AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ornan’s eyes glinted.
“Can you change the future?” I hated the desperation in my voice.
“Interesting question.” A hunger slid over his face. “While the power of the bargain can change conditions in the present, the future, I’m afraid to say, is out of my direct ability to influence.”
Damn. Getting out of my predicament wasn’t going to be straightforward. But there still might be a way.Test it, I thought.Start with something simple. Something harmless.
I held up the first token. “I want to make a wish.”
“Already?” He took a slow, predatory step toward me, sharp teeth flashing. My back hit the door to the throne room as the space between us narrowed. “I like a woman who knows what she wants.”
“Why is Dagda’s power so weak?” Harmless, but also something both Dagda and Roisin had refused to explain to me.
His shoulders drooped. “That is it? You ask of me something that is common knowledge? Perhaps you are not as clever as I thought.” A sigh seeped out of him, and he touched the token in between my fingers. It disappeared in a flash of light. “I accept.”
“Shouldn’t I know what you want from me before I agree to the bargain?”
“That is not how this works. Now, shut your mouth, and let me answer your poorly thought out question.” His claws slid through his silken black hair. “The day your previous incarnation left the Otherworld twenty-one years ago devastated the king of the faeries. The poor, heartsick king threatened the Chimera with destruction if he didn’t agree to open the portal and allow him to pass into the human realm after you. When the Chimera refused, Dagda backed off, fearing that destroying the Chimera may shatter the portal altogether. You had abandoned him. Dagda believed his son, Lugh, had been killed when the prince gave himself up to the Chimera to open the portal in the first place. So the woe begotten king clung to the only family he had left.”
“Niamh,” I whispered.
“Yes. The despairing Dagda turned the court and the duties of rule over to the princess. She spent the next eighteen years bending the faerie court to her will, infiltrating it with her own Fomori followers and removing or eliminating those who stood against her.”
I slid a hand over my mouth. Oh, my god. All those people I’d smiled and talked to today. The pretend friendliness and the simpering graciousness that didn’t quite reach their eyes.
“You understand, correct.” Ornan motioned toward the throne room. “Those faeries in there. Many, if not most, belonged to the organization that wanted you dead and sought the Otherworld’s destruction. Some, I’m sure, still want that.”
Faeries created the Otherworld by sacrificing their power. The Fomori believed it was a mistake and wanted their powers back. They hoped to reunite the human and magic realms.
“When Niamh was exposed as Fomori after the battle three years ago, didn’t Dagda try to find her followers to root them out?” I asked.
“Oh, he tried. But every one of them denied being involved.”
“Niamh had liar’s brew.” The potion that allowed faeries to lie for a time. The same potion that had been used against me and Mina—and had almost gotten me killed. “She probably gave some to her supporters on the court.”
“Which brings us to the events right before the battle itself three years ago. The state of Dagda’s own kingdom had gotten so far away from him, and the Fomori’s power had grown so obvious, that the elves were determined to stop the destruction of the Otherworld at any cost. Their princess, Layoin, instigated a coup against the faerie king in an attempt to set up a puppet monarchy. Faerie soldiers allied with her broke in and knocked the king out with Rowan smoke. Luckily for Dagda, the castle’s royal guard were able to rescue their unconscious king.”
He paced back and forth, his tone casual, almost like he was having a conversation with himself, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he just liked the sound of his own voice.
“It so happens,” he continued, “that amid this thwarted coup, the Fomori attacked with their forces. And so, when the Otherworld needed the defense and command of the great king of the faeries, he spent it sleeping soundly and securely on the throne room’s floor.”
Oh, Dagda. Faeries were all about displays of power and strong leadership. Even with no political context, even with being ridiculously new to the faerie realm, that sounded bad.
“As for the court. Dagda did return some of those Niamh had removed into their former positions,” he said. “However, ever since then, and after Dagda’s failed attempt to ferret out those allied with the Fomori, the battle has been unspokenly agreed upon to not be brought up, though tensions simmer beneath the surface.”
It made sense. Those taken off and returned to the court would be angry and suspicious. Those Niamh placed on the court were probably too eager to prove their loyalty. All would be sensitive to any accusations relating to the Fomori—most likely to the point of war at the mere mention of it.
“And the elves?” I asked.
“All are angry with the elves, including your dear king. He has forever banned the elven princess from setting foot on faerie lands at the forfeiture of her life. Her father, however, is the emissary to the faerie court, chosen by the High Nine, and there is nothing Dagda can do about that. He must allow the elven king into his court on certain occasions. And those occasions tend to become… strained.”
“Sounds like a hot mess.”
“A hot mess?” He chuckled. “I suppose so. Now it is your turn. I have given you a rather detailed answer, and so I demand my recompense.”
A dryness coated my tongue. I lifted my chin. “And what will that be?”
He leaned in close, his warm breath blasting against my skin. The black soulless eyes flashed with a cold craving as they dropped to my mouth and his tongue again grazed his own lips.
