Fortuna Sworn

by K.J. Sutton

Fallen. I hadn’t had to use that term in ages. Every species—faeries, werewolves, shapeshifters, nymphs—were descended from angels. No one knew whether it was mutation or evolution that had separated us.

“What is your name?” the stranger asked. I realized I’d been staring. His voice was crisp and unhurried, like a dead leaf falling from a tree. “Fuck,” I answered, hiding my embarrassment. “Would you like to guess my last name? I’ll give you a hint. It rhymes with ‘shoe.’”

Fortuna, never make a promise that you can’t keep. Nightmares may be lies, but we don’t have to be liars.

God, give me patience or an untraceable handgun, I thought.

“You’re a Nightmare. Your kind has been feared for so long, you’ve been hunted nearly to extinction. Your hearts are coveted like the fountain of youth. It’s been a long time since I’ve encountered power like yours, but I recognized it instantly.”

Your enemies are my enemies. My power is your power. If nothing else, let that be the reason.”

“I’m no dragon,” Collith murmured, referring to a species talked about even more than Nightmares, “but I’ll be damned again if I let my mate get killed so soon after finding her.”

“They will write songs about you, Fortuna Sworn. Oh, how they’ll laugh and sing. You’ll be a legend. The female who married the King of the Unseelie Court and didn’t even know it.”

With every lash, I lost more than skin and blood. I lost the potential to someday love my mate.

I would never love the Unseelie King. But maybe I didn’t have to hate him, either.

“If you died, Fortuna, I’d follow you into whatever afterlife there is. The rest doesn’t really matter, does it?”

“I was terrified that you, Fortuna Sworn, would forget or outgrow me,” he answered. “That someday, you wouldn’t come back. I didn’t care about fading into nothing or not existing. No, what haunted me most was the thought of losing you.”

Picture the worst possible outcome. Be cruel to yourself. Spare no pain. Do this again, and again, and again. Until one day, you find yourself immune to it, and the fear no longer controls you.”

“You shouldn’t have,” I crooned. When Collith’s brow crinkled with confusion, I gestured to his outfit. “You dressed up for my funeral. I’m so touched.”

This time, I looked at Collith without expectation. He would not help me. He would not intervene if things took a turn for the worse. He was not an ally, but the Court’s bitch.

I was fucking pissed. These creatures had broken my brother, tried to break me, and kept the Leviathan in the dark for only God knew how long. Their reign of terror had to end.

“Don’t you know what strengthens a Nightmare’s power?” Laurie crooked his finger and leaned over the fire. His breath―which somehow smelled of wildflowers and green things―warmed my neck. “Unleashed fury. Pain. The things bad dreams are made of.”

“Let this be a lesson to all of you,” I said, meeting as many gazes as I could. Damon kept crying. “If you fuck with me and mine, I will return the favor tenfold.”

“And how do I find the Seelie King?” “You could try calling for him.” She lifted one shoulder in an indifferent shrug. “His name is Laurelis.” My instincts stirred. “Laurelis…” “Yes.”