Free Veil of Shadows by Jennifer Armintrout Page B

wore expressions of smug hatred, of ill intent. Some of pity. They felt sympathy now?

    The door they had entered the night of their arrival was open. Through the portal, Cedric glimpsed sky, and farther, over the expanse of sea, a thin, blue-gray line on the horizon. Land. Éire.

    Recognition of the place beat through him. It was a shimmering jewel, a cradle of magic. It was not his home, not the only place that held magic, but it drew them all there, to the place the Old Gods chose as their throne on Earth.

    They pushed Cerridwen ahead of him, toward the open door. She dug her heels in, and the Human behind her laughed. “Time to go, sweetheart,” he cackled, and pushed her through the door.

    Cedric broke free from the hands holding him, fueled by a morbid flash of memory that replaced Dika.s drowned face with Cerridwen.s, blue and pale beneath the water.

    “Don.t worry, you.re going, too,” said the Human who.d pushed Cerridwen out. Hands seized him again, and he saw through the door that the surface of the water was dotted with boats. In the one directly below the door, a Faery helped Cerridwen to stand, and the craft rocked from side to side. One shove, and Cedric fell, as she had, crashing to the floor of the wooden craft.

    “Human slime!” The Faery in the boat shouted up at the ship as she helped Cedric to his feet, as well. She turned to him, violet eyes wide with empathy. “Are you all right?”

    “You would know, as well as I,” Cedric said, nodding.

    “You recognize me for what I am.” The Faery tossed matted, sand-colored ropes of hair over her shoulder. Her skin color matched; she looked like a stretch of desert landscape, amethyst eyes nestled in the dunes. “That.s good. Proves you haven.t become totally Human, living below them.”

    He opened his mouth to tell her that Humans had treated him far better than his own kind, of late, but Cerridwen spoke before he could. “What does she mean, you recognize her? Have you been to Queene Danae.s Court before?”

    The Faery.s sly eyes moved from Cedric to Cerridwen and back, a smirk bending her lips. Proceed carefully, Cerridwen, he willed silently. “She is an Empath. It is a gift some Faeries receive, the ability to feel the emotions of others. Right now, she can feel our fear, and our confusion.”

    “Among other things.” The Empath darted her hand out, faster than a lightning strike, and grasped his wrist. “Your anger. You do not like me.”

    “You have not made a very good impression.” He nodded to Cerridwen. “Guard yourself. Danae would not have sent this one without a reason.”

    The Faery smiled; she admired him now. He did not need the gift of Empathy to tell him that. She glanced at their bound hands, then turned back to the ship. “You have given me prisoners. Where is Bauchan?”

    A Human sailor leaned out of the door, scratching his head below the brim of his knit cap.
    “Dead. Them killed him.”

    The Empath turned, her face twisted in anger. “Is this true?”

    “We will discuss the matter with your Queene, and no one else,” Cedric said, seating himself on the narrow bench in the middle of the boat.

    “You will tell me, or I will dash your brains into the sea!” She raised the oar she held, as if preparing to make good her word.

    Cerridwen still stood, and she did not shrink at the threat. “He speaks for me, and you will not harm him.”

    The Faery sneered. “And who are you, who addresses her captor so?”

    Cerridwen.s back straightened. If her hands had not been bound, she would have looked almost royal. “I am Queene Cerridwen of Mabb.s lineage, descended from Queene Ayla and King Garret, brother of Mabb, daughter of the first Faery Queene and King.”

    The Faery.s expression did not change, and she turned to Cedric. “No wonder she is so afraid.”

    The Empath said no more as she slid the oar through the water and pulled the boat away from the ship, to the other side of the congregation of