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Tell me what you need, beautiful thief.”
“Abriella Kincaid, come with us. King Mordeus awaits your arrival.”
“Abriella, the Fire Girl,” the king says, his calculating eyes roaming over me possessively. “No one told me how pretty the human thief is.”
For a beat, darkness floods the room, so thick that nothing is visible in any direction. I gasp, and it’s gone.
“They said no human could move through the Golden Palace undetected. But I knew. You’re special.”
“You will need to win the young prince’s heart and his trust to gain access to the magical artifacts that have been stolen from my court—you must bring all three to me if you want your sister to return home.”
“You need to understand that nothing in my realm is a coincidence, human. If you present yourself to the prince, he will do everything in his power to keep you close. He will give you the access you need.”
Does the shadow court use light to torture their prisoners?
“The cruel king waits for the day the princess of shadows will come to his castle.” I’d forgotten this tale—one our mother told us only once, the night before she left for Faerie. “The false king knew she could command the shadows, but he didn’t know that her big heart and her endless love would cost him his throne.”
“The prince will help you find me.”
“He won’t let you go—he won’t release either of you—until you agree. I’ll help you get her back. Come find me.” “You’re Unseelie. Why would I want your help? You’re probably working for him.” His eyes flash. “Never. I swear it on my magic.”
“If I return the artifacts to the Unseelie Court, you will return my sister safely to a location of my choice in the human realm.” It’s not a question. These are my terms.
If you tell anyone from the Seelie Court about this arrangement, our bargain is over and I’ll give your sister to my goblins as a solstice gift. Do you understand?”
“When you meet Prince Ronan, remember that you need him. Hold his trust, or you will be unable to infiltrate his court.”
Not only can goblins move freely between and within realms, they can do so instantaneously. They choose to go somewhere, and they simply appear there. Next to the knowledge they hoard, it’s their greatest power.
I’m supposed to seduce a prince, and my wild red curls are the best physical attribute I have on my side.
But then I take in his pointed ears, glowing skin, and the sharper angles of his features. He looks every bit like the noble fae I saw dancing inside the queen’s castle last night.
“Nothing matters as much as you.”
When I’d leave you to go home, my best friend would mock me for staring at them. He knew they reminded me of your hair, but in truth they don’t compare.”
How can I make another man fall in love with me when I have always been in love with this man?
But Prince Ronan isn’t just a faerie. He’s Sebastian, and I don’t know how I’m supposed to pretend I can forgive him—pretend I want to marry him.
Somehow, King Mordeus knows about my relationship with Sebastian, and he’s using me because of it.
I will give up anything to save Jas. My pride. My heart. My life.
She now has silver webbing tattooed across her forehead. It resembles the cracks of a broken mirror.
How do these shadow fae know so much about me?
You are a human who can wield darkness. You can become shadow and walk through walls—without spells or potions, without ritual. The magic is part of you, and the only way that’s possible is if a faerie granted it to you.”
Bakken told me that Prince Finnian was the rightful heir to the Throne of Shadows—this is that Finn? “You’re the prince.”
It’s not all shadow fae who have those silver eyes. Only the royal family.
I’m here temporarily, and”—he smirks—“covertly. I prefer the Wild Fae Lands to the golden queen’s territory, but there are matters here that require my attention.”
“I want to teach you how to use your gifts to protect yourself in this land. I want to help you.”
“I want to help you because it helps my court. Every member of my court is weaker as long as our magical artifacts are missing. As long as the golden queen . . .” His nostrils flare, and he takes several shallow breaths, as if suffering some sudden, invisible pain. “They are vulnerable as long as the power of the courts is out of balance.”
I don’t even know how or if it would work between humans, but I bite back the denial. I know just enough about faerie bonds to know that there’s some level of protection involved.
I am so unequipped to take on this vicious world.
No matter how much his deception hurts, this is still Sebastian.
“Good,” Sebastian murmurs. “Good girl.”
I spy my mother looking both relieved and wretched. As if she’d sold a part of herself.
I want to hate him like this—his true self—but despite everything, I still find Sebastian as alluring as I did that first day I saw him training in the courtyard.
“I know you don’t like who I am, but it doesn’t change how I feel about you.”
“I won’t abandon her.” “I’m not asking you to. I’m asking you to allow me to find her.”
“This is a big place, and I won’t get in the way. Can’t you find a little room for me? Isn’t there some way I’d be allowed to stay?” I can practically see him thinking it through. I hold my breath.
If I stay, if I do this, I’m not just deceiving some random prince. I’ll be deceiving my friend. I have reasons for my lies, but he had reasons for his too, and it didn’t make it hurt any less when I found out the truth.
If you’ll promise not to search for Jas—to leave that to me—I’ll keep you here as long as I possibly can.”
“Of course. The prince told us that you prefer coffee,” Tess says. She bites back a smile, and she and Emmaline exchange a meaningful look. “And day lilies.” “We asked around,” Emmaline says, leaning in conspiratorially. “He didn’t request flowers to be brought to any of the other girls.” “Or assign any of them their own rooms yet,” Tess adds, winking at me.
In truth, I expected the human slaves in Faerie to be drugged or mindless and treated like disposable tools, but if the twins are representative of life for humans here, my assumptions were completely off base.
“Keep our history a secret. I don’t want my mother knowing that we met before today. It would . . . skew her judgment of you.”
I like my scar. It’s a reminder of who I am, where I came from, and what I will sacrifice for the people I love. It represents the only truly good things about me.
How can feeling unworthy of a position I never wanted make me feel so small?
I’ve spent all my time going unnoticed, being unremarkable, and I’m surprised to find that there’s some part of me that likes having them coo over the blazing red of my hair and the hazel eyes I’ve always found too plain.
“Now he’s suddenly very interested in the process. So interested it seems he’s already decided. Make sure Abriella has coffee. Please prepare dresses for Abriella. Could you put a bouquet of day lilies on her breakfast tray?” “And of course he also gave you the nicest guest quarters,” Tess adds. “And the sweetest maids, it seems,” I say softly.
Starting now, I will use every tool at my disposal to get Mordeus his relics and free Jas. Even these human servants’ kindness. Even Sebastian’s blind trust.
