by Sarina Dorie
“As long as there are Red affinities, there’s a Red Court. That means you will have to work to make the magic of the Red affinity not forbidden. It has to be out in the open.” I had no doubt she could do this. She had more sway than Princess Quenylda had.
“Fae will not lower ourselves to marry Witchkin.” She lifted up her nose. “That is preposterous.”
“Is it? Or is it pragmatic?” I strode farther from the queen, placing a hand on the trunk of my former fairy godmother. It was the closest I could manage to holding her hand and feeling some measure of moral support. “If you want the Fae Fertility Paradox, you’re going to need to change how this world works. You can’t nurture this kind of magic in Witchkin if they’re ignorant of its existence. You can’t teach them to use it if they’re afraid of it.”
“Very well. I accept this demand as part of the agreement. Tell me the secrets of the Fae Fertility Paradox.” She glided past Odette, closer to me. Her gown appeared to be made of shadows and inky darkness.
I forced myself to stand my ground. “That isn’t a demand. I’m just telling it like it is. The Fae Fertility Paradox requires the Red affinity, and neither will work unless you undo the harm you’ve done.”
She eyed me coolly. “I will consider your pragmatism. What will you ask of me in exchange for this knowledge?”
Like all good negotiators, I started with the highball price, waiting for her counteroffer. “I would like to live in a world where Witchkin are not treated as slaves. I want you to start with Felix Thatch’s freedom.”
She tilted her head back and cackled. The shriek was reminiscent of what children imagined from wicked witches. Only this wasn’t a witch. It was a fairy queen.
The sharp points of her teeth flashed in the moonlight. “Felix Thatch is not a slave. I treat him as a prince. He is given a generous allowance and luxurious quarters. He can take lovers, come and go as he pleases, and do what he wishes with his time. He’s not a prisoner. Nor is he shackled—except when he asks to be.”
“A prince? Really? Do princes get punished when they don’t publicly humiliate themselves for the amusement of their fairy godmother who happens to be queen? Do princes have their wedding crashed and ruined by their sovereign? Is royalty forced to use sex and pain magic against their will? That’s the way Morties treat slaves, not people they care about.”
She placed a hand on her chest where a heart should have been—if she had one left. “Everything I do for my subjects is to protect them, to make them stronger. This is how I show my love.”
“That isn’t love! I love Felix Thatch. I want him, and I want him free of your service.”
Her lips twisted into a mocking smile. “Free from one master and into the arms of another.”
I didn’t like the glib comment, but I ignored it. As much as I would have liked to liberate all Witchkin slaves, sasquatches, and unicorns forced into the service of cruel Fae masters, break Priscilla’s curse that had turned her into a raven, free Odette from being treated like a ‘princess,’ and break all bonds of servitude that the Fae courts held over their prisoners, there was no way to change the world in a day.
All I could do was free one man. My husband. If I could manage that.
“That’s my price. Take it or leave it.” When she said nothing, I started off down the path, feigning disinterest.
In truth, it pained me to leave my fairy godmother. I hadn’t even said goodbye to her. Not really. Nor did I know whether I would ever return to this spot in the Raven Court again. If only she could have turned into a tree somewhere more convenient, where I could have visited her every day.
I pretended I knew where I was going down the path, but I had no idea how to get back to Womby’s. I doubted there were any unicorns who would venture into the spindly forest of dead trees to rescue me either.
“Halt. I will have your secrets!” Queen Morgaine’s voice boomed from behind me. “Tell me how to solve the Fae Fertility Paradox, and I will return your husband to you.”
“Alive?” I prompted. “Healthy and in one piece?”
“Oui. I will free him.” The Raven Queen’s voice came from behind me, but I spotted her ahead of me on the path.
The mist shifted, and the trees wavered. My world momentarily went topsy-turvy, and I realized I was walking toward the Raven Queen’s castle, not away from it. I headed toward Odette sitting against the oak tree I had just left.
The Raven Queen held out her hand to me. Light sparkled between her talon-like fingernails. “I will give you Felix Thatch after you demonstrate you can fulfill your end of the bargain. Do you agree to tell me the secrets of the Fae Fertility Paradox?”
I hesitated. I was probably making a mistake if she was agreeing so readily. Then again, I didn’t see what choice I had if I wanted to save my husband.
“I agree.” I held out my hand, knowing this would be a binding oath. There would be no way out of this.
That was what I was counting on.
CHAPTER TWO
Putting the Demon Back into Demonstration
Bright light flashed as I took hold of the Raven Queen’s hand. That had to be the binding oath at work. Fire and ice prickled at my skin, flooding through my body in a wave. I recognized this would be the ideal moment to strike the queen down while she was distracted using other magic, only I hadn’t charged up the amount of energy necessary to do so.
She released my hand, and the light faded. A satisfied smile curled her lips upward. Already I felt uneasy. I was afraid the queen was about to capture a pawn in this game, and the pawn was me.
Will-o’-the-wisps bobbed through the trees, lighting the Raven Court as they danced in joyous revelry. An out-of-tune violin began to play. More instruments started up, discordant and out of harmony with other instruments. Fairies dressed in ballgowns slipped out from behind the trees and danced forward in celebration. The spindly figures of shrubs uncurled into lanky men with waistcoats and trousers made of tree bark. Conifers covered in dewdrops shifted into dark green ballgowns decorated with brocades of twigs that glittered with diamonds. Too bad my fairy godmother couldn’t have transformed back into a woman this easily.
The brown decaying leaves on the ground next to my feet rose. I leapt back from a creature wearing a coat made from dead foliage. His body took shape, filling out into the figure of a courtier. His mouth was as red as blood. He smiled with teeth sharpened to points. Women with beaks for noses and men with the bodies of birds squawked and stomped their feet.
I swallowed, fearing the Raven Queen had gotten the better end of the deal.
“Tell me, ma chère.” She touched my chin with the tip of her talon-like nail. “How does one solve the Fae Fertility Paradox.”
Just because I’d agreed to tell her how to have children didn’t mean she could conceive.
My mouth went dry. “D you want to have children?”
“Oui. Can you do that? Alouette Loraline told me I’m too . . . mature.”
Ancient was more likely. Elric was five hundred. I didn’t know how old his Fae parents were. If they were the Raven Queen’s age, but they hadn’t produced offspring since Elric, she wasn’t fertile either. “How old are you?”
“As old as the sea and mountains.”
That didn’t sound like ideal material to work with.
“Do you exhibit any signs of . . . um . . . fertility?” This was an uber awkward conversation to have in front of her court, but then, it was her cycle, not mine, we were talking about. “Do you have a monthly cycle?”
“My moon cycle went dark in the Iron Age.”
Of course it did. Probably that meant she hadn’t had any children in three thousand years.
“Okay. So you probably aren’t the best candidate to conceive.” I had to shout over the peals of laughter coming from a two-headed bird dancing next to me. “Do you have any children who are a little less ‘mature’ than you are?”
“I have grandchildren and
great-grandchildren.”
That was a starting point. Elric was one of the youngest pureblooded Fae out there. I suspected her grandchildren would have to be his age, plus or minus a few hundred years if we were lucky.
“So, here’s how it works. The only kind of magic that cuts through all the cold iron, Morty-made synthetic materials, and electricity that make Fae infertile is the Red affinity. But most Fae and Witchkin react poorly to electricity.”
Behind the queen, Odette shook her head, eyes wide with fear.
“Where’s Felix?” I asked. “When will I get to see him?”
She leaned on her scepter. “After you tell me how to defeat the paradox.”
A floating trumpet, playing music that didn’t match the other song, nudged me and blared into my ear. I shoved it away. “Is all this rowdiness necessary? It makes it hard to think.”
Queen Morgaine snapped her fingers, and the jubilee silenced. The court continued to dance around us. Instruments floated in the air. No one reacted as though the sound had been cut away. The only difference was that I couldn’t hear them. Unlike Thatch’s sound-barrier spell, I couldn’t see the line where sound began around us. Fae magic was subtle. It was difficult to detect.
I had to be mindful that the queen could draw out more information from me than I intended with enchantments if she didn’t believe I was telling the truth.
“As you were saying. . . .” she said.
I stared into the liquid blackness of her eyes, noticing the way they wanted to suck me into their void. “Alouette Loraline performed experiments to see whether she could help Fae have children with electricity. She could, but the parents usually died in the process. What she tried to do was figure out a way to inoculate her test subjects so that they could withstand electricity. That still didn’t work.”
“I know. I had her journal in my possession. I read it.” The black of her eyes regarded me with indifference. “Tell me what does work.”
“A Fae needs to conceive a child with a Witchkin who is a Red affinity. Like I said before, there are few left, and you’re going to have to make the world a safer place for them so they’re willing to use their magic.”
“That will take time. I’ve waited long enough. I will find someone willing.” The Raven Queen glided closer to Odette, still leaning against the tree.
The scarlet smears on Odette’s back were gone, but her fingers were stained crimson, probably from writing runes in blood. Thatch had told me her affinity was blood magic. She must have healed herself using her affinity. She looked stronger, and I sensed a red core of energy smoldering inside her.
Queen Morgaine stroked Odette’s hair. “You wish to assist me in carrying on the Raven Court bloodline, no?”
Odette’s shoulders slumped in resignation, showing off the sorry state of her wings more fully. “Of course, Your Majesty,” Odette said in a lackluster monotone.
I had never known whether Felix’s and Odette’s affinities were a secret from their queen, but apparently not. This made sense why she wanted to keep them in her service so badly, and why she gave them furnished rooms and allowances that allowed them to go to the ballet. Even if Queen Morgaine didn’t understand how the Red affinity drew out the powers in others and amplified them, she had enough reasons to want them for their ability to battle with any Fae or Witchkin using forbidden magic.
Odette had always come across as dignified and regal, a favorite pet of the Raven Queen. Only seeing her broken spirit like this did I realize how much of a sham it was. I didn’t want her to be raped and forced to bed men against her will in service of the queen. For all I knew, the queen had already tried to get Odette with child.
“There is more, no?” Queen Morgaine asked. “It cannot simply be a pairing of a Red affinity with another. If it were so simple, one of my grandchildren would have sired an heir by now.” She raised an eyebrow, looking me up and down. “If all it took for a Fae to sire a child was a Red affinity, you would have conceived with that prince of the Silver Court.”
Elric and I had never actually had intercourse. By the time I’d been ready, he’d been too impaired by a condom catching his genitals on fire, and he had used a glamour to make me think we had. It was Vega whom he’d gotten pregnant, proving it didn’t take one born as a Red affinity for the magic to work. Yet I didn’t want the Raven Queen to know about my sex life—or Vega’s affinity.
“Elric and I were careful not to have children,” I said. “He respected my wish not to get pregnant.”
She stared at me in disbelief. “That is a lie.”
“No. Elric just isn’t that kind of Fae. He believes in treating Witchkin with dignity. Didn’t Quenylda tell you?”
“Princess Quenylda,” Queen Morgaine corrected. “Oui, she did say he was a most unusual husband.”
I would have laughed at her pedantic insistence on using the royal title for a Fae—even for the frenemy who had tried to kill her—but I forced myself to focus. I was feeling more tired than ever.
I tried to help her see the moral of the story, what might make a difference in Odette’s life or Maddy’s or anyone else’s. “You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. I’m pretty sure Elric figured that one out a long time ago. He had several wives who were Red affinities. They had children together. He treated them well. They weren’t slaves.”
The Raven Queen stared off toward the dancers. “Princess Quenylda told me of his . . . unusual proclivities for Witchkin over Fae. No one could understand why he deigned to lower himself to marrying half-breeds. I can see now he was simply being pragmatic. Clever.” She gazed down at Odette. “I will find you a suitable husband of royal lineage and arrange a marriage immediately.”
Odette stared at the mulch where she kneeled. I couldn’t tear my eyes from the bruises on her shoulders that I had caused, the blood under her nails, and the broken wing. She had allowed me to beat her as if subservience was a role she knew too well.
The queen snapped her fingers at me. “There’s more. I can see you aren’t telling me everything.”
She was right. I spoke slowly, trying to think about what I’d read in the diary as I explained, hoping I wouldn’t make life worse for Odette or others. “There are other factors. A woman has to be at the right moment in her cycle. Her fertility has to be drawn out through her magic.” I thought about Vega and all her doses of electricity. One had been right before she and Elric had a sexcapade in our dorm room. I remembered those moments when Thatch and I had been intimate, and it had been a spiritual experience. If I had been ovulating, I would probably have conceived.
“There has to be electricity. I think the Red affinity has to use magic at the moment of orgasm or close to that moment.”
The queen grasped Odette by her hair, lifting her face to stare into her eyes. “Did you know that? Is that why you have never conceived with one of your suitors before?”
“I didn’t know.” Odette said through clenched teeth. Perhaps she didn’t. More likely she had hidden the truth so the queen wouldn’t know she was fertile.
“I don’t think you get it,” I said. “Prince Elric sired children because he loved his wives. He did everything he could to ensure their pleasure and comfort. Because he cared about Witchkin—who most Fae can hardly tolerate—he was successful in producing a positive magical response when these women orgasmed. If he hadn’t, they might have accidentally struck him dead with lightning.”
Her eyes went wide with understanding.
At last I felt like I had reached her.
“Like Felix,” the queen said, her hand still gripping Odette by the hair. “His magic results in lightning that kills his partner. But he didn’t harm you. A first for him . . . because you’re both Red affinities.”
I glanced at Odette, wishing the queen would release her. “Do you understand now? Your Fae offspring aren’t going to be able to sire children with Witchkin they can barely tolerate touching. They don’t understand human
anatomy and would just as soon kill a Red affinity accidentally, or torture her to death, not understanding the difference.” Felix Thatch had said so, but I didn’t know how much of that was an exaggeration.
The Raven Queen tightened her grip on Odette’s hair, yanking her head up once again. “Is this true about Fae men? Are they too incompetent to pleasure a Witchkin female?”
“Fae men are incompetent lovers.” Odette spat out the words, as if she’d had more than enough experiences to make her bitter about it. “Fae women aren’t much better. It amuses Fae too much to be cruel to entertain the idea of playing nice.”
As if to emphasize her words, a procession of Fae danced between us, the woman at the end of the line with a bird beak kicking dirt at Odette.
Hesitantly, I scooted closer to Odette. I placed my hand on the queen’s where she gripped Odette’s hair. Her hand was as cold as winter. Fae were feral and unpredictable beasts wearing the masks of men and women. Anything I did might make her forget her civility and cause her to bite.
Carefully I pried her fingers out of Odette’s hair. “Are you unconscious of how you’re hurting your favorite pet, or do you just not care?”
The queen stared at my hand and yanked her fingers from mine, disgust in her eyes more than fear.
The irony of that didn’t escape my notice. She hadn’t wanted me to touch her? She was the evil one.
“This is why Fae get a bad rap,” I said. “This is why it isn’t going to work for your children or grandchildren to mate with a Red affinity. Your Fae kin are going to die in the process. This is why I said the world is going to need a different mindset for the Fae Fertility Paradox to work.”
“Felix said you would try to change the world,” Odette said, a smile flitting across her lips.
The Raven Queen backhanded her across the mouth without even looking at her. “I didn’t give you permission to speak.”
So much for the pragmatism of kindness and compassion. I was fighting a losing battle.
“It must be a Red affinity paired with another Witchkin of my lineage.” The queen tapped her long black fingernail against her chin. “One will be my lineage. The other will be my choosing. I am entitled to claim the firstborns of my heirs as my tithes.”
