by Sarina Dorie
It wasn’t just guilt that shivered through me now, but fear. Thatch didn’t let go of my arm. I looked to his hand, uncertain whether he was being defiant or protective.
“Release her, Thatch,” Elric ordered.
“Why? So you can punish her for defying you and making you look bad? What do Fae do to discipline their human lovers? Is it the same as what they do to their servants?”
A lump settled in my gut.
Vega spoke up now. “Fae don’t need to punish Witchkin lovers. We can’t resist their powers of persuasion and love.”
“Most Witchkin anyway,” Elric said. His nostrils flared.
The air was thick with magic. I could feel particles in the air shifting and colliding in molecular explosions. He drew energy to himself like a black hole. This wasn’t going to be good. A Fae prince was now mad at me and probably wanted to torture me.
Thatch dipped down, his voice quiet in my ear. “Stay next to me, and I’ll protect you.”
Thatch was my coworker and mentor. I had trusted him. He had promised me he would never take advantage of my powers.
He had broken that trust.
It would have been easier to forgive him if he had liked me, if he had felt anything for me. Yet over and over he’d said he didn’t want me. Now he had kissed me and made me want him. And why? To get back at Elric? Did he have any idea how heartbreaking that was for me?
“Let go of me.” I wrenched my arm away from Thatch, lost my balance, and promptly fell over.
I landed hard on my knee and cried out in pain.
Thatch sighed, impatience speaking louder in that little hiss of air than any words he might have uttered. My knee was scraped and bleeding. That was the final straw. I burst into tears.
A woman’s deep laugh split through the quiet of the night. “This is the most amusing evening I’ve had in ages,” Vega said. “We must do this again.”
I tried to stand, but I had broken my high heel. I grabbed onto Thatch’s pants leg to steady myself.
He cupped a hand under each of my elbows and hoisted me to my feet. “Toughen up, Miss Lawrence. It’s only a skinned knee, not the end of the world.”
Elric strode forward. His voice was softer, kinder. “Come here, Clarissa.”
I didn’t believe that gentleness after the exchange between them. I stumbled back into Thatch, jabbing my heel into his foot. He tolerated it, probably drawing strength from it. He continued to hold on to my arm.
“You don’t have to fear me. I’m not going to harm you.” Elric held a hand out to me. His eyes showed hurt, but I couldn’t tell if it was real or not. “Step away from him.”
“Indeed,” Thatch agreed. “It would be in your best interest for you to leave with Miss Bloodmire so that you don’t get struck in the crossfire of spells.”
Crossfire of spells? This was just getting worse and worse.
I covered my face as if I could stuff the tears back in that were flooding down my cheeks. “You both promised you wouldn’t do any more dueling.”
“I’m not leaving,” Vega said. “This is too much fun.”
“Yes, you are,” Elric said.
When I looked up, Vega was gone.
“I don’t want anyone to get hurt,” I said. “Please, both of you, don’t fight.” I shook Thatch’s arm. “Please. You promised.”
“I didn’t promise. I agreed. My words weren’t magically binding.” His voice was cold as he gazed at his nemesis.
“You know how this works, Clarissa.” Elric offered me a tight smile. “If that’s your wish, I will promise to do as you ask and not harm anyone, but I need you to grant me a favor in return.”
“That’s the Fae, only willing to do a good deed if you give them something,” Thatch said. “It’s like making a deal with the devil.”
I hated these Fae games. “What do you want from me?”
“The same thing I would have asked of you earlier for doing a good deed. Simply a kiss.”
Thatch grunted. “Kissing is the gateway drug to Fae seduction.”
I’d kissed Elric plenty of times already. Albeit, they were usually small, chaste kisses so that I didn’t draw out my affinity and signal what I was. If I gave in to desire, there was a chance Elric would see what I was. Of course, if I controlled myself like Thatch had been teaching me, I might not expose my affinity.
“That’s all?” I asked.
“Indeed.” Elric strode closer. “Do you agree?”
“Don’t do it.” Thatch held on to my shoulder. “It’s a trick.”
I twisted away from him. “I agree.”
I pulled away from Thatch, being careful not to stumble with my broken heel. Thatch’s coat slipped away from my shoulders, and the night air once again bit into my skin. I took Elric’s outstretched hand.
He placed an arm around me as I hobbled away with him. “You’re safe,” he said.
His eyes flickered yellow and then blue. I’d never seen him look so sad. I might have been safe from his rage, but I wasn’t safe from my own shame.
He stopped long enough to stroke my cheek. I lifted my chin and closed my eyes, anticipating the kiss.
His breath whispered warm against my ear. “Not now, love. The smell of him on you is bad enough. I don’t want to taste him too.”
He ushered me away, his steps slow enough I could keep up.
Thatch muttered something under his breath. I smelled ozone and cyanide. My back was turned, and I couldn’t see the spell, but I could feel the energy crackle in the air.
“No!” I said, turning back to look at Thatch.
His wand was raised. He hurled a fireball straight at us.
Elric swept me behind him and blocked the spell. I collided with the dumpster and toppled over. A wall of light sparked between Thatch and us. Elric’s guards were there in an instant. Five of them placed themselves between us. Another three stood behind Thatch, swords drawn and shields raised.
“Felix Thatch, you are an idiot!” I said.
“You and I agree on that.” Elric scooped me up and lifted me into his arms as he started to walk away.
My dress was torn and I reeked of alcohol. I didn’t remember seeing a puddle or falling into one, but now that I looked, I saw a puddle next to the dumpster. The ground was dry around it. Oh, snap! I’d fallen into someone’s puddle of vomit.
Elric’s guards closed in on Thatch. He fell to his knees. There were no bright, flashing lights or showy Witchkin magic. The security detail stared impassively. I wouldn’t have known an enchantment was being performed if it hadn’t been for the fact that Thatch was choking and clawing at his throat.
I patted Elric’s shoulder, trying to gain his attention. “No! Please, Elric, you promised. Don’t hurt him.”
He kept on walking. “I promised I wouldn’t harm him. I didn’t say they wouldn’t.” His lips were laced with a satisfied smile. “And he quite deserves to be punished after that ungentlemanly display.”
What did he mean by ‘punished’? Killed? Drained? My heart plummeted to my stomach. Thatch continued to choke. No one deserved to be treated this way.
“Please,” I said. “I’ll give you something else. I’ll make another bargain with you.”
Thatch’s face was red, and he had fallen onto all fours. He struggled to keep himself upright.
Elric sighed in exasperation. “Very well. For you.” He called over his shoulder. “Release him. He is a waste of our magic. Too many questions would be asked if serious harm came to him anyway. Just contain him long enough for me to take Miss Lawrence home.”
The words rushed out of me before I could stop them. “Thank you.”
“Thanking me, are you? Someone owes me a boon. In your case, double.”
“Am I allowed to pay you with another kiss?”
“Ha! You wish.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Seeing Red
Elric carried me through the shadows of
an alley.
I had once asked Elric to do a favor for me without first setting the price. He had saved the lives of my students with magic, but there had been a cost. I couldn’t claim that I would have made a different choice and set the price first, knowing that time was of the essence and more students could have died if I’d delayed long enough to make a trade that would be in my favor.
I wouldn’t have made a different choice in this circumstance either. I wouldn’t have negotiated a price as I watched Thatch slowly die. As Elric rounded the corner of the building and we passed into shadows, the aroma of wet wood and jasmine greeted my nose. The air warmed considerably.
Moonlight shone down on us, the glowing crescent flashing in and out of sight through the lacy boughs of trees. It took a moment for the aroma of fresh air and moist earth to register. Wind whispered through leaves like a lullaby. It was too dark to tell where Elric was taking me.
“Will he be all right?” I asked. “You promise they won’t hurt him?”
The city lights were gone. I couldn’t see anything around me but black silhouettes of what might have been looming trees.
“One reaps what one sows.”
My heart slammed against my chest. I didn’t know if he meant that as a jab at me for my infidelity or one at Thatch for his behavior.
“After he attacked you, why do you even care how he fares?” He set me on my feet. “Is it because you have feelings for him?”
“No,” I said quickly. I forced myself to sound calm, to hide the lie on my lips with a truth. “I care about all people. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
He didn’t answer. I suspect he didn’t believe me. I held his hand firmly as he guided me along the uneven terrain.
“I don’t know what I feel for him,” I said. “It’s complicated. Sometimes we’re friends. Sometimes I hate him. Especially after he’s broken my trust.”
“Good. You should hate him after what he’s done.”
I ground my heels into the ground. “Just because he behaved badly doesn’t mean we should follow his example. It isn’t right to hurt and kill people, even if we dislike them.”
“True enough.”
His hand left mine, and for a moment I was left isolated and alone in the black silence, nothing tethering me to safety. I relaxed as he placed a warm hand on my shoulder.
“If it makes you feel better, my men will be returning that despicable man to the school shortly.” He took my hand again. His voice grew sharp. “Don’t thank me.”
A bitter smile laced my lips. I was that predictable.
We walked in silence. I didn’t know if that fireball of magic from Thatch’s wand had been meant for Elric or me. Elric I suspected, but if he hadn’t pushed me out of the way, I might have gotten hurt. It was the idea that Thatch would have risked my safety to injure Elric that hurt the most. Even after I had bargained with Elric to ensure his safety, he’d attacked.
It was enough to eat me up inside. Elric was probably right that Thatch didn’t deserve my sympathy, but I couldn’t squash down those feelings I had for him any more than I had already tried. It was this new betrayal that hurt the most. And what did I have for it? A new boon to pay off.
Stars peeked through the boughs above us. The rush of water burbled from somewhere nearby.
I tried to push down the trepidation rising in me. “What kind of boon will you ask of me?”
“I suppose I shall have to think it over, make it something truly unpleasant for you that you’d never do without being magically bound to do, because as you know, that is the best way to treat someone magically inferior who you are trying to woo. What do I mind if I make you hate me in the process? I’m just a heartless Fae who is incapable of feeling remorse.” He laughed, but there was a hard edge to the sound that I wasn’t used to hearing. “That is what he’s told you about me, is it not?”
“Something along those lines.”
“Do you think I would actually ask something of you as a favor that would hurt you?”
I swallowed. I wanted to believe he wouldn’t. He’d always been generous in our bargains. At the same time, I’d seen another side to him tonight. I wasn’t sure he was the Prince Charming I’d thought he was.
“That would make you resent me,” he said. “I’m not courting you and trying to win your affections for a meaningless tryst, after which I’ll throw you away when I tire of you. If I wanted that, I could have seduced you with food your very first night in my father’s castle.” His breath brushed against my forehead. “I wanted you to love me of your own volition.”
Wanted. Past tense. Perhaps he’d changed his mind. If he did, I was screwed. I would have no way of winning the bargain I’d made now.
I tried to undo the harm that I’d done, but I didn’t know how. “I do love you. I told you that before.”
“No, Clarissa. You love me because you have to. Because you thought it would be the lesser of two evils so you agreed you would fall in love. But someone can’t fall in love for a bargain.” He sighed. “That being said, no woman, Witchkin, mortal, or Fae has ever chosen another man over me. That means there are one of two possibilities: either you don’t love me at all because you are unfeeling and soulless, or he has bewitched you and ensnared your senses.”
I nearly laughed out loud at his phrasing. It sounded like something Severus Snape would say in a Harry Potter novel. Only, the circumstances were too dire to make light of. Losing control had hurt him tonight.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t want this to happen.”
“I tend to believe you have a heart and soul, so I’m forced to think it’s the other possibility. He did something to you magically. Am I correct?”
“There was magic involved, yes,” I said. “But it isn’t all his magic. Some of it was mine. The equivalent of fertility magic, I guess. It might have influenced him.” I didn’t like lying. It made every word taste sour in my mouth.
“You were drained. If you have no magic, how can your magic affect him?”
This was my punishment for not being smarter. I was now caught. He knew I was a liar now.
His voice was almost as cool as Thatch’s usual tone. “As I understand it, you are only just starting to regain your affinity.”
“Yeah,” I said, trying to think up something I could tell him. Maybe I could lie and say I had regained more of my magic than I’d told him.
“And this loyal and trustworthy mentor of yours took advantage of your supposed magic to get back at me. How chivalrous.” He raised an eyebrow. “Are there no bounds to his depravity?”
“Nope.”
“It’s curious how you draw away every time I touch you, yet you willingly allowed him to touch you.” He raised my palm to his lips and kissed my hand. “There’s more to it than just that, isn’t there, though?”
His lips burned against my skin. Tingles rushed up my spine. I was surprised how such a small gesture could awaken my affinity. This had never happened before when he’d kissed me. Something was different. Perhaps I was still supercharged from earlier.
It took everything in me to tug my hand out of his. “It’s complicated. I didn’t intend to kiss him, just dance with him.”
“I believe you. And when you wish to tell me the complete truth, I will be happy to listen. Until then, you can be silent if you choose. I’m not going to force the truth out of you.”
I felt even guiltier now. I was certain I had misjudged him. He was a trickster, and certainly had no qualms with being cruel to Thatch, but they were enemies. Despite what I had done to deepen that wound in Elric, he hadn’t taken his anger out on me. Thus far he’d been sensible. His every intention was to understand me.
I loathed myself for what I’d done to Elric.
He cupped my elbow and guided me off the path and through the foliage, ferns brushing against my ankles. I didn’t like being led into the forest. This was too much like Julian. I kept telling myself Elric
was different.
He snapped his fingers, and a thousand fireflies lit the wooded area around us. They bumbled into each other and bounced off the trees, casting everything in a greenish glow.
There was enough light to see him seat himself. He gestured to the space next to him in invitation. I patted the seat to find a furry cushion. At first I thought it was a bench with a fabric covering, but as I adjusted myself, I realized it was a log covered in moss. A tree grew just behind it, providing a place to lean.
I clasped my hands in my lap. “I wish I could fix this.” I doubted I could. The fate of my soul lay in his hands. If he forgave me, we could move on. If we couldn’t, then the Silver Court would own me.
“I hope you can see this from my perspective. I have been patient with you and treated you with respect. I’ve listened to your concerns and tried to show you my good intentions.” He lifted his nose in the air in a haughty manner. “And this is the thanks I get? You did far more with him in a few minutes than you’ve done with me in the weeks I have courted you.”
It took everything in me not to argue and defend myself. Or to defend Thatch. Both of which would make the situation worse. Instead, I used the skills of active listening that I often employed while teaching. “I can understand how you’d be angry with me. You’ve done everything right and he hasn’t. It sounds like you think I’m rewarding him and punishing you. That must feel very unfair.”
“Should I treat you the way he does?” He took hold of my shoulders firmly, emphasizing his words with a squeeze. “Will you forgive me that easily if I use you like he does?”
“Please don’t.” I tried to draw back, but he held me in place. My heart hammered in my chest. I didn’t want this to be like Julian. Or Derrick.
“I am not going to hurt you,” he said slowly. “I’m not going to force you to do anything. I just want you to think about what you’ve promised me. You’ve bargained to give me your greatest treasure. Your heart. Yet you can’t. You’re still afraid of me.” He released my shoulders. “If you’re going to do this, you’re going to have to let go. You need to learn to trust me.”
