Shadows and Light

But they have to stay and live in the Old Place.”
    “I see.” Making sure her family stayed so they wouldn’t have to fit what she’d heard of the Fae’s self-interest—but it didn’t fit the Fae she’d actually met. “That explains the Fae skulking about in the woods. It doesn’t explain you.”
    He looked unhappy. “You’re interesting.” He winced, but pushed on. “I wanted to know how witches lived.”
    “And how do we live?”
    His eyes were too shiny. “You’re real, and the world you live in is real.” He shook his head. “Aiden could explain it. The Bard would have the words. And ... I like you, even when you yell at me.”
    Breanna felt a tightness in her chest. Curiosity may have brought him that first day, but he had come back for other reasons. She wasn’t sure she wanted to examine too closely the reasons why she’d found herself looking for him each day—or why she’d felt so frightened for him when he tried to attack the nighthunters. Maybe, now that she could talk to him, they could find out whether they truly liked each other.
    “So,” Breanna said, “you come down to the Old Place in the morning and go back to Tir Alainn each night?” His face tightened, and she realized she’d touched the heart-bruise. “Falco?”
    “The Clan who lives in this piece of Tir Alainn didn’t like me coming here, didn’t like that you could see me. Didn’t like that I was helping you at all. They got angry over a rabbit. Just a rabbit. They said—” He paused. “They told me if I continued to visit you, I wasn’t welcome in their Clan’s territory.”
    “You weren’t—?” Breanna stared at him. “You haven’t been going back to Tir Alainn?”
    He shook his head.
    “Then ... where have you been staying?”
    “My horse is in a small clearing, and the Small Folk... They’ve been kind. They helped me store my saddle and other gear where it would be safe.”
    “You’ve been staying out in the woods?”
    Falco shrugged. “As a hawk, it isn’t difficult.”
    Breanna continued to stare at him. She felt as if the world had suddenly become one of those toys that Brooke had brought over one day—the tube with colored pieces of glass that shifted and formed a new pattern when you rolled the tube. This moment had shifted unexpectedly, showing her a new pattern.
    He’s lonely. All these days, shunned by his own kind because he believed we were people who mattered instead of tools the Fae could command and use at their whim. What had he felt, watching us laugh and squabble and work together? He didn‘t risk his human form, didn’t want to be sent away. Who could blame him for that? And now. .. Now he expects to be sent away.
    Where would he go? Who could he work with, laugh with, squabble with?
    She took a deep breath. Let it out slowly. “Have you eaten this evening?”
    He shook his head.
    “Then come in the house.” She tried to smile, but found she was too close to tears and had to fight to keep her voice steady. “After you have something to eat, I’ll ask Clay and Rory to go with you to fetch your horse and gear. You shouldn’t be out in the woods alone, not with the nighthunters out there.”
    He shook his head again. “You’ve got so many people already with all your kin here.”
    “There’s room for one more.” She hesitated, then placed a hand on his arm. “There’s a place for you here, Falco. There’s a place for you here.”
    She slid her hand down until it brushed his. He turned his hand so that he could hold hers. She stood up, then tugged on his hand until he stood beside her. The mixture of hope and fear in his face made tears sting her eyes. Looking away, she led him to the house.

Chapter Twenty-seven
    It was the prettiest village Aiden had ever seen, and just the sight of it lifted his spirits. He could imagine living in one of those tidy cottages, talking with the same people day after day, playing his songs in the tavern or in the square, sharing the joys and sorrows of the community. He could picture Lyrra telling her stories to children gathered around her— and other stories to the adults later in the evening. He could imagine raising their children there.
    The village’s only flaw was that it had been built in an Old Place. If humans had built a village there, it meant the Old Place was gone. And yet it didn’t feel gone.
    “Maybe it’s like the Clan house in that other Old Place,” Lyrra said. “Or... maybe there’s a large enough