I press my lips tight and fix Cobalt with a glare. Behind him and all around my cage is a cave of coral, its walls tightly knitted. I hear rolling waves rumble overhead, feel the salt spray through minuscule fissures within the walls.
With a jolt, I recall Amelie, lying unconscious after I knocked her out. “Where’s my sister?”
I see motion at the far end of the cave, stirring in the darkness. Amelie stands, looking at me through tearstained eyes, the head of the sealskin resting over her scalp. She pulls the rest of the skin tight around her body, but not before I recognize the dress she’s wearing. It’s the one I slipped out of this morning.
Cobalt turns to her. “Go,” he says, voice surprisingly gentle. “Wait for me. We must prepare for the council meeting.”
She meets my eyes, lower lip quivering, then stalks away and out of sight.
I burn Cobalt with my scowl. It wasn’t Melusine that Amelie had made the bargain with, but Cobalt. “What have you done to her?”
“She won’t always feel this way,” he says. “She’s upset that you forced her hand. Hurting you was the last thing she wanted to do.”
“Because you made her do it. Didn’t you? You glamoured her, ordered her to take me from the palace. To kill me if I refused.”
He gives me a sad smile. “Sometimes we have to make difficult choices to do the right thing. Before now, she was happy with me. She will be happy again.”
“I don’t understand why you’re doing this. Why capture me after everything that happened? You saved me from the kelpie, you, you…” I don’t want to say what I’m thinking. You were kind to me. You were caring. You…kissed me.
“I thought you would trust me if I saved you from the kelpie, thought you’d ally with me if you understood the dangers of the unseelie.”
My eyes go wide with realization. “You arranged the kelpie attack.”
He nods, eyes full of regret.
“You told me not to do the ritual with Aspen.”
He takes a few steps closer to the bars of the cage. “And you refused to promise me you wouldn’t. Refused my help. Refused to heed my warnings about my brother.”
“Your warnings were lies.”
“No, my brother is dangerous,” Cobalt says. “I tried to tell you, but you didn’t believe me. You still don’t believe me.”
“No, I don’t.”
His brow furrows. “Why? I offered you my protection, my affection. You rejected me time and time again. Yet, I see you had no issue accepting my brother.”
I deepen my glare. “Is that why you took my sister?”
His expression softens. “Your sister was much more eager to listen. All she wanted was love and I gave it to her. When she realized we could be together if only you’d marry Aspen instead, she was willing to do what was required. She came to me willingly, left the palace on her own accord, all without even a glamour. It wasn’t until today that she realized things weren’t going quite as she’d expected, and I was forced to use the power of her name.”
“You did this before, didn’t you?” I ask. Everything makes so much sense now. “You bargained with the Holstrom girls and glamoured them to try and assassinate the king. What did you take from them?”
“The same thing Amelie gave me in return for my love,” he admits. “The ability to lie. All the Holstrom girls wanted was protection from the king. Unlike you, they heeded my warnings. I offered my protection in exchange for their lies. They agreed, as long as I promised to put my lies to good use against the king. Then I promised I’d have Aspen dethroned if they gave me their names. Again, they agreed. I knew sending them to assassinate Aspen would serve well whether it failed or succeeded. If they managed to kill him, he’d no longer be a problem. If he killed them, he’d show his instability as a ruler and bring the council one step closer to forcing him to step down”
“If the Holstrom girls already gave you the ability to lie, why take it from Amelie too?”
“The power of the bargain wears off after a while if the bargainer dies. I needed that power, either from you or Amelie. Like I said, Amelie was more than willing.”
“Is that why you’re keeping Amelie alive, to keep your ability to lie? Is that why you didn’t send her on some foolish errand to kill Aspen this time?”
He opens his mouth, flustered. “There’s more between Amelie and me than there ever was with the other girls. I’m keeping her alive because she’s my mate and soon-to-be wife. We are Bonded.”
A chill runs through me, and nausea churns my gut. They performed the ritual.
Cobalt continues. “I can’t let you and Aspen Bond. That’s why I sent Amelie for you this morning after I realized you and my brother had seemingly grown close. I can’t have you and Aspen bringing the treaty any closer to being fulfilled.”
“Why? Is it war you want?”
“No, not war. I want Aspen off the throne.”
I consider his words. “If Aspen and I don’t perform the ritual by midnight, we’ll break the treaty.”
He nods. “He’ll do worse than break the treaty. I’ve made sure of it.”
“What have you done?”
“It’s not what I’ve done, but what Aspen is about to do. Now that he thinks you changed your mind about him and sided with our mother instead, he’ll show his true nature.”
“He couldn’t possibly think I’d do such a thing,” I say.
“He thinks you’re on your way home right now to fulfill your end of the bargain with Melusine. You left him a letter, after all, saying exactly that.”
“He’ll see through it. He’ll never believe the letter was mine.”
“My brother?” Cobalt lets out a cold laugh. “The most paranoid king that ever lived? The boy who was abandoned by his own mother after she came to regret saving his life? Of course he’ll believe it. He’s always looking for proof that others are out to get him. That no one could ever love him.”
A lump rises in my throat, but I keep my breathing steady. “He’s smarter than you think. He knew something happened to Amelie. Knew the body on the beach wasn’t hers.”
“He may have known that,” he says, “but only because the proof wasn’t convincing enough.”
I’m about to argue that a letter isn’t strong enough proof, when a chilling realization strikes me. Cobalt is confident. Prepared. There’s more to this than I know. “What other proof did you give him?”
“I put a glamour over Amelie to make her look more like you.” His words are nonchalant, free of malice, as if we were talking about nothing more than the weather. “After she brought you from the palace, I sent her to steal one of your dresses. Then she snuck into the stables and stole a puca. I made sure Aspen’s most trusted few saw it happen. Foxglove. Lorelei. Several of his guards. It took him a few accounts before he believed it, but it was clear when he finally did.”
“No.”
“He was crushed. Heartbroken. So enraged, he shifted into his stag form and tore from the palace grounds.”
I blink to fight the tears, clenching my jaw. “Where is he now?”
“He’s probably looking for you. Once he realizes you’re nowhere to be found, the rage will consume him. He’ll attack your village and draw first blood. Perhaps much of it. He’ll make the slaughter at the Holstrom farm look like a picnic.” He shakes his head with disgust, as if he has no hand in any of it.
“How can you say it isn’t war you want, when that’s exactly what will happen after this?”
He shakes his head. “We won’t go to war. The treaty will not be broken, because I will be there to save it. Aspen will perform this final act of recklessness, revealing the unstable maniac he is. It will give the council the fuel they need to be rid of him once and for all and put me in his place. Aspen has been keeping Faerwyvae from the peace it deserves, and I am but one of many who feels that way.”
It all makes sense now. Of course Cobalt wants to be king. All the times he talked about Aspen’s faults, how he has no shortage
of allies that would stand against the king…he’s been planning this all along. “What about the unseelie? They couldn’t possibly support you. You’re seelie, aren’t you?”
“I have my mother to sway them. The unseelie trust her word.”
“Your mother supports all this?”
A corner of his mouth quirks. “She knows some of my plans, although she thinks I’m under her thumb. She’d always promised to support my claim to the throne if I could get Aspen out of the way. Little does she know, I won’t be furthering the unseelie cause like she expects.”
“No, you’ll further the seelie cause,” I say. “Fight for a radical seelie council. Eradicate the unseelie.”
“Can you blame me? The unseelie are uncivilized. You know about my mother, how she abandoned her children. That’s not rare for unseelie. They’re hardly better than animals, eating their young, leaving the lame to die. And what about creatures like the kelpies and vampires and goblins? Do they deserve to terrorize their victims?”
His words make my stomach sink, but I remember what Aspen told me. About fair choice and the balance necessary to preserve it. Was he right? Or would the world be better if the unseelie were gone?
“I’m ready to make you a bargain,” Cobalt says. “Go home. Return to your people. Take the ones you love most and get them out of the village tonight. I’ll get you there at once, before Aspen can unleash his wrath. Hide from my brother until his dark deeds are done. I’ll have guards waiting. They’ll stop him before he can draw too much blood. That will be enough to lose Aspen his throne without starting a war. Then I will be made king and the treaty will remain intact. Don’t you see? Amelie and I are mates. We’re Bonded. She and I will marry in your and Aspen’s stead, securing the treaty.”
“And then what? You’ll let Aspen go on his jolly way?” I let out a bark of laughter. “I doubt that. Your first order as king will be to have him executed.”
“Don’t let your emotions cloud your good sense, Evelyn,” he says. “Aspen’s removal is necessary, and yes, he will need to be disposed of entirely. But don’t you understand? Your relationship with him is tenuous, even if my brother remained in power. He might marry you, and he might even make you his queen, but what about when he grows tired of you? What about when your fragile human body slowly begins to age? What then?”
I think of Doris Mason and her cousin, anxiety rising in my chest.
Cobalt shakes his head. “This is the only logical solution. Take my bargain and save your people. The seelie way will keep the Fair Isle safe. Reject my bargain and I will leave you here to die.
My heart leaps into my throat. “You’re going to kill me?”
“I can’t directly hurt you, Evelyn. I promised as much on our picnic. I may be able to lie, but that doesn’t mean I’m immune to vows and promises. Instead, I’ll leave you here. It won’t be long before the tide comes in.”
Panic seizes me, the taste of salt still fresh on my tongue, my lungs still raw from being filled with seawater.
Cobalt frowns. “Don’t make me do this, Evelyn. It will break your sister’s heart. Think of her. Think of everything she sacrificed to save you.”
My heart sinks, and I do think of her. Amelie, with her fickle heart and reckless ways. Did she know what she was getting herself into when she made her bargain with Cobalt? I know he deceived her, made her believe everything was going to work out perfectly for all of us, but did she stop to think what her actions could do to me? No. When she made the bargain, she didn’t do it for me. She did it for herself. For Cobalt. For love.
“Make the logical choice, Evelyn.”
The logical choice. I could accept Cobalt’s bargain and save my people from war, but in doing so, Aspen loses his throne and his life. I lose the heart of the lover I was just beginning to know and care for. And Faerwyvae will take one step closer to a radical seelie reign. The only other choice is my own death. With that, I alleviate nothing. All else will likely still come to pass, but the blood Aspen spills in my village could belong to someone I care about.
“Live or die?” Cobalt says. “Those are your only choices.”
I take a deep breath and close my eyes, running through the options in my mind, piecing logic with logic, trying to formulate an answer that doesn’t make me feel like my heart is being ripped in two. The options twist and blur, fueling my anxiety until it rages inside me. My head is pounding, lungs heaving. There’s no way out of this. No way out.
Then something tugs at me. Not at my mind, but at something else. Something calm and quiet. My heart? I breathe away my thoughts, let my swirling deliberations cool to a simmer as I focus on the calm inside me. A surgeon’s calm, the kind I felt when treating Aspen’s injury. It’s a strange certainty that no logic can explain. I open myself to it, let it wrap around me like a blanket.
“Do the right thing, Evelyn.”
“Get out of my sight,” I say through my teeth.
His expression darkens. “You’re making a mistake.”
I burn him with my glare. “Get. Out.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
The tide comes in fast, as does my panic. I pull my cloak around my arm and throw my weight against the bars of the cage. The coral shards go straight through the fabric, spearing my skin. I wince, then double the fabric, triple it. Throw myself at the bars again. Again. They don’t budge.
I may have refused Cobalt’s bargain, but that doesn’t mean I’ve accepted the fate he left me with.
If only I had my dagger. If only I had anything to get me out of here.
I aim a kick at the bars, but my beaded slippers are no match for their strength, especially with the water rising higher and higher, slowing my momentum. Before long it’s around my waist.
I grit my teeth as another surge of water floods in. The echo of waves overhead is louder than before. Terror seizes me, sending memories to the surface, reminding me what it felt like to nearly drown, twice now. I remember the kelpie dragging me under the water with me powerless and stuck on his back. My fingers clench into fists. I’m even more furious now that I know Cobalt had been to blame. He likely distracted me on purpose while I ate the honey pyrus, laughed as I tumbled away from our picnic to wander alone. The forest had been silent, empty until the kelpie found me. A kelpie—a water fae—the only creature in the woods. There’s no mistaking every moment had been Cobalt’s design.
Something sparks in my mind. An idea. A dangerous idea.
The kelpie.
I remember what Amelie had said about them. They seek out lost travelers and take them to their deaths. My idea is so foolish, so reckless, it sends my pulse racing.
“Help!” I shout at the top of my searing lungs. “Help! I’m lost!”
All that answers is more water, more waves. The flood reaches my chest now.
“Help! I’m lost and I can’t find my way. Please come help me. Anyone.” I repeat my plea over and over, trying to ignore the water that laps into my mouth as the tide rises to my neck. I have to brace myself on the bars of the cage to maintain my footing, and its sharp edges cut into my palms. I shout again. Screaming. Begging. “I’m lost! Help!”
A dark mass enters the cave, slithering beneath the surface of the water. I swallow my shouts, terrified I’ve called in something worse. As the shape draws near, a horse-like head breaches the water, its mane of black swirling around it. I remember the other kelpie, how its mane seemed to flow in a wind I didn’t feel. Now I know it was an invisible current it was flowing in.
“Will you help me?” I ask, coughing water as a wave douses my face.
“Come with me,” it says. Its voice sounds the same as the first kelpie—ethereal and chilling.
“First, will you break me out of this cage?”
It watches me with its glowing red eyes. “Break you out?”
The words turn my stomach. I should probably be more literal. “Will you kick the bars of the cage with your hooves, but be careful not to kick me? When the bars break
and I am free from the cage, will you carry me somewhere—to someone—specific?”
“Who would you have me take you to?”
“Take me to King Aspen directly, as fast as you can. Go only routes that are safe for a human to travel. If we must travel by water, keep my head above it at all times. If we travel by land, move as fast as you can.”
“I could take you to King Aspen.” He says it more like he’s considering it than agreeing to it. He studies me, likely poring over my words. Now that I know better, I expect the part of the bargain he doesn’t say. He will take me to King Aspen. Then he’ll continue on to the nearest body of water to drown me. With his mane wrapped around my hands, I won’t be able to stop it.
To hurry his resolve, I add, “After that, you can go anywhere you like.”
“I will,” he finally says. He turns around, rear facing me. I move to the far end of the cage and shield my face with my arms. The kelpie sends a sharp hoof into the coral bars, then another. After a third kick, the coral splinters and shatters, leaving a large opening near the bottom of the floor. I take a deep breath and swim through it. A shard of coral scrapes against my arm. Another grazes my ankle as I push myself off the floor. Broken bars from the cage float by, drifting in the current. My fingers clasp around one, and I don’t let it go, not even as I mount the kelpie.
With my free hand, I grab his mane, and the kelpie swims forward with a speed his heavily muscled body shouldn’t be capable of. True to his word, the kelpie keeps my head above water as we navigate the twisting, turning caves. Waves still crash over my face as water funnels inside, but I manage to keep my lungs clear. Finally, the tunnel floors incline slightly, and light shines up ahead. The kelpie gallops toward it. To freedom. To fresh air and open sky.
Freed from the coral caves, I’m faced with a familiar sight. The shore beneath the palace stretches before us, nearly swallowed by the tide. The last blush of sunset peeks over the horizon, sending the beach under a pink-orange glow. With a jolt, the kelpie takes off along the shore, away from the palace toward the jagged rocks. My heart leaps into my throat as it seems like the creature intends to dash us directly into them, but in a single leap, he crests the top of the nearest rock, then leaps to another, then another, more like a goat than a horse-creature.
To Carve a Fae Heart (The Fair Isle Trilogy Book 1) Page 25