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She screamed and tried to shake the door of the cage down. It was just tall enough for her to be able to sit up straight, he had only elongated it to allow her to lay down. He watched her for a moment and realized a good part of her rage was likely from being in the cage itself.
There were not many things the fae feared, but being caged in a small space was high on the list. Particularly, being left in one for an unknown period of time. Fae do not die easily, and their magic sustains them without food for hundreds of years. While being left in a small cage without food and water would be highly uncomfortable, it would not kill them. They would be left to madness before they finally faded away into the next life.
“I will make you a deal, my nymph,” Kes said to the female. “If you allow me to place a tracking and truth spell on you, I will let you out of the cage.” There was no way she would capitulate to both demands, but he thought he might just be able to trick her into choosing one of them – likely the tracking spell. Truth spells make fae tell the entire truth, without leaving any room for weaving their words in a way to mislead or give a nonanswer.
“You must be mad. There is no way I am agreeing to a truth spell. I may as well give you full access to stroll around inside my mind. No way. I will agree to the tracking spell for as long as I am in this realm, and if you are the only one able to access it.” She dropped her forehead to the bars of her cage as if she couldn’t believe she had agreed to that.
“Hmmm, little nymph, that was not the deal,” Kes said in an attempt to push for more.
“Fine,” she sighed as the fire in her flickered out completely.
For some reason the idea of her fire going out caused an ache in his chest. He didn’t like it. Just like he could not tackle her the way he would’ve any other Day Court fae he might’ve found running through the woods during the Night Court’s hunt. It appeared Ciaran was not the only one with new feelings.
What Kes couldn’t understand was what was causing him to react to her in such a way. It wasn’t natural, it was almost as if something else was in control entirely. Just like his nymph, he didn’t like not being in control of himself.
Anin could not believe her misfortune, even if it wasn’t the worst thing that could’ve happened. She had been sure the hardest part of the night would be sneaking into the Night Court and across the veil. She had felt elated once she had finally made her way to the other side. It had taken nearly her entire well of power to make it, but she had made it to the Human Realm, and all she had to do was get far enough away. Or so she had thought.
She had been running along the human forest knowing some being was on her trail. With her magic gone and not enough power left, she had no way to defend herself. Her only option had been to outrun whoever was quickly gaining distance on her. Her body had been so tired.
She still had yet to recover fully from the physical exhaustion her near escape had wrought on her. While her power was still trying to refill, there wasn’t much it could do to ease her painfully aching muscles and wings.
She finally lifted her head back up to look at the male in front of her. He was asking far too much of her, and he knew it. Sighing, she said, “I will agree to five questions. I will be truthful in my answers in their entirety with no misleading, nor will I omit anything to the best of my knowledge. Is this good enough?”
The male regarded her for a moment, then walked up to her cage causing her to flinch back. Try as hard as she might she was still fearful of being left in this cage in the Night Court.
“I agree to the deal. Five questions you must answer truthfully, with no omissions and no misleading. However, if you do not truly know the answer to the question, the question does not count.”
Damn this male. He might as well gut her and get it over with. She was feeling rather defeated and felt her whole body slump as she sighed. She had lost her fight, and she wished for nothing more than to go back home to her adoptive sisters. She missed them fiercely already.
“Fine, you get what you want. It’s not as if I have a choice. Unfortunately, I seem to be completely at your mercy, and that is the last thing I could ever possibly want.” She felt her bottom lip begin to wobble and turned her head from him to hide the slip in her control. She felt like she had been jumping into frying pan after frying pan. Occasionally she thought what was the point of this miserable existence? Then she thought of her sisters and how they would be angry with her if they knew where her mind had gone. Though now she wasn’t sure she would ever see them again anyway.
The big bird of a male fae was studying her and seemed to realize her mind had gone to a dark place. He reached a hand through the bars and turned her face back to him. She had no doubt he could see how shattered she was in that moment.
“My darling nymph, I told you I would not harm you. The tracking spell is for your protection. If you were taken I would be able to find you, or if you decided to run off I could find you before some other creature did. I promise you they would not be anywhere as kind as I have been.”
Anin thought him oddly beautiful. He was dark and menacing for sure, but something about him being different enraptured her in a way. While he was extremely birdlike, his body shape and face were that of a typical high fae male. He was obviously strong in his build, and his face was chiseled and handsome. Yet, she wondered if he was always this dense.
“There are other ways to harm, you know,” she said softly. This cage, no matter how comfortable he tried to make it, was still a cage. She needed to bathe, sleep in a real bed, and eat a meal. She had run herself to the brink, and she had yet to recover from it. He looked like he was trying to make sense of what she had said; he had a furrow between his brows that she wanted to reach out and smooth. Then, he nodded and held his hand out for her to take.
Anin paused for a long moment just staring at his hand, then she put her hand out to clasp his. She felt a strange current wrap around her middle finger leaving five black ink rings down it. The same rings were visible on the male’s middle finger, binding them to their deal. Anin swallowed hard. She had never had to make such a bargain before. She had always been able to get by on her own without them. Ever since the Day Court began their relentless hunt for her, Anin had been doing all kinds of things she had never had to do before. She realized she didn’t even know his name, and he didn’t know hers, yet they made such a bargain.
“I’m going to place the tracking spell now, and then we have a date,” he said, as if it were the most casual thing.
She watched him as he murmured under his breath what she was assuming was the tracking spell she had agreed to. She had never seen a being like him before. She realized his dark hair was not hair at all, but feathers where hair would be. They matched his jet black feathered wings. His red eyes should be unsettling, though she found them captivating.
What was wrong with her? She was romanticizing her captor. She thought being locked away in that cage with no control over her own life was causing her to truly go mad. Suddenly, she felt a burning sensation on the inside of her left wrist, and a black mark appeared in the shape of a triangle with three small dots in equal size underneath it. The tracking spell was complete.
“Ah, and now I’m off. I will see you in a few moments, my darling nymph. I do enjoy a dramatic entrance.” He smiled at her as she realized he was not letting her out of her small cage after all.
“I agreed to your terms!” she cried. “Please don’t leave me in this box any longer.” Her voice dropped into a whisper. “Please.”
His smile faltered slightly when she let some of her anguish seep through her words. He looked to be fighting some internal battle with himself before he hardened his features, and Anin knew he was not going to let her out. She had given much away and got nothing in return.
“You should have specifiedwhenI would let you out.” He winked at her, and she screamed furiously as he disappeared again. Anin could not help the tears that fell quietly and freely from her large black eyes. That strange pull in her chest had burned a bit as he left her still contained. She wasn’t sure she could trust that feathered fae ever again. He had broken not only the small amount of trust she had been willing to put into his hands, but he had also broken something deep within her. She curled up into her little nest and let her mind drift back into that dark space.
Eight
Etainstoodfrozenalonein the room for several minutes trying to figure out what the hell just happened. He had terrified her, yet when he put his hands on her, Etain instinctively knew he would never harm her.
