The Spy and the Lady by Deborah Jay

Author:Deborah Jay
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: epic fantasy, sword and sorcery, magic, elves and fae, werecat
Publisher: Deborah Jay
Published: 2017-03-20T16:00:00+00:00

Rustam’s saddle bags jingled with recovered jewellery and coins. The gnome had been only too pleased for him to remove the lot, and Rustam wondered idly how much of it he would be able to reunite with its owners. With nothing else pressing going on in his life, that seemed like a worthwhile use of his time.

He glanced down at his travelling companion, walking alongside Nightstalker. The glossy crown of Frieda’s head gleamed in the bright midday sun, golden strands lacing the multicoloured brown hues of her lustrous mane.

Hair, Rustam corrected himself. At least while she’s in this form.

Reunited with her belongings, Frieda now wore a practical pair of leggings and a loose shirt, though she’d chosen to stuff her boots into her pack, leaving her feet bare. She padded across the rocky terrain with feline grace, never once missing her stride.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t care to ride with me, or take a turn?” Rustam offered. “I don’t mind walking for a bit.”

Frieda had refused twice already, but Rustam’s gentlemanly manners kept prompting him to try. They’d left the trees behind some time before, and a seemingly endless wave of foothills rolled away before them; not arduous travelling, but a promise of being long before they reached any form of civilisation.

Frieda shook her head, loose hair rippling over her shoulders. “I really don’t believe your mare would be too keen to carry me, and besides, I prefer my own feet against the ground.”

Nightstalker sidled subtly away from Frieda, not for the first time, and Rustam silently agreed with Frieda’s evaluation; the warhorse seemed uncharacteristically wary of their new travel companion. That Frieda sometimes tossed her clothes at Rustam and transformed into a great tawny wildcat probably didn’t help the mare’s trust issues.

Frieda slanted a glance up at him. “You’ve watched me disrobe four times now, and although you admire my form, you don’t desire me. Who is she, this paragon who imprisons your heart?”

Silence settled over Rustam. Even the birds ceased to sing, or so it seemed. He narrowed his eyes. “You hold a high opinion of yourself. What makes you think I should desire you?”

She shrugged. “Nakedness is the norm amongst my kind, but I’ve seen what it does to yours. Are you so different to all the humans I’ve encountered before?”

Not ready to unwind the steel threads that bound his heart, still Rustam could not dispute her observations. He stared ahead, across the endless hills. “Perhaps I am. Perhaps I am not quite the man you believe me to be.”

Damn! I let her goad me. Charin’s breath! Out of the game for barely a season and I’m allowing her to manipulate me like a novice.

Frieda’s elegant eyebrows drew down to form a ‘V’ above her nose. Her nostrils flared, tasting the air. “Chel and Charin!” Her turn to swear. “You’re part elf! That’s how you did it.”

Rustam nodded, relieved he’d deflected her from the question he had no desire to answer, to even consider – honey blonde hair, cascading from beneath a concealing hat, sharp blue eyes, edged with pain.

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