by Lily Archer
“I’m not leaving her alone with you, witch.”
“Selene. Selene is its name.” She wrenches one leg from the ice, but the other remains stuck.
“I’m not leaving, and I’m beginning to rethink this boon.”
“You can’t kill me now. We both know it.” She bares her teeth. “No more winter in you. Not enough.”
I regret sparing her. “Maybe I can’t shatter you, but I can make you hurt. And I’ve recently come up with a theory.” My voice drops to lethal levels. “The only known way to kill you is to shatter you with cold. But perhaps we’re missing something. Maybe I simply need to experiment. Shove a sword down your throat, take a diamond axe to your head, roast you over a fire until the obsidian gets hot enough to melt. There must be some way to—”
“I gave my word and you dare threaten me? Dare question my oath simply because I am Obsidian?” A phantom wind stirs the witch’s white hair, and she narrows her black eyes. The tension rises around us like floodwaters, and I raise my sword.
“Selene.” Taylor hurriedly steps to my side. “I apologize for calling you creepy.”
The witch’s white eyebrows twitch, and I get a glimpse of what she could have been had she not fallen into the twisted evil of the Spires. Witches like her were once fae, but they followed the call of the dark and wound up changed by the mysterious forces that inhabit the Wasted Lands.
“Apologize to me?” Selene peers at Taylor as if she’s confusing and entrancing all at once. “No one has ever apologized to Selene.” She taps her chin. “Begged? Yes. Demanded? Yes. Cursed? Certainly.” She cackles. “But apologized? No.” She points one long finger at Taylor. “You are a special one, and not only because you were foretold.”
I want to ask her what she means, but I can’t. Making another deal with a loathsome creature like her would end badly.
“Well, I mean it.” Taylor shrugs, innocence in every move she makes. “I don’t know what’s happened to you or anything about you really. And you were forced to come after us. So, I can’t blame you for it.”
“Yes, yes. All true. Wise one, you are.” The witch nods furiously.
“Little one.” I lean down and kiss the crown of Taylor’s head. “You are new to this world, and your heart is purer than anything I’ve ever beheld. But an Obsidian witch is nothing to pity. Selene has likely shed more innocent blood than you can even imagine.”
She meets my eye, her blue ones sparkling even under the night sky. “You’re right. I don’t belong here.”
I wince and want to tell her she belongs here with me, always, but she continues, “And Selene has said some things that make me—” She swallows hard. “Uncomfortable, to say the least. But I don’t know what she’s been through or why she’s like this. So, I’m going to reserve judgment.”
“You don’t understand. Your heart is too pure for—”
“You don’t know me, Leander.” She straightens her back. “You don’t know anything about me. However pure you think I am, I can assure you that’s not the case.”
Her sharp tone cuts me to the quick. “I know you.” I take her hand and place it over my heart. “I know you as the other half of my soul. And one day, I hope to know every minute detail about you. When we’re settled in the winter realm, I’ll happily spend all my time learning you.” I hold my tongue before I say I hope all of that time is spent in bed.
She drops her gaze.
I know what she’s thinking as surely as I know the snows are falling fast and thick on the High Mountain. She longs for her old life, for the land of the humans. It is up to me to show her that this is her home. That I am worthy of her, that she belongs atop the throne of the winter realm, ruling alongside me. I make a promise to myself that I will prove to her that she belongs with me. That’s one bargain I have no trouble making.
The witch rips her other leg free from the frost and rushes forward. I pull Taylor behind me and brandish my sword.
2
Taylor
“Enough heroics, my lord.” The witch rolls her eyes at Leander. “I was only testing out my parts, making sure you didn’t frost them into oblivion.” She dusts herself off, icy flakes flying. “And you’re not necessary. Go, go, stalk away and be kingly elsewhere. I’d rather speak to the pretty one who is far more level-headed than your dark fae heart ever could be.”
“I’m not leaving.” Leander holds his blade to her throat.
“Your threats are wasted on Selene, winter king.” She winks. “Drained. Your magic only whispers to me now, and it dances away from you and back to the otherworld. And oh, how it pesters! The otherworld calls and calls and calls you.” She presses her hands to her ears. “Always pulling at me, too. Wanting to show me even more than I already know. But I know too much as it is.” She cackles, the sound painful. “So you can go. And I will grant my boon.”
Leander—still wounded and clearly exhausted—is ready to fight to keep me safe. Endearing? Yes. Unnecessary? Also, yes.
“I’m not leaving, black one,” he growls.
“Leander.” I put a hand on his forearm. “Please. We have an arrangement, right, Selene?”
“We do.” She picks at her nails and scrapes one clean on her teeth.
I refuse to think that she just ate a piece of the skin she scratched off Leander. Nope. Not thinking it.
“I’ll be fine.” I pat Leander’s arm again, though he doesn’t lower his sword.
“She’s dangerous.”
“I am.” Selene grins and flicks another bit of carnage from her nails into her mouth. “But not to you, young one. And I gave my word.” She cuts her gaze to Leander. “You know what that means.”
“Give her a chance.” I don’t know what I’m doing, but I do know that if I don’t calm this situation, the battle will start all over again, and from the looks of Leander, he might not make it out alive.
He finally lowers his blade, and I let out a deep breath.
“Only because you wish it, little one, I’ll go. But I’ll be close. So close that one wrong move will be disastrous for you, witch.” He gives her a hard look, one that would probably make me pee myself if it were aimed at me. But it isn’t. I don’t fear him, and after that kiss—that kiss, my insides tremble—I feel so many things toward him that I can’t even decide on one.
He leans down and whispers in my ear. “I know what you are thinking about, little one. And I intend to discuss it more very, very soon.”
When he says “discuss,” I get a mental flash of the two of us beneath soft furs before a roaring fire as a winter wind howls outside. I clench my eyes shut for a second. Dear Horny Thoughts: Please go away. Xoxo, Taylor. I let out a huff of breath and force a smile. “All good here, Leander. Don’t worry.”
After giving Selene one more face-melting glare, he turns and strides back toward camp.
“Just us girls.” She twirls, her white hair flying out, and then we’re both back in the clearing—her leaning over her cauldron, me sitting on the log. At least this time I’m not bound by her magic.
She opens one hand and blows on it, as if she’s blowing a kiss, and the air shimmers faintly. My ears pop, and I get a slight sense of vertigo before everything returns to normal.
“That’ll keep your pesky mate from listening in.”
Darkness lingers, and the ground here has a faint layer of frost. I stare down at it. “Leander did all this?”
“He has the heart of the cold winter wind.” She produces a large wooden spoon from thin air and stirs her pot. “And to think, his power is dimmed here in the southern realm. He almost did Selene in. When he crosses the border into the winter realm.” She shivers. “He’ll be unstoppable. No wonder he took the throne. What a strong mate he will be.”
“He’s not my mate.”
She wrinkles her nose. “He is.”
“No—”
“Fate, young one. Fate. Can’t change it.” She huffs. “Many a time I’ve tried to change mine, but everything comes to pass as i
t’s meant to. Your mating was written long ago.” She cuts her gaze to me. “You feel the bond already.”
“I don’t feel a bond.” I shrug.
She stares at me, her black eyes glinting in the moonlight.
I squirm under her gaze. “I mean, I do feel something.”
“Lust.” She nods and returns to her cauldron, her stringy white hair hiding her face. “You feel lust for him.”
I press a hand to my reddening cheek. “I don’t know.”
“Don’t you? A fine warrior from the winter realm like that? Big and strong, broadest shoulders I’ve ever seen, face so handsome it must be a trick of the Spires.” She smacks her hard lips. “Back in my fae days, I would have ridden him until I had blisters on my thighs.”
“Wow, that’s TMI.” I press both hands to my cheeks.
“TMI?”
“Too much information.”
Her cackle rockets through the trees. “I used to think there was no such thing as too much information. But now, Selene knows too much. So much I wish I could get—out—of—here.” She punctuates each word with a smack to the side of her head, the sound of glass on glass. “But I can’t get rid of it, so I stay in my cave, hidden. No one tells me anything else. I sit in silence with my lovely bones.” She sighs, as if picturing her home. “It’s beautiful.”
I lace my fingers together as she stares off into the woods for a while, her hand slowly stirring whatever sizzles in the cauldron. It has a smell, but I can’t place it. One minute bitter, the next sweet, the scent keeps changing.
“A boon!” She claps her hands and the wooden spoon continues stirring even though she’s let it go. “I am to give you a boon, and then I can return to my bones.”
“A boon means something good, right?”
“Good. Yes.” She sits next to me on the log, her joints crackling. “What would you like?”
I open my mouth to respond.
She presses her finger to her lips. “Shh. You don’t get to pick.”
Utterly confused, I cock my head at her.
“Selene gets to pick. Those were the terms. I promised a boon, but didn’t say you could pick. I know what you want. Or at least it’s what you think you want.”
“To go home.”
“Yep, that’s the one.”
I grow breathless at the thought of returning to the human world. Home! Back to my books and my dorm and my exams. Sadness trickles through the thought as I realize it means leaving Leander behind. Maybe I don’t feel a bond, but I have warmed to him in the past few days. There’s something about him that draws me close. And the kiss we shared—I grip my fingers tighter—was the most exhilarating moment of my life. The way his lips moved over mine, the possession in his grip. I’ve never felt so desired, so needed.
“Mmhmm.” Selene clasps her hands around one knee.
I try to keep my tone light, despite the distinct lack of air in this part of the woods. “What?”
“I know the thoughts in your pretty head. The bond. That’s what it is. You just don’t realize it yet.”
I stand and cross my arms over my stomach. “Okay, so about going home. That’s the boon I want.”
“No.” She rises and waves a hand at me. “That would be a terrible boon indeed. Not worth the trouble. Besides, do you believe your mate wouldn’t come for you?” She laughs, a bit more agreeable than her usual cackle. “He would come on the winter wind and whisk you away in a storm of snow and ice the likes of which the human world has never seen. You’d wind up right back in Arin, probably in his bed, screaming his name.”
“So that’s a ‘no’ then?” I sigh.
“I choose the boon.”
“If it’s all the same to you, why not just give me what I want and send me home?” I puff my breath out, sending a lock of my hair floating up.
“Because …”
I sink back down beside her. “Because what?”
“You apologized.” She looks directly at me, and I swear I could sense something underneath the black skin and sharp teeth. Or maybe it’s someone, someone who isn’t quite as evil as billed. “And no one has ever done that to Selene. Not since I became…” She glances down at her black body and the shredded gray dress that barely covers her.
“What happened to you?” I can’t stop the pity that blooms in my breast.
“That’s an old story. One that I will tell you one day.” She presses her palm to her forehead. “Yes, I have seen it. Only forgotten. I go to my cave to forget, to silence the voices. To make it all stop.” She snaps her teeth. “Out here it all comes alive again—the knowledge, the T-M-I you spoke of.”
I snort at her TMI reference.
She stands and peers into her cauldron again. “And now I remember your boon. What is promised, what I must give.”
“So, not a way home?”
“A way to live.”
“I don’t understand.” I rub my face and realize how tired I am. This ordeal doesn’t seem to end, not since I first woke up in that cell, and it’s taking a toll on me.
“I followed you through these trees as if you were a dark orb, flickering purple and emerald. A shiny sparkle that drew me ever closer.” She blinks slowly. “That aura is part of what you are.”
“And what’s that?”
“TMI.” She waggles her finger at me. “You are a beacon to any creature from the Spires. Spirits from dark lands will come for you. Maybe out of curiosity. Maybe for a taste of whatever shines so beautifully in midnight tones.”
I chew my lip. “I don’t like being seen. This place is scary enough without this glow that you’re talking about, making me a magnet for bad things.”
“Not bad. Evil.”
Exasperation doesn’t begin to cover what I’m feeling. If she knows so much, why won’t she just tell me instead of talking in riddles? But I can already tell that any direct questions will get me nowhere. Doesn’t stop me from trying. “Why do I glow for evil?”
“Didn’t say for evil. Just said you glow, and it’s a lure to dark ones like me.” She grabs the spoon again and reaches deep into the swirling, smoking cauldron. “There it is.” Straightening, she pulls a pea from the end of the spoon.
“What is it?”
“Eat it.” She hands it to me.
“What is it?” I take it from her and inspect it. It looks just like a pea. Green, round, and my least favorite vegetable.
“It’s like a—” She pulls a tattered hood over her hair. “Cloak. Hides your glow. Hides you until you are ready to no longer be hidden.”
“When’s that?” I hold up a hand. “TMI, I know.”
“T-M-I.” She nods. “Eat it.”
“It’s safe?” I peer at the little green thing. Seems harmless. But I’ve read enough fairytales to know you shouldn’t eat anything a witch gives you.
She clacks her teeth. “Eat it!”
I wish Leander were here to help me, to tell me if it’s poison or just a regular gross pea. But maybe this is a decision I can only make on my own.
I take a deep breath. “I trust you, Selene.” Popping it into my mouth, I give it a single chew, then swallow it down.
“Trust?” Her eyebrows rise, and her sharp teeth clack. “You should never trust. No one. Certainly not me, young one. Never trust a witch.”
My throat closes up, and I clutch it as my eyes begin to water. It must have been poisoned. Oh, god, what have I done? I can’t breathe.
The witch simply stares with a look of satisfaction as my vision darkens.
3
Leander
I’ve considered several different ways of torturing the witch, even voiced a few to Gareth as I’ve waited for Taylor. I was a fool to let her be alone with the witch. The blood loss must have dimmed my reason. For the hundredth time, I curse my weakness and continue pacing.
When she emerges from the shadowy wood a few moments later, I rush to her side. “Are you hurt?”
“No.” She rubs her eyes. “I’m fine. But I was
shiny, apparently? And now I’m not.”
“Shiny?” I wrap my arm around her shoulders as the strange stillness caused by the witch evaporates. Fairies creep out from hiding, their bright lights flickering here and there amongst the trees.
“Yep.” She yawns. “She’s gone now. Back to her cave.”
“What boon did she give you?” I stop her and turn her toward me, searching her for any wounds. Each second she was gone was acute torture. And when the witch put up a barrier spell? I went wild with rage, cutting and hacking at the wall between us with all my might. But the witch’s power is ancient and runs far deeper than mine. I couldn’t get to my mate. It gutted me. “I will never leave you again, little one.”
“I was fine. She didn’t hurt me.” She shrugs. “I mean, I thought she did, but I guess the magic was a little hard to swallow.”
“I need you to explain.” I gently tilt her chin up.
“I ate a pea from her cauldron.”
I swallow hard. “Taking food from a witch is a bad idea.”
“I know. I guess some things are universal.” She gives me a tired smile. “But there was something about her. Something that made me trust her, even when she told me not to.”
I send a barrage of thanks to the Ancestors that Taylor is unharmed.
“Anyway, she said my aura has a weird glow to it, and that I wouldn’t last in this world unless she dampened it. So, she gave me a pea—I hate peas—and I ate it. Now, I’m not so shiny. But she said I can be shiny again when I want to be.” She rubs her eyes again. “I’m not really sure what that means. But at this point, I’m kind of just rolling with the punches.”
“Punches? She struck you?” A growl lofts from me, and I reach for my sword.
“No.” She presses her small hands to my chest, my shirt still spotted with blood. “It’s just a figure of speech. I just meant that I’m doing the best I can with all the weirdness. Honestly, I can’t even think right now. I’m so tired.”
I scoop her up. She doesn’t protest as I carry her back to camp, her eyes closed as her breathing slows.