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Neither of us moved. It was likely that she would run straight to the palace to inform her queen that I was lurking on the edge of unseelie land unless I stopped her, but… gods, I didn’t want to kill indiscriminately anymore. I was so tired of it. I was so, so tired of being stuck in a place where death was often the answer for me to succeed or even just survive. I was so tired of being forced to play god at the whims of others. My mother. The Higher Spirits.
“Are you going to kill me?” the fae asked bluntly.
I was still rigid with tension, poised and ready to strike at her, and I didn’t relax even as I said, “I’d rather not.”
She gave a single curt nod and reached into her basket, pulling out a handful of blackberries. When she offered them to me, I stared at them in disbelief before finally shaking my head.
She popped several into her mouth and eyed me as she chewed. “You look like shit, Prince Lonan.”
My nostrils flared with outraged offence. “Watch your mouth.”
“The sole of your boot is barely hanging on by a thread.” She nodded at my ruined boot. “And there are twigs in your hair. You look like you’ve been drinking only wine and no water for weeks. Do you have a sore head? Or are you still drunk?”
“I am not fucking dru—” I stopped myself and narrowed my eyes at her. “Why aren’t you scared of me?”
“I am scared of you. I’d be a fool not to be. But if you’re going to kill me, you’re going to kill me regardless of how I speak to you.” She drew herself up taller, glaring at me defiantly. “I’m no fool, but I am also not a coward. I’ll speak to you how I wish, prince or not. Your station doesn’t make you better than me.”
My mouth almost twitched into a smile. She reminded me of Sanya.
“Trust me, I do not think I’m better than you,” I told her bluntly, then eyed her curiously. “Who are you?”
“Idony.”
“Idony…” Suddenly, it clicked into place. I tensed, gripping my sword tighter. “You are friends with the gancanagh.”
Her blackberry-stained mouth twisted into a sour expression. “I was.”
I frowned. “Why no longer?”
“Because he is a selfish fool who likes to play vile games,” she spat with surprising vehemence. “He played them with the mortal, and he played them with Belial—”
“What game was he playing with Ash?” I cut in sharply. I’d never trusted that gancanagh, and I had despised him for his interest in Ash, but I’d never been able to tell if he was actually scheming or just being a lecherous prick.
Idony rolled her eyes. “He’s a gancanagh. What do you think? He made a bet with the reynards when the mortal first arrived, saying he’d be able to bed him within a week. When he failed, he convinced them to change the terms of the bet, said he’d be able to convince the mortal to bed all of them. But he kept on failing. He owes them a large sum of gold now.”
My teeth clenched, growing sharp and cutting into my gums. Ash had been a bet to him? That prick, Caom, had only befriended him to win coin from a pack of reynards?
“And before you cut my head off, I didn’t know about it at the time,” Idony added, her tone pointed. “I didn’t much care for the mortal, but I don’t wish ill on him or any others. When I saw that Caom was trying so hard to bed him, I tried to talk him out of it. I tried to tell him it wasn’t fair to play games with the wretched creature stuck in that sad little cottage all alone.”
“Ash is not a wretched creature,” I bit out.
“Ah yes, that’s right, isn’t it?” Her lips tilted into a sly smile. “You left to be with him. You’ve been living with him on seelie. He’s their king now, isn’t he? The Carlin tried to suppress the rumours, but many of us saw him walk into the palace that day, full seelie fae and unaffected by her shriek, before leaving again cradling an injured bird. Was that you?”
“None of your fucking business,” I snarled.
Unfazed, she bit down on another blackberry, leaving dark smears on her teeth. “Why are you back?”
I watched her carefully. “Who says I am back? Perhaps I just wanted to look at unseelie from the forest.”
“You must know your mother is looking for you. You must have seen all the guards scouring the forest on your way here.” She shrugged her narrow shoulders. “Seems like a foolish journey to make just to take a quick peek at a field and an old cottage from the trees if you don’t want her to find you. So that means you’ve come back for a reason.”
“Are you always so nosy?” I snapped.
“I’m just intrigued,” she answered demurely. “It’s all very interesting. It seems since the moment you left, the palace has been in utter chaos.”
“What do you mean?” I asked sharply.
She gave me a flat look. “Why should I tell you anything?”
