“Where’s Thad? And Cleo? Were they on the west side of the ballroom? I have to find them.” Her teeth chattered, and her hands were ice.
“Think,” Sebastian murmured against her ear, his body swaying as the next wave of panicked guests jostled him on their way to the eastern exit. “You can remember. Close out everything that’s going on around you, and think back to the courtyard. Hansel. What command did he tell the handlers to use to stop the beasts?”
She closed her eyes, latched on to the sound of his voice, and buried her face in the front of his shirt while she replayed the scene from the courtyard.
Hansel, with his chain and his easy smile. The handlers trembling with fear. The beasts howling with misery in their crates until Hansel said—
“Nach!” She pulled away from Sebastian’s chest, and was nearly thrown to the floor as a man used her shoulder for leverage to pull himself over another man who’d been trampled and lay unmoving on the floor beside them. Sebastian grabbed her arms and pulled her against his body.
“Good.” His voice was calm, but he was breathing quickly, and his body was tensed for a fight. “Nach!” he yelled, but the panicked screams of the crowd swallowed his voice.
“We have to get closer,” she said, though everything in her wanted to run in the opposite direction.
They pushed against the crowd, many of whom were injured and were trying desperately to crawl toward the eastern doorway. Ari let go of Sebastian as they sidestepped a group of nobility who were stumbling toward the exit, and her horrified gaze took in the carnage that spread across the western side of the ballroom.
Blood and bodies littered the floor and splattered the gilt-covered walls. The two beasts hunched over mangled bodies, snarling and snapping at each other.
“Nach,” she said, but her lungs still ached, still refused to take a full breath, and her voice was too weak to reach them. Sebastian tried as well, but they still weren’t close enough to be heard.
In the doorway leading out to the garden, Teague stood, watching it all with a wicked smile on his face.
Another wave of screams rose, and Ari tore her gaze from Teague just in time to see one of the beasts lunge across the ballroom heading toward the eastern doorway, its long arms reaching for the fleeing crowd.
The other beast was coming straight for Sebastian.
He was facing her, keeping her safe from being trampled by the crowd. He wouldn’t be able to move in time.
“No!” she screamed as she launched herself in front of him.
The beast collided with her, sending them both tumbling to the floor. It was like being hit with a boulder. Her chest ached in sharp bursts. She couldn’t breathe. And terror was a fire blazing through her, obliterating everything in its path.
The beast’s talons sank into her arms as it peeled back its lips in a vicious snarl.
Sebastian struck the beast with a cudgel, and its thick fur rippled as it shuddered, but it didn’t take its eyes off Ari. Saliva dripped onto her face, and she struggled for the air to speak.
“Nach!” Sebastian yelled, and the creature shook its head and whined, though it kept Ari pinned.
Sebastian grabbed the beast around its neck. “I said nach.”
The creature shivered and sank onto its haunches, and Sebastian tore it off Ari and sent it scuttling into the buffet table. The other beast was cowering beneath Sebastian’s command in the center of the room.
Teague walked into the ballroom, clapping his hands slowly as he carefully stepped over bodies and puddles of blood. “Bas,” he said, and the two monsters shuddered, their eyes rolling back in their heads and their mouths foaming as they fell to the ground, twitching until they lay still.
“I find it best to destroy a weapon that proves itself unpredictable,” he said in his cold, elegant voice.
Teague was here. He’d come for Thad’s soul, and Ari had to stop him. The alternative was unthinkable.
She gulped for air, reached for Sebastian, and forced a single word past her lips. “Help.”
He crouched beside her, his cudgel raised as he kept his eyes on the closest beast, and took her hand. He remained steady as a rock while she slowly pulled herself to a sitting position.
“Hmm,” Teague said as he studied Sebastian. “There’s something familiar about you.” He tapped his ivory pipe against his lips. “Not nobility. Not carrying a weapon like that. You remind me of an employee of mine—Jacob Vaughn.”
“He’s my father.” Sebastian’s voice reminded Ari of the bleakness of a frozen, snow-covered lake. Any emotion was buried so deep, it was impossible to find.
“Then you must be Sebastian, as I remember ordering the death of Jacob’s other son for failing to follow orders. Interesting to find you rubbing shoulders with royalty at a ball.”
Sebastian gave a one-shouldered shrug and let go of Ari. “I do what I’m paid to do.”
He was lying. He’d done so much more than what he’d been paid to do, but if he needed Teague to believe he was simply her employee, Ari wasn’t going to argue.
Teague smiled. “Like father, like son.”
Sebastian’s body tensed, but he remained silent.
Movement caught Ari’s eye, and she turned to see her brother slowly climbing out from behind a table that had flipped to its side during the struggle. There was blood pouring from a wound in his head, and he could barely keep his balance, but he was still alive, and Ari’s throat thickened with tears as she looked at him.
Teague turned to face Thad and pocketed his pipe. Withdrawing two arrows from an inner coat pocket, he held them up. Candlelight reflected dully against the arrows’ metal surface.
Iron.
“Tsk, tsk, it seems our dear king has been injured.” He glanced at Ari, who was still trying to breathe past the pain. “As has our resourceful princess. Such a shame, though I did warn you to leave me alone. Imagine my surprise when a pair of creatures much like the two I just destroyed were sent to attack me as I traveled to one of my warehouses this afternoon.” He looked back at Thad, his eyes glowing with malice. “When they failed to kill me, a man sent two arrows into my back. Obviously, he also failed to kill me. It didn’t take much of an interrogation to learn he was working for you. You really should hire people with higher pain tolerance.”
Ari’s heart sank. Ajax had failed, and Ari still didn’t have a viable backup plan.
She had no way to save Thad.
Teague tossed the arrows to the floor and stepped over them. His tone was cut glass. “A lesser fae would’ve died, but you aren’t dealing with a lesser fae. You’re dealing with Alistair Teague.”
The walls shook, candlelight flickering as his voice rose. “I am ancient. I have survived battles in wars long lost to history. I have survived assassination attempts from those much more learned in fae lore than you.” He closed in on Thad. “I have survived betrayal, exile, and the miserable pretense of obeying human law, and you can be sure I will survive you.”
He reached into another pocket and withdrew a scroll of parchment and a vial that glittered as if it were made from diamonds. “Do you know what this is?”
He held up the parchment, and Thad nodded miserably.
The contract. Ari lurched to her feet. Sebastian stood as well, though he didn’t touch her. Maybe she could grab it. Burn it. Chew it up and swallow it if she had to.
Teague unrolled it with a flick of his wrist. “It’s the contract you signed. The one where you gave me your soul and the right to run my business in your kingdom without your interference.”
Ari took a step forward, wincing in pain.
Teague’s voice became a whiplash of cold fury. “I warned you not to try to break the terms of our bargain.” He raised the parchment and read from the bottom of the page. “It says here that if the undersigned, which is you, attempts to harm me, renegotiate terms, or break your vow in any way, the debt you owe comes due.” He looked up and met Thad’s desperate gaze. “Immediately.”
&n
bsp; Thad’s knees buckled, and he slid to the floor as his gaze locked on Ari. She could read the fear, the regret, and, most of all, the desperate plea for her to do what he’d been preparing her to do all along: take the crown and rule in his place.
The wound in Ari’s heart that had opened the night her mother died ached fiercely, and tears blurred her vision.
She was going to lose Thad if she didn’t do something.
“Get to your feet, you worthless boy.” Teague stalked toward him, and Ari started moving, Sebastian on her heels. “You didn’t care what the price was as long as your sister was safe. I held up my end of the deal, and what have you done? Sent your sister into the market to ask questions about me and to buy poison for the monster killer you hired to assassinate me. Purchased beasts from Llorenyae to fend off my just attempts to get you to honor your debt. I’ll bet you didn’t expect me to be able to control them, did you? You see, I speak fae, and I read runes. I am nearly immune to iron, and you’d have to fill me with bloodflower poison for it to kill me. And I am out of patience with you.”
“You’re making a mistake.” Thad’s words were slurred, and he seemed to be having trouble focusing his eyes. He needed medical attention, but if Ari didn’t find a way to stop Teague from ripping out her brother’s soul, none of that would matter.
“No, you made the mistake! We had a bargain. A mutually beneficial relationship that was supposed to last for ten years. I offered you the desire of your heart.” Teague’s voice rose, shaking the floor. “And you took it. You took it, and now I will take what is owed me.”
Ari’s chest throbbed, and desperate fear drove her forward as Teague put the contract into his coat pocket and unstoppered the glittering vial.
She was never going to see him again. Never going to hear him laugh at her crazy plans or list all the things a proper princess didn’t do.
He would be gone, and she would be left wearing a crown she’d never wanted.
Alone.
The pain in her heart stabbed deep, a fierce ache that felt as if she was already grieving him.
She was going to lose her brother, and Teague would get away with it because Ari didn’t know how to stop him. Thad would die, and she would be left alone in the palace to pick up the pieces of a life she didn’t want to live without knowing that her brother was safe.
Her mind skipped from one desperate idea to the next. She knew a myriad of details about his business. His life. There had to be something she could use.
He hadn’t just wanted Thad’s soul. He’d wanted unimpeded access to the city.
He’d wanted immunity from the consequences of his actions.
He’d wanted to be the unrivaled power behind a puppet king.
He wanted power, but if he took Thad’s soul, he’d be giving that up.
In a voice that shook the room, Teague said, “Ghlacadh anam de Thaddeus Glavan agus—”
“Wait!” Ari threw herself at Teague, an idea born of furious, desperate love taking shape inside her head. He wanted power. He wanted immunity from his actions. He wanted puppet kings on paper thrones dancing to his whims.
If she could give Teague that long enough to buy herself time to uncover the key to stopping him, maybe she could save Thad and free him to be the just, fair ruler he wanted to be.
“If you take Thad’s soul, you’ll be squandering the opportunity of a lifetime,” she said as she held Teague’s gaze.
He glared. “I think not.”
“His soul isn’t what you’re really after. You want freedom to run your business as you please.” Her words were rushed and desperate, her fingers knotting together as if in supplication. “You want power. And a man like you—an ancient, powerful fae—wouldn’t be satisfied with the kind of power that keeps Kosim Thalas under your thumb. That’s just one city out of thousands. You’re the Wish Granter. You deserve to have entire kingdoms to answer to you, and Thad can make that happen.”
“Ari,” Thad mumbled. She ignored him. So did Teague.
“He’s a seventeen-year-old who’s only been on the throne for a few weeks,” Teague said. “He can’t deliver kingdoms to me.”
“It doesn’t matter how long he’s had the throne.” Her voice shook. “It only matters how many powerful allies he has in other kingdoms.”
Teague paused to study her expression for a long moment, and then said, “Go on.”
“I’ve been looking into your affairs,” she said to Teague.
His golden eyes narrowed, and pressure built in her chest. She rushed to get the words out.
“You’re highly reliant on your brokers in Balavata to move all the product you don’t sell in Súndraille. That means you have to raise your price to pay their commission and still make the profit you need to pay your employees and keep supplies coming in.”
“A necessary inconvenience.”
“Not if Thad can get you a direct distributor in the kingdoms where he has strong allies. If he can introduce you to the most powerful and influential royals and nobles he knows.” She could barely stand to hold Teague’s feral gaze. Her teeth chattered, and she clasped her hands together tightly to keep them from trembling. “Imagine if you promised each of them the desire of their hearts in return for absolute immunity within their kingdoms. Or in return for consulting with you on every decision. You wouldn’t just be the power behind Súndraille’s throne. You’d be the power behind the thrones in seven of the ten kingdoms.”
And, stars, she hoped she really could learn how to stop him soon because otherwise, she’d have just sacrificed most of the known world for the sake of her brother and the hope that she could stop Teague from ruining Kosim Thalas.
She wasn’t sure this made her a very good person, but now wasn’t the time for moral contemplation.
Teague’s eyes narrowed. “Seven of the kingdoms?”
“We have strong alliances with Akram, Balavata, Ravenspire, Loch Talam, Morcant, and Eldr. Add those to Súndraille, and you have seven kingdoms that could all answer to you.”
He watched her in unblinking silence. Ari shuddered as fear chased ice through her bones. He was going to finish taking Thad’s soul. And then he’d kill Cleo. Maybe kill Ari too. And there would be no one left to rule Súndraille.
No one but Teague.
Her mouth went dry, and the air felt too thick to breathe as that horrible thought took root and grew.
He’d already proven to the people of Kosim Thalas that he could do as he pleased. That the king couldn’t or wouldn’t protect them. Stars only knew how many members of the Assembly were indebted to Teague for a wish or a piece of his criminal empire. If Thad and Ari were gone, who would stand between Teague and the crown?
Who would dare?
Teague smiled slowly, and Ari felt sick.
What if this was what he’d been after all along? Unimpeded access to Súndraille’s throne after ten years of proving that he was the only power that mattered in the kingdom, and then eventually access to every other throne as well, one wish at a time.
And she’d just offered him a shortcut to all of it on the faint hope that she could somehow find the key to destroying him before he did any more harm.
“You’re suggesting I forgo taking the boy’s soul and use him as a royal puppet instead.” Teague’s smile grew.
Ari couldn’t speak past the lump in her throat.
Teague looked past Ari to Thad, still on his knees, blood pouring from his wounds while he swayed. “Becoming the real power behind the throne in Súndraille and exerting influence and control over other kingdoms as well is a very tempting offer.”
How fast could Teague ruin Súndraille? How fast could he infiltrate and then ruin other kingdoms? Ari had a terrible fear that he could move a lot faster than she could find out how to stop him. It was time to stop hiding in the palace library doing research. She’d start with a trip to Llorenyae, and she wouldn’t leave until she learned who had exiled Teague and, more important, how.
Sebastian m
et her eyes, and she was afraid the worry that filled his was written on her face as well.
“What happens if the boy decides not to play along? What if he sabotages my business interests or keeps trying to ruin me? The potential has to outweigh the risks, my dear.” Teague stepped closer, and Ari flinched. “I will let your brother continue to live on two conditions.”
“No,” Thad whispered as he leaned forward to rest his palms on the floor for support.
“I’m no longer doing business with you, dear boy,” Teague said. “Here are my conditions. First, Thaddeus will grant me the status of royal adviser and immediately begin introducing me to his contacts in other kingdoms with the understanding that I speak for him.” He locked gazes with Ari. “And second, as an insurance policy against any potential betrayal on his part, I will take you as my prisoner. You will remain alive with your soul intact for as long as your brother is obedient to me.”
A chill slid over her skin as Thad said, “No. I forbid it.”
Sebastian gave her a look she couldn’t decipher, his hands fisted at his sides.
“I’d have to go live with you?” she asked, wrapping her arms around herself in a vain attempt to ward off the chill that seemed to be sinking into her bones.
His smile was cruel. “Indeed.”
“Ari, no!” Thad’s voice was forceful.
Ari stared at Teague. If she refused, he’d take Thad’s soul, kill Cleo, and probably kill Ari and anyone who tried to defend her. And then he’d either take the throne or run the kingdom through his network of thugs regardless of who the Assembly found to sit on the throne.
If she agreed to become his prisoner, she’d have access to his home. A chance to watch him for weaknesses she could use against him. Most of all, she’d buy all of them the time they needed to come up with a plan to stop Teague, and Thad and Cleo would still be alive.
“Only if you tear up Thad’s contract,” she whispered, her heart pounding painfully in her chest.
“Princess!” Sebastian moved toward her, but stopped at the look she gave him.