “This was all they could find for us,” Liam said when he opened the door to the room. I’d stayed inside, perched on a knotted wooden chair, shivering while he went in search of some clean, dry clothes. He held up a thin cotton pillowcase and grinned.

  I arched my eyebrows. “You don’t really expect me to wear a pillowcase.”

  “It’s not a pillowcase,” he said, chuckling. “It’s a gown of some sorts. It belonged to the owner’s ex-wife, but it’s the only thing she left behind. Unfortunately, it’s either this, your wet clothes, or your birthday suit.”

  Cheeks flaming, I frowned down at the drenched clothes that were clawing at my skin. As much as I hated to admit it, I really did need to change. If I stayed like this, not only would I spend the whole night shivering, I’d have to wear damp, dirty clothes all the way back to the Academy in the morning. If I didn’t hang them on the radiator, they’d never get dry.

  And I definitely wasn’t going to wear nothing at all.

  “Okay.” I held out a hand toward the pillowcase gown. “I’ll change, but not because you said so.”

  He smirked and tossed me the gown. “No, I know why you’re changing. It’s because you don’t think you’d be able to control yourself if you were naked in the bed with me.”

  I rolled my eyes and shoved the wet cloak off my shoulders. “Has anyone ever told you how full of yourself you are? It’s like your ego is ten times the size of your head.”

  “My ego is exactly the right size.” He leaned forward and slid his finger along the button on my jeans. “Do you need help with those or are you just going to stand there gawking at me?”

  Irritation flickered inside me, an emotion that was mixed with a hint of excitement. Somehow, Liam was able to simultaneously annoy the shit out of me and draw me in at the same time. That fact alone made me want to throttle him. And then make up for it by snuggling in close to his chest.

  No, my inner voice roared at myself. Stop getting so distracted by the gorgeous fae.

  I hadn’t come to Otherworld to flirt with every fae male who gave me attention. I’d come here to learn out to fight, to train in the ways of battling the monsters who had killed my best friend. At the thought of Bree, all the excitement and annoyance I felt toward Liam disappeared into a cloud of bitter sadness.

  I stepped back and gave him a pointed look. “Turn around, please. I’m not going to change when you’re standing there watching me.”

  His eyebrows furrowed. “What’s wrong, Norah?”

  “Honestly, is it that hard to believe a girl doesn’t want to change in front of you? There has to be something wrong?”

  With a sigh, he shook his head and turned his back my way. “Of course not. It’s just that two seconds ago, you had a look in your eye, one that made it seem like you wanted to climb on top of me. And then out of nowhere, you looked...well, sad.”

  I unbuttoned my jeans and pushed the soaking material to the floor before shrugging my damp t-shirt over my head. I took off my bra for good measure, but I kept my underwear on. After slipping the cotton gown over my head, I tapped Liam on the shoulder. He hadn’t even tried to sneak a peek while I’d been changing, a fact I was strangely grateful for. I hadn’t expected him to show much respect for my wishes.

  He turned and silently watched me drape my clothes over the radiator. He didn’t even make a crack about my lacy black bra. Instead, he strode toward me and tucked a finger underneath my chin, his fiery eyes searching mine for the truth.

  “What’s wrong, Norah?” he asked. “And no, this isn’t about my ego. It’s not difficult to tell that something is wrong when your entire demeanor changes within the blink of an eye.”

  With a sigh, I gritted my teeth and glanced away. “It’s Bree. I can’t stop thinking about the creature that killed her. I can’t stop thinking that maybe I could have done something to prevent it. And I can’t stop thinking that I need to focus on training instead of getting distracted by other things. It’s not fair to her.”

  “I see,” he said quietly. “It sounds as though you haven’t had a chance to mourn her.”

  “How would I have?” I asked, throwing up my hands. “Within an hour of her death, I was on my way to Otherworld, and I’ve barely had a moment to think since I arrived. Watch Duty, challenges, classes, and trips to Courts. It’s been
good to keep busy, but when the thought of her enters my mind, I feel like I’ve been punched in the gut. I didn’t even get to go to her funeral.”

  I started crying. Liam winced and awkwardly rubbed my shoulders, clearly unused to comforting crying girls. After a moment, he pulled me close to his chest and rubbed the back of my neck, silently holding me while the grief poured out of my eyes.

  “We’ll hold a funeral for Bree when we get back,” he finally said when my sobs began to subside. “I can get a headstone made, and you can invite whoever you like. I’m sorry you weren’t able to go to the real thing, but you can make it as real as you need it to be.”

  Sniffling, I pulled back and looked up into his handsome face. “You’d do that?”

  “Of course,” he said. “Everyone should be able to mourn, in whatever way they need. I’m sorry we had to take you away when we did, but we had no other choice. I know it won’t make what happened right, but perhaps it will soothe your heart, as much as it can.”

  “Thank you. I’d like that. But I don’t think I’ll truly be happy until that Redcap is dead.”

  Dim sunlight streamed in through the tiny window overlooking the small Autumn village. I squinted as I opened my eyes, only to find Liam’s face mere inches from mine. We were turned toward each other on the bed, our shoulders digging into the hard mattress. When we’d climbed into bed after our talk, I’d expected the teasing flirtations to resume, but he’d been strangely quiet. He didn’t even try to pull me into his chest.

  Maybe my sobs had freaked him out.

  With a sigh, I climbed out of bed and felt my clothes on the radiator. Thankfully, they were dry, so I wouldn’t have to ride all the way back to the Academy in this ridiculous pillowcase. I changed before Liam could wake, but I swore when I turned around, one of his eyes was partially cracked.

  “Morning, darling,” he drawled with a slight smile. “You ready to get going?”

  So he had been watching then. I didn’t know whether I should punch him or kiss him.

  “If we don’t head back soon, we won’t arrive before tonight,” I said. “And I really don’t want to be late for classes in the morning.”

  “Your wish is my command.”

  We were back on the road within the hour. Luckily, the return trip to the Academy was much more uneventful than the ride to Esari. No one tried to stop us, probably because they realized we were on our way out of the Autumn woods. The sun was still shining in the sky when the horse trotted back onto the Academy grounds. Within moments, we were surrounded by five fae, and every single one of them was pointing a sword our way.

  One of the swords belonged to Kael. When he flicked his eyes across my face and then to Liam, he frowned and lowered his weapon, motioning for the others to do the same.

  “Liam, where the hell have you been? And why do you have Norah with you?”

  The muscles in Liam’s back tightened. “She has the weekend off, no? I was just showing her around Otherworld.”

  Kael’s glittering dark eyes narrowed. “Her roommate reported her missing. We thought she’d been taken. Or worse.”

  “It’s not like you to overreact, Kael,” Liam said with a chuckle. “Recruits explore Otherworld all the time on the weekends. There was no reason to jump to conclusions.”

  “I wasn’t jumping to conclusions.” Kael frowned and glanced at the four fae who were watching the exchange with expressions ranging from irritation to anger to distrust. Kael raised his arm and waved at the looming Academy behind him. “Return to your posts.”

  As the four fae began to disperse, each heading toward a different watch tower, Liam dismounted the horse and held out a hand to help me do the same. This time, I only stumbled a little, though I did almost twist my ankle. I was improving?

  “What’s with the armed guards,” Liam asked, gesturing to the retreating fae. “Night doesn’t fall for another few hours.”

  “While you two were having your little joy ride, the Academy has been undergoing a series of attacks from the Redcaps,” Kael said, his voice as icy as his eyes. “Last night, the recruit on Watch Duty in the northwestern tower was attacked and killed.”

  Horror pounded through me. I glanced from Kael to Liam, whose face reflected the same revulsion I felt.

  “But that’s Norah’s tower,” he said, voice on edge. “That’s where she usually stands watch.”

  Kael gave a curt nod. “So, you can see that I wasn’t jumping to conclusions, Liam. The Redcaps appear to want Norah dead. It’s not safe for her to leave the Academy.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  My life at the Academy went from bad to worse after that. Finn, Liam, Rourke, and Kael seemed to think my life was in danger at every turn, and I was forbidden from stepping outside of the Academy walls. That included restricting me from participating in Watch Duty, something I would have once thought I wanted, but I hated that I could no longer breathe in the fresh air of summer and smell the wildflowers that dotted the campus grounds.

  Instead, Kael had taken it upon himself to add some in-depth one-on-one training to my curricula, which meant I spent an extra four hours a day doing coursework. He seemed to think it was the only way to keep me alive, a fact that did little to calm my fears.

  Tonight, we were holed up inside the Academy library. It was almost midnight, and my eyelids were heavier than a Redcap’s paw. He was having me recite, from memory, the various types of shrubbery found in the Winter Court’s lands.

  “There’s the Winter Moonlight,” I said, chin on fisted hand. “It’s a white flower that turns to pink toward the end of winter.”

  “Wrong.” He tapped a finger against the the bandage on his arm, something he’d had only the past several days. I’d been dying to ask him how he got it, but Kael wasn’t the most forthcoming fae I’d met. “It’s called the Winter Moonbeam. Come on, Norah. This isn’t rocket science. You can do better than this.”

  “I’m exhausted,” I said, frowning at him. “And I don’t see how this is at all relevant for fighting Redcaps.”

  He let out an irritated sigh. “Because you need to understand and know your world before you start swinging swords around.”

  “Why are you even helping me?” I fisted my hands and leaned forward. “You act like being in my presence is the most annoying thing in the world. Like you’d rather be anywhere else than training me.”

  “You’re just not what I expected.”

  “Gee, thanks.” I rolled my eyes. “You know what? Neither are you. So, I guess you’re stuck with me.”

  “At least I am trying to prepare you to join my Court,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “You? You act as though you’d rather be frolicking around with Liam in the woods.”

  “Maybe that’s because you left me for dead on a cliff with nothing but a bow and arrow I clearly can’t handle.” I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him. “Of course, maybe that’s what you wanted. That way you wouldn’t be stuck with a mate you don’t want.”

  “This is tedious.” He pushed back his chair and stalked over to the window, peering out into the darkness of summer midnight. His whole body was tense, the back of his neck rippling underneath the soft glow of the library lamps. Of all four of my instructors, Kael had been the hardest to get to know. He was so cold and distant, much more so than the other Winter fae who studied or instructed at the Academy. And it was as if he held all of it against me, in particular.

  It seemed like it was more than just the fact I was a lot different than what he’d wanted.

  After a moment of strained silence, Kael let out a bitter sigh. “The reason I want you to study the plants is because knowing them may come in handy one day. Winter Moonbeam looks a lot like another flower, one that can heal a Redcap bite wound if used quickly enough.” He looked over his shoulder and met my eye with a pained expression. “That one is called Winter Starlight, and it’s very difficult to tell the difference between the two flowers unless they are studied very closely.”r />
  I swallowed hard, my head ringing at his words. “So, it could have saved Bree?”

  “Perhaps.” He pursed his lips. “Perhaps not. Some wounds are too deep and too fatal, but others are...”

  He trailed off as he clenched his hands around the window ledge. That was strange. Had he lost someone to the Redcaps? Had he tried to save them but been too late? They were questions I was dying to ask, but I never would. Not with him. He’d only brush me aside like an irritating fly that wouldn’t stop buzzing around his head.

  And as much as I hated myself for it, I felt a small piece of my heart soften towards him. But only a small one. Because he was still a jerk.

  “Well, can you show me then, please?” I asked. “If there’s something out there that can help save someone who gets attacked, I want to know what it is. Hell, I want to know everything I can about the Redcaps.”

  With a nod, he strode back over to the table and dropped into the chair. His dark eyes met mine, and for a moment, my breath caught. He no longer looked as though he couldn’t stand the sight of me. He almost looked as if...as if the raw depths of his soul were yearning to make me see something no one else could. But then he blinked and sat back.

  “As with everything, there’s a lot you don’t yet know about the Redcaps.” He held up a hand when I began to ask what. “Don’t worry. I’m going to fill you in, but there’s a lot to learn. We’re going to continue with the basics. How to fight them. Then, we’ll get into exactly who and what they are, and why it’s essential to prevent them from taking more lives. For the future of Otherworld.

  I took the books back to my apartment. Sophia’s door was ajar, and her light snore drifted toward me while I tiptoed past the sofa and into my bedroom. Kael had taken me through plant after plant for the entire next hour, pointing out the various properties of each. I had to admit, my eyelids hadn’t been as quite as heavy as before, mostly because I finally understood the importance of what he was trying to teach me.