Chapter Three
“He’s waking up.”
A masculine grunt. “Let’s see if he’s even prettier with his eyes open.”
The softer, higher-pitched voice gasped.
“That’sdisgusting,Caom,” it hissed. “He’s one ofthem.”
The other voice snorted. “You say that as though gancanagh have ever been picky, Idony.”
“Still.”
My eyes flew open. I stared up at the purplish-grey sky through a moving canopy of trees that stretched impossibly high above me. I was lying on something soft but scratchy, and I could feel the rolling of old wheels over bumpy ground against my back.
The two voices had fallen silent, but other soft noises reached me. The faint sound of someone playing a pipe up ahead. The clomp of countless feet; some heavy, others quick and light. Leaves rustling. A dog-like bark.
My head was swimming. I struggled up onto straightened arms and blinked at the two strange faces staring back at me; one feminine and disdainful, the other masculine and rakish.
“Gorgeous,” the male purred, leaning closer. Hooded eyes the colour of burnished copper, framed by impossibly long, thick lashes, swept over every inch of me.
“Who the fuck are you?” I mumbled, my voice slurred. Had I been drinking? Where was I?
I blinked, my brows pinched, and tried to look around.
Was I… in a cart?
In the forest?
The male chuckled, sharing a glance with the pinch-faced female.
“I’m Caom, pretty boy.” He flashed me brilliantly white teeth. The symmetry of his face was unnatural. His blond hair was longish, almost reaching his shoulders, and it fell into his eyes and framed his face messily.
He gestured at the female. “This is Idony.”
That told me nothing. I eyed them. Caom had his long, toned legs crossed as he sat at the other end of the cart, a bright red apple in his hand, which he brought to his mouth and bit into while never taking his eyes from me. He was wearing what looked like tight leather trousers, but the dark green material was soft and worn. His torso and feet were bare.
Idony wore the same trousers and a loose brown shirt with billowing sleeves that swayed as she stabbed a long bone needle through a piece of rough brown fabric. Her hair was a dark red and her eyes were big and tilted and solid green, with no whites.
I stared, vaguely remembering seeing eyes like that before. Years ago.
“What am I… Where…” My voice was hoarse as I looked around again, trying to sit up more.
Dark forest stretched in every direction. A tall, slender creature with short, wheat-coloured hair stared at me where they walked behind the cart. They shot me a rabid grin, sharp teeth crowding their mouth. I quickly looked away as Caom snorted.
“Still drunk from crossing over,” he muttered to Idony. “At least that should make the rest of the journey easier.”
“He shouldn’t have woken up yet,” she snapped. “Not until we’d made it back to our land.”
Caom rolled his eyes. “Well heisawake, so I suppose we should entertain him.”
He chucked his half-eaten apple out of the cart and slunk forwards, making me tense up.
“Shall I calm your nerves, pretty boy?” he purred, reaching out with impossibly long fingers to touch my chest.
I slapped his hand away, brows furrowing at how weak and sluggish my movements were. Had they said I was drunk? I didn’t remember getting drunk.
“Tell me who the fuck you are,” I said with a bit more force, heaving myself back as far away from them as possible, until my back rested against the side of the cart. I scrubbed a hand over my face.