“Cozy,” I muttered under my breath, and the Erlking smiled.
“This is home to myself and all of my Huntsmen whenever we are in Avalon. Cozy would not suit us.”
My heart leapt at the realization that Ethan must be here, hidden in the depths of this house. I wondered if he was installed in a comfortable room somewhere, or if he and the rest of the Huntsmen resided in some old-fashioned, cramped servants’ quarters up in the rafters. It then occurred to me that for all I knew, the Erlking kept them chained in a dungeon, and I decided to abandon that line of thought.
The Erlking led me down a long marble hallway and into a room that I suspected he called a “parlor.” Like everything I had seen so far, it was decorated entirely in black and silver, and if it weren’t for the color of the Erlking’s skin and eyes, I might have wondered if I had suddenly been struck color blind.
I shivered again, the chill having sunk all the way down to my bones. The Erlking frowned, then gestured to the fireplace, which suddenly burst into flame. I jumped, then blushed at my reaction. Duh, magical, mythical creature can do magic! What a surprise.
“Come sit by the fire and warm up,” he said, gesturing me toward an armchair covered in black silk with silver embroidery. “I will have some coffee brought in.” He grinned at me, his eyes glittering in the firelight. “You are not overly fond of tea, I hear.”
I stiffened, knowing exactly where he’d gotten that little bit of knowledge. “Thanks,” I said through gritted teeth. I hated to show that he’d wounded me, but my emotions were too raw to hide. I turned my back to him so he couldn’t see my face, and I headed toward the chair as I tried to compose myself.
When I sat down, the Erlking took the other seat in front of the fire, pulling a small ebony table over so that it sat between us. Footsteps echoed in the hall behind me, and I turned to see who was coming. But the predatory look in the Erlking’s eyes told me everything I needed to know, even before Ethan turned the corner and stepped into the room.
He was dressed like a Huntsman now, wearing nothing but black, head to toe. The Erlking’s mark stood out starkly against his pale skin. In his hands, he carried a silver tray on which sat a tea set. He met my eyes briefly, and the despair in his expression sent a sharp pain knifing through my heart—just as the Erlking no doubt planned.
Ethan broke eye contact, then braced the tray with one arm and began unloading the tea service onto the table. I could feel the Erlking watching me, soaking in my pain. I tried my best to keep my expression neutral, but I doubt I managed it.
Ethan took one last item off the tray and held it out to me. It was a mug of coffee, just as the Erlking had promised. I tried to catch Ethan’s gaze again, hoping I could convey to him without words that I was going to get him out of here. Somehow. But he kept his head bowed and wouldn’t look at me.
“That’s all,” the Erlking said. “You may go.”
I hated to let Ethan out of my sight, but it wasn’t like I had a choice. I held on tightly to the mug of coffee he’d handed me, and that helped me resist the urge to reach out and grab him, keep him from leaving.
Still refusing to look at me, Ethan bowed to the Erlking, then left the room. I heard the Erlking fixing himself a cup of tea, but I couldn’t bear to look at him, afraid of what he might see in my face.
“He is unharmed,” the Erlking said softly, drawing my eyes to him against my will. “Unhappy, but unharmed.” There was sympathy and sadness in those ancient blue eyes, but I didn’t believe it.
“Whenever you’re finished rubbing it in, can we talk about what I have to do to get Ethan back?”
He raised his eyebrows in what looked like surprise. “I’m not ‘rubbing it in,’ as you put it. I was pointing out to you that he is unharmed. That was meant to be comforting.”
I snorted. “Yeah, right.”
He leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs, holding the delicate black china teacup in his lap. “Believe me or not, as you will. As you are so impatient to begin our negotiations, please do tell me what you propose.”
I took a deep breath, gathering the scattered remnants of my courage. It was vital that I phrase everything just right. Kimber and I both believed whatever agreement I made with the Erlking would be enforced by magic, so I had to be very careful to leave myself room to maneuver.
“My father told me that you and the Faerie Queens were at war once,” I said, starting slowly.
The Erlking cocked his head at me. I supposed he was trying to guess where I was going with this. “We were. But that was a long, long time ago. Our relations have been peaceful for many centuries.”
“Because of the agreement you reached with them. The one that keeps you from hunting the Fae unless the Queens give you permission.”
Understanding dawned in his eyes, and he laughed softly. “You’re planning to offer me an alternative to taking me out into the mortal world, as opposed to negotiating guidelines for my hunts there.”
“Yeah, that was the idea,” I said. Because no matter how bad I felt for Ethan, I still couldn’t unleash the Wild Hunt on the mortal world.
The Erlking nodded and put his teacup down, sitting up straighter. “Tell me exactly what it is you propose.” I couldn’t read the expression on his face. Perhaps it was eagerness, but it might just as easily have been skepticism.
I spoke slowly and carefully when I answered. “One of a Faeriewalker’s abilities is to carry technology into Faerie. My aunt Grace wants to kidnap me so she can use a gun to kill the Seelie Queen and take the throne.”
The Erlking nodded, like that was common knowledge. “Yes. A mortal bullet can kill even a Faerie Queen.”
“What about you?” I blurted, the words completely unplanned.
He smiled at me. “If I could be killed by a mortal bullet, you can hardly expect me to tell you that, can you?”
I felt the color burning in my cheeks. Way to make yourself sound like a moron, Dana.
“But in answer to your question,” he continued, “no, I cannot be killed by a mortal bullet. Many have tried, and yet here I am.”
He could be lying through his teeth, of course. Like he said, if a mortal bullet could kill him, he wouldn’t run around advertising it. Then again, he’d obviously hunted in Avalon before it seceded from Faerie, and it was hard to believe his human quarry had never tried to shoot him, in self-defense if nothing else.
“Your proposal is that you’ll ride with me into Faerie, allowing me to use a gun to kill the Queens and thereby remove the geis they have put upon me. Is that correct?”
I suppressed a shudder and forced myself to meet his eyes with all the sincerity I could project. “Basically.”
The idea was risky in the extreme. If I did this, and the Erlking was freed from his geis, it wouldn’t put anyone in the mortal world in danger, but the Fae would be sitting ducks. Which was why I had to be so careful how I worded our agreement, because I had every intention of making sure whatever gun the Erlking brought with him into Faerie wasn’t in working order. Kimber had assured me that magical bindings were very literal. If I was bound to help the Erlking take a gun into Faerie, then as long as I helped him take a gun, I was in the clear. There was no requirement that it be a working gun.
I was practicing in my head how I was going to phrase my formal offer when the Erlking made it a moot point.
“It’s a clever offer,” he said with a nod of approval. “It requires me to work for my ultimate goal, in a task that would be difficult even with mortal weapons, and if I succeed, it is not your own people who will suffer for it.” He grinned. “The Fae can fend for themselves, eh?”
I raised my chin and tried not to flinch. I knew the offer was going to end up making me sound pretty callous, like I couldn’t care less what happened to the Fae because they weren’t “my people.” But I needed the Erlking to believe I was really that callous so he wouldn’t suspect me of a trick.
The Erlking shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. The answ
er is no.”
“What?” Of course I’d always known he might refuse, but I thought there’d been at least a chance of success. And I certainly hadn’t expected him to dismiss it without even trying to negotiate.
“I have no quarrel with either Mab or Titania,” he said. “The agreement we three reached was mutually advantageous, even if onlookers cannot guess what advantage I might have gained.”
I was struck speechless by the Erlking’s instant refusal. My heart sank. That had been my one and only idea of what I could offer the Erlking in place of what he wanted. Tears welled in my eyes despite my best efforts to hold them back.
The Erlking reached over the tea tray to put his hand lightly on my wrist. I’d have pulled away if the despair weren’t weighing me down so heavily.
“Don’t cry,” he said, and he brushed his thumb over the back of my hand. “All is not yet lost. I have a counteroffer for you.”
His words were enough to rouse me from my stupor, and I finally pulled my hand out from under his, the motion so sudden I spilled the mug of untouched coffee in my other hand. The Erlking rose to his feet and plucked the coffee mug out of my hand, laying it on the table. Then he knelt in front of me, and there was a handkerchief in his hand—I had no idea where it had come from. He started dabbing at the wet spot on my jeans.
His touch was impersonal, his movements brisk and businesslike, nothing sexual or otherwise inappropriate. Still, the feel of his hand on my thigh was … disconcerting.
“I’ll do that,” I said, reaching for the handkerchief, half expecting him to insist on doing it himself. But he let me have the handkerchief.
“Did you burn yourself?” he asked, sitting back on his heels.
I shook my head, embarrassed at my overreaction to his touch. He wasn’t being threatening, and he wasn’t trying to be seductive. No big deal.
And yet somehow it felt like a big deal, and the hair on the back of my neck prickled. I tried to shake the feeling off.
“What is this counteroffer of yours?” I asked.
He gave me a look I can only describe as assessing, then rose to his feet and grabbed the chair he’d been sitting in, pulling it around the table so it was facing me. Then he sat down, his legs barely an inch from mine.
I fought the urge to sink back into my chair. He was so big it would have been hard not to be intimidated by him even if I didn’t know who—and what—he was. I met his eyes and was surprised to see how much warmth existed in that cold blue. Maybe he couldn’t help being intimidating, but he was trying hard not to be.
“I’ll warn you in advance that my proposal is nothing you are expecting,” he said, “and that it will both frighten and discomfit you.”
Oh, great. Like I needed to be even more frightened and uncomfortable than I already was. “All right, you warned me. Now what is it?”
His eyes seemed to bore into me. “I will release Ethan from the Wild Hunt. If in turn you will pledge to give me your virginity.”
chapter seventeen
My jaw dropped open, and I blinked at him in disbelief. “Excuse me, what did you just say?”
“You heard me. And I did warn you.”
I shook my head, feeling like I’d somehow slipped into a dream. I replayed the Erlking’s words in my head, and they still made no sense.
“You are young,” the Erlking said. “Perhaps too young for the bedroom yet. At least by your modern human standards. In olden days, you might have been an old married woman with a handful of children by now. But I am nothing if not patient. I will give you the freedom to choose when you are ready to fulfill our bargain.”
“And you’ll keep Ethan with you until I do,” I said, still too stunned to fully absorb what was happening.
“No, no,” he responded. “Your pledge will be binding, and unless you plan to live a life of celibacy, you will eventually have to come to me.”
“You can’t be serious.”
I’m not so falsely modest as to claim I’m unattractive or anything, but I’m nothing special, especially when compared to the unearthly beauty of the Fae. When I’d first met Ethan and he’d instantly started flirting with me, I’d known in my heart of hearts that there was something not quite right about it. Some girls really are so beautiful and/or sexy that they have guys falling at their feet right and left, but I’m not one of them. There was no way the Erlking was going to let Ethan go just for the pleasure of getting me into his bed.
“I assure you, I’m quite serious,” he said. “If you won’t ride with my Hunt into the mortal world, then there is only one way you can win Ethan’s freedom.”
I sat there and gaped at him. “I don’t understand. What would you get out of this?”
He quirked an eyebrow at me, and I blushed hotly, right on cue. I’d been so focused on my disbelief I hadn’t fully absorbed the fact that I was sitting here discussing my virginity with a man.
“My apologies,” the Erlking said softly. “I shouldn’t tease you under the circumstances.”
He looked genuinely sorry, but that didn’t make my blush go away. I’d never gotten past first base with a guy. I’m cautious by nature, and not too good at trusting people, so that made intimacy kind of difficult for me. You might even say it made me a prude. The idea of actually doing … it … with the Erlking made me break out in a cold sweat.
“I will not hurt you,” he told me. “I can even make it pleasurable for you, despite any misgivings you might have.”
That made me look up at him sharply. Had Ethan told him about having tried to cast that roofie spell on me?
“I won’t do that without permission,” the Erlking said, and the look in his eyes told me he knew what I was thinking. “If you’d prefer to have your mind completely clear, then I’ll respect your wishes.”
“Why are you doing this?” I found myself whispering, feeling younger and more lost than I could ever remember feeling. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was more to this offer than met the eye. He would be getting something other than a little fun out of it if I agreed. I just had no idea what.
“It’s all a question of what Ethan’s freedom is worth to you,” he said instead of answering my question. “Virginity doesn’t mean as much to the women of today as it did to women of old. Giving it to me would not harm your chances of finding a husband, nor would it cause you to be shunned or otherwise treated as damaged goods. Is it a fate so terrible that it is worth sacrificing the rest of Ethan’s immortal life to avoid it?”
The tears were back, and this time I wasn’t able to stop them from spilling over. I felt trapped, and helpless, and guilty all at the same time. There were plenty of girls my age who’d been having sex for years and thought nothing of it. And yet here I was, scared to agree to the Erlking’s terms even when Ethan’s entire future lay in the balance.
The Erlking reached out and took both my hands. I made a half-hearted attempt to pull away, but as I expected, he didn’t let go. His thumbs stroked over the backs of my hands, his touch surprisingly gentle.
“You’re frightened now because you aren’t ready,” he said. “That’s why I’m leaving it to you to choose the time.” He let go of one of my hands, reaching up to stroke a tear off of my cheek. “When you’re a little older and have had time to accustom yourself to the idea, you might find the prospect of coming to my bed more appealing than you might expect.”
He was smiling at me again, and despite my distress, I couldn’t help noticing the beauty of his deep blue eyes with their frame of long lashes. Yeah, there were probably plenty of girls who’d fall over backward at the chance of getting into his bed. Too bad I wasn’t one of them.
“And if you find I’m wrong,” he continued, “if you find you cannot bear to let me take you, then that choice will always be yours.”
Yeah, if I never wanted to have sex for my entire life! Maybe I wasn’t ready right now, and maybe I was a bit on the prudish side, but that didn’t mean I wanted to stay a virgin forever.
&
nbsp; But how could I say no and just abandon Ethan? How could I face Kimber again, knowing I could have saved her brother but was too much of a chicken to do it? And how could I live with myself, knowing that Ethan was taken because of me, and I wouldn’t lift a finger to help him?
I felt like a marionette, dangling on the Erlking’s strings. I knew there was something more to this deal than he was telling me. And I knew that someday I would have to face the consequences of my decision. If the Erlking had demanded I have sex with him right now, I might not have been able to summon the necessary courage, no matter how horrible I would have felt about it. But maybe he was right. Maybe in a couple of years, it wouldn’t seem like such a big deal.
“Throw in Connor, and you have a deal,” I said, even as my insides cringed at what I was promising.
The Erlking looked surprised, like it had never occurred to him I might want to free my brother, too. He let go of my hand, then leaned back in his chair, brow creased in thought. Then he nodded.
“I will release Ethan immediately upon your pledge,” he said. “Then when that pledge is fulfilled, I will release Connor as well.”
I couldn’t find my voice to agree out loud, so I just nodded instead. I was pretty sure I was going to hugely regret this one day, probably very soon.
The Erlking stood, holding out his hands to me. “Then let us seal the bargain.”
I didn’t know what he wanted. I stood, but I didn’t give him my hands, instead watching him warily.
“We’ll seal the bargain with a kiss,” he told me, brushing a strand of my hair away from my face. I started to protest, but he spoke right over me. “The bargain will be enforced by magic, so that neither one of us may break it. You will feel the magic building, but don’t be alarmed.”
I shook my head. “I am not kissing you!” I said.
He raised one shoulder in a shrug. “We could seal the deal with blood, but a kiss will be much more pleasant. For both of us. Besides, how am I to believe you will ever fulfill the bargain if you aren’t willing to part with a single kiss?”