Soul

  “I wasn’t hurt,” I said. “I feel much better actually. It was beautiful, peaceful. I saw a butterfly. That was my brother’s pet name for me. I… it’s a thing, okay? The water stopped running, and I thought I smelled… I can’t explain what happened, but I felt like he was there with me. I was so upset at what he must have thought of me, knowing what he did, but I remembered something in the garden. He loved me, no matter what. He never blamed me for my birth, and his death…” I sighed heavily. “There’s nothing anyone can do to change that.”

  “You were blessed,” Líle said solemnly. “The Mother took pity on you.”

  “There were three women,” I said. “The fountain, I mean. It was carved into three women.”

  “The Mother didn’t want idols of herself,” Líle explained.

  “The three are her servants. Some call them demi-goddesses, others the three priestesses,” Anya said. “But they serve her all the same. It is they who interfere even though the Mother appears to turn her back.”

  “Is the Fade and the Nether the same for humans?” I asked. “Do we all end up in the same place?”

  “Perhaps humans end up in the deepest Nether,” Líle said. “But nobody returns from there to tell the tales.”

  I frowned. They had plenty of stories of faeries going to the Nether. I pushed the food away. “I need a favour. I understand if you can’t help, but I need to speak to that daoine sídhe.”

  “Brendan would have my head if I allowed you into the dungeon, never mind near your attacker,” Líle protested.

  “Why would you want to see her?” Grim asked.

  “I need to know why she was sent here. I need to know why she would work for Sadler. Look, after what happened to my family, I want to make sure somebody strong is in charge. And if that’s Sadler, then so be it. But I need to know before I make a decision.”

  “If you betray Brendan, he won’t think twice about ending your life,” Realtín squealed, spinning upside down in her anxiety.

  “I know,” I said. “But the same thing can’t happen again. If he isn’t strong enough to deal with two courts, then chaos will reign instead. I just need to make sure that I’m making the right choice. That’s all.”

  “But Drake—”

  “This is bigger than Drake or me. Bigger than Brendan. This is about what’s best for everyone as a whole. The right person has to rule. If not… I don’t want to see anyone else’s family ruined like mine, okay?”

  “You would really turn against him?” Anya asked. “You would put aside the rewards to save us all?”

  I stared at the pixie, who was so serious underneath the glitter and giggles. “If we all do what we want, the world will destroy itself. I’m running out of time, and I need to know for sure.”

  “I’ll help you,” Anya said. “I’ll get you into the dungeon.”

  “She won’t talk to you if she didn’t speak under torture,” Líle said.

  “It’s worth a try,” I said. “She asked me to come with her first.”

  “A trick,” Realtín said. “To prevent her from spilling your blood within Brendan’s walls.”

  “I still want to know,” I said firmly. “Maybe I should do this myself.”

  That got me a resounding no, much to my relief. My friends worked together to find a way to sneak me into the dungeon while I showered and dressed. I wondered where the cat had gone, but I figured he would turn up later.

  I checked my phone to find a voicemail telling me in no uncertain terms that I had lost my job. Wincing, I sent Zoe a text letting her know we were meeting up at the weekend, whether she liked it or not. She replied almost immediately with a resounding yes. I would miss her.

  Anya returned first. “It’s better if the others aren’t with us,” she explained under her breath. “There’s a way to the daoine sídhe, but I’ll need to distract a guard. You’ll have one chance to slip past. One chance to speak to her. Use it wisely.”

  “How will you distract the guard?”

  She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter, Cara.”

  “No. We’ll find another way. I don’t want to use you like this.”

  “I need to help you,” she said. “Let me.”

  I hugged her tightly. She had tears in her eyes when I let her go.

  “We all have parts to play,” she whispered. “I’ve always dreamed of a different role. Pixies are tolerated as long as we’re fun and playful. I want more, Cara, and I think you can give it to me.”

  “Nobody can give it to us. We have to take it. I’m kind of like the pixie of the human world. People only want me around as long as I’m entertaining.” Except for Zoe. “And it’s time I took more for myself. You don’t have to be what they tell you to be. You can choose for yourself.” And I planned on helping all of my friends.

  She nodded eagerly. “Come, before we’re found.”

  We slipped downstairs and through the kitchen. She pulled me out a door that led to the courtyard then back in through an old trapdoor behind the stables.

  “Nobody comes this way,” Anya whispered. “And there’s only one guard. If we get past him, we’ll have a couple of minutes before somebody comes to check on the prisoners. Can you make it?”

  “Will I be able to find my way?”

  She nodded. “It might be darker than you expect, though.”

  “I’ll be okay. Will you?”

  She stuck out her chin. “I’ll do what I have to do.”

  As we descended, I wondered what I had done to deserve such loyalty. Brendan would have no problem with betrayals if he chose to be good to his subjects. Underneath the house was dark, but a couple of torches on the walls gave us enough light to find our way around.

  “Straight ahead is the main guard,” Anya said. “As soon as he’s distracted, run and don’t look back. Do what you need to do as quickly as possible.”

  “I will. If there’s trouble, get out of here.”

  “I can’t—”

  “I mean it. Run.”

  She kissed my cheek and danced toward the guard while I stayed in the shadows. He laughed, and she pulled him away from the door and pressed her hips against him. She ran her hands through his hair, and I made a dash for the door.

  He let out a questioning sound, but she must have smothered the words with a kiss. I hurried to the left, looking through barred doors to find the daoine sídhe. The cells were mostly empty, to my relief. The daoine sídhe was in the last cell.

  She glared at me from where she sat on the floor. “Does he send you to mock me to death?”

  “I’ll set you free,” I said, “if you tell me everything you know.”

  “I knew you were up to something,” Drake said from the end of the hall. “But I didn’t imagine this.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, cringing. “I need to know who the best choice for king is before the ceremony. I have to know for sure that I’m doing the right thing.”

  With a sigh, he approached the cell. “You heard her,” he said. “Make the deal, and I’ll unlock the door.”

  “Is this a game?” she spat. “A rather obvious play.”

  “I’m not the king,” Drake said. “I’m the faery whose body he stole. This is the human I care for, and you are the one who tried to kill her. I’m more than happy to let you rot, but she…” He shook his head. “She is human. That tells you everything you need to know. You can speak, or you can die. We don’t have long before we’re found.”

  Her mouth opened and closed. “You’re the…? I heard the rumours, but I never imagined. I can’t talk. He has my daughter. He’ll give her to his son to torture. They call his son Deorad because he was such a monster that his own father sent him into exile. He’s more animal than anything. I can’t let him have my daughter. I have to do something.”

  “If you die here, he can do whatever he likes to your daughter. Do you wish to speak, to gain a chance at freedom?”

  “You’ll let me walk out of here. Just like that?”

 
“Decide,” Drake urged, looking behind us.

  “I’ll speak,” she said, “for a chance to save my child.”

  Drake was taking the keys from his pocket when I heard Sorcha’s voice in the distance.

  “Only he can save you now,” he said, stroking my cheek as he let green rule over violet.

  Brendan pressed me against the wall as Arlen and others barged into the hallway. “Cara,” he whispered in a pained voice, “are you trying to get us both killed?”

  “She’ll speak for freedom,” I said urgently. “Show mercy, and you’ll get loyalty in exchange, Brendan. Trust me.”

  He pressed his forehead against mine before turning to his approaching bodyguard. “Not even five minutes, eh?”

  Arlen came to a stop, wearing a confused expression. Sorcha looked as though her head might explode. Then I realised she had Anya by the hair.

  “Let her go,” I said.

  “Who are you to command me?” Sorcha snapped.

  “Just do it,” Brendan said wearily.

  Sorcha released Anya’s hair and shoved her toward me. The pixie ran to my side.

  “Sire?” Arlen said.

  “Cara had an idea. We came to test it out,” Brendan said. “I’m releasing the daoine sídhe.”

  “You can’t be serious!” Sorcha exclaimed.

  Brendan held the key out to Arlen. “She’s going to tell us all she knows. Bring her to my office. Clean her up first and make sure there’s food ready. She can eat and talk at the same time. Anya, come with me.”

  He strode past his servants, holding my hand tightly. He remained silent until we reached his office. “You insist on putting me in the most awkward of situations,” he said, but there was laughter in his eyes. “Freeing the daoine sídhe by yourself. She could have killed you.”

  “He has her daughter. He’s making her work for him. If we can help her…”

  He took a seat. “Did she say his name?”

  “Not yet.”

  “When they bring her here, you can talk to her. I’m interested to see this play out.”

  “Are you mad at me?” I asked, embarrassed by how ridiculously un-stealthy my friends and I were.

  “Would you care?”

  “Maybe.”

  He laughed. “A damning answer, to be sure. Did you find what you were looking for?”

  “Maybe.”

  “And again. Anya, did she order you to help her?”

  “Yes, I did,” I said before she could answer.

  He lifted his eyebrows, but Arlen and Sorcha saved me from his next smart remark by leading the daoine sídhe into the room. Líle, Grim, and Realtín followed, all looking a little sheepish.

  Brendan nodded at me. I blushed under the stares of the others. Clearing my throat, I held out a chair and bade the daoine sídhe to sit.

  “Anya, can you give her some food?” I asked, taking a seat facing the warrior fae.

  Grim had told me that the heroic race were noble and ancient. When I had heard that, I wondered if Sadler was a better choice than Brendan; after all, Brendan had no daoine sídhe by his side. But as I stared at the pain in her eyes, I realised there was another side to that story.

  “You’re hurt,” I said, noticing the way she held her arm carefully against her body.

  “We’ll tend to her wounds before she leaves,” Brendan said.

  She looked over at him. “You’ll truly let me leave?”

  He nodded. “As long as you keep your end of the bargain. The truth in exchange for your freedom.”

  She glanced at Anya who tried to feed her from a bowl of soup. “No food,” she said. “I have little time.”

  “What’s your name?” I asked.

  “Dymphna,” she said as if surprised.

  “I’m Cara. You mentioned your daughter? Is she okay?”

  She shrugged. “I can only hope so. He’s a determined man, this Sadler. When he first called me to him, I refused his demands, so he had my husband murdered in front of me. I could do nothing, only watch, because he held a knife to my daughter’s throat. She’s but a child, too beautiful for her own good. He said his son would like her hair, that he would kill her if I refused or give her to his son as a wife if I didn’t. He said she would live with his grandchildren until she came of age. That he would care for her and protect her if I brought him the true child. He said to kill her if I couldn’t take her.” She gazed at me, her eyes full of horror. “I’ve heard the stories of Deorad. They say he covers his face because he cannot bear the sight of his own reflection. I don’t know if death is better or worse for her, but I needed to buy her time. I needed to do what he said to give me a chance to take her back.”

  “So Sadler wanted you to either bring me to him or kill me?” I asked. “Why would he want me alive?”

  “To speak for him at the ceremony,” Brendan said. “Or rather, to speak against me.”

  “How can we trust her?” Sorcha asked. “She went against her own kind’s rules to attack us. She’s undeserving of the name.”

  Dymphna lowered her head. I could see her shame, but I understood her reasons. I would have done the same thing.

  “How is protecting her child a bad thing?” I asked. “She did the right thing.”

  “She could have killed you,” Sorcha said.

  “I don’t blame her. She did what she had to do. We need to help her get her child back,” I said. “We can’t let this man gain a crown by stealing children.”

  “Can somebody stop this human from speaking before I rip her throat out?” Sorcha said.

  “Stand with me at the ceremony, and I’ll give you aid,” Brendan said, surprising everyone, including me.

  “More deals,” Dymphna said bitterly.

  “You can go your own way afterward,” he said. “We’ll retrieve your child. You’ll stand by my side, and Sadler will watch his own cruelty backfire.”

  “I won’t bow to you,” she said fiercely.

  “I believe I asked you to stand.”

  “Why have you not been helped by the other heroes?” Arlen asked. “You’re not alone. Why would Sadler have a chance at corrupting you?”

  Dymphna flushed. “I am an outcast. My daughter’s father was human. She’s not pure-blooded.”

  “But the daoine sídhe are allowed to take wives and husbands at will,” Líle blurted. “Taking humans is their right.”

  “For a time, yes. But I fell in love and kept only one husband for many summers and winters. The others did not approve, and over time, we grew distant. I had my daughter in the human realm, and when they came for her, I refused to give her up. They abandoned me for good, but they promised to return for my daughter on her sixth birthday. When Sadler sent word that he needed my help, he offered protection for my daughter and husband. That’s the only reason I went to him. I was desperate for help, and it ruined us all.”

  “Fae rules suck balls,” I muttered.

  “My daughter’s hair is almost as pale as yours,” Dymphna said to Brendan. “Deorad hates humans, from what I hear. He pursues the ones with the lightest hair and then ruins them. If even half the rumours are true… I can’t let him have my daughter. I would rather kill her myself than give her to him.”

  “I’ve never met his son,” Brendan said. “But I give you my word that he will not be permitted to ruin your daughter. Deorad…” He glanced at Arlen. “Is that…?”

  Arlen nodded.

  Brendan sighed. “I will need to deal with this personally. The sins of the past, indeed. Arlen, help Dymphna recover. She is to sleep in the room next to Cara. She’s not to be disturbed unless she has a request. Send a pixie and a guard to wait on her. Dymphna, regain your strength. We have a lot to do.”

  I looked at him. “I could—”

  “No. Líle, take Cara back up to her room.”

  “But tomorrow is—”

  He gave me his kingly frown. “I will speak to you later.”

  Okay, so I was definitely in trouble. For the next h
our, my companions and I sat in subdued silence until Brendan came into my room.

  “Leave.” He held his hand as Realtín opened her mouth to protest. “All of you.”

  When they had obeyed, he sat on the bed and stared at me. “What am I supposed to do with you? You let an important fae see the truth. She could have turned on us. She could have killed you the second you let her out of that cell.”

  “I needed to know if he was a monster or a better king than you,” I said softly.

  “That’s what I was afraid of. And your answer?”

  “Got any stolen kids lying around the place?”

  He smiled. “That, I do not. Not of my own, nor anyone else’s. I’m surprised at Sadler, in truth, but I suppose time has twisted every memory. I feel responsible for his actions now, and I would rather he lived through this, but I think he will prefer to fight me to the death. Are you going to betray me, Cara?”

  “I think you’re probably the lesser of two evils,” I said.

  “Do you truly think me evil?”

  “You all have the capacity for evil. Look at my family. Never important enough to be protected.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure,” he said. “But enough of that. I’m going to put my trust in you, Cara. I’m placing all my bets on you at Imbolc.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He lay back on the bed, looking like a teenager. “There are choices given to us, and I’ve let most of mine lead to you. My opponents will allow it because they’ve been led to believe you’re more fae than you are. They’ll think your words won’t carry weight other than the bias you must feel. At the ceremony, we’ll show your humanity, and your word will be taken. I may have to fight, but it will be an honourable death, should it happen.”

  “You think you won’t win a fight?”

  “I’m not used to this body. I don’t know its limits. It’s possible I’ll push it too far. You understand, don’t you, Cara? He might fade before the end. I can’t stop that.”

  “And you understand, don’t you? I could help him make you fade.”

  He grinned. “Threats and all. I’ll take my chances. He’s not strong enough to rule both courts, and he isn’t inclined to try. He’s said his goodbyes to you, whether you like it or not. If he was ever going to show himself again, it would have been when you learned the truth of your heritage. That’s when you truly needed him, not when you wanted to release the daoine sídhe. Does that not speak volumes?”