AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Sorry to disturb,” she says, “we’re just here to pick Sindri up.”
Ophelia waves a hand. “Hurry up, Zoey. Just for the night, mind you. I can’t spare him longer.”
Zoey shrugs. “It should be okay.”
“Pick him up?” Ashton says. “For what?”
“Oh,” Zoey says, “I promised him to Maere for the night. It’s the fae girl who put the tattoo on she-who-won’t-be-named.”
Ashton takes a step toward her. “What do you mean? Has he agreed?”
I have a flash of Sindri’s eyes, his pale face, the bruises and burns on his chest, and something tells me to get up, to protest like Ashton is doing. But it doesn’t matter. Nothing does. Ophelia said I should sit, so I sit, my hands gripping the edge of the mattress as the girls wrap tape around Sindri’s hands, binding them together in front of him. He’s not fighting, either, his eyes glassy.
“What are you doing?” someone shouts from the door—a mild jab of annoyance makes it through the numbness as yet more people enter my room—and another dark-haired girl walks in, almost a mirror image of Ophelia. “Let him go!”
Ophelia turns toward her, brows arching. “You again. You really want to do this, Mia? You still haven’t learned?”
Mia… I think, that name again, this girl…
“You can’t just take him like he’s chattel to pay off your debts,” Mia says, hands fisted at her sides. “He’s a person. He has rights.”
“And here you are, the moment I touch him. Still connected to them, are you? Despite the enchantment, despite all I’ve put into it.” Ophelia’s smile sharpens. “Or were you lurking? Admit it, cousin, you’re stalking them. Can’t bear the thought that I one-upped you.”
“Let him go!” Mia shoves her way through the girls and starts tugging on the tape around Sindri’s wrists. “This is crazy. You can’t.”
“I told you what would happen if you interfered,” Ophelia says silkily and lifts a hand. “Is this what you want?”
When the pain hits me, it jerks me so badly I find myself on the floor, curled on my side, wordlessly yelling.
“No, stop that!” Mia cries out, her voice shaking. “Ask a favor of me, any favor. Spare him. Spare them, Ophelia. I beg you.”
“You beg.” She grins and it’s almost as if I’m seeing the skull underneath. I blink, my eyes blurry with tears as the pain rages inside me, burning like a wildfire. “That’s interesting. You’d offer me a favor to spare the fae princeling one night with Maere?”
“Yes! Let him be. Ask what you want of me.”
“But it’s Maere.” Zoey’s glance darts between them. “She’s the one owed a favor and she wants—”
“Yes, interesting.” Ignoring Zoey’s protests, Ophelia snaps her fingers. The tape falls off Sindri’s wrists, and at the same time the pain in my bones fades to a dull roar. “Remember that this is a law, Maddie, more so among magical users. You owe me a favor I can call upon at any time. Any favor that doesn’t imply your death,” she recites the rules, “or killing someone else. Deal?”
“Deal,” Mia whispers and just stares at us, face white and mouth set.
What has she done?
