Tithe

by Chani Lynn Feener

  His brow furrowed in a slight frown. “Please, Arden Archer.”

  It wasn’t like she could actually stop them, even with her weapons. Trusting him now, as she had before, was once again her only option.

  “I hate you for putting me in this position,” she hissed at Mavek, and then urged Tabby to step toward Brix.

  “That much, at least, is true,” Mavek said.

  “Go with him,” Arden told her friend. “You’re going to be all right.”

  “Cole.” Tabby turned and watched as the second Unseelie gently eased her cousin off the ground with no resistance from him. Her shoulders sagged and she took a stuttering breath. “Okay.”

  Surprisingly, she accepted Brix’s hand and allowed him to lead her away. She looked like she wanted to say something to Mavek as they passed, but she lost her nerve and quickly looked away. Probably for the best.

  Once they were alone, Arden pointedly crossed her arms and glared at Mavek.

  “The Erlking showed you something,” Mavek eyed her, “what was it?”

  Not seeing a reason to keep it from him, she answered. “I think it was my death.”

  His expression never changed, like witnessing her possible demise wasn’t a big deal at all. “Did you see who did it?” he asked.

  She thought about the male hand wearing the ring. If she told Mavek, she’d put both Eskel and Cole in danger all over again. As terrified as she was of the implications of what she’d been shown, she wouldn’t do that to them. Not again. So she shook her head no.

  Besides, neither of them would take her life. Right? There were tons of other Heartless out there with the very same ring. It had to be someone else, someone she didn’t know. It’d clearly been late spring or early summer in the vision; she had time to figure it out.

  Mavek waited, and when she didn’t elaborate he dropped it.

  “Three months ago,” he began when it became apparent she wasn’t going to be the one to speak first, “I went searching for something. I traveled to all nine of the major hot spots in the country, hoping to find a substitute. But there were none. Every time I thought I’d come across a cursed human, something would happen to either free them or make them want to continue living with their curse. I tried, Arden. I really did.”

  He’d left so that he could find a new Heartless? That’s why he’d been away so long? That’s what he’d been unable to find? She recalled how defeated he’d looked sitting in her kitchen that night she’d asked him about it. How quickly he’d changed the subject.

  “How can I believe anything you tell me?” she asked, even though she already did.

  “When I returned,” he continued, ignoring her question, “I knew I needed a new solution. Some way to ensure you didn’t succeed. And you wanted it, Arden. You wanted to win so badly. I couldn’t tell you the truth of the Tithe, not without getting us both killed for it. They would have known, you see, if you’d been informed. If you no longer wanted it. That’s why it works.”

  He took a single step closer, as if testing for her reaction. “We choose our Heartless based on how badly we think they’ll want to win. How badly they want their curse to end. Some don’t. Some humans live with them, adapt to their new abilities. Their new situations. The reality that they are not the most powerful beings on this planet. They have to want it with everything that they are. It’s the only way to successfully complete the challenge.

  “I knew you’d be the perfect candidate because of your little sister. I watched you for weeks before approaching. I knew you wouldn’t agree for yourself, despite what you think, but that you would do it for her.”

  “So you got rid of Cole,” she murmured, mind swirling around his story, putting all the pieces together, “to isolate me and make me even more vulnerable. More alone.”

  “He left and so you needed me,” he confirmed. “I didn’t realize at the time that I was looking for so much more than just a Heartless. I didn’t realize I was drawn to you, not because of your sight, but because of your soul. Because of who you are. When I did, I tried to find another way.”

  “You were going to make someone else suffer the same fate Tabitha was about to,” she accused. “Do you really think that redeems you?”

  His spine stiffened. “Tabitha was protected, by me. The only reason she was used was because Cole’s father died. He was the original intended for the Tithe. He was much closer to Cole than Tabitha is, and therefore a much better option. Once he passed, there was nothing I could do to convince Herla to choose someone else as his replacement.”

  She’d heard Titania refer to the Erlking by name before, but hearing it come from Mavek now made her uncomfortable. It made it seem like the two of them had a stronger connection, a friendship, than he was letting on now.

  Then a thought struck her and she froze, not wanting to investigate her sudden suspicion any further, but knowing that she had to.

  “That night,” she whispered, and her voice shook, “when you used your violin on me, you said it was because you didn’t want me to see what he was going to do. But it wasn’t the Erlking who tortured and killed that faerie, was it.”

  She didn’t bother posing it as a question, certain that she was right. Still, when he answered she squeezed her eyes shut, as if she could block the truth of it out.

  “Her job was to keep Cole’s father alive, and she failed. Because of her, Tabitha had to be used instead. I had to punish her, Arden.”

  “You killed her!”

  “It had to be done.”

  “Oh, don’t give me that bullshit!” She’d been so disgusted by the idea of the Erlking killing his own. “You knew it was wrong. You wouldn’t have bothered knocking me out otherwise.”

  “I knew you wouldn’t approve,” he stated. “That doesn’t mean it was the wrong thing to do. We’re called Blackhearts for a reason. Don’t stand there and pretend not to understand all the things you know about us.”

  “I thought you were different.” She didn’t know if she was angry, embarrassed, or saddened by those words. “Everything is falling apart.”

  “Do you remember what I told you the night of the supermoon?” he asked.

  Of course she did. She’d been replaying that night over and over in her mind since it’d happened.

  “I told you I had a plan for us,” he reminded her.

  “What plan?”

  “It’s already started,” he said, only a few feet away from her now. “We’re halfway there, Arden. I needed you to lose the Tithe challenge, without telling you to. It was the only way. Ainsley was meant to be your Bloodheart. If you’d won, she would have become the sacrifice, and you never would have forgiven either me or yourself. So you needed to lose.”

  “You knocked me out.” She knew this part already, and didn’t hide her frustration at having to hear it on repeat.

  “Yes, but the how is what’s important. I’d trained you too well to resist faerie sway. I knew you’d feel it and fight against it if I tried anything, and the plan depended on me being able to knock you out during the challenge.” He paused, and then, “I gave you something that would put you under my control without you noticing. Slow-acting, but very efficient.”

  “You drugged me?”

  “Think about it. All those times you felt fatigued randomly, those nights you slept soundly despite the impending Tithe.”

  She’d thought it was the stress, that it was messing with her and giving her fits of exhaustion. Not once had she ever considered the idea that he was doing something to her. But how? He’d said it himself that she would feel his influence if he tried anything. How did he manage to get the drug in her system—

  “The cupcakes.” She clutched her stomach and dropped down onto the edge of the bench, unable to stand any longer. It made sense. Thinking back on it, she always felt a little off after eating one. “I thought you were being sweet.”

  “I was,” he moved closer, standing over her. “What’s more romantic than risking everything so that we ca
n be together? The candied roses tied you to me in one way, Arden, you did the rest yourself. We were connected long before I ever concocted this scheme to trick the rest of my people. To trick the other regents.”

  So not the whole cupcake, just the candied roses. Why hadn’t she picked off the damn roses? She’d eaten every single one, even though they’d been super sugary, because they’d reminded her of him. Roses always reminded her of him. Arden grimaced, thinking about how it was also her middle name. If she decided after all of this to get away from him, she’d always have that as a reminder.

  Names really were a powerful thing.

  “I got upset when you used sway to get me to kiss you,” she pointed out, voice hollow even to her own ears. “Now you’re telling me that you’ve been using it on me for months without my knowledge.”

  Finally, she lifted her head and met his gaze. “How do you expect me to take this, Mavek? What did you think was going to happen?”

  “The anger will pass, heart.”

  She chuckled darkly. “You’re the insane one.”

  “It will, anger always does, and we have all the time in the world.”

  “You drugged me,” she reminded. “Not to mention all the other stuff. From the very beginning, our relationship has been based on lies. You manipulated me into accepting your proposal to become your Heartless. You manipulated my grief and my emotions over my mother’s illness, and later her suicide! You manipulated me into developing feelings for you—”

  “Enough,” he growled. “That was your own doing, not mine. Do you think this makes things easier for me? That this is what I imagined when I first spotted you at the hospital? That I actually wanted to betray my people, to risk everything I’ve built over the centuries on a single mortal girl? This was not my plan any more than it was yours, Arden. Falling in love with you could arguably be the worst thing to ever happen to me, in fact. And yet,” he flung his arms out, “here we are.

  “I have gone to great lengths to ensure that you and I ended up in this place, here, now, together. You’re allowed to be angry, I understand it even; I did orchestrate most of this. But don’t you ever accuse me of orchestrating that. Your feelings toward me are your own, and have not once been influenced by me or what I am.”

  “That’s how feelings work!” she cried, getting to her feet and shoving him back all in one move. He stumbled a full foot backward. “A person does things that influence how he’s perceived by the other person. I thought you were helping me, that you were kind and sweet and, sure, protective, but that all of it ultimately came from a good place! If I had known—”

  “You know now,” he swiftly cut her off. “Tell me the truth, or I’ll make you tell me.”

  “I’m not the liar here.”

  “You know now,” he repeated, reclaiming the space she’d managed to put between them. “You know almost everything. Tell me how you feel about me, now that you know what I’ve done. Now that you know just how far I was willing to go so that we could be together.”

  “That is such a twisted way of looking at all of this,” she said.

  “Fine. Let’s be more direct then.” Mavek tipped her chin up with his right hand and continued before she could think to pull away. “Do you love me, Arden Rose Archer?”

  She opened her mouth to spit out another insult, but the breath caught in her throat. She’d hoped that she was done with panic for the night, but a fresh wave of it unfurled in her gut. The words that ended up spilling out weren’t the ones she’d intended.

  “I don’t know.” She clamped a hand over her lips even as she pressed them tightly together. Why had she said that? What she’d meant to say was that of course she didn’t, not after everything he’d done. She was going to tell him that she never wanted to see him again, and that she hated him more than she’d ever realized was possible.

  I don’t know was one truth she not only wanted to keep from him, but one she definitely wanted to hide away from herself.

  Truth.

  He’d said her full name, and then she’d given him the truth.

  Her hand dropped away and she stared at him. At his blank expression, and his unblinking eyes. He was close enough that she could lift herself up onto her toes and kiss him. Or maybe just bite his tongue off.

  She couldn’t even blame him for this lie, because hadn’t he been hinting at it for just as long as he’d been feeding her those damn cupcakes? Just now, even, he’d clearly admitted that she almost knew everything.

  “What have you done?” she demanded, so low that if there were other sounds in the eerily silent greenhouse, he wouldn’t have heard her.

  “What I promised I would,” he stated evenly.

  Don’t worry, the rest of his words from that night of the supermoon came back to her. He’d made her a promise, and even then she’d been torn, not knowing what she wanted. Which was probably why these words had stuck with her.

  Come All Saints’ Eve, no one will be able to hurt you, he’d told her.

  Come All Saints’ Eve, we’ll be able to be together forever.

  She’d thought he’d been using “forever” as a euphemism—she was a mortal and would die, after all—but he hadn’t.

  He’d meant exactly what he’d said, and she’d just been too naïve to realize it.

  “No,” she uttered the word, then put more force into it and repeated, “No.”

  “Oh, heart,” he canted his head, “it’s already done.”

  Arden left him in the greenhouse without another word.

  She ran, actually, thinking that the fact that this wasn’t the first time she’d run away from him should have clued her in. It was a sign, and she’d been an idiot not to have seen it until now. How many times did she have to run away from him before she realized that he wasn’t good for her?

  She found Cole and Tabitha inside the manor seated in the parlor in front of the roaring fireplace. Brix and the other Unseelie were close by, and true to their word, there was no one else.

  As soon as she entered the room, her friends stood—whatever trance Cole had been in before clearly broken now—but before they could question her, she grabbed their hands and tugged them to the front door and out. They’d made it all the way down the porch steps and partway down the drive before Brix caught up with them in Mavek’s car.

  She bristled when she saw the car, relaxing slightly when she noted Brix was the only one inside it. Still, a part of her debated whether or not to refuse the ride, but it was dark and freezing, and after what they’d all been through, she didn’t think any of them could make the hour-long walk back to her place.

  “We’re going to my house,” she said as she ushered her friends into the back of the car and slid in after them. “Straight there, Brix.”

  “Of course.” He gave a single nod and began to drive away from the manor.

  The trip was a blur. Arden was too focused on Tabby shivering uncontrollably against her side, and Cole’s vacant gaze locked outside the window. She was also distracted by all of the revelations Mavek had just given her, and the look on his face right before she’d left him standing there alone.

  There hadn’t been any pity or guilt in his eyes. Her horror had had little to no effect on him.

  Bile rose up the back of her throat a few times and she quelled it by inhaling deeply. She was in the process of convincing herself that there was a way to reverse what he’d done when they pulled in front of her house.

  Cato was standing at the top of her porch, leaning against the railing.

  “Help them out,” she ordered Brix, already stepping onto the sidewalk herself. She tried to read Cato’s face as she rushed toward him, but couldn’t tell if anything was wrong. He’d promised to keep Eskel safe, yet here he was. What did that mean?

  “Where is he?” She didn’t care that she was currently weaponless: if anything had happened to Eskel after he’d sworn to protect him she would tear the Unseelie apart. With her bare hands if need be.

  “He�
�s safe,” Cato told her.

  All of the air rushed out of her as relief took over. She paused for a moment at the bottom of the steps to collect herself.

  “He’s inside.” He tilted his head toward the front door. “Go on. I’ll help Brix with the others.”

  She started to walk past him, but then halted and caught his wrist. It took her a moment to get the question out, but she somehow managed to ask, “Did you know what he was doing to me?”

  Cato looked away, and that was all the answer she needed.

  Dropping his arm, she walked up the rest of the steps and entered her house. She didn’t have the energy to be angry with him too, not right now.

  When she didn’t find Eskel in the living room, she searched down the hall, peering through doorways as she passed. She found him lying in her bed, on top of the covers with an arm flung over his face.

  He jolted as she entered the room, sighing when he saw that she was alone.

  “Arden.” He dropped his head back against the headboard and shut his eyes. “Thank god you’re okay.”

  “Me?” she couldn’t help her incredulous tone. “You’re the one who was almost a tithe to the Underground.” She went to the side of the bed, wringing her hands. “Are you feeling any better? You were pretty messed up afterward.”

  “I feel like I’ve run a hundred miles,” he said, “but aside from that, yeah, I’m surprisingly good.”

  “I’m so sorry,” she blurted, wincing at her abruptness.

  He reached for her, eyes still closed, and grabbed her hand. “Apology accepted.”

  “Eskel—” she began firmly, but the look he passed her cut her short.

  “You didn’t know,” he said. “And I’m alright. Let’s just leave it at that.”

  Arden ran her free hand through her hair. It seemed like too easy of an out, but selfishly, she was too exhausted to push him.

  “Bet you regret coming back, huh?” she asked instead, ending it with a false chuckle.

  “Only if you tell me you changed your mind.” At her frown, he pointed toward the window where the first rays of sunlight were beginning to color the horizon. “You said you’d think about it tomorrow.”