Fear of Fire and Shadow (The Fade #1) - Samantha Young Page 0,66

in me that he didn’t. “You do love her, don’t you?”

My breath caught.

Wolfe sighed and walked over to the table. Slowly he placed his brandy snifter on it and then straightened, reaching for Winter in a comforting gesture. “I do. I love her.”

At his pronouncement, I thought I might be sick. The blood rushed out of my face and seemed to abandon my body. No. No.

I quietly backed away from the door and snuck down the hallway before I raced to my room. For a while, I just stared at nothing, balancing on the edge of my bed.

Wolfe loved me.

Wolfe.

Loved.

Me.

How had this happened?

I thought of the way I had hurt when he told me what Syracen had done to him, what the sight of the horseshoe brand did to my heart. Of the way I had come to enjoy arguing with him so long as it meant being in his company. Of the way my stomach flipped when he turned his wicked smile on me, and the way my body came alive when he kissed me. Of the ache, deep and gnawing, in my chest when I thought he and Winter had resumed their affair.

Oh, haven’s no. I closed my eyes, frustrated tears clogging my burning throat. I couldn’t love him back. I just couldn’t.

There were too many obstacles between us. Too much history. Too much hurt. The blood of the man who had destroyed my family ran in his veins. I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t betray my family by marrying Wolfe. A Glava. I thought of Selene and her prediction. Well, I’d prove her wrong.

From now on, I would put a world of distance between me and Wolfe. Soon he’d stop loving me. He’d be fine. He was a catch. He could have any woman he wanted.

And me?

I only wanted one thing, and Wolfe kept getting between me and it.

Focus. Utter focus on retrieving the Somna plant.

Saving Haydyn. Just the thought of her name. Haydyn. I knew it would help me keep Wolfe at a distance and give me the strength to go it alone.

Chapter 20

He knew what I was doing. The frustration and anguish on Wolfe’s face when I gave him formal, clipped responses to his queries almost undid me. But I chanted Haydyn over and over in my head to keep me strong. And after the third hour, Wolfe finally glowered like he really hated me and sped off in front.

Feeling Lieutenant Chaeron’s curious study, I stared straight ahead, my eyes blank, features expressionless. The quicker Wolfe forgot about me, the better it would be for all of us.

Despite the horror of the significance behind our journey across Phaedra, despite the terrible close calls I’d already had with the world’s less civilized creatures, and despite the turmoil I felt over Wolfe, I actually looked forward to venturing into the coal mining district of Daeronia. I’d heard it was a close-knit community of friendly people.

As we trotted into the first village on the main trade road, I was more than a little surprised by the chill in the eyes of the villagers we passed. It was dusk, and people strode quickly to their homes, covered in soot and grime. Others, clean but still dressed ruggedly, traveled in the opposite direction toward the mine. But all of them stared up at us with hard eyes and bristling bodies.

I gaped at them in confusion, drinking in their squalid little homes and their gray little world.

No one stopped to greet us, and Wolfe, who rode a few yards in front, made no attempt to stop to speak with them. The lines of his own body were stiff, and I noted his hand sat on the hilt of his sword. Swallowing nervously, I kept my eyes forward. We were in the southernmost village in Daeronia. It was more than possible that the evocation had waned here.

Sharing a glance with the lieutenant, we shifted the horses at a faster trot. Wolfe crossed a small wooden bridge on the other side of town and stopped in the clearing beyond it. He turned, and the lieutenant and I did the same. None of us said a word. We just waited for the entire Guard to make it through the village. When the last two men trotted over the bridge and joined us, I finally exhaled.

“That was chilly,” I said to Chaeron.

He answered with a brittle nod and looked over at Wolfe in question.

Wolfe sighed. “It’s nearly dark. We should camp here. I think we’ll be fine