Read Online The Shadow Reader by Sandy Williams - Free Book Online

didn’t run or surrender. They fought. They killed. They died, and I couldn’t sleep because I was haunted.
    Now I can’t sleep because I might never see Kyol again. I was sixteen when we first met and he was . . . older. The Realm ages people—both fae and humans—slower than Earth. Kyol looked like he was somewhere in his twenties, but he could have been twice that for all I knew. He wasn’t Atroth’s sword-master yet, but he was his friend. He became my friend, and we eventually became something . In the last decade, the only nights on which I’ve had a peaceful, restful sleep were the nights when Kyol watched over me. Despite my resolution to lead a normal fae-free life, that hasn’t changed.
    I’ve been staring at the ceiling for hours, surrounded by my fears. Occasionally, they loosen their stranglehold and my heavy eyelids close, but the creaks and groans of the inn wake me no matter how soft they are.
    Footsteps stop outside my room. I feign sleep as the door creaks open. Someone walks inside, clears a throat. I keep my eyes shut and refuse to twitch.
    “McKenzie.”
    Even though the sheetless slab of springs beneath me could double as a torture device, I still don’t budge.
    “McKenzie,” the someone says, louder this time. I don’t recognize the voice. It’s female, but it’s not Lena.
    “McKenzie Lewis.”
    I crack open my lids to glare. I end up frowning instead. The light coming in from the doorway is just bright enough to see that the fae staring down at me is wearing human clothing: jeans paired with a tight red top, jingling bracelets, and a triple-layered black-beaded necklace. It’s hard to be sure in the dim room, but it looks like a string of garnets and premthyste , a pearllike stone found in the southernmost province of the Realm, is braided through a lock of her dark, silky hair. I think I recognize the pattern the stones make. If I’m right, she’s a daughter of Cyneayen, Tayshken Province’s ruling noble.
    “The sun is up,” she says, nodding uselessly toward my boarded-up window. Not even a crack of light peeks between the wooden planks. The banging that gave me such a headache last night was Lena going to town with a hammer and nails. I’d have better luck clawing my way through the wall than through the layer of wood covering the window.
    “It’s time to get up.”
    “Not back home, it isn’t.” I close my eyes, willing her to go away.
    She huffs out a breath. “I have instructions to place you in Lena’s care if you’re uncooperative.”
    Well, there’s nothing like a threat to get you going in the morning. I sit up . . . and barely manage to suppress a groan. Despite not sleeping well, I didn’t toss and turn much, and damn, my body’s stiff. I guess jumping fences and dangling off the sides of buildings will do that to you. I rub my neck, trying to massage out some of the pain.
    “Aren said you might be sore.” The fae holds out her hand and uncurls her fingers to reveal two little white pills.
    “What’s that?”
    “Ibuprofen.”
    My eyes narrow. “Fae don’t take human medications.”
    “They’re not for me.”
    Fae anatomies aren’t all that different from humans’, but they’re not supposed to have anything to do with our food or culture. Not that the medicine is directly hurting her. If it was, lightning would be circling the pills in her palm like writhing blue snakes, but nontech items from my world are gradually weakening the Realm’s magic. Of course, we’re not in the Realm right now so the only one hurting here is me.
    After reminding myself that poisoning me doesn’t make sense, I pluck the two tablets from her hand. It takes a moment to work enough moisture into my mouth to swallow them. Unfortunately, it’ll take another twenty minutes or so before they kick in.
    “Who are you?” I ask.
    “I’m . . . Kelia.”
    Interesting hesitation there. I’ve never met a fae who, on their first introduction, doesn’t tell me who they’re