‘Again, my most sincere apologies for not being present for the proceedings,’ she replies with another saccharine smile, ‘but, as advisor, I’d like to know, what does the human requesting sanctuary have to say? Has she even been heard from at all?’
‘She has been interviewed,’ Calder’s face now reddens. ‘But it hardly matters, Harbinger. She is Dark Realm.’
‘Everyone gets their turn to speak, Councilor. You know that.’ She looks at Bryn. ‘Do not fear…Bryn, was it?’
Bryn nods, but when she speaks to the room, it’s not to Dane or Thalia. It’s to Calder. ‘It’s true, my lord, IamKismet. Fate smiles upon me. Luck guides me. I should have died a thousand times in the Dark, but it has always protected me. I could be an asset to the Underhill...’
She’s making a deal, I realize, dread filling my gut. That’s what Bryn does when she’s backed into a corner. And it’s too late to stop her.
No. No. No. No. No. NO! Not with him!
Calder’s eyes narrow as he reassesses our human. ‘Go on.’
‘I could be of help to the fae realm and Halsford if I was allowed to remain here in the Light.’
I close my eyes as she pledges herself to the Underhill.
Fuck Calder and Voss and even Dane for making her feel she must do this!
Calder strokes his chin, pretending to deliberate. A look passes between him and Voss, that has me even more sure thatthere’s more going on here. This may not have been what they wanted, but they’ll make this work in their favor.
‘Perhaps,’ he says quietly, ‘but your kind are known to be devious by nature, so the Underhill would still require the Law of the Fourth, as well as other assurances of my choosing.’
Don’t agree,I say silently.
But she shrugs as if signing herself away to the fae is nothing to her.
Oh, Bryn.
‘I’d have your vow aloud,’ she says.
Calder’s smirk makes my blood boil.
‘I vow that if you give yourself in service to the Underhill to do all you can to find the enemy of the Underhill known as Fiana, you may remain in this village so long as you are bound to these three…residents.’
‘Done.’
Lia’s shoulders sag a little at Bryn’s final word. Dane’s eyes close for a moment before he stares at his mate, shaking his head very slightly as he brings the gavel down hard.
‘It’s finished. Bryn, you can stay.’
Then his eyes find the three of us. ‘Jak. Locke. Morgan. You’ll need to bind her to you. In every sense.’
Next to me, Bryn nods. She still says nothing, but the tension has drained out of her.
‘Next item on the agenda?’ Tavish asks.
‘I wasn’t aware there was one,’ Dane says, sitting down hard and sounding wearier than I’ve ever heard him.
He looks at us. ‘You may go.’
‘They may wish to stay,’ Calder replies. ‘This concerns them. We’ve had a report from our eyes in Merediea.’
Lia’s eyes narrow. ‘Why wasn’t I told?’
‘I’m afraid you could not be located at the time,’ Calder says airily. ‘At any rate, the mission with the human spies has been unsuccessful…just as I said it would be.’
‘What?’ Dane snarls. ‘Where are Soreno and Tori?’
