I looked at Mom. Her scowl might fool some people, but not us. She was doing her best not to cry.
“Your dad would be so proud of you,” she said, her voice husky. “Both of you.”
Zach went to give her a hug. I took over stirring the stew on the stove. It looked like a can of soup, a can of peas, and a can of dog food. I cringed, knowing that we had to be getting to the bottom of the supplies to be cracking into the dog food.
“No making faces,” Mom said, smacking my hip. “Food is food. Go get the bowls.”
We ate lunch together, and when Zach and I started bundling up to go out, Mom pulled me aside.
“I’m set on my decision,” she said. “But I’ll need your help.”
“Name it.”
“When you’re out there, talk to the fey. Find a few who’d be willing to come over for dinner. Make it clear it’s not a promise for anything more than conversation and food. Zach is right; I need to feel some affection for whoever I choose. It wouldn’t be fair otherwise.”
“Wait, are you asking me to be your—”
“If you say pimp, I’m serving dog food soup for the next week.”
I snorted.
“We’ll probably be eating dog food for the next week no matter what I say.”
“When you mix it with the chicken noodle soup, it’s not so bad. Tastes like stew,” she said with a grin.
But behind her humor, I saw her worry. She didn’t like feeding us dog food. She didn’t like depending on others to bring us supplies. There was a lot in life not to like now. I hoped she wasn’t adding to the list by looking for a fey.
“Fine. I’ll do it. And I’ll be picky. I promise. But I refuse to do physical inspections for you. You’re on your own there.”
Chapter Two
The brisk winter wind smacked me in the face as I left the house. It robbed me of my breath, and I ducked down into the brown scarf I wore. Winter was easily my least favorite season. It made my fingers cold, which didn’t mix well with my love of archery.
“Hey, Brenna,” a voice called.
I looked up at the passing fey’s welcome. Usually, I nodded and continued on my way. Sometimes I said hey back. This time, I reluctantly stopped.
“Hey. How’s it going, um…I forgot your name.”
The fey froze like a deer in the headlights. His gaze swept the area around us then landed on me.
“My name is Newaz.”
“Newaz. Right. Sorry.”
“There is no need for an apology. There are many of us.”
I smiled. The fey really were nice. Well, most of them.
“And I’m glad for it. Without all of you, none of us would still be here. Would you like to come over for dinner tonight? My mom’s hoping for some conversation. It’s not to hook up or anything. Just to talk and get to know each other.”
He frowned, and his gaze swept the area again. I looked around as well, wondering if there was something weird going on outside the walls again.
“I cannot come over for dinner tonight. Perhaps you should ask Thallirin.”
My gaze whipped back to Newaz.
“What? Why would you say that?”
Only two days ago, Thallirin, the biggest, scariest fey I’d ever seen, had gotten in my face and yelled at me for putting myself in danger. Then, he’d ordered me inside Mya’s home like some errant pet that’d peed on his floor. He was the exception to the fey niceness rule.
Newaz’s face darkened.
“No reason. I must go speak with someone else.”
He hurried off, leaving me staring after him in confusion. That had to qualify as the shortest conversation with one of the fey, ever. Well, shortest where I didn’t walk away first. And weird. Why in the hell would he bring up Thallirin? That was the last fey I wanted over for dinner.
Shrugging off Newaz’s oddness, I resumed my walk to the wall, not going far before I ran into another possible dinner invitee.
“Hi,” I said, slowing.
“Hello, Brenna.”
I repeated the same invitation. Like Newaz, this fey started acting weird, looking around, flushing, and hurrying off after giving some lame excuse.
It happened three more times before I gave up and went to my spot on the wall. Uan, a fey who often guarded the wall near me, was there and nodded when he saw me coming up the ladder.
“Hey, Uan,” I said. “Do I have something on my face?”
He tilted his head to look at me.
“Your nose, mouth, and eyes.”
I rolled said eyes and laughed.
“Thanks. I thought maybe I had lunch on my face.”
“Why would you think you have lunch on your face?”
“Because I invited five different fey over to dinner, and they all acted like I nutted them with my bow.” I flicked the bow playfully at Uan’s midsection, and he backed up hastily.
“Yep. Like that. I thought you guys liked conversation and food.” I paused for a beat. “Is it because my mom’s in a wheelchair? I thought that didn’t matter.”
His expression turned from wary to serious.
“Brenna, your mother is a strong and beautiful woman. Her wheelchair does not matter. It’s you.”
I sputtered in indignation.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He looked around, just like the other guys had.
“I swear if you tell me that you have to go talk to someone else, I’m going to beat you with my bow then make you find me a new one.”
He chuckled at my threat, this not being the first time he’d heard it, and met my gaze.
“You are too young to ask anyone to dinner.”
“Oh.” Robbed of my indignation, I had nothing else to say.
“When you are eighteen, you may ask someone to dinner.”
“I’m not asking you to dinner for me. I’m asking for my mom. She’s lonely and just wants someone to talk to.”
Interest lit his gaze.
“Just talk,” I reiterated. “Zach and I will be there, too.”
“A family dinner,” Uan said. “Yes, I would like one of those.”
I couldn’t help but feel a little bad for him just then. Locked underground before the quakes, without any women of their own and no chance for families, the existence of human women offered something the fey had never known to want. Now that they did know, they wanted families of their own very badly. But their wanting was like Mom’s, not Van’s.
I stopped my line of thinking and smiled at Uan.
“I can tell my mom you’ll come to dinner, then?”
“Yes. I will come to your family dinner when the sun sets. I must share this news with Thallirin.”
My mind shuddered at hearing that name again as Uan turned and waved to a fey farther down the wall to come guard his section of wall.
Before Uan could jump down, I grabbed his arm.
“Please don’t take this the wrong way, but Thallirin’s not invited.”
Uan grinned widely, showing his sharp teeth.
“Of course not. You’re too young for dinner with Thallirin.”
My grip tightened on my bow.
“Uan, you’re making my head hurt. Why are you telling Thallirin that you’re having dinner at our house?”