by S L Mason
Ugh, how can creatures like this survive? Why haven’t they killed each other off by now?
“See when you talk like that, it makes me mad. I don’t believe anyone is ever irrelevant. She might be young and completely human, and I’m not anymore, thanks to you and all your pointy-eared little friends. But she is still a person, and she deserves to live as much of a human life as she wants. Not stuck down here with a bunch of crazy pointy-eared bastards.” My retort doesn’t even make him flinch.
His laugh is dry as if he doesn’t believe the words I say. To him, I’m a petulant child. “Sarah, the longer you’re in Fae, the more you become one of us, and the less you’re going to care about them. You will lose interest in the human world altogether and begin to forget you were ever human. Soon, the only thing you’ll remember is being Fae, and before you were something else. But you won’t remember what ‘it’ was.” His benign smile fixes on his smug face with his eyebrows raised as a matter of fact. It reminds me of a politician’s irritating reply to an ignorant constituent.
I want to smack his face off onto the floor and stomp on it. My lips curl back into a sneer. He’s disgusting, as if nothing is more important than Fae. All they do is kill, maim, and create problems for every living creature on planet Earth. Or at least on the surface. Down here, they turn humans into creatures, and I can’t get the taste of it out of my mouth. I keep seeing Brad withering on the ground as his body slowly changes from a six-foot human to the four-legged muscled flanks of a horse.
“Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to happen, Deston. I have every intention of never forgetting my own humanity. Anyway, didn’t you say humans can’t become Fae and Fae can’t become human?” I raise an eyebrow at him. It’s fun poking holes in his bullshit.
“Generally, you’re right. Obviously, I was wrong. Apparently, under certain circumstances, it is possible. What’s the saying? ‘A Tiger cannot change its stripes.’ Perhaps a tiger can, and I have been mistaken.” He rubs the sides of his steepled fingers back and forth against his lips.
I’m amusing him in some way. “That’s where you’re clearly mistaken.” With my hands on my hips, I shift to one foot.
Deston raises an eyebrow, “I wish to make you an offer. I will give you back your little human plaything. She’s just a child, and as you say children are so important in every culture. I will give her back to you if you promise to stay with me. You could even stay at my side as my bride.” His offer throws me.
I don’t need Janice’s help to know it’s a terrible idea. I snarl my nose up on one side. “You’re joking, right? Why would I stay here as your bride? I don’t want to be Fae, let alone stuck married to one.” I retort.
His smile leaps across his face. The magic wakes change into crests. “You need allies, Sarah. You cannot exist in Fae without them, however tenuous our alliance could possibly be. At least with me, you would have protection. I have an entire army at my disposal. I would be more than happy to put them at your disposal. They could defend you. You could lead them wherever you choose. We could rule Fae together, with the proper amount of incentive from others.” His words strike me.
Why would I need an army to defend myself?
There’s something missing. He’s leaving something out, something important. Something I need to know. Janice looks pained, and the muscles on his neck rise. He strains against whatever holds him in check. He’d sworn allegiance to me. I don’t know if fealty matters for anything down here. For all he’d said, it could be a lie, a big fat trick to get me to agree to be friends with Denny boy over there.
“I don’t think I like that plan either. I agree everybody needs allies. For some reason, you want me bad. From the conversation I overheard a couple of moments ago, so does everybody else. I can’t imagine why. There’s nothing particularly interesting about me. In the human world, it’s not like I’m some supermodel or a rocket scientist. But if you wish to truly be my ally, you’ll release the humans. All of them, even the ones Puca has. Release the enchantments on them and send them back to the surface. Then sing some mumbo-jumbo so Fae can’t find them or see them.” It’s my best bluff. “I don’t know. Do whatever it is you can to keep them free. Then I’ll agree to try to win the challenges. Right now, I don’t believe you or him.” I jab my thumb over my shoulder at Janice. “I don’t believe anybody here. You’re all liars and manipulators. And you’re clearly doing something you don’t want me to know about. Return the humans and come clean to me, or I’m gonna leave and I’m not sure you can stop me.” I don’t know if he’s going to buy it or not.
Deston’s entire body tightens. Clearly, I’d hit a mark, making him unsure of something. He wants me bad. As long as I say I’m his ally, he gets something from it. I don’t know if I’m willing to hang around long enough to find out what it is, but I am willing to bargain for everyone else’s freedom.
Deston fingers one of the trendles hanging down from his ear. He strokes it from top to tip and turns to face the green fire. He hunches and takes a deep breath a moment before he sits ramrod straight with a stick up his ass. “You drive a hard bargain. I do wish to prove myself to you. Clearly, you see yourself as my equal. I will not dissuade you at this time.” His acquiescence is demeaning.
A laugh bursts from my lips. “Are you kidding? You’re not gonna dissuade me from our equality at this time? You realize how pompous you sound? Yeah, I’m not sure I can be partners with somebody who clearly doesn’t understand we’re on equal footing. I have something you want—me.” I tap my lip as I shift my weight from one foot to the other. “You have something I want. I’m willing to give myself over to you as a contender and work with you towards your ends, as soon as you tell me what they are. Give me all my people back in human form and send them back to the surface with whatever petty protections a Fae of your level can provide.” Now for the dig. “Assuming you can even provide any.” I know it’s not really a good idea to insult people when you’re trying to make a deal. Some are proud, stupid proud, and they think they’re better than everyone, so of course they are going to think you know they can do everything, but I’m basically telling him I’m not even sure he can deliver it. I want what I want, that’s it. He’s either going to give it to me, or I’ll go somewhere else. At least that’s what I’m telling him.
“All right, I will tell you what I can, and I will release your people. Janice will return them to the surface with whatever protections we can provide them. We cannot make them invisible to the Fae. We see through allusions; it’s one of our gifts. However, I can make them revolting, or less interesting. That sort of thing.” Deston waves one of his hands in my general direction.
“Yeah, revolting doesn’t sound good to me. I would rather them be less interesting or perhaps invisible.” I shake my head from left to right, thinking perhaps he could do it or maybe he can’t. But I know his pride won’t put up with me challenging him at every step.
“Janice put a ‘don’t look here’ on all her people. It makes them less noticeable. Most Fae will ignore them. Unlock Puca’s belts.” Deston palms a key to Janice.
I saunter over and sit down in one of the wing-backed chairs. I pop one foot up on the footrest. The other I throw over an armrest, kicking my steel-toed boots in his direction. “Well, let me know when you’re done. I’ll be waiting right here.” I slap my hands together and then thrust them out at the fire as if to enjoy the warmth coming from it.
Deston raises an eyebrow. “What do you mean you will be waiting right here?” he sputters.
CHAPTER 18
“I mean exactly what I said. I’ll be waiting right here until you’re finished taking care of my demands. Come back and we will move forward with our plans, whatever they may be. Until I know my people are safe and, on the surface, I’m not going anywhere. I might stay right here and enjoy the pretty green fairy fire.” I lean back and put my hands behind my head with my elbows up in the air.
A large O forms with his lips opening and closing like a gu
ppy. He’s nonplussed to say the least. “You cannot just stay in my private quarters. I must conduct business and manage my affairs, and I cannot have you lounging about eavesdropping.” He sputters.
His outburst makes me laugh. I smile to myself at the sight of him standing in his own foyer, whispering to his minions after having been ousted from his private chambers by a human. “Not my problem. Get it done quickly, and I won’t be interfering with your business anymore.” I close my eyes and tilted my head back.
He grits his teeth and turns to Janice. “Do as I say! Do it quickly. Gather her people and return them to the surface now.” His voice goes from that light sweet Fae tone he’d been using on me as if he was speaking to a child to a deep dark, Satanist quality. Tim Curry would’ve been proud.
I don’t believe in fairy tales, I don’t have any religious affiliations either. The tonal quality of his voice, which I suspect is probably his real one, makes fingernails run up and down my spine. It’s like having the skin scraped off your back with a Barbecue brush. I stare into the fire and school my face. He doesn’t need to know he has the ability to make my bowels quiver. I need to maintain the illusion of the upper hand in some fashion. I don’t even turn my head to see Janice leave. Only the softened retreating footsteps inform me of his exit.
Great. Here I am sitting with a scary fairy prince, waiting for a different creepy fairy to return and tell me all my people were safe. Do I really want to stay here? I could go back with Janice. I’d get a chance to witness the return. Do I want him to take Nick, Tom, and Jake too? “All right, you convinced me. I changed my mind. I’ll go with Janice and make sure you keep your end of the bargain.” I twist in the chair, stomping both feet down on the floor and making bits of dirt and grim fall in my steps.
He sputters for a moment. “He’s already left.”
“I know. It will be an adventure to catch up with him, so I got a run. Catch you later, Denny boy.” I jump up with a quick step and skip through the arches to the elevator, just in time to see Janice reach his hand out and stop the doors from closing.
His eyebrow shoots up.
“I can’t let you go and return all my friends without me,” I say. “Sorry, you’re stuck with me. Besides, I have to make sure it gets done.”
He bows his head ever so slightly, tilting his head in a downward motion as he steps back and off to the side. As soon as the doors close, I want to say something, but he shakes his head left and right a smidge. I hold my tongue. It becomes the longest elevator ride of all time. At some point in time, I think it’ll never come to an end. Finally, we reach the seventh floor, and I unlock the door to my old room.
Nick stands slack-jawed.
“Do you want me to take him back with me? I could. He would never know. I can release him from his compulsion as soon as we land?” Janice inquires.
I look at Nick. I desperately want to take him back to the surface. He’ll be safer there, but he’s also the only person down here I can trust. Until I find Arty. If I find Arty, do I want to send him back too?
“No, Nick stays here. Anyway, I don’t think you can take the enchantment off.” I hear the ring of truth in my own words, and I internally cringe away from it. “I really don’t care one way or the other if Jake and Tom stay or go. They don’t belong here, but they said they wanted to kill some Fae. They seem pretty determined to get themselves killed.”
Janice turns away from me and my harsh words. “As you say, my Lady, though I do not believe they will wish to leave. They did choose this path, and it’s a one-way ticket without you.”
“Take me to Olive.” I grab Nick’s hand, and we exit the room and begin the long descent to the ground floor of the castle proper.
Janice leads me back to the receiving room. In the center sits a flowered cage, woven together with blackberry vines. A small form cringes in the center, Olive. Fruit hangs from the cage as do leaves. Most of which are intertwined with a type of vining rose. Olive is alert. Her eyes are wide and terrified, and her body curls into a ball. I smell the fear coming off her as Fae walk by. Each one takes their turn to laugh and jeer at her.
“Why is she awake?” I grit out.
“We could not enchant her. We all tried, including Deston, but it is not possible. Whatever you did to wake her up, it’s permanent.” Janice puts everything so succinctly. “No one knows it was you. This makes it very dangerous for her here. They have her caged, and they’re terrorizing her, hoping to break her mind.”
Her whimpers echo around the chamber. I watch the leaves move in unison to carry the sound, amplifying it.
“Isn’t it lucky we’re here to take her? Why don’t they make her a contender, like me?” I snarl it at him through clenched teeth. They really are barbarians. Anything they don’t understand, they immediately have to terrorize, tease, and break. God, I hate fucking Fairies.
“She is too young,” Janice replies quick and to the point.
Age matters?
“She wasn’t too young to participate in the maze, but too young to be a contender. Huh?” I lift my foot to step forward.
Janice’s hand thrusts out, holding me back. His lips breathe on my earlobe, sending tingles down my spine. “My lady, you were not instructed to free her. I was, and only I can. Stay back. You are nobody here. You don’t want to be noticed.” Janice says.
I freeze in place. Being statuesque isn’t one of my strong suits. My fingers dig into my palms.
I hear the singing of the plants. I whisper to them under my breath. I can’t help myself. The tune of the raspberries is cruel and cutting. I turn it sweet and encouraging, and its sharp thorns to flowers.
Janice freezes, turns, and gives me a sharp look. “Stop!” he mouths.
I do stop. It’s hard. I want to continue, but if I keep going, I’ll become a spectacle. Everyone would want to know exactly what I’d done and how I’d done it, so I cease. He sings his song, releasing the catch on the cage. A door forms and separates from the opening. Olive springs from it.
I crouch down, wrapping my arms around her. She struggles against my hold. Pressing my cheek against hers with my mouth next to her ear, I whisper, “Olive, stop fidgeting! I’m taking you back to Zoe.”
She stills. “I don’t believe you. You’re all liars. Fairies look pretty, but inside you’re really ugly.” Her voice is small and determined. Several of the fairies around her twitter with amusement. I sing lightly into her ear, and an enchantment falls over her.
The room stills. Every Fae stops moving, and their voices die away. The musical notes of the walls cease as if everything has suddenly died and all sound has been stolen from the world.
“You enchanted her?” A tall white-haired Fae in the distance says. She’s a fiercely beautiful woman, and her eyes are the color of freshly cracked acorns. Her skin is fine and delicate as orange blossom.
I recognize her from the dinner when I was first brought here. She’s covered in leaves, but they can barely be called clothing. The necessary parts are covered, sort of.
“How did you enchant her? We have all tried. No one here has been able.” She demands.
I falter.
Janice interjects, “She did not enchant her. I did.” The woman turns her acorn brown eyes onto Janice.
“You lie, you did not. I watched the Fae. She whispered and sang into the child’s ear, it was clear. Should we ask the walls what they heard?” She rebuts.
Stupid, stupid, everything in Fae is a tattletale.
“Yes, I enchanted her. I sang the same song you all sang. Perhaps my showing her some kindness relaxed her enough for me to enchant her.” I turn my lips into a sneer when I say the word kindness, hoping they won’t notice what I really mean.
The acorn-eyed woman continues. “If that is the only trick necessary to enchant humanity, they would’ve all been enchanted easily months ago. Kindness is not something Fae believe. It’s only the strength and power of one’s own song.” Many nod in agreement.
“Having
been out in the human world several times myself, I have seen how humans react to kindness,” I retort. “It weakens them and makes them more predictable. I simply showed her enough of what she perceived to be human kindness for her to let down her guard.” My belly rolls with my words. It sickens me to admit kindness is a weakness to be exploited. “I sang her the enchantment. It was nothing more. A simple trick I learned from watching my prey.” The cruelty of my words burns in my mouth. Several of the Fae nod their heads, supporting my assessment of humanity.
“There is much to be learned from watching one’s prey when you are the predator, spoken like a true Hunter.” A male Fae turns his full attention on me. “The fairy’s correct. I see the wisdom in your words. What is your name?”
I don’t want to give them my name. Thinking quickly, I can’t stutter. I have to give them any name. I give him the only name that comes to mind. “Sierra, my name is Sierra.”
“She is lately from the other court. She is still choosing her new prince.” Janice feigns boredom. “With your kind of intellect, Sierra, you would be wise to join Deston’s court. He is the strongest prince. He will be Consort and end this reign of wild. I know it.”
I choose to keep my thoughts to myself. Reign of wild? The land of Fae will take whatever you say and twist it around to their own ends. I simply tilt my head to the side, taking Olive’s hand in my own. We turn and leave the receiving room. I keep my head high. I don’t want anyone there to get the idea I am doing anything other than my duty.
Janice rustles up a carriage for us. I place Olive in the back next to Nick as Janice whips up the horses. Back to Puca’s barn.
CHAPTER 19
The clicking of horse hooves on the ground echoes off the stone archway and rings from the drawbridge. Whipping my head around, I spy a second carriage. “Janice, what’s the other carriage for?”
