“And you look as silvery and ethereal as usual.” I gulp, wishing I could keep my smart mouth shut. “I met two draygonets on the path.” I follow her down a short hallway into a stark sitting room.
With a waft of her hand, she indicates a high-backed chair with ivy threaded through its carved-wood frame. “Sit.”
“I can’t. I really must get back to the—”
“Sit.”
With a sigh, I flop onto a silky white cushion and try not to look annoyed. She settles opposite in a matching chair, the only other piece of furniture in the room besides a tiny glass table standing between us.
The position of our chairs, the way she’s studying me, this feels like an interrogation.
Just like the antechamber, everything in the room is white, the walls stenciled with silver and gold patterns, symbols of earth, water, air, and fire. But instead of a stained-glass roof, the ceiling here contains no plaster or glass and is completely open to the cloudless blue sky. Vines spill down the walls; who knows where they grow from. On the walls behind Ether and I, enormous floor-to-ceiling mirrors hang, reflecting our seated images into infinity.
A glass plate piled high with cookies and pink rose petals sits in the center of the table. My stomach groans.
Ether says, “These are delicious lavender shortbreads. I’ll admit once you start eating them, it is very difficult to stop. You must be hungry. Please take as many as you wish; the plate will replenish forever and a day.”
Yeah. No. I don’t like the sound of that. Death by overindulging? No thanks.
Her black eyes gleam as I lie, “That’s nice of you to offer, but my encounter with the draygonets kind of ruined my appetite.”
“Very well,” she says, lips stretching into a creepy smile. “How did you manage to outrun them?”
“I didn’t. I remembered what Raff said, that they don’t like noise, so I screamed and danced and sang fearsome songs to them until they flew away.”
A silver eyebrow arches. “You sang to them?”
“I did.” I can’t quite hide my pleased smile.
“I believe you are not as helpless as Aer would wish.”
“Your sister, Aer? What’s she got to do with anything?”
“Lara, I will tell you the story you wish to hear most if you will give me something in return.”
Oh, no. Not another faery bargain.
“I promise I will not ask as much of you as Aer asked of your mother.”
“What? My mother… what do you mean—”
“Hush now, child. Do you want the story or not?”
“Yes, of course I do. But, first, tell me the price for it.”
She grips the armrest and perches on the edge of her seat. “All you need do is honor your bargain with the prince and give the word that is asked of you to the person who requests it.”
Outrage flashes hot in my chest. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t made a bargain with Ever about giving someone a word.”
“Indeed, you haven’t yet. But soon, you will enter into this bargain and enter it by your own choosing. All I ask is that you honor it.”
“Fine.” I take a big breath and make my vow, words coming out so fast they trip over each other. “I promise I will give the word that is asked of me to the person who requests it as long as I’m only honoring a bargain I’ve already entered into under my own free will. No force. No magic. No faery or other being’s coercion to make me agree to the bargain in the first place. Will that ridiculous mouthful suffice?”
“Perfect. Now I will fulfill my part. As you already suspected, your mother, Ella, spent time at this court.”
My heart rises into my throat.
“How did she get here? How long was she—”
“You bargained to hear a story. You did not request the ability to ask questions.”
I’m an idiot. To bargain means to negotiate, not just agree to the first stupid thing that’s offered to you.
I return her cold smile, and say, “Of course. Please continue your tale.”
“Your mother was here a full season, back when the king was still alive. It was spring, and his three sons were young and strong.”
“What happened to the king and his oldest son, Rain?” I can’t help but ask.
With a stern look, she wags a finger at me, then continues. “Queen Varenus and King Flavian were extremely happy, for he had beaten the curse of the Black Blood princes and married not his chosen one, but the girl he loved with all his poisoned heart. It was love that kept him living years after the blackness began circling in his veins but love alone could not hold it at bay forever, and eventually the curse won. And now the whole of Faery knows without a doubt—the Black Blood heir must take to wife his chosen one—or die.”
“But who decides who this chosen one will be?”
“It is Aer’s curse and Aer’s choice.”
Aer. The first bachelorette I met, the one wearing a bride’s veil, long golden locks, and a cunning look in her eyes.
“She aims to make things as difficult as possible for the princes and chooses unlikely candidates, ones she thinks they will never love. But, by the laws of Five, there must be willingness from the bride-to-be or a family agreement in place. That is the difficult part for Aer when she chooses the girls, finding someone willing.”
“Well, your sister sounds delightful. You ladies must have some fun dinner parties laughing about all the princes you’ve ruined.”
“I wish to help the princes,” Ether snaps.
“Okay. That’s great. But, please, how did my mother manage to get out of this place?”
“The Merits took great interest in her technological device. They stole it and were preparing to steal her, too. The queen knew they would use her to advance their dark magic, so she sent her home before they could act. I opened a portal and your mother passed through. It was quite simple really.”
“So, you could open one now and send me home?”
“I could, but I will not. Your part here is not yet played out, Lara. Your mother promised she would give two things that came from her own mother to our kings should they want them. And want them they will. One of our kind is already consumed by a hunger he cannot yet begin to comprehend. Ella was foolish enough to believe the price she agreed on for safe passage would never be paid because she would be safe and far away from our land.”
“What would fae kings want from a human anyway?”
“Why is a cat so enthralled by a rodent?”
“Because it wants to eat it.”
Her laugh is the sound of glass breaking, and I grit my teeth and crunch on the shards.
“True. But if hunger were the only reason, then the kill would be quick, would it not? The cat enjoys the sport, the hunt, and playing with a creature who looks and moves so very differently from itself. The mouse’s life is therefore extended because the hunter values the entertainment. And, so it follows that you cannot leave our kingdom yet because you are still useful to our court.”
How will I be of use? I’m not some badass warrior the current queen or the next king can enlist to fight against evil mage sisters or whatever. She must think I’ll make a nice rat for the fae princes to toy with forever.