Fennrin is a shadowforger, a type of az-ari who have mastery over shadows. But all it's ever brought him is misery. People are afraid of the power that he himself barely understands, seeing his shadows as omens of bad luck and death.
Forced to bare...
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They didn't end up finding the crazy, white-haired lady, but Ain couldn't say he'd been paying much attention to the search. He knew he should be, but he just couldn't help but watch Fenn and his overthinking. Despite having that talk, it was clear Fennrin was still thinking about what that sundering guard had spewed.
And it was hard not to notice when Fennrin was now avoiding physical contact with him in public. And yes, Ainreth didn't blame the shadowforger for reacting like this, but it made him even angrier at all the people who were judging Fenn, fearing him, just because he was a shadowforger. Maybe he hadn't been clear enough in his speech.
He should have blinded that misborn asshole. Surely Ainreth would have gotten away with something like this.
They were about to get back to the palace, report on their sabotage-induced failure to the Bulwark, and probably blighted Varilik, too, but for once Ain wouldn't mind his presence so much. The Herald seemed to dislike people not giving Fenn a chance, and he had a lot of power. Hopefully, he'd do something because this was unacceptable. How was Fenn supposed to help them out when their own people were capable of doing things like this?
Ainreth still couldn't believe that guard had committed treason, endangered Ainreth, just because he believed so deeply that a shadowforger on their side would bring an end to Lys-Akkaria. As if Orinovo wasn't right there to prophesize about doing that. Again.
It was absolutely ridiculous that Ain had burned hundreds of soldiers to death at once, still not even sure he knew how to do it again, and yet no one was afraid of him. Meanwhile, Fenn who had done nothing was getting all this nonsense thrown at him.
He tried to grab Fenn's hand as they reached the palace, but Fenn put his away. Okay, enough was enough. Because Ainreth didn't doubt for a second that Fennrin was avoiding him for some very stupid reason. He was sure it wasn't just that he wanted to be alone and think for a while because he hadn't left Ain's side for even a second.
Grabbing his shoulder instead and forcing him to stop right in front of the staircase leading up to the palace gate, Ain leaned in close, staring Fenn right in his beautiful eyes.
"What's wrong?"
Fennrin looked away, trying to pull away, but Ainreth didn't let him, holding him tighter. And so Fenn deflated, seemingly giving up on keeping this to himself. "If people see we are together, they might shun you, too."
Ainreth stared at him for a second, let out a disbelieving laugh next, then shook his head at how ridiculous that thought was. "Fenn...." He let go of the other man's shoulder and grabbed his wrist. "Come on."
Fennrin couldn't protest before Ain was pulling him along, right to the little square in front of the palace where most people were walking. He would lead Fenn to the markets, the busiest place in the city, but it was too far away, and they did need to report on what had happened.
