Spin the Shadows (Dark and Wicked Fae #1) - Cate Corvin Page 0,42

arms, trying to rub the rising goosebumps away, but it was impossible. Jack’s cold aura permeated the tunnel, and my breath rushed between my lips in a cloud.

“M-m-my name is Vanora,” I sneered, trying to hang on to the remains of my terrible nereid accent between my chattering teeth.

Jack tucked his salt-white hair behind his ear and raised an eyebrow, stopping only several feet away from me. Steam rose from the ground under his feet and died out when the ground froze over.

“Cute, but I was listening in at the Market, and you should know the native nereids of Tír fo Thuinn pronounce their f’s with a hint of a v. Your accent is more indicative of Atlantean origins. Perhaps Robin should’ve invested in a little more training before sending you out.”

My teeth clattered together painfully, and there was nowhere to go, unless I wanted to head back towards Calder and away from the exit where Robin would be waiting. “I don’t know any R-R-Robin. I j-j-just want to g-go.”

Jack touched the tunnel one with one long forefinger, freezing it over. He leaned against the spot with his arms crossed over his own chest, cushioned by the spiky frost that burst from the ice, and smirked at me. “But I wanted to speak to you without Robin’s interference, so I think you’ll go nowhere for now.”

He snapped his fingers. Tendrils of ice grew out of the floor around my feet, snaking over my platform heels and climbing around my ankles. They burned like cold fire where they touched my skin.

Another snap, and I felt something like a sticky cobweb being peeled away from my skin from head to toe. I looked down and saw my own warm-toned skin, my dark curls spilling over my shoulders instead of the pale blue silk of the nereid disguise.

“Oh, you fu—” I bit my insult off at the end, teeth still clicking together on every word. “Thank you so much. I really wanted to walk into the Skin Market wearing my real face.”

Jack rubbed his chin contemplatively, looking down at me with a faint crease between his brows. “This is all very curious. Robin has never taken more than a passing interest in his agents, but you… he seems to be quite fond of you. Why might that be, Briallen? What is Robin planning now?”

He abandoned his cushion of clean frost and began to circle me with slow, deliberate steps. “Who are you to him?”

I scoffed, but it was hard to maintain an air of aloofness when I was shivering so hard I was vibrating. “I’m his agent. Nothing more, nothing less. As for what he’s planning, that’s his business and not mine to tell.”

“Such loyalty.” Jack stopped in front of me, only inches away. It was a testament to how brutally cold his aura was that I actually wanted to lean against his warmth just to escape it, even if he was utterly infuriating. “What does he hold over your head to make you so faithful?”

I almost burst out laughing. Would he believe me if I told him six faerie fruits had bound me to Robin? “That’s not your business, either. I work with him because I— I want to be an agent.”

Horror filled me. I’d almost told him it was because I liked Robin. More than liked him. That wasn’t the sort of information the enemy needed.

“Hmm.” Jack began walking again, coming closer on every turn. “I took the liberty of looking into you, Briallen. A dryad from Emain Ablach, living on a Seelie visa… but Emain Ablach is a very insular community. Few enter, and none leave. Given that your mother appears to be one of the Hesperides, I would’ve thought she’d be determined to keep you close to home.”

His pale eyes cut through me like a knife when he stopped again.

I was too shocked to reply at first. I’d told no one who my mother was when I entered Avilion.

Jack was right in deducing that she was one of the Hesperides; in fact, she was the gardener of the Grove of Golden Apples, the protector, the one who decided who was worthy to eat the mythological fruit or not.

“In fact, it’s very interesting that you claim to hate apples, given who you are.” Jack leaned in close and my icy breath touched his face. “Why is that?”

My lip curled over my teeth. “Do you really want to know why?”

“I want to know everything.” Jack sounded almost pleasant, but his glacial