AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She hissed a laugh. “Clever boy. But no, I am not trying to trick you. In this, our morals will align. Ultimately,youwill know whether you are still worthy of life. I will merely be the hand that takes it away if you are not.”
“So… so I just have to come back in seven years and you might… kill me?”
“In exchange for my venom. Yes.” She smiled at me again. “But you must keep it to yourself, boy. No one can know you will return here.”
My head was starting to hurt. “Why?”
“Because that is part of our deal. Your king will worry greatly for you when you vanish. If you are gone for too long, he will start wars over it. But he cannot know.”
“I can’t even tell Nua?”
“I didn’t mean Nua.”
I stared at her, starting to get angry. “…What?”
She hissed another laugh. “It will make sense soon. Sooner than you think.”
The anger grew. She was playing with me. She was like all the other weird, otherworldly creatures I’d met, who all seemed to know far more than I did but picked and chose what information to share with absolutely no context.
Fucking fae.
“Okay, so.” I wanted to get this over with. “You give me your venom, and in exchange I come back in seven years—telling no one what I’m doing—for you to… judge my actions.”
“Yes.”
I was pretty sure there was some loophole I was missing. Some weird trick to this. But there was no other way for me to get her venom. I knew I wouldn’t be able to kill her, and I didn’t want to.
“And that’s really all you want?” I asked. “For me to come back in seven years?”
“Yes.”
I stared at her hard. She gazed back impassively, tongue flickering.
“Fine,” I got out eventually, fear making me go hot and cold all over. “Deal.”
Her giant head dipped in a nod. “You have something to store my venom?”
“Yes.” I fumbled with my bag, pulling out the little glass jar I’d brought.
“Set it down and step back.”
I did as she asked, nervously stepping back closer to the forest after taking the lid off the jar and setting it on the ground. I watched in horror as Gadleg’s jaw stretched open impossibly wide. A fat bead of deep green venom dangled from the tip of one fang, and she carefully lowered her head to let it drop into the jar.
“That will be enough,” she said, moving back and watching me as I darted forward to put the lid on and place the jar back in my satchel.
“I appreciate it.”
She hissed. “It’s not a favour. We have a deal. And I will see you in seven years.”
I nodded and glanced back nervously at the forest. “Do you… Do you know if I’ll be able to get back across the fingerstones?”
“That is your only way back.”
I went stiff with fear, but nodded again.
“I watched you make your way here.” Her mouth stretched into a wide grin. “You’ll just have to be more careful this time.”
“Yeah,” I croaked, glancing nervously up at the sky. The sun was low now. It had taken me hours to cross them before, which meant it would probably get dark before I got back to the mainland. The thought of crossing those giant fingertips in the dark was utterly terrifying.
