Veil of Shadows by Jennifer Armintrout Page A

canopy of the trees, the darkness was almost as thick as it had been inside the crevice of the cliff. There was no road and he resolved to go slowly, to find some excuse to stay closer to her, to keep any of their guards from exacting their own justice in the cover of the forest.

    Anyone could go missing in the depths of the old oak forest, he realized with a shock. He could grab Cerridwen and disappear into the night before anyone would see them.

    Just as he had the thought, a guard called out, “Torches!” and immediately the woods were illuminated with flames carried by Danae.s soldiers. He had missed his chance. It was just as well. If what Amergin told him was correct—and it likely was—there would be no place on Éire that was not controlled by Faeries, and those Faeries would be controlled by Danae. He had to accept that they were trapped for now.

    As they moved deeper into the forest, signs of inhabitance began to reveal themselves. Light appeared from torches planted in the ground. A sudden, crude road wound through the trees, and the shadows of bodies crossing it ahead of their party stretched impossibly tall on the ground. A cracking twig, and his gaze snapped to a slender Human slipping between the trees, a jug of water balanced on her shoulder.

    “Humans? You said there were none to the East,” Cedric said, keeping his voice low as he followed behind Amergin.

    “I said they had not managed to keep a hold on the island.” His jaw set hard, angry, the sharpness made more severe by the flickering torchlight. “They are slaves. They aren.t even the children of Éire, mostly. Many of them came here, thinking the Fae would welcome them. It.s as though they paid no attention to the events happening around them for the past two hundred years, preferring instead to believe what Humans have always believed about your kind.”

    Cedric did not have to ask what that was. Humans had believed, might always believe, that the Faery folk were harmless, mischievous…childlike. They took Human-drawn conclusions about the nature of Faeries and believed it as truth, made the Fae into a race of toothless, even friendly beings who wished nothing more than to enchant the lives of Humans.

    He stamped down his rage as the water bearer passed by, unchained, unbranded. “Slaves?”

    Amergin nodded, appreciation glittering in his shrewd eyes. “To their own desire to touch the beautiful, the favorites of the Gods.”

    The Humans deserved their fate, Cedric decided, but he would not say such a thing to Amergin, who yet had some feeling for the creatures. Although, it was ironic: the Fae emulated Humans, and the Humans worshiped the Fae. No wonder the Veil tore, with everyone clamoring to grab hold of beauty.

    The road led to a village. The dwellings were simple, constructed out of wood, with thatched roofs. They were small and placed in groups of threes, each triad arranged around a common area with a fire and cooking pot. There was a familiar, unpleasant smell to the place.

    “The Human quarter,” Cedric said, and Amergin nodded, though he had not sought confirmation from him.

    Humans, far too happy to be slaves, stopped in their nightly rituals to watch the new Faeries pour into their camp. Some of them cheered, others held children on their shoulders to see the spectacle.

    “Is that the Faery Queene?” a Human male called to the guards. “The one who wants to take Danae.s throne?”

    Though he had not believed Bauchan.s insistence that they had come to the Lightworld meaning no harm, the blatant confirmation of it turned Cedric.s hands into stone fists and pushed every rational thought from his mind. It would take considerable willpower not to kill Danae with his bare hands.

    He looked back to Cerridwen. The guards treated her more roughly now, shoving her more often, shouting at her, all a performance to bring the Humans to a frenzy. It had been Danae.s plan to display her might over the Underground Faery