Fates Altered

by Jules Barnard

  As she huddled inside the rough, single-room outbuilding she’d found on a large plot of land during the early morning hours of her third night on the run, Theodora’s chest felt heavy. She’d crossed a good distance. At least a hundred and fifty miles separated her from the Dawson University stronghold where her people resided. No human could travel from the university to the middle of California’s farmland on foot this quickly, but Fae were stronger, faster. In her realm, running was often the preferred form of travel. And if she could make that distance, so could her brethren on Earth.

  This morning, she’d slept a few hours, then spent the late afternoon attempting to come up with a plan for how to survive on Earth without being found by her kind. She’d made little progress. The rash decision to leave Tirnan might prove disastrous. So many cars on Earth, the streets overcrowded, which was why she remained in the rural areas. As much as she loved animals, she didn’t know the ones in this realm. In her haste to escape her father and Adelmar, she’d thought only of the distance Earth would provide between her and her bridegroom. Among the greedy, shortsighted humans, she feared she might suffer a fate worse than marriage to one she didn’t love.

  Humans were weaker, but if enough of them attacked, Theodora wouldn’t be able to overcome them. What would happen if she betrayed her forefathers and accidently revealed her kind existed, simply because of her presence in this land? Some humans knew, but they’d either been glamoured into forgetting, or they had reasons not to make it known. Unfortunately, Theodora’s gift wasn’t glamoury.

  She glanced down at the gold band on her wrist. It wasn’t a gift, exactly. She’d bartered for it with her brother, Beortric, in exchange for precious herbs that were difficult to obtain in New Kingdom. The bracelet helped hide her magic and, therefore, her presence from those of her kind. It had been a fair exchange. The herbs Beortric had wanted would have taken him days, possibly weeks, to obtain without the help of Theodora’s animal friends. She’d delivered them to her brother in a matter of hours, with only a minimal amount of canine drool on them.

  Beortric often had his head bent over some lab experiment, but she could count on him to help her with this. He’d married for love, and though he never said so, she suspected he knew she wished to do the same. Quite possibly, he even understood why she’d wanted the bracelet, which made her love him even more. He’d given it knowing her intentions.

  She still needed to be careful—the bracelet wasn’t foolproof. But if she hid from Fae and human alike, then what? Would she forever be alone? Even more distressing, she couldn’t shake the feeling that despite the bracelet, her father would find her. He was a powerful man and she’d taken a great risk in disobeying him.

  Theodora stared out the small window of the room she’d slept in, filled with tools secured to the walls and on shelves. The framed edges of the window were roughened, as though someone had cut it out as an afterthought. She watched the sky darken, her worries growing with the setting of the sun. Soon she would leave her hiding spot and once again search the land for some way to survive in this strange place. Perhaps she would travel toward the mountains in the east—

  Voices drifted in the evening air.

  Male voices, by the sound of them.

  Theodora’s heart raced. Fae realm or Earth realm, why must men traipse through her hiding places?

  She rose abruptly from the rough wooden floor, her body tensing. If these men chose to enter the room, they would see her. There was no place to hide. Only the one door provided egress, and the small window wasn’t wide enough for a child to get through, let alone a grown woman the height of a human man.

  She considered the thick cloth folded in the corner. She’d used the cloth in the early morning for warmth, and it had barely covered her shoulders. Even if she curled into a ball beneath it, the floors were nearly bare. She would simply look like a tall woman hiding under a tarp.

  The door jerked open and one of the men stepped over the threshold, holding a metal box in his hand and looking over his shoulder. “Tony, you need to chill. I’m not going out. I’m tired and I’ve got too much work tomorrow.”

  Theodora grasped the leather satchel at her waist, her other palm covering the dagger tucked in a hidden pocket at her breast, preparing for…she wasn’t certain what. In her land, she could very well be facing a battle. Trespassers in their kingdom weren’t tolerated. But humans were different. She wouldn’t use her magic unless absolutely necessary. She stood there, attempting to calm her breathing.

  “You’re like a eunuch, man,” came the other male voice from outside. “Get out and have a little fun.”

  “Why the hell do you want to go out? You’ve got a new baby and Leti at home. Leti will string you up by the balls if she finds you trying to get some.”

  These men had a different accent than the English spoken in her land, but the intent was clear. It was as if she’d stepped out of her hiding place in the guardroom of the palace and into a different lion’s den.

  Did all men have nothing better to do than talk about female conquests?

  “Jackass, it’s not me I’m thinking about. Of course I’d never cheat on Leti. I’m offering to be your wingman so that you can hook up. What do you say?”

  The man before her huffed out a breath and his head turned slightly forward. And then, as if he sensed someone there, his gaze snapped to her, his body going very still.

  After a second, his shoulders relaxed. He took in her face, the cap she wore on her head, then all the way down to her boots.

  A shorter man stepped in, pushing the other man aside. “What’s up? Cat got your tongue, or are you finally relenting? Please tell me you relent, because you need to get laid—” His voice cut off as he took in Theodora across the room.

  He looked quizzically at his silent friend, and his mouth twisted into a wry grin. “Don’t want to go out, huh? You sly dog, you’ve been holding out on me.”

  Both men blocked the exit. There was no escape. How odd that she could break out of a fortified Fae palace, yet be trapped in a human shelter smaller than a closet. In her defense, the Fae protected against entrance, not exit. Even so, how was she to get away without revealing her magic?

  Her choices were to attack with her dagger or let them make the first move.

  Snapping out of his shock at the sight of the beautiful stranger in his shed, Alex hit his brother square in the chest with the back of his hand. “Shut it, Tony.”

  He carefully set the toolbox he’d been carrying on the ground, never taking his eyes off the girl. The way her gaze darted to the side, she looked like an animal ready to spring at any moment. He couldn’t look away.

  Her face was perfect—pale skin, high cheekbones, rosy, plump lips. Only the fire behind her moss-green eyes implied a hidden strength to the gentle beauty. She was tall and willowy like a supermodel… Why was a supermodel hiding in his shed?

  “Who is she, man?” Tony stage-whispered.

  Alex shoved his brother out. “Go home. I’ll call you later.”

  “But—”

  “Just do it,” he growled.

  Alex didn’t know why, but he felt the urge to protect the girl—woman, he corrected himself, though she was at the very least a young woman. Alex was almost six feet in height, but this girl had a good inch on him, though only half his width—all the Rosales men had broad shoulders. Regardless of her height, Alex didn’t need his jackass of a brother frightening her any more than he suspected she already was.

  “Fine,” his brother said. “But you better call or I’ll sic Leti on you. You know how she likes to gossip. And don’t think I’m not telling her who I saw hiding in your tool shed.”

  His brother grumbled about stashing hot women and some other nonsense that was lost on Alex. Because there was something entirely unusual about the girl’s eyes. The color was beautiful—that mossy green—but they were so clear that they appeared bottomless. And the intent behind them took Alex off guard.

  Women in his h
ometown never saw the real man. They flirted, they leered, but they never saw the person he was on the inside. This woman barely checked him out, so intent was she on his gaze and any movements he made. It was as though his family’s reputation meant nothing to her.

  Alex’s father ran Old Bob’s land—the most profitable farm in the Central Valley. His father had built a nice living over the last thirty years, and Tony and Alex had taken up the business too, along with the notoriety that position meant in these parts. Alex and his family weren’t rich by any means, but other than Old Bob, no one around here was. Still, men respected the Rosaleses, and women wanted a piece of the stability he and his brother could afford. Not to mention, women seemed to like the way they looked.

  At twenty-four, Alex was tired of shallow intentions. He wanted someone to see the man, not the attractive breadwinner. He wouldn’t mind having a wife someday. Someday. After he’d secured his family’s future and fully taken over management of the farm from his father. More importantly, he wanted to find a woman who cared about the person he was and not simply the money and security he could provide. That was why this girl’s genuine gaze stunned him. Off his jaded ass.

  There was no hint she knew of him or cared one bit what he looked like. In fact, she stared at him like he was a nasty insect that had crawled into the shed.

  “I’m Alex,” he said, trying to break the silence and ease her mind. She’d pulled out a nasty-looking knife, and he got the impression she intended to use it. On him. “What’s your name?”

  She parted her full lips of the prettiest pale rose, but no sound came out, as if she hadn’t spoken in a good long while and found the effort a challenge.

  What had happened to her?

  With her hair tucked up in some kind of wool cap, the delicate features of her face and blond eyebrows appeared ethereal. Her layered clothes draped in a strange and foreign way, but she didn’t look as haggard as he’d expect if she were homeless. And she didn’t look injured.

  “Theodora. My name is Theodora,” she said.

  A frisson of awareness ran down Alex’s spine. Her voice was more beautiful than her face, and that was saying something. She had an accent he couldn’t place—British, but not.

  “Theodora, are you okay? I mean, you’re not hurt or anything, are you?”

  Her shoulders straightened and she seemed to loosen her hold on the knife. “I am healthy.”

  He rubbed his forehead. “Good, that’s good.” Then he peered around the space where he kept his tools on shelves and pegged to the walls. He spotted the folded drop cloth in the corner, which was a damn sight more orderly than when he’d tossed it there yesterday. “Let me ask you something, and don’t take this the wrong way, but…did you sleep here last night?”

  He studied her calm expression that conflicted with the tension of her other hand still clasped around a small pouch at her waist.

  She nodded slowly.

  “Okay.” Shit. “Well, you can’t stay here.” She sucked in a sharp breath, and he held out his hand to stay her. “No, I mean, this is no place for you to sleep. The valley gets cold at night. You’ll freeze to death.” An exaggeration, but he couldn’t stand the idea of her sleeping in a shed. He assumed she was in some sort of trouble if she’d needed to in the first place. And carried a knife.

  “If you don’t mind my staying another night,” she said, “I don’t mind the cold. My clothes are warm.”

  She didn’t use puppy-dog eyes to manipulate him, yet her honesty was ten times more powerful.

  “Theodora—” He stopped and thought twice about pleading with her. She didn’t know him, and she didn’t appear to trust him. Not with that knife still out, or the strange pouch she clung to like it was a weapon. He couldn’t fault her for protecting herself. But he needed her to trust him if he was going to help her. He changed tactics. “My name’s Alexander, but everyone calls me Alex. Does everyone call you Theodora?”

  Her gaze darted to the side, as if she didn’t understand the question. Then recognition shone in her eyes. “My brother calls me Theda—when he wishes me to do something for him.”

  Alex bit back a grin. Wherever her family was from, the sibling dynamics at least were the same as around here.

  She couldn’t stay another night in the shed for various reasons. That his boss wouldn’t allow it and because it wasn’t safe were the biggest concerns. And he knew of only one place close by where he could keep her safe and figure out what had happened to her and how to help.

  “Well, Theda, I’d like to ask you to do something too, but only because I’m concerned for your safety out here. What do you think about coming back to my place?” He rubbed his forehead again and continued quickly. “I wouldn’t normally recommend going home with a strange man, but I’m a good guy. Promise.” He crossed his fingers over his heart, and her brow furrowed in confusion.

  “The thing is,” he continued, “I’d feel terrible knowing you were out here all night in the cold. I’d have to camp outside the shed to make sure you were okay, and then I’d be cold. So really, you’d be doing me a favor. My father, and my brother and his wife, live in houses right next door—”

  “Yes.” She squeezed the pouch at her waist again. “I will go with you.”

  3

  A man she didn’t know suggested she stay with him, and she leapt with both feet. Had she lost her mind?

  The fears Theda had lived with over the last few days—of being alone for the rest of her life or worse, caught by her people—were to blame. Alex’s offer seemed like the perfect way to become a part of this new world without drawing too much attention. And somehow, she trusted him.

  Imperious and arrogant summed up most male Fae, but Alex didn’t seem like the men she knew, which was a surprise, given the negative way her people referred to humans. The conversation she’d overheard between Alex and the other man had helped her decide on whether to trust him. He hadn’t been interested in hunting down women, and her instincts told her he was a good man, just as he’d claimed. Oh, she didn’t trust him completely, and she hadn’t lifted her hand off the magical allon at her waist, but she believed he meant to keep her safe for the night.

  “It’s getting late. Better follow me,” he said, and stepped out of the shack.

  Alex stood by while she exited the small storage room, and then he circled back to the shed.

  Theda edged quickly to the side.

  He glanced at her skittish movements, but didn’t remark on them. He pulled out keys and locked the small room she’d slept in. It hadn’t been locked the night before, and perhaps he was correcting his mistake.

  In her realm, Fae men would assume a woman was his for the taking after finding her in his quarters. But Alex appeared concerned, not controlling or calculating. He’d seemed uncomfortable asking her to sleep in his quarters for the night, which was another reason she’d accepted. His concern for her welfare appeared sincere.

  It had been a long time since Theodora’s wishes were taken into consideration. It surprised her that the human male had.

  She watched Alex make his way to a green vehicle—squat with large tires, and covered in mud with a large crack across the front glass. She’d seen cars while traveling these last few days in the Earth realm, and now it appeared she was about to ride in one.

  Fae powers weren’t only genetic, they were strongest around the energy of other Fae, as well as Fae land. Cars polluted. To disrupt the unity of the land could be disastrous. Which was why there were no cars in Tirnan.

  Alex opened one of the doors and eyed her. When Theda didn’t move, he walked around the front of the vehicle and took a seat behind the wheel that made the car turn. “You still coming?” he called.

  She walked toward the open door and lowered herself to the seat.

  He seemed to be waiting for something else. When she peered over, he reached across her chest and closed the door next to her.

  Right. Close the door, Theda.

  She shook her h
ead, her heart hammering at the warmth from his arm where it had crossed her body. This man smelled good, like crisp forest air.

  He started the motor and rolled down a dirt road. The sun had nearly set, an orange sliver above the hazy, dark valley floor. He drove over a rut, and she braced her hands on the front console.

  He peered at her from the corner of his eye, a smile on his face. “You okay there?”

  “Yes, why do you ask?” She stared straight ahead, watching for any more body-rattling dips in the road.

  “Well, you’re holding on pretty tight, and I’m driving five miles an hour. You have been in a car before, right?” His chuckle died when she didn’t answer immediately.

  “No,” she finally said. There were some things she couldn’t hide, and maybe if he thought her from someplace obscure, these things wouldn’t seem out of the ordinary. “The town I’m from is—provincial.”

  Alex’s jaw seemed to firm as he peered ahead. “Theda, are people looking for you?”

  She turned fully to take him in, her first panicked thought—that he knew her secrets.

  But he couldn’t know of her defection. Still, his interest concerned her.

  “You’re not wanted by the police or anything, are you?” he asked.

  She let out a sigh. This she could answer. “No, I’m not in trouble with the law.” She hesitated, then said, “I’ve left my home. I wasn’t—happy there.”

  “Okay.” He nodded as if satisfied with her explanation, though he continued to glance at her with worry in his eyes. “Do you have friends? Someone we can call? The brother you mentioned, maybe?”

  She stared straight ahead, her heart sinking. “There is no one.”

  Alex didn’t know how he felt about this girl agreeing to stay the night with him. Sure, women had come home with him before, no questions asked, but they were from his hometown or the town over. Everyone knew everyone around here. This was different. Theda didn’t know him from Adam. She could have asked to see his driver’s license or to be introduced to his father, but she hadn’t. She’d agreed without question.