by Holly Black
He had always thought of his room as an extension of his interests. Now, looking around the room, he thought it looked as dorky as the penguin on his lawn.
"You can sleep here," Corny told Ethine, nodding toward his bed. "The sheets are pretty clean.”
"Gallant," she said.
"Yeah, I know it is." He walked over to his dresser, where a white King and a black King stood side by side. He liked to signal his moods by which one was in front, but he'd stopped doing that after Janet died; there was no annoying sister to signal to. Opening the drawers, he pulled out a T-shirt and boxers and tossed them onto the bed. "You can wear these, if you want. To sleep in.”
Luis unlaced his boots. "Can I grab a shower?”
Corny nodded and rummaged for the shirt that had the least pathetic logo. He found a faded navy blue one that said, i can drink more coffee than you can. Looking up, ready to hand it to Luis, he froze as Ethine stripped off her dress with complete nonchalance. The blades of her shoulders were covered with what looked like the buds of wings, pink against the handkerchief white of her skin. As she slid his boxers up her thin legs, she looked over at him and her eyes were chilling in their emptiness.
"Thanks," Luis said too loudly, taking the cloth out of his hands. "I'm going to borrow jeans, if you don't mind.”
Corny nodded toward a few pairs stacked on a basket of clean clothes. "Take whatever.”
Ethine sat on the edge of the bed, the unnaturally long toes of her bare feet scrunching in the rug as Luis left the room.
"I could enchant you," she said.
He stepped back, looking away from her face. "Not for long. Luis or Kaye would come in, and you can't enchant them." But, of course, Kaye was at her grandmother's house and Luis was in the shower. A quick glance told him that he hadn't bothered to lock her other cuff to anything. She'd have plenty of time.
"Even with the sound of my voice, I could make you do my bidding.”
"You wouldn't tell me that if you were going to." He thought about the little faery he'd captured the night of the coronation, and slid his hand behind the dresser, to where the iron poker was leaning. "Just like if I say that I could make your skin wrinkle like the old waitress at that diner, you can be pretty sure I'm not planning on it.”
"And your sweet mother, I could enchant her, too.”
He turned around, whipping the brand through the air, toward her throat. "Lock the other cuff. Do it right now.”
She laughed, high and bright. "I only meant that you should not forget that by bringing me here, you are putting those you love in danger.”
"Lock the cuff anyway.”
She leaned over and cuffed herself to the support on his headboard, then twisted so that she was lying on her stomach. Her gray eyes flashed as they caught the light of the side table. They were as inhuman as the eyes of a doll.
Crossing to the window, Corny took the key out of his jacket, opened the window, and tossed it out into a leaf pile. "Good luck ordering me around now. Enchanted or not, it's going to take someone a while to find that key.”
He watched her, poker in hand, until Luis came back wearing Corny's jeans and a bleached towel wrapped around his braids. The mahogany skin of his chest was still flushed with the heat of the shower.
Corny looked down quickly at his gloved fingers, at the thin layer of plastic that protected him from ruining everything he touched. It was better, looking down, instead of taking the chance that his eyes might stare too long at all that bare skin.
Luis unwrapped the towel from his head and seemed to suddenly notice the poker and the locked cuff. "What happened?”
"Ethine was just messing with me," Corny said. "No big deal." He set down the metal rod and stood, going into the hall and leaning against the wall for a moment, eyes closed, breathing hard. Where was Kaye? Almost half an hour had passed; if she was quick about getting her stuff and if she walked fast, she could show up at any minute. He wished she would. She always came through for him, saving his ass when he'd thought he was beyond saving.
But they had a creepy hostage and no idea what the next attack would be or when it would happen, and he didn't think even Kaye could get them out of this one.
She could be in a lot of danger.
She was too upset to be thinking straight.
And he'd let her get out of the car. He hadn't even thought to give her his phone.
Pushing himself off of the wall, he gathered up a bunch of blankets and old pillows from a shelf over the water heater in the hall closet. Everything would work out—things would be okay. Kaye would come back here and she'd have a clever plan. They'd trade Ethine for the promise of safety for their families and themselves— something like that, but smarter. Kaye wouldn't give up Roiben's name. Without Silarial knowing his name, he'd win the duel against the Unseelie Court champion. Roiben would apologize to Kaye. Things would go back to normal, whatever normal was.
And Corny would wash his hands in the same ocean that had killed his sister, and the curse would be gone.
And Luis would ask him out on a date, because he was so cool and collected.
Walking back into the bedroom, Corny dumped the pile of blankets onto the bed. "Kaye can take the bed with Ethine when she shows. We can just spread out a few of these on the floor. I think it'll be bearable.”
Luis had the borrowed T-shirt on and was sitting on the floor, flipping through a dog-eared copy of Swordspoint. He looked up. "I've slept on worse.”
Corny unfolded an afghan with a zigzag pattern of yellow and neon green and arranged it, then rolled out another layer of a slightly stained baby blue comforter on top. "Here," he said, and started to prepare his own bed beside that one.
Luis settled himself, pulling a blanket up to his neck and stretching luxuriously. Corny tucked himself into his makeshift pallet. His room looked different from the floor, like an alien landscape full of discarded paper and dropped CDs. Leaning his head back, he stared up at the water stains on the ceiling, spreading from a dark center drop like the rings of an old tree.
"Hey, I'll get the light," Luis said, getting up.
"We're still waiting for Kaye. And your brother, right?”
"I tried to call again, but I couldn't get him. I left your address with Val—that girl he was going to stay with—in case he calls her or just shows up. I hope he did what he said he would do and got on a train.”
Luis stopped. "You know, though, Val said something else that was weird. She's got a friend among the exiled fey in the city. She said that he'd been paid a visit from your Lord Roiben himself a couple of days ago. Must have been before Roiben's visit to the Seelie Court.”
Corny frowned. His tired brain couldn't make any sense of that. "Huh. Weird. Well, I guess now all we do is wait. Kaye knows her way in. We'd all be better off if we could get some real sleep.”
Luis hit the switch, and Corny blinked, letting his eyes adjust to the room. Lights trimming nearby trailers made it bright enough to see Luis kneel back down.
"You're gay?" Luis whispered.
Corny nodded, although Luis might not see that in the dim light. "You knew, didn't you? You acted like you knew. You kissed me like you knew.”
"I figured it didn't matter.”
"Nice," Corny whispered.
"No, I don't mean it like that," Luis said, kicking his feet out from under the afghan. He laughed softly. "I mean, you were bespelled. Girls, boys, you didn't care. If it had a mouth, you were kissing it.”
"And you had a mouth," said Corny. He could feel the close proximity of their bodies, noticed every movement of his thighs, the clamminess of his hands inside the gloves. His heart beat so loudly he was afraid that Luis could hear it. "It was smart, though. Quick thinking.”
"Thanks." Luis's voice seemed slowed somehow, like he couldn't quite get his breath. "I wasn't sure it would work.”
Corny wanted to lean in and taste those words.
He wanted to tell him it would have worked, even if he hadn't been be
spelled.
He wanted to tell him that it would work right now.
Instead, Corny flipped over, so that Luis couldn't see his face. "Good night," he said, and shut his eyes against regret.
• • •
Corny woke from a dream where he'd been paddling, doggy-style, through an ocean of blood. His legs would tire, and when he missed a kick, he would drop under and glimpse, through the red, a city under the waves, full of friendly beckoning fiends.
He woke as his leg kicked ineffectually at the blankets. He saw a figure near the window and for a moment thought that it was Kaye, sneaking in so as not to disturb his mother and stepfather.
"Brought us right to your hidey spot, he did," a voice hissed. "For just a lick of nectar.”
Cold air drifted down to chill Corny.
"I get it," he heard Luis whisper. He was the figure, but Corny couldn't see who he was speaking with. "I'll trade. Ethine for my brother. I'll bring her to the front door.”
Corny's whole body tightened with betrayal.
Metal flashed in the moonlight as the creature handed the key through. Corny felt like an idiot. He'd thrown it right to them.
He stayed very still as Luis walked toward the bed, then grabbed his leg. Luis fell and Corny rolled on top of him. He ripped off the glove with his teeth and brought down his fingers, spread like a net, to inches above Luis's face.
"Traitor," Corny said.
Luis bent his head back, as far from Corny's hands as he could get. He swallowed, his eyes wide. "Oh, shit. Neil, please.”
"Please what? With sugar on top? Pretty please, let me fuck you over?”
"They have David. My brother. He didn't get on the train—he went to them instead. They'll kill him.”
"Ethine is the only thing keeping us safe," Corny said. "You can't trade away our safety.”
"I can't let them have him," Luis said. "He's my brother. I thought you'd understand. You said yourself that there was no safe for us.”
"Oh, come on. You thought I'd understand? That's why you're sneaking around in the dark. You seem real sure." His bare hand clenched in a fist just inches from Luis's throat. "Oh, I understand all right. I understand you'd sell us out.”
"That's not it—," Luis started. "Please." Corny could feel Luis's body tremble beneath him. "My brother is a fuckup—but I can't stop wanting to save him. He's my brother.”
Roiben's words came back to him. The more powerful you become, the more others will find ways to master you. They'll do it through those you love and through those you hate.
Corny hesitated, bare hand shaking. Love made him think of Janet, drowned after following a boy out onto the pier. It made him think of being under the hill, kneeling at the feet of a faerie Lord while his sister gulped lungfuls of ocean. It made him think of water closing over his head.
Whatever you loved, that was your weakness.
That didn't stop Corny from wishing he'd saved his own sister. He saw her sinking deeper and deeper, only this time as he reached out, her fingers rotted away in his hands.
If he'd had a chance, he hoped he'd have done whatever it took to save her. But he knew Luis would have. He looked down at the boy underneath him, at the scars and the piercings and the way his braids had started to fray. Luis was good in a way that Corny wasn't. He didn't have to force himself to be good. He just was.
Corny pushed himself off Luis, his cursed hand fraying the acrylic of the carpet. He felt cold all over, thinking what he'd almost done. What he'd become. "Go ahead. Take her. Make the trade.”
Luis remained wide-eyed, his breathing ragged. He stood hastily. "I'm sorry," he told Corny.
"It's what you have to do," Corny said.
The key caught what little light there was, gleaming like one of the steel rings piercing Luis's skin, as he uncuffed Ethine. She gasped, pushing herself up onto her knees and holding out her arms as if she expected to have to fight.
"Your people came for you," Luis told her.
She rubbed her wrist and said nothing. The shadows made her face look very young, although Corny knew she wasn't.
He bundled up her clothes with his glove-covered hand.
"I really am sorry," Luis whispered.
Corny nodded. He felt a hundred years old, tired and defeated.
They crept down the hallway, to the front door. It opened with a creak to reveal three creatures standing in the dirty snow, their faces grave. The foremost of them had the face of a fox and long fingers that tapered into claws.
"Where's Dave?" Luis asked.
"Give us the Lady Ethine and you shall have him.”
"And you'll leave us unharmed once we hand her over?" Corny asked. "Dave and Luis and me and Kaye and all our families. You'll go away and leave us alone.”
"We will." The fox faery spoke in a monotone.
Luis nodded and let go of Ethine's arm. She darted out in her bare feet and boxers, standing between the other faeries. One removed a cloak and spread it over Ethine's shoulders.
"Now give us Dave," said Luis.
"He is hardly worth your bargaining," one said. "Do you know how we found you? He led us here for a bag of powder.”
"Just give him to me!”
"As you desire," said another. He nodded to someone behind the side of the trailer and two more of them stepped out, holding a body between them with a bag over its head.
They set him down on the step. He flopped, head lolling.
Luis took a step forward. "What did you do to him?”
"We killed him," said a fey with scales along his cheekbones.
Luis froze. Corny could hear his own heartbeat thundering in his blood. Everything seemed very loud. The cars on the road roared by and the wind made the leaves crackle.
Corny crouched and pulled off the cloth bag. Dave's ashen face looked as though it were made from wax. Dark circles ringed his sunken eyes, and his clothes were wrinkled and filthy. His shoes were gone and his toes looked pale, as if frostbitten.
"My Queen wishes to inform you that your brother lived so long as you were her servant," said the fox faery. "That was her promise to you. Consider it kept.”
A fierce gust of wind tore the fabric from Corny's hand and whipped at the cloaks. He closed his eyes against the sting of snow and dirt, but when he opened them, the faeries were gone.
Luis screamed, running out to where they had been, turning. His screaming was raw, terrible. His hands were fists, but there was nothing to strike.
Lights flashed on in the windows of two of the trailers. Corny reached out his gloved hand to touch Dave's cold cheek. It seemed impossible that they hadn't saved him. Dead like Janet. Just like Janet.
Corny's mother came to the door. She had the portable phone in her hand. "You woke up half the—" Then she saw the body. "Oh my god.”
"It's his brother," Corny said. "Dave." That seemed important. Across the street, Mrs. Henderson came to the door and looked out through the glass.
Corny's stepfather came to the door. "What the hell's going on?" he demanded. Corny's mother started punching numbers into the phone. "I'm calling the first aid squad. Don't move him.”
Luis turned. His face looked blank. "He's dead.”
His voice was hoarse. "We don't need an ambulance. He's dead.”
Corny stood and stepped toward Luis. He had no idea what to do or say. There were no words that could make things better. He wanted to wrap his arms around Luis, comfort him, remind him he wasn't alone. As his bare hand moved toward Luis's shoulder, he looked at it in horror.
Before he could snatch his hand back, Luis caught him around the wrist. His eyes sparkled with tears. One streaked down his face. "Yes, good," he said. "Touch me. It doesn't fucking matter now, does it?”
"What?" Corny said. He reached up with his other hand, but Luis seized that, too, fingers scrabbling to pull off the rubber glove.
"I want you to touch me.”
"Stop it," Corny shouted, struggling to move away, but Luis's grip was uny
ielding.
Luis pressed Corny's palm to his cheek. His tears wet Corny's fingers. "I really did want you to touch me," he said softly, and the longing in his voice was a surprise. "I couldn't tell you that I wanted you. So good, now I get what I want and it kills me.”
Corny fought him. "Stop it! Don't!”
Luis's fingers were stronger, pinning Corny's hand in place. "I want to," he said. "There's no one to care what I do anymore.”
"Stop! I fucking care!" Corny shouted, then abruptly went still. The skin of Luis's face wasn't bruised or wrinkled where his bare hand touched it. Luis let go of Corny's wrists with a sob.
Corny ran his finger reverently over the curve of Luis's cheekbone, painting with his tears. "Running water," Corny said. "Salt.”
Their eyes met. Somewhere in the distance a siren wailed closer, but neither of them looked away.
Chapter 12
Yet each man kills the thing he loves,
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!
—Oscar Wilde, "The Ballad of Reading Gaol"
Kaye saw the flashing lights from a block away. She sprinted onto the gravel street of the trailer park just as the ambulance pulled out. Neighbors stood on their patchy snow-covered lawns in robes or coats hastily thrown over nightclothes. The door to Corny's trailer was shut, but the lights were on inside. Lutie hovered above Kaye, darting back and forth, her wings beating as fast as Kaye's heart.
It seemed to Kaye that there were no right decisions anymore, only endless wrong ones.
She pulled open the door to the trailer and stopped, seeing Corny's mother pouring hot water out of a kettle. Her husband sat on one of the armchairs, a cup balanced on his leg. His eyes were closed and he was snoring faintly.