26. Sage

CHAPTER 26

Sage

Talon took my tray, set it on the table before I could apologize and leave, nudged me down on the bench then sat on my other side, boxing me in between him and Grefin.

"You know what he did?" Grefin asked, looking past me at Talon.

"I can't believe he killed a shadow hound," the fae man sitting across from Grefin said.

He was handsome, like all the fae I'd seen, with short black hair and sapphire eyes, but thinner. I had no doubt he was strong and fast, but he was built for quick precision attacks, the kind of fighting I needed to strive for when in battle because neither of us would win a fight if it came down to wrestling… well, he'd win against me and maybe half of the humans here, but no one else.

"I don't believe it," another fae said as he approached, sweeping an appraising gaze over me that made me want to shrink in on myself. He was big, almost twice as broad as the thin fae, with heavy, bulky muscles that were obvious even fully clothed in his Black Guard gear. "He's too small."

He set his tray on the table beside the thin fae's then sat on the bench and captured the thin fae's lips in a powerful kiss that no one else reacted to. I dropped my gaze to my porridge in an attempt to hide my shock. I'd only ever seen men kissing each other in my dream last night, and while Talon had said there were fae mates among the Guard, I didn't think they'd be so open about it.

Unless, of course, that was the point: to see how the new sacrifice would react to them.

"And yet Rider says he did," Talon said, making me hyperaware of him right beside me, his arm mere inches from mine.

My attention jumped to him of its own volition, drawn to him like it had been drawn to Quill yesterday when he'd delivered Sawyer's summons.

Talon was just as stunning as he'd been last night, the Black Guardsmen uniform a stark contrast to his long white hair that shimmered as if some strands were real silver. Four braids at each temple still held his hair back from his face, and light flickered off the earring decorating one of his delicately pointed ears.

Then the memory of his naked body flooded me, reigniting the slick ache between my thighs. I yanked my gaze back to my porridge, my ears burning with embarrassment, praying he hadn't noticed. Maybe he'd sat me here knowing the two across from me were in an intimate relationship. Was this his way of showing me my desires for men weren't going to get me ridiculed or punished like it would in the human realm… if I'd actually been a man?

"You're missing the point," Grefin groaned. "He used the ring after dark which was how he ended up in that mess in the first place."

Aaaaand… it looked like I was never going to live that down. Not with Grefin at least, and if the other guardsmen felt the way he did, not with the rest of the Guard, either.

I shoveled a spoonful of porridge into my mouth, surprised — and yet with everything I'd seen so far, not that surprise — that it was good: creamy and nutty and slightly sweet. Best not to say anything. Just let them think I was an idiot, no matter how much it stung.

"Really?" the large fae asked, sounding genuinely surprised. "I thought all humans knew not to use the ring in the Gray after dark."

"They're supposed to," another man said as he joined the group. He was human with a shaved head and a deeply tanned complexion like Edred and probably around the same age but without the cruel gleam in his pale eyes. He sat on the other side of the large fae and used the edge of his piece of bread to scoop up his porridge instead of a spoon. "You turn sixteen, your name goes in the lottery, and the village priest tells you everything you need to know."

"Is that how it worked for you?" the thin fae asked him.

"Yeah, but I had two older brothers and already knew everything before the priest visited our house," the man replied.

"So, the only way this idiot didn't know was if he thought he was too noble to be selected and didn't pay attention," Grefin said around a mouthful of bread.

The other human's gaze jerked up to me. "You're a noble?"

Damn, was that going to be another detail that drew attention to me?

"Unless—" The thin fae frowned. "What's your name?"

"Sawyer," I replied, remembering to keep my voice gruff.

"I'm Kit. This is my mate Payne and our teammate, Lewin," Kit said. "And Sawyer might not know if he doesn't have any older brothers and hadn't talked to the priest yet," he said to Grefin.

Grefin huffed. "The priests talk to everyone on their sixteenth birthday."

Except the priest wouldn't have talked with Sawyer because he wasn't sixteen and he was the heir to Herstind March.

But I couldn't draw attention to that, either.

Even if there was a chance that I could convince the Lord Commander that Sawyer didn't belong here, I couldn't take it. Everyone would get stuck on the fact that I was a girl and that I didn't belong and that Sawyer had shirked his duty, and I couldn't risk them hauling him back to the Gray and having the premonition of his death come true.

"I didn't realize it got dark in the Gray earlier than elsewhere," I said. "I won't make that mistake again." Not that I was ever going to be allowed to leave the Gray… until they discovered the truth. Then I doubted I'd be free to go anywhere, let alone return here. Not that I'd want to.

And if I was smart, I'd get away from these men before they asked more questions or looked at me more closely.

"I've got chores." I grabbed my tray but had no idea where to go or what to do with it.

"You have a bit of time before the second bell," Talon said, drawing my attention again, capturing me in his mesmerizing swirling gaze.

My breath caught in my throat and the need he'd awaken, that I'd explored in my dream but hadn't come close to satisfying, swelled hot and slick between my thighs.

Shadows he was beautiful! And I knew what he looked like naked?—

And I had to remember no matter how nice he was to me, I couldn't trust him. I couldn't trust anyone. Anyone of them could turn on me as easily as Talon had in my dream and I couldn't ever let myself forget that.