by KJ Baker
The woman’s eyes flicked to Rillana, who hobbled over, holding one hand to her hastily bandaged shoulder.
“Her? Traitorous bitch! She is not the Spire! She deserves death.” Her eyes raked across everyone gathered in the courtyard. “You all do!”
“And yet you refused to fight me. If I deserve death, why would you do that?”
For the first time, a flicker of uncertainty showed in her eyes. “I have orders not to hurt you.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re my mistress’s betrothed. Because she loves you.”
Beside me, Ffion snorted. “Your mistress is fucking crazy.”
Yes. Crazy and dangerous.
I crouched in front of the woman and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at me. “Why did your mistress take Asha? Was she acting on her own initiative? Or someone’s orders?”
“We serve a higher power!” the woman growled, pulling back her lips in a snarl. “My mistress too.”
I tightened my grip on her chin. “Where did she take Asha?”
She spat at me. “Fates curse you, Seelie! I’ll never tell you!”
That fanatic zeal was burning in her eyes again, raging like a fever. I’d seen it before many times, but usually on the battle field when facing an enemy so convinced of their righteousness they had lost all sense of reason.
“She won’t tell you anything,” Rillana said softly. “They’re trained to die before giving up their secrets. But there might be something I can try.”
The Spire’s face was pale with blood loss, but her expression was determined.
She smiled grimly. “There were certain...abilities granted to me when I became the Spire. Let me try, Raven. It might be our only way to find Asha.”
I released the assassin and straightened. “Do whatever you have to.”
Rillana crouched in front of the assassin. The woman watched her warily, suddenly looking like a wild animal that wasn’t sure whether to attack or flee.
Rillana said nothing and made no move to touch the woman. Her eyes slid closed. For a second, nothing happened. Then the assassin’s eyes flew wide, her lips pulling back from her teeth in a rictus grin. Sweat formed on her forehead and she went rigid, the tendons in her neck standing out with tension.
“Get out of my head!” she wailed.
The assassin began to thrash, her head whipping from side to side. Hawk tightened his grip on her shoulders, keeping her in place.
“No!” the assassin panted. “I won’t show you! I won’t!” She slumped forward and her jaw began moving as though chewing something.
Too late I realized her plan. “Hawk! Stop her!”
There was a faint tinkling noise as she bit down on the tiny vial that must have been embedded in her tooth. The acrid smell of nightshade filled the air, and the assassin’s thrashing became more violent. With a curse, Hawk released her and she toppled to the ground, limbs spasming, white froth spewing from her mouth. Then she suddenly went still, eyes staring up at the sky.
Hawk pressed his finger to her neck. Looking up at me, he shook his head.
Fates curse it! A growl escaped me, low and full of frustration. “Did you discover anything?” I demanded of Rillana.
She climbed slowly to her feet. Compassion filled her expression as she looked at the dead assassin.
“Oh, my child,” she whispered.
I had no time for her compassion—not when the life of my mate was at stake.
“Well?”
Rillana nodded. “She took her life because I was able to access her memories. She thought she had failed.” Her eyes fixed on mine. “Taviel is behind this. He ordered Asha’s abduction. And there’s more. The Unseelie have captured the Spire. That’s where Felena has taken Asha.”
I whirled. “Ready my horse! Open the gate!”
Rillana caught my wrist. “What are you doing?”
“What do you think I’m doing? I’m going to the Spire, now let go of me!”
“Then you will be doing exactly what they want you to do, you damned fool!” Rillana snapped. “Can’t you see that?”
Ffion came up beside Rillana. “She’s right, Raven. This has “trap” written all over it.”
“Think about it!” Rillana pressed, her grip on my arm tightening painfully. “Why do you think they chose this exact moment to both abduct Asha and try to kill me? Because if they succeeded, they would behead the Seelie resistance in one fell swoop. You, the army commander, lured away to rescue your mate, leaving the Seelie forces leaderless. Me, the Spire, dead. The Seelie would be in disarray!”
“I don’t care,” I growled. “I’m going after Asha.”
Rillana’s eyes flashed dangerously. In that moment, she was every bit the Spire. “No, you are not!” she snapped. “You are a king: start behaving like one! The forces you lead are all that stands between the Unseelie and the enslavement of your people! You have a duty to your people. Would you abandon them now, when they need you the most?”
I hesitated. The urge to go riding after Asha was like a fire in my veins. It burned through me like acid but I could not let it consume me. Think, curse you, I told myself. Think.
“You cannot teleport to the Spire,” Rillana said. “The Spire’s magic would kill you the moment you attempted to teleport inside.” She released my wrist and laid a gentle hand on my shoulder. “But you can get Asha back—by leading the Seelie army right to Taviel’s door. We must retake the Spire.”
I met the gaze of each of my companions in turn: Rillana, Ffion, Hawk. Each watched me with dark determination in their eyes. They were right. If I ran headlong into the Unseelie trap, I would not be helping Asha. I would not be helping anyone.
“Ready the horses. We ride out to meet the army immediately. I will retake the Spire. I will get Asha back. Even if I have to destroy every single Unseelie to do it.”
ASHA
“What do you want with me?” I demanded of Dark Hair. “Why have you brought me here?”
I did my best to make my voice steady, as though I wasn’t afraid, but I didn’t succeed. I sounded weak and whiny even to my own ears.
Dark Hair didn’t answer. Instead, he looked at Felena. “Did you have any trouble getting her out?”
Felena shrugged. “Nothing I couldn’t handle. That bitch Ffion accompanied her, but I dealt with her. After that, it was easy.” She had a self-satisfied smile on her face that made me want to slap her.
We are engaged to be married.
“Good work,” Dark Hair said. “You’ve done well.”
Felena crossed her arms. “So when do I get my reward?”
Dark Hair cocked his head, a puzzled expression crossing his handsome features. “You could have anyone, Felena. Be anyone. Why must you persist in this foolish obsession?”
A flash of anger passed across her face. “That’s my business. We struck a deal. I expect you to stick to your end of it. The Unseelie. The Seelie. They can all go to the abyss as far as I’m concerned—as long as I get what’s rightfully mine.”
She glanced my way as she said this, and the look in her eyes was pure venom. With a cold flash of insight, I realized that she really wanted to kill me. Only Dark Hair’s orders had stopped her from doing so already.
“You’ll get what you’re owed,” Dark Hair said, a touch of irritation in his smooth voice. “When we’re victorious.”
Felena glared at him then tossed her hair over her shoulder and marched out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
“My apologies,” Dark Hair said, staring after Felena with a frown on his face. “I hope she wasn’t too rough bringing you here.”
Like you care, I thought.
There was only one exit from the room, a set of doors behind me. Could I get through those doors and down the stairs before Dark Hair caught me?
“You could try,” the man said as if reading my mind. “But if you somehow managed to escape what would you do? There’s an Unseelie army between you and him. How would y
ou reach him before you’re torn to pieces?”
“I’d rather be torn to pieces than spend a moment longer with you.” I grabbed a letter knife from the desk and brandished it at him. It was a poor weapon, but the best I could do. “Come near me and I’ll cut your balls off.”
I expected derision. Scorn. What I got was a look of disappointment.
“There’s no need to threaten me,” he said softly. “I’ve not brought you here to hurt you.”
“Oh? Then why have you brought me here?”
“To save you. To reveal the lies you’ve been told and let you finally see the truth.”
I blinked. “What are you talking about?”
He sighed and then sank into a chair. He steepled his fingers and watched me over them. “Won’t you sit?”
“I’d prefer to stand, thanks.”
“As you wish. Asha, contrary to what you might think, to what you’ve been told, I am not your enemy. Everything you’ve been told about me, and about the Unseelie Fae, is a lie. We have no desire to invade the mortal realm. We have no desire to enslave humanity. Who do you suppose fought for emancipation of human slaves in the first place? Certainly not the Seelie. The rich Seelie courts were built upon the slavery of humans. You’ve seen the Shadow Court. It’s opulence. It’s grandeur. How do you suppose that was all achieved?”
“Liar.”
“The Unseelie were the ones who freed humanity. It is the Unseelie who fight for them still. We do not want to destroy the mortal realm, Asha. We want to save it from the Seelie horde who would subjugate it.”
I stared at him. Did he really expect me to believe this crap? After all I’d seen?
“You’re crazy,” I said. “And a liar. I don’t trust a word that comes out of your mouth. Take me back to the Shadow Court. Right now.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that. It’s against Unseelie law to return a human slave to their master. If I gave you back to Raven, that’s exactly what I’d be doing.”
Slave? What was he talking about? I shook my head. This conversation was not going the way I’d expected.
“Look,” I said, holding up the letter knife. “I don’t know what you’re up to, but it’s not going to work. I’m not Raven’s slave. I’m his mate.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Are you? Or has he just used his glamor on you to make you think that?”
“He has not used his glamor on me!”
“Oh? How can you be sure?”
I snapped my mouth shut, annoyed that I’d let him back me into this argument. “I just know! I’ve seen glamor being used, remember? I’ve seen what it does. I saw it when you used it to destroy my best friend! Or had you forgotten that?”
Images of Gracie’s face flashed through my mind. Her laugh. Her smile. And then the expression of mindless devotion as she gazed at Dark Hair after he’d destroyed her mind. How did he think I would ever believe a word he said after what he’d done? Fury pounded through my veins. This man had destroyed my best friend, and now he dared to make out that Raven was the bad guy? Did he really think I was that stupid?
“I’ve regretted that ever since,” Dark Hair said softly. “I was desperate. I had to get the Orb of Tir away from Raven. There was no telling what damage he would wreak with it if I didn’t. The Court of Shadow had long been the strongest of the Fae courts. Its rulers have long coveted power, and since Raven became king, they had been trying to find ways to bring down the Veil—”
“That’s a lie!”
“And they finally found it. That’s why Shezl and I were dispatched to the mortal realm—to track down the Orb of Tir and stop it falling into Seelie hands. It was the only way to protect humanity.
Unfortunately, Raven was a step ahead of us. Not only did he get the Orb from us, but also found a willing human with knowledge of the mortal realm. Time was running out. Raven had already killed Shezl. In desperation, I used your friend to lure you to me. I’m ashamed of that. I didn’t want to hurt her. If I could have done it any other way, I would have.”
I had gotten good at spotting liars. Working in the antiques trade, it was a constant battle to decipher if someone was telling the truth about their grandma’s antique cabinet being Queen Anne or whether it was really made from a hotch-potch of banana boxes. It was a necessary skill to be able to tell if the price you were offered for a brass pocket watch was reasonable or whether you were being ripped off.
I thought it was a skill I’d mastered. But now? Now I stared at Dark Hair I realized I couldn’t tell if he was telling the truth. I saw no lie in his eyes, heard no deception in his voice. Yet he’d just told me the biggest pile of horseshit I’d ever heard. He was basically saying that Raven—my mate—had lied to me the whole time! That I wasn’t his mate at all, that I was just a convenient human that he’d enslaved with his glamor.
I’m his betrothed. We’re engaged to be married.
I squeezed my eyes tight shut and blocked out the thought. No. I was not going down that road. Dark Hair was a liar. He was trying to trap me.
I lowered the letter knife. “There’s one fatal flaw to your argument. You say I’ve got it all wrong and that the Unseelie want to help humanity? Then how do you explain the Spire faking her own death and putting the blame on a human man? How do you explain that night in the clearing when she used the Orb of Tir to control Raven and ordered him to kill me? How do you explain the fact that she talked of tearing down the Veil so that the Fae can take their rightful place in the world?”
He sighed. “Eliana had her methods. They were effective, but I did not always agree with them. But she was the Spire, and I followed her orders. Her reference to the Fae taking their rightful place in the world is not what you suppose. She meant that the Fae must resume their place as protectors of humanity. As the keepers of the balance. That is why she was trying to unite the Seelie and the Unseelie. She wanted to end this factional divide so that we might finally work towards a common purpose.”
He reached out and rang a bell that sat on the desk. “And as for the human who supposedly killed her? Well, why don’t you see for yourself?”
The door opened and a scowling Felena strode into the room accompanied by a sandy-haired man. I backed away, trying to keep a distance between myself and the blonde woman, but she made no move to approach me. She took a spot against the wall, leaning against it with her arms crossed, watching me steadily. The man though, came to stand directly in front of me.
“Hello, Asha.”
I raised the letter knife. “Don’t come any closer.”
He spread his hands. “There’s no need to fear me. We’re on the same side.”
He had sandy, curly hair that framed a weathered but friendly face and looked middle-aged. There were crow’s feet at the corners of his eyes and laughter lines around his mouth.
Wait. Crow’s feet? Laughter lines? None of the Fae had wrinkles. Nor did they look middle-aged. Every single one of them was ageless.
Then it hit me.
“You’re...you’re...human,” I gasped.
He smiled. It was a warm smile, but his eyes were full of sorrow. “I am. My name is Samuel Wright. I was Eliana’s husband and fated mate. And I was the one who ‘murdered’ her.”
His words hit me like a physical blow. My mouth dropped open in shock. I couldn’t have heard that right. Eliana, the Spire who so hated mortals, had been mated to a human?
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “This isn’t right. None of this makes any sense.”
Samuel held out a placating hand. “I know it doesn’t seem like it,” he said softly. “Because it doesn’t fit with the world view Raven has forced you to believe. But everything will become clear if you open your mind to the possibility that you’ve been tricked. That you’ve been manipulated. You believe my wife was a monster who hated humanity. Who wanted to enslave us. How could that be true if her fated mate was one of them?”
“She spelled you,” I whispered desperately. “Used her glamor to enslave you. You’
re saying all this because she told you to. Because you don’t have a mind of your own.”
Samuel shook his head. “I’ll show you the truth, if you’ll let me. We are both bonded to a Fae. That gives us a small measure of their magic. I can use that magic to show you the truth—if you wish to see it.”
“Come near me and you’ll lose your fingers,” I growled at him, waving the letter knife.
Dark Hair rose to his feet. His dark eyes—so very different to Raven’s purple ones—were full of something I never expected to see there. It looked alarmingly like...compassion.
“I don’t blame you for being wary, Asha,” he said gently. “I don’t blame you for not trusting us. But you have to open your eyes. You have to see what’s really going on around you.”
“Why?” I shot back. “So that I can be fed more of your lies?”
“What are you so afraid of? If you are so confident that I’m the bad guy and Raven is the hero, what have you got to lose? Or are you, perhaps, not as sure as you claim?”
I opened my mouth for an angry retort and then closed it again. I looked from Dark Hair—Taviel, his name was Taviel—to Felena, to Samuel. They were all watching me expectantly.
A hot flare of anger rose inside me. What the hell did they want from me? “You’re liars!” I exploded. “Fine. Show me what you want, but it won’t change a god-damned thing!”
Samuel nodded. “Put down the letter knife and give me your hand. I promise you this won’t hurt you.”
I paused. I felt like a cornered animal surrounded by predators. No. That wasn’t entirely true. Taviel and Felena, certainly. But Samuel did not look like a predator. He looked tired and full of sadness. And he was human. Human! Like me. The only one of my kind I’d met since I came here to the Summerlands.
“Samuel, what are you doing here?” I asked him. “Why are you with these people?”
A small, wry smile curled his lips. “I’ll show you. Hold out your hand.”
I hesitated, then slowly stretched out my arm. Samuel folded his fingers around mine. His skin felt warm and dry, his touch soft.
“I’m going to use my bond to Eliana to show you the truth,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.”