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“Rarely. ”
“You guys are old-fashioned… How about I promise you my firstborn?” Considering I couldn’t have children once my abilities were restored, this seemed like a safe thing to offer.
“An interesting offer, but we both know your womb is no good. ”
It made me sick to my stomach that he knew that without my telling him. “If not that, you must have something else in mind. ”
“Yes, something very simple. ”
I doubted that. “Let’s hear it. ”
“When I agree to your terms…I want you to say, Thank you, Aubrey. ”
I froze, unable to move or breathe. When I was finally able to form words, I whispered, “You want me to be in your debt. ”
“For whatever and whenever I see fit to ask for, yes. ”
I wanted to say no. Desperately I wanted to scream at him, to smash all the mirrors and say no. But I had to be realistic. If I didn’t give in to his request, I would be dead soon anyway. What good would it do me now to worry about what might happen at some distant point in the future. I might never have to make good on this hypothetical favor. Aubrey would live thousands of years longer than me, and time was different for the fae. A few weeks for him would be years and years for me. I might be good and dead before he thought to call on me for his request.
That didn’t mean I had to like it.
“There’s nothing else you’d consider?”
“No. I want your gratitude. ”
“And if I say thank you, you’ll give me the fae and restore my powers to me immediately?”
“By the time you leave this room everything will be set right. ”
I was one hundred percent sure I would live to regret this. “Okay. I agree. ” I took a deep breath. “Thank you, Aubrey. ”
His smile was self-satisfied and ghastly. I knew this decision was going to haunt me. The fairy king was going to be a shadow of uncertainty that followed me around for the rest of my days.
“One more thing, Miss McQueen. ”
“Yes?”
“This is going to hurt. Fantastically. ”
“I don’t—”
I was flattened to the floor, my cheek pressed against the cold glass of the mirror. All I could see was the white of my own eye and my breath fogging my view of the room. Black fog swirled around me, dampening sound and grasping at my limbs with icy-cold fingers that couldn’t find a hold. Those fingers raked nails over my flesh, and I understood what Aubrey’s warning meant.
The fog hands swept back and forth over me while a fist of it parted my lips and clawed down my throat, shredding my esophagus and stealing my ability to breathe. Everywhere I was touched my skin split and shredded, leaving me torn and exposed, every inch of my body became one raw nerve. The fog moving over me was agony. I cried when I couldn’t scream, but my skin shrieked in protest from the salt poured over a fresh wound. I opened my mouth and tried to let the pain out, but I choked on the oppressive strength of the hand in my throat.
The instant I knew the torment was too much and my human body was about to shut down, my senses dulled. The white-noise feeling I recognized as vampire healing settled over me, and the black fog vanished, leaving me cold and broken but able to breathe.
I lay in a sticky puddle of my own blood and slowly, horribly, my skin began to knit itself back together.
I wanted to be angry at the violation, but I couldn’t feel anything other than relief. I was myself again, and that had been what I’d come for. “Thank you,” I whispered. “Thank you. ”
Chapter Fifty-Four
My apartment felt cold.
Not in the way I’d become accustomed to with human senses, but in a completely psychological way. Only a month earlier I’d sat in my living room with Kellen and Brigit while they coaxed me through my heartbreak over Lucas leaving me at the altar. Now the room was empty, and neither of them would ever sit here with me again.
Only hours after my encounter with the fairy king, I sat on the loveseat and breathed in the smell of the room, with my senses newly restored. It smelled right, but I didn’t feel any better.
