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I couldn't believe this. "Oh, Mirri. It must have been terrifying."
He nodded. "It was. Even though I was a fully grown adult, I knew they could whisk me away as easily as any child. Kidnap me and force the matter, if they wanted. But even then,” he met my eyes. “I tried to stand up to them. I told them they were mad and I’d never go along with their plans.” He paused, looking down at his hands. “And that’s when they threatened the others. They said Bach and Adder, maybe even Fife, might suffer and ‘accident’ if I kept being stubborn.”
He met my eyes again then, his own golden gaze pleading. “They could’ve made it happen. They're…I know my parents seem ridiculous and obvious. Almost harmless, right? Because they just seem far too stupid to actually pull anything off." He shook his head, his tone of voice begging me to understand. And I had to wonder just how many times someone had dismissed his worries over the years. "That's just another layer of their scheming," he said fiercely. "They like to be underestimated. They might be ridiculous, but that doesn't make them any less dangerous. And…they know people. They have contacts from before they became nobles. Many of them criminals. If my parents want something to happen, it happens. And usually no one is the wiser."
He let out a bitter laugh. "I tried a few times, when I was younger, to expose them for what they are. To make the other adults around me understand what kinds of underhanded things my parents got up to. But no one believed me. My parents would just laugh it off and keep right on being underhanded, because who would believe those two dolts could be capable of anything truly evil? Then they'd beat me or starve me as punishment. I finally just…accepted that it was futile to speak out against them while I still lived under their roof."
I threw myself at him, unable to hold back any longer. My arms wrapped around his solid waist under the bottom butterfly-like panes of his beautiful wings, and I squeezed as hard as I could while his arms came around my back. I didn't need to voice my horror and fury; I was sure Mirri could feel it simmering in the air.
"I know," he whispered, stroking a hand over my back. "I know. But that's just how things were. So, when I found out what they were planning, I knew living on my own and staying away from them wouldn't keep me safe anymore. I knew that going to the authorities would do nothing. There was no proof of anything. There never is with my parents. Eventually, I told Bach and the others, because I was terrified that they would be harmed. They wanted to get Fife’s mother involved, but there was nothing she could prove, no tangible charge to bring to the authorities. They helped me try to find some sort of evidence of my parents' plans. But there was nothing. No paper trail. No other witnesses. It would just be dismissed as the word of a disappointing son who had lost his parent's favor and was spinning crazy stories."
“So you all decided to run away to Trollheim,” I said softly. “It was more than just saving you from an unsavory arranged bonding. You were all trying to save each other’s lives.”
He sighed and pulled back to look down at me, thumbing an angry tear from my cheek. A tremulous smile flitted across his lips as he attempted to comfort me. "I’m pretty sure they won't do anything to me now," he soothed. "That’s why we entered the tournament, after all. They might be above the law most of the time, but if I disappeared now, that might warrant a royal investigation, and while they might get around the local authorities back home, there’s no way they'd be able to evade the royal inquisitors. And besides, I’ve gone and made myself a better match than some lowborn fae dealer. I have all the wealth and connections of a duke and a steward. They have far more to gain by clinging to me and my new position than selling me off. I'm safe here," he said firmly, as if to convince himself just as much as to convince me. "We all are. Because of you. Because of who you are. But it's just that the old worries have a way of creeping up on me and getting the best of me lately. It will be okay. I'm not a helpless child anymore. And I'm not alone. None of us are."
I stepped back slightly and glared. "It's not okay. We have to do something about them. If not for your sake, then for the sake of everyone else they may have wronged. And…the king and queen need to know about the fae trafficker. That kind of offense is considered treason against our people! We can't just let this slide. Your parents' part in it is bad enough, but purchasing a person is just as serious." If the human kingdom where the criminals took refuge didn't immediately assist in the capture and eliminate the perpetrators, it would be considered an act of war against Elfhaven. There had been precedent in the past.
Mirri let out a heavy sigh, but eventually, he nodded. "You're right. I can't just hide here and hope it all goes away. But I won't have you publicly involved in a scandal, either." He gave me a serious look. "If my parents are caught and outed as the terrible people they are, then everyone will gossip about how one of your mates comes from a family of criminals and traitors." His sad gold eyes stared into mine as he pleaded. "Please wait. They will leave soon. And once Larkwood is stable and flourishing—once our year is up—you can dissolve our bond and be rid of me. Then any taint associated with my family name will be less detrimental to your reputation."
That stupid one-year clause again. I regretted ever adding it. But I couldn't force Mirri to stay if he truly didn't want to. "We'll talk about it when the year is up," I finally conceded. "But if they anger me enough between now and then, I can't make any promises."
Chapter 16
Mirri and I worked in companionable silence for a while after that. My mind was still reeling with the knowledge that my mate's parents had tried to sell him. The human practice of obtaining fae—who still seemed strange and wondrous in some of the more far-flung human continents—had largely been eliminated through treaties and better understanding between our people. But it seemed it still happened from time to time. That wasn't exactly surprising. After all, anytime something was made illegal, there would be people who tried to turn it into a lucrative endeavor. There were probably places where you could buy humans, too. Though I would wager everything I owned that you wouldn't find such a place in Elfhaven. Our monarchs could be brutal when they were on a quest for justice.
What was more shocking to me was that a fae would sell their fellow species. It was a deep betrayal on so many levels. But Mirri had said the trader was a lowborn, and despite Elfhaven’s recent move toward inclusivity and equality, some lowborns still loathed their highborn brethren for all the advantages that came with their high fae blood.
I was so distracted that I hardly noticed the occasional stable hand who came and went as we worked our way from one box stall to the next, only nodding a greeting now and then, my mind still on my work and on my bonded's atrocious parents. I was working on an occupied stall, cleaning around an older hippogriff with a calm demeanor, when a man appeared at the doorway.
"Oh, did you need something?" I said as I was pulled from my thoughts. I tossed my current pitchfork load of straw and dung into the wheelbarrow and turned to find the male patting the griffin's shoulder.
It was only then I noticed he wore a hood, despite the warm day. His features had the sharp beauty of most highborn fae, but his ears were covered, making it hard to tell for certain. Brown eyes met mine for an instant before a flare of magic flashed from his hand, where it rested against the docile, trusting hippogriff.
I dropped my pitchfork and started to move, but I was too slow. The griff let out an ear-splitting shriek and threw out its wings, banging them into the walls of the stall, blocking my escape. I murmured one of the few bits of magic I could perform—a minor calming charm that worked on small children and animals. But whatever the man had done to the griff had it so enraged that my insignificant magic didn't affect it at all.
"Kat?" Mirri's voice was full of concern at the sounds the hippogriff was making.
"Mirri!" I shouted. "Watch out. The stable hand is up to something!"
It was the only explanation I could get out before I was attacked by an enraged predator. The griff swung its eagle head my way, and its yellow eyes glowed with an unnatural light—probably thanks to whatever spell had been cast on it to make it lose its mind. It snapped its sharp beak at me. I held up my hands in a placating gesture as I sidled away from the beast. "Shhh," I soothed. "It's okay, boy. I'm no threat to you. I'll just—"
I dodged a kick from its powerful hind legs, ducking into a roll and coming up on the other side of the now cramped stall. But there was nowhere to go. As I rolled back up to my feet, the griff struck out again with its hind hooves. It hit me in the back with killing force, flinging me face-first into the wall behind it. I screamed at the initial impact, but my shriek was cut off by a groan as I hit the wall and all the air was knocked out of me for the second time in rapid succession.
I planted my hands on the wooden planks of the wall and panted, waiting for the pain to come. A person didn't survive a kick from a hippogriff. But as I stood there, waiting to die, all I felt was…moderately bruised. I shoved off the wall and slid to the side, shoving myself into a corner.
Only then did I register the grunts and shouts coming from outside the stall. The hippogriff shook its head like it was trying to shake off the confusion of whatever spell the fake stable hand had cast. I took advantage of the creature's moment of distraction to dart around it and to the door of the stall.
The wooden door was stuck, probably barricaded from the outside. The top of the door came up to my chin, high enough that I couldn't easily leap over it. I swore as the hippogriff chittered at me in warning. I didn't know how I had survived a kick from the creature, but I was pretty sure I wasn't going to survive that beak. My heart was in my throat as I scrambled up into the nearly full wheelbarrow and clambered my way over the top of the door to fling myself onto the floor outside the stall.
The walls of the box stall shook as the imprisoned hippogriff raged with hooves and wings. But the stalls were magically reinforced, and the massive beast didn't have enough room to jump over the door the way I had. I scrambled to my feet and took in the scene that greeted me.
The wide central aisle between the rows of box stalls was scattered with tools and spilled grain. A bale of straw had been torn apart, littering the stone floor. Another male lay unconscious on the floor. A quick glance at him showed me he was still breathing. And the knife that had fallen from his hand was decorated with the royal crest.
I didn't have time to figure out what that all meant, because Mirri was currently grappling with the man who had enraged the hippogriff and almost gotten me killed. The male's hood fell back, revealing pointed ears and unmistakably highborn features, but he was no one I recognized. He snarled at Mirri and got the upper hand for a moment, driving a knee into my mate's gut and pushing him back.
"Freak," the highborn growled, darting in and grabbing onto one of Mirri's iridescent wings.
I lurched forward with a yell, but there was nothing I could do to prevent the man from yanking viciously at the upper, dragon fly shaped portion of Mirri's wing, folding it in half in a way that would snap the upper branches of the delicate appendage. I knew from growing up with a winged best friend that a broken arch or main branch was incredibly painful. Mirri hissed in surprise, but didn't pause, driving his fist into the other male's face.
