Page 197 of A Sanctuary from Shadow
And you thought he trusted you, Amy.
“Have I given you enough space to explain everything?” Myrrdin appeared, spurring Pete and I to distance ourselves.
“Aye.” Clearing his throat, Pete looked from me toward the huts. “Everything pertinent.”
Myrrdin gestured toward the eternal dusk. “Let’s find you a bed for the night, Amy.”
Yes, let’s.
We all headed into the heart of town, me shrinking like a violet as people stopped and stared.
“She can sleep in my hut,” Pete told Myrrdin. “She’ll be the most comfortable there.”
Hishut.Made sense, I supposed. He’d need rest after his journeys to Eden. I guessed they happened often.
“Presumed as much,” Myrrdin said to Pete.
“I don’t want to inconvenience you.” I shook my head when both males glanced back at me. “You can have your hut, Pete. I’ll be comfortable anywhere. I mean, it’s only for a night. Right?”
Pete turned away—not ready to tell me what we were doing there, it seemed.
Myrrdin side-eyed his acquaintance. I couldn’t say yet if they were friends.
“I’ll be fine,” Pete said. “You take it, Shorty.”
I chewed my lip. “Well—okay. But only if you’re sure.”
Their silence concluded the matter.
Pete’s hut was by far the largest in the town—a Tahitian dream inside, like he’d paid for the diamond timeshare package. Its roof was thatched into a dome, fae asters flickering in its rafters and around a spectacular skylight, where smoke from a crackling firepit escaped. A lone window stood across from the doorless entry, draped in flower blooms woven together by their stems—gorgeous, but impractical as curtains. Through that window flowed a delightful, cool breeze.
I squelched upon a spongy moss carpet—naturally grown, not placed like sod. It crept from the floor up onto a palm stump table topped by a clay bowl and pitcher. Wooden stools surrounded it. The bamboo wardrobe beside the dining nook housed blankets, towels, and cloths for washing. I half expected to find hotel toiletries and tissue packs. And a mint on the pillows topping the oh-so-generous, fluffy, blanketed mattress before me on a shallow platform. I wanted to squeal when I saw it.
“Will this suffice, Amy?” Myrrdin asked, though I thought the answer apparent.
“Uh, yeah. This’ll be good.”
Pete gestured outside. “If you should need anything, you’ll find me next door. The nearest privy is just down the path behind the hut. No need to gather leaves—there should already be some stocked.”
I removed my backpack and set it on one of the stools around the table. Sionna moseyed over to me, sniffing the floor in search of crumbs. Finding none, she snorted in displeasure and tramped straight to the mattress. After several windups, she balled up amidst the covers to lick her damp paws.
“I’ll find you some dry bedding and scrounge up some food—for you both.” Pete frowned at Sionna, who evidently still had him on her shit list. “Shouldn’t be long. I’ll just have a brief chat with Myrrdin first.”
He then looked to his acquaintance, something heated in his gaze, and gestured toward the door.
Myrrdin’s lips hitched subtly at one corner. “‘Til tomorrow, Amy.” He then ducked back into the chirping night behind the harbinger, who’d stalked out first, stiff-backed, like he was ready to pick some bones.
Thirty-Two
Iawokefacedownacrossthe pillowy mattress, naked beneath soft sheets. My hair was wild, drool pooled from my mouth, and several of the dates I’d devoured before bed were stuck to my cheek. It was glorious.
Purring as the warm, floral breeze fluttered past the curtains, I pushed onto my knees beside the black and tan snuff hound still snoring beside me. Reaching to snuggle her, I turned and found a faelet in a pair of leafy shorts watching me from the foot of my bed.
I scrabbled for my sheet, clutching it over my nudity.
“Hallo!” The faelet waved. He was short and skinny with round, transparent wings fluttering at his back. His hair was raven black and styled in a pixie cut, his matching brows slanting sharply down over eyes that sharply slanted up. With a button nose, a dimpled chin, and round, freckled cheeks, he was the cutest thing I’d seen since the cantir. I just prayed he wasn’t also fiending to make me breakfast.
“Hi,” I finally answered, wondering why he was there.
