Chapter 7

I exhaled a heavy sigh, clouding the cool morning air with hazy breath. "I have no plan, Sylos, but I will be fine. You've little reason to worry. I should think you'd know that about me by now. I can take care of myself."

This tired me, the endless discussions of Lorelei. They brought to mind the searing pain that ripped through my chest when I watched her go to him. What was it about him that he could not find a girl of his own? I bristled inwardly, before forcing the matter from my thoughts. Curse Sylos for bringing her up at all, when all I wanted to do was forget. Forget the passion behind her kiss. Forget the melody of her laugh. Forget the silky touch of her hair. Forget the whole cursed mess.

I set a pot of water on the fire to boil, then snatched the bottle of ale from his hands. "This stuff will kill you. It's barely dawn. Drink some java instead of that tripe."

Sylos flashed a grin, his head nodding. "Oh, I know much about you, old friend, and I know this. Never in all my years of knowing you have I ever seen you give up so much for one you refuse to hold on to. It's almost hypnotic to watch the cataclysmic impact of your actions where this girl is concerned."

I dragged a hand through my hair. "If you refuse to discuss anything other than the girl, you can leave. Now."

"Calm yourself. I came to offer aid." He held up his hands. "The girl's father sent word. He would have you return to him in the Shadow Court. He offers you refuge and protection if you will assist in finding his daughter and bringing her home to him. Naturally, I assumed finding you meant finding her."

I massaged my temples. I wondered if he knew how closely he was treading to the end of his life.

Sylos lowered his voice, his face shifting to one of earnest gravity. "Your mother is not the only one seeking the girl. The whole of the Mythlandrian Guard seeks Prince Adrius, upon the Elf King's orders."

"I know," I said, stirring the pot and adding beans. "But they are far from reach. By now they'll have settled back in her world." I knew this, and yet, something prickled inside me, like a warning.

Sylos pulled out a stool and sat, leaning his elbows against the table. "Apparently my friend, they have not. The veil was sealed before the Wizard could get them through. It is rumored that the only point of access between our world and the human world is now a small tear in the veil, but no one knows where it lies," he said. "The Elven Guard are closing in, unbeknownst to the Elf. If she is on the run with him, she will not make it far without aid. I needn’t remind you, King Etienne's reach is far, and his taste for revenge insatiable." Then he chuckled lightly, pointing at me. "Much like your mother's."

Sylos rose and stepped forward calmly. "If you do not find them, someone else will. And I do not need to tell you what will become of them." He made a slashing motion across his throat.

"Amadán damnú-aíer," I swore, pounding a fist against the table, and splintering off a chunk. "Again I am called upon to save that damn Elf Prince from his fate?"

Flakes of snow fell, twisting in the air in a chaotic panic before landing silently at our feet. My nostrils flared with the scent of cold and rage. How could he have not gotten her out of our realm in time? How could he have failed her again?

Adrius might have been a friend once, but that was a very long time ago. Too much had passed between us to ever return to that state again. I had no interest in it. Why would I, when most of my time was spent wishing there was a way to be rid of him permanently?

The situation between he and I and Venus—then named Isobel—would never be erased from either of our memories. We had nearly killed one another over her, and instead had killed her in the process. It was an act I regretted deeply to this day. As nasty as Venus was, I knew that much of her unsavory nature was not her fault. She was never perfect, and pitting us against one another was more of a game to her, but at most she was spoiled and a little self-indulgent. Weren't we all? She was never cruel or malicious. That was my fault entirely. Resurrecting her from the dead had not led to the return of the girl I'd fallen for. It had unleashed a monster—the being her mother Octăhvia wanted her to be. Bringing Venus back to life was my mistake and would forever rest upon my shoulders. Killing her in the first place—that mistake rested solely upon the shoulders of Adrius.

"Mate, no one said you needed to save Prince Adrius. He has an army and his own warm and fuzzy fatherly king to hunt him down. It’s just the girl we need."

"I wish it were that simple," I said, washing my hands over my face. It wasn't. Saving Lorelei automatically meant saving Adrius as well, for her sake. The pain of seeing him executed would kill her right alongside him, and saving her would all have been for nothing.

I exhaled a long, frustrated sigh and repeated the words in my head. For. Her. I would do it for her sake. Adrius could not keep her safe—he never could. It was why both fate and her father knew that task should fall to me. There may be certain external forces he could hide her from, but only I could protect her from herself.

Every muscle in my body was tense with emotion. I rose, shoving aside the fractured table. "Then it's decided. We mustn't keep good King Oberon waiting. Let's go find his daughter."

It took no time to collect my meager belongings strewn about the hovel. Sword. Scabbard. Mantle. And the only object I had to remember her by—the Inner Eye gemstone she'd lost during that fateful night.

Cold breath poured from my lips as I blew to extinguish the flames. They flickered in brief protest before the flame sizzled under a thick layer of ice.

It was no wonder Sylos did not understand my need to keep the Elvin Prince out of harm's way. Faeries had a longstanding tradition of being cruel and malicious to humans, Sylos among them. He'd not spent as much time in their world as I had, but he'd reveled in tormenting those unsuspecting humans who stumbled into or were brought by force to our world. The Elves disapproved of that behavior. Loudly. And Sylos was never one for authority figures telling him what to do.

The fabric separating our worlds was so thin, countless humans managed to find their way here each passing year. Those that did, however, most often regretted the fact that they'd come looking at all. But you cannot unknow something once it is known, and the addiction to both the Fey and their food can pull a human apart, spoiling them for all other humans and all other human food.

Some returned to their world and starved to death, surrounded by food they could no longer digest. Wasting away alone in the dark, pining for the supernatural love they'd experienced in our realm. There was nothing of their world that could eclipse what they'd felt. Artists fared slightly better, turning their longing and insatiable desire into passionate fuel for their art.

Yes, trusting a Faerie would cost you your happiness and your humanity. That it would also cost you your heart, well, it went without saying.

It was the reason I never took human girls. I did not think it fun to watch a mortal's life fall into ruin for the benefit of my amusement. To love a Fey was to risk everything. It was not something I could have ever asked of Lorelei.

I was not my father.

My mother’s voice whispered in my memory like a message spoken in my ear. "Your father's dark passions will invade you. You were born of him, darling, it is in your blood. Don't try to fight it. Embrace it. There is much to be gleaned from the darker parts of one's soul."

I repeated the words that had become like a soothing balm spread over a festering wound.

I am not my father.

Following Sylos out into the night, I saw a bright spot in this dismal assignment. Meeting with Oberon meant retuning to the Shadow Court. The king would still have Venus, his other daughter, in his hold. I looked forward to seeing her locked away, with an eagerness I'd nearly forgotten. She had tried to kill Lorelei—tried to kill all of us—more times than I could count. Being with Lorelei had altered so much of what I used to enjoy, and made it into something so abhorrent that I no longer found the same dark pleasure in it. But I would find great satisfaction in seeing Venus twist and writhe in the prison of her own making. It would be a small moment of pleasure before the pain of seeing to the safety of the Elf…and the girl I'd risked everything for. The girl I would always risk everything for.