Twinned Shadow (The Shadow Series Book 1) by Candice Bundy (win 10 ebook reader .txt) 📗

“Atta girl!”

“Tesse always said she envied me my freedom.” Her breath hitched as another tear escaped, and Becka caught it with a fresh tissue.

“Which I’m proud to say you’ve exercised to the fullest. I doubt there’s a better-educated fae within the four territories.”

Becka returned Lydia’s smile. “Well, college-educated you mean. They do plenty of hocus-pocus in the territories.”

Becka dried her eyes yet again, and then walked to the front door and opened it.

Quinn stood on her porch, hand on his hips.

“So wait, you’re my escort?” she asked Quinn.

“I’m not what you expected?” he smiled.

She narrowed her gaze but then waved him in. The last thing she needed was to be seen arguing with him by her not-nosy-at-all neighbors. “I know my father works with some shifters who run errands in and out of the Territories because they can pass unnoticed amongst the humans. I’d assumed he’d send one of them.”

He inclined his head. “I was in the neighborhood when the request for an immediate transport came through and I wanted an easy assignment.”

Becka’s heart ached from the news of Tesse, her nerves were fried from her interview, and now this fae showed up to rattle her cage?

“I am not easy!” She blurted out and then crossed her arms. “Anyway, how did you find me at the Institute?”

“I have my ways.” He looked her directly in the eye. “They informed me your transport is a time-sensitive matter, so I have done my best to comply.”

A moment later his gaze flowed over her, pausing as he took in her ear piercings, ombre-dyed hair, messy braid, and flowing clothes. “This is a curious outfit to impress a potential employer.”

A heated flush warmed her cheeks. “This position is an internship at a political institution. They value a certain level of personal expression over conformity.”

“So you are a calculated non-conformist?” He raised a single brow, his heated attention unwavering.

Becka shrugged with a ‘so what of it?’ gesture.

“Why are you getting such a serious job? Doesn’t your birth guild cover your living expenses?”

Becka rankled at the reminder. Sure, they financially supported their outcasts, but it came with the legal caveat: if she ever had offspring who evidenced magical gifts, then the child would be welcomed home by the guildhall...without the mother. Which was some unlikely, yet epic, crap.

“They do, but I choose to not just sit around all day.”

“So you would prefer to sit around all day in an office instead?”

“No, I’m hoping to be a research associate in the Interspecies Department of the Institute for World Politics.”

“Researching…?”

“How the history of fae/human relations influences our present and informs where our likely future is heading.”

He chuckled. “That sounds like a line out of a textbook.”

“No, it’s my Ph.D. thesis statement.”

He regarded her afresh, brows raised. “It still sounds like proper human...what would they call it...mumbo jumbo.”

“It’s an unfortunate injustice that someone so attractive can be so irritating,” she said under her breath.

“I,” he paused, a sly smile creasing his lips, “think that was your outside the head voice?”

“I don’t honestly differentiate.”

He let out a soft laugh with a hint of a rumble, which predictably and much to her chagrin, Becka found charming.

“Were you this eccentric when you were still with your family?”

It was Becka’s turn to have her temper rankle. “Pardon me?”

“I mean, did you have this curious fascination with humankind’s culture all along? Or did it develop after you moved to the city?”

Her cheeks and ears flushed red. “After, but I’m glad of the opportunity. I would never have come to a better understanding of humanity otherwise. Besides, the fae are just as flawed as humans, only in different ways.”

Anger flashed in his eyes, their golden sheen all aglow with the intensity of his emotion. “I take umbrage to hear you speak ill of our people.”

Becka set her hands on her hips and squared off to him. “How would it have been for you, Quinn, if you’d been found ungifted and cast out like yesterday’s trash?”

His eyebrows squished together. “Earth Guild powers are innate in nature, unlike Rowan’s additive magic. Although Oak’s fae-touched abilities increase during puberty like other houses, it is less dramatic and more of a linear gain.”

Becka’s stomach churned, souring her mouth. She’d learned about the different magical abilities of each fae-touched house in school and had studied all things fae in the human libraries since then. “I know the House of Stave’s powers are innate in nature. I’m asking if you can imagine what it would have been like?”

“Honestly, I never pondered the question.”

Of course. Why would he?

Becka opened her mouth, and he held up a finger, pressing it gently against her lips. Sudden arousal warred with anger inside her. Was she so desperate for fae companionship she’d respond to any who got close enough? What was wrong with her?

“You are not wrong, Becka. There are flaws aplenty, human and fae-touched alike. I am unused to hearing a fae as outspoken as yourself. My apologies.”

“Thank you.” She sighed. “I need to pack a few things before we head out to fae territory.”

“Um,” he replied, looking her up and down. “Not to offend, but I am guessing your family will provide a more suitable wardrobe during your stay. Assuming your typical apparel matches your present attire?”

Becka shook her head. “I refuse. I’ll wear my own clothes, if only to spite them.”

“Even if you packed your clothes they might mysteriously ‘go missing’ in the most polite way possible. If you leave them here, at least you waste no time fighting a losing battle.”

Becka pinched the bridge of her nose, attempting to ward off an impending headache. “No, just no. I agreed to go, but I do not have to agree to their reindeer games. I’m going back on my terms.”

“All right then. Also, do you find embracing human idioms like ‘reindeer games’ aids your ability to appear more relatable to them?”

She was taken aback by his question. “Why yes, I suppose it does. But that’s just how people talk.” She shrugged.

“Yes, human people.” By