Chapter Four
His words,along with the regret in which he’d delivered them, humanized him in a way nothing else had. They also caused a wave of shame to wash over me. Could this fey honestly care what I thought of him?
“There’s nothing wrong with your eyes,” I managed. “And I’m very sorry I gave you that impression. It wasn’t intended.”
He grunted, stood, and offered his hand.
I glanced up at him in surprise. Intentional or not, his gesture felt like a test to see if I meant what I’d said. However, he quickly turned his head, averting his gaze from my wide-eyed focus. Another nudge of shame prompted me to accept his hand.
My fingers trembled as they slid against his warm palm, and his hold remained light while he helped me to my feet. As soon as I was steady, though, I tugged my hand free.
Brooke watched me with sad disappointment while all three fey did their best not to look at me at all.
“All of the food is in the kitchen,” Azio said. “Go look and tell me if any of it interests you.”
Likely, it would all interest me, but I didn’t say that. Instead, I removed my shoes and hurried across the room to go through his cupboards. He hadn’t been kidding about all the food being there. Where most houses had one or two cabinets dedicated to food and the rest chock-full of dishes to prepare them, Azio had done the opposite.
Everything was neatly organized—cans with cans, boxes with boxes, bags with bags, and so forth. My gaze wandered over the quantity in awe. I hadn’t seen so much food in one place since my last trip to the grocery store months ago.
I trailed my fingers over an unopened two-pound bag of rice and the dried beans underneath it. Together, they would feed everyone in the house for two or three days. One was hardly worth the clothes I had, never mind both.
A grey hand reached around me and pulled both bags from the cupboard.
“What else would you like?”
I shook my head but didn’t turn around. He was too close.
“I can’t take more. That’s already too much.” I opened the bag and started placing the clothes on the counter. Three onesies and three sleepers.
He picked up one item and smoothed it out.
“Caden seems so small already. It is hard to believe they come out even smaller.”
“It’s a good thing they do, considering where they come out of,” Brooke said from behind me with a laugh.
All three fey made odd sounds, and I glanced at Azio, who was staring at the clothes with a deeply troubled expression.
“Angel said there will be much pain and blood,” he said, without looking at me. “Shax is very afraid for her. Many of us are. We want children, but not at the risk of our females.”
“There are risks all around us. There could be another breach. We could get sick. Run out of food. Or wood. Or water. There are so many ways we could die. I’d rather die trying to have a baby than not try at all,” I said, staring at the clothes.
“You would like children?”
“More than anything. But sometimes, some things just aren’t meant to be.”
There was a long moment of silence, which I interrupted.
“Are you interested in trading?”
“Yes. I will take the tiny clothes in exchange for these bags.”
“Thank you. There are more clothes if you’re interested.”
“I am.”
“Hey, Azio. They typically don’t have a midday meal at her house. Would you care if we ate here?”
I turned, staring at Brooke in shock at her blatant self-imposition.