The Shattered Dark Read Online Free PDF Page B

they’re encouraging the protests and
     near riots that are occurring throughout the Realm. If we could just figure out who’s
     organizing them, arrest or kill or make a deal with him or her, then maybe Lena and
     the rebels could have a break. They need a break. We all do.
    FOR a people who tend to live a century and a half, the fae are incredibly impatient.
     It’s one of the side effects of being able to fissure from city to city or even world
     to world in a few seconds’ time. The drive from my apartment to the outskirts of the
     city would have taken about twenty minutes without our detour. With the detour, it’s
     been close to an hour.
    Aren whips open my door before the car completely stops. He isn’t as afraid of human
     tech as most of the fae are, butI’m still surprised he didn’t wait the few seconds it would have taken for me to open
     it myself.
Edarratae
protest the contact by flashing up his forearm. They keep flashing when he takes
     hold of my elbow. His eyes scan me head to toe, looking for injuries, I’m sure, and
     when he doesn’t see any—at least, he doesn’t see any that are serious—he visibly relaxes.
    “Did my directions send you in circles?” he asks, looking past me to Shane, who’s
     turning off the engine.
    “No, they were surprisingly good for a fae.” He opens his door and gets out.
    I swivel in the seat to face Aren. “The remnants have Paige.”
    He’s down on one knee, so his silver eyes are level with mine. “Who?”
    “Paige,” I say. “My friend. You met her at the wedding.”
    “The wedding?” His gaze dips to my mouth, and I can almost taste him. That was the
     first time we kissed. I was still in love with Kyol, but my emotions were a chaotic
     mess. Aren was making me doubt everything—even how much I hated him—and before he
     turned me over to Kyol, he left me with a diamond necklace imprinted with a location.
     I could have betrayed him with that necklace. I didn’t. I didn’t because I was beginning
     to fall in love with him.
    And I’m still falling.
    I clear my throat. “I have to find her, Aren. She doesn’t belong in this war.”
    “You’re sure they have her?” he asks, refocusing on my eyes.
    “The ward was on her purse.”
    His jaw clenches, and I almost wish I hadn’t said anything. His role in this war is
     changing. Before the rebels took the palace, he was always on the offensive. He’s
     used to launching brief surprise attacks on the king’s fae, on supply depots, and
     on the gates that are required to fissure anything more than what a fae can carry.
     Now, Aren’s trying to keep the remnants from doing the exact same things he did. With
     as few swordsmen as he has at his disposal, he’s doing a good job, but I don’t want
     to add to his responsibilities.
    “She doesn’t know anything about us?” he asks.
    “No,” I say. Few humans do unless they have the Sight. Keeping their existence secret
     has been a law in the Realm for centuries. If humans ever learn about the fae, there’s
     no doubt war would break out. Not all humans would be content to leave the fae alone.
     Some would want to kill them. Others would want to capture them. They’d want to find
     a way to enslave them for their magics. King Atroth enforced the secrecy law just
     as strictly as the previous kings, and whenever the fae decide to approach a human
     who can see them, they do so with caution.
    Most
do so with caution. My introduction to their world was anything but gentle. A fae
     named Thrain abducted me. He starved and threatened me, demanding that I use my Sight
     to point out fae hidden by illusion. I did so once, the first day I was in his custody,
     and he slaughtered that fae right there in front of me.
    Aren draws in a breath. When he releases it, it’s like all his responsibilities fall
     away. I know they’re still there, still weighing on his mind, but he hides them behind
     a haphazard smile and confident attitude.
    “We’ll