Lies and Prophecy by Marie Brennan

Author:Marie Brennan [Brennan, Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: alternate history, romance, Fantasy, college, sidhe, Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Book View Cafe

Chapter Eight

My shoulders tightened as the trees closed around us. Sure, this was a good place to avoid being overheard—by other students. “Are we safe out here?” I asked as we followed a path deeper into the Arboretum.

Julian nodded. “We’ll be fine.”

How exactly did he draw that conclusion? Trust him, I told myself. At least we weren’t going anywhere near the patch of riverbank we’d destroyed. Our footsteps crunched softly in the snow, leaving a trail anyone could follow. But the sidhe probably didn’t need that kind of sign.

I exhaled and tried to calm my nerves. Julian had his hands in his pockets and was studying the path intently, not looking at me.

He’d brought me out here for a reason, but he seemed reluctant to get to it. My patience for tiptoeing around subjects, however, had grown thin lately. “What did you want to talk about?”

Julian shot me a startled look, then shrugged. The gesture looked false. “I wanted to ask you when you thought Falcon would be back. I … I need to speak to him.”

If that was all, I’d hock my tarot cards and take up a career as an accountant. “Bullshit, Julian. You have something to tell me. Delaying won’t make it any easier.”

Julian ran both hands through his hair, looking pained. We’d stopped walking, and the setting of white snow and black trees around us made everything just the slightest bit unreal, as if this was one of the dreams I couldn’t remember.

“It’s … complicated,” he said. “I don’t know if I can even explain it to you. There’s so much you don’t understand—”

“Try me,” I said, through my teeth. “Maybe I will understand. Unless what you really mean is that you’re trying to protect me from something. If so—for gods’ sakes, Julian, we’ve been over that. At the rate things are going, I’ll find out sooner or later. And if it’s bad, I’d rather hear it from you.”

“It’s not bad,” Julian said. “It’s just—gods.” He slapped the trunk of a tree, and as if that had opened a floodgate, the words began to rush out of him. “You don’t know what it was like, Kim, talking to them, learning from them. Not a light bulb turning on—a light from the heavens coming down like a blessing, making everything clear. I know what I am, now. What all of us are. I had some clues, and the Seelie had others, and together they made answers.”

What he was? Julian was a wilder. But it was true, we didn’t really know why they were born—what confluence of genetic and environmental factors produced children like that. I took a deep, steadying breath. “Julian, please, stop being vague. Let me know what you learned. Is there any reason I shouldn’t know?”

He laughed, but not in mirth. The corners of his mouth twisted, as if he had tasted something bitter. “No, not really. You’ll never look at me the same again … but it won’t do you any lasting damage.”

For the briefest moment, I questioned my determination.

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