Entwined With the Dark (38 page)

"And if Aliath is getting something he wants from doing this, then he is doing it for his own reasons, not ours," I concluded.

"Exactly,
ma douce
. The fact that he will ask for a favour in return is essential, to make the motion
his
not ours. It must also be something he desires as much, if not more, than we do Avery's compliance."

I whistled loudly. "He will ask for a lot," I said quietly. "What if we can't provide it?"

"We must try,
ma douce
. And I believe you must be the one to ask." Of course I must. Michel was determined to drag me into political wheeling and dealing even if I was kicking and screaming while he dragged.

Crap. We didn't have a choice, like Michel said. I had to do this. I had to try. And neither Michel nor I could think of an alternative, time not being on our side to brainstorm further, this was our only chance.

"OK," I said, voice meek. "I'll call Aliath to me today."

"Do you want to wait until you get to Paris?" Michel asked with concern.

"We don't have time and you know it. If Aliath can do this,
he
will need the time, we don't have any spare ourselves to wait."

"Agreed," Michel said. "I do wish your
Tego Texi Tectum
duo were with you. They have advised the weather is fine." No cloud cover in order for them to reach Samson's.

"I could go to them?" I suggested.

"You are not well enough to be moved." He was right, I could barely keep my eyes open as it was. Time wasn't on our side, neither was my health and strength. But we still had to do this.

"This is the way it has to be," I said softly.

"Yes it is," he agreed just as softly.

We were both silent for a while and then Samson got up, moving to kneel beside me and started loading another spoonful of soup for me to eat. I laughed feebly.

"I better go, the nurse insists I eat now."

Michel chuckled. "Do as he says,
ma douce. Je t'aime.
"

"
Je t'aime,
" I replied and ended the call.

A dozen spoonfuls of delicious chicken soup later and I was done. It was all I could manage and really, I just wanted to get on with this. Normally I would want to meet Aliath in top condition. Showered, healed, well fed, but I wanted him to feel protective. I was hoping his words about swearing to protect me were true and one look at how weak I was would be enough for him to behave. It was a long shot, but I was determined to try it.

I pulled the yellow Fey talisman from my hidden pocket and rolled it around in my palm. Time to test a theory. Aliath either had my best interests at heart, or not.

Here goes...

Aliath stepped into the room through a crack in space, the scent of caramel and ginger wafting through the air. His slow, measured gaze took in the location, Samson's rigid stance off to the side and then finally rested on me. His eyes darted over my injuries, a small amount of surprise evident in his face. I couldn't tell if that was surprise that I was injured, or surprise that I'd call for him in my current state.

"Princess," he said with a low, formal bow. "This is unexpected." He purposely looked around the room again as if making a point. "No other fairy in sight."

I swallowed at his thinly veiled attempt to remind me what the yellow gem was for. To call him to me when faced with a fairy problem. Aliath was the
Herra
of the Grey Lords. It was his job to keep fairies - especially those of the
Dökkálfa
- in line. He had given me the gem for fairy-type problems and he suspected correctly that right now that was not the case.

I shifted uneasily under his gaze, this was already going to be difficult without him making it more so. The
Dökkálfa
were sticklers for rules, more so than their cousins, the
Ljósálfar
. It was what had made it easier to align myself with Aliath, rather than with a member of the Light Fairy Court. That and the fact that Lutin, Prince of
Ljósálfar,
had wanted me to parent his child. Aliath had never wanted anything from me, other than the portals remaining open to our world. The choice, based on those facts alone, had been easy.

I wasn't feeling particularly comforted by that now though.

"Extenuating circumstances," I replied, resigning myself to just getting this over with. Still, I'd use every asset I had to sway him. "I had no choice, but to take this path. My life hangs in the balance." Dramatic, but unfortunately true. The Champion will just dispense with me, if I can't correct the weak joining with Avery. She has no care for my Prophesied role, she never has. Her main focus has always been the survival of her species. Closing the portals was top of the list to achieve that goal and if I couldn't help, then I was a thorn in her side.

"Again?" the fairy asked with a slightly amused smile playing on the edges of his lips. "You never cease to fascinate." The true reason Aliath continued to appear in my life. I was a fascination for the fairy who had been imprisoned for centuries until now.

I nodded, then added, "Please take a seat." I didn't phrase it as a question, I was guarding how many favours I was racking up right now. I didn't need further debt to be added to the massive one I was about to incur. He obliged, sitting down opposite me, crossing his legs at the knee and leaning back with casual grace.

He was not glamoured today, his hair shone a brilliant silver, his eyes a vivid green. For a moment I fervently wished Sergei and Nataliya were here, his features were so overpoweringly beautiful, I was finding it difficult to breathe. I don't think he was intentionally doing it, he had probably come straight from the
Dökkálfa
Court and not even considered his appearance needed altering. Sometimes Aliath just forgot the effect he had over even me.

I flicked my glance towards Samson, seeking some reassurance and a break from the spell of Aliath's looks for a brief moment. Samson smiled and held my gaze, knowing exactly how difficult this was for me and allowing me something other than the fairy to focus on. The relief that Aliath wasn't holding me still by his eyes was fantastic. I was sure he wouldn't, but while blinded by his presence, it was always so difficult to know.

When I returned my gaze to the fairy he had altered his appearance, toned down his effect, making him seem handsome, but not otherworldly. His hair a white blond similar to Gigi's. I wondered if he used her hair colour as a reference, when masking his natural - but unnatural to this world - silver hue. I smiled in appreciation, the closest he'd get to a thank you.

"You were saying," he said bringing me back to the conversation and the reason he was here.

"I need to reverse the joining to Avery or the Champion will arrange for my death." No point beating about the bush.

"Two things, Princess," Aliath said in a level voice, devoid of a reaction at all. "One, she cannot kill you. And two, I have already made my views on reversing the joining clear. I will not be moved on this." His words were like knives cutting through me, an uncomfortable realisation that he had the ability to inflict physical harm with his voice, abundantly clear.

Samson shifted in the corner a low warning growl to the fairy coming from the back of his throat. Aliath paid him no attention, but continued to hold my gaze unfazed.

"I'll give you two answers," I said stiffly, anger at his rebuttal taking hold and banishing my nerves. "Firstly, the Champion will arrange it, but not be the one to order it. She has ways of achieving this, without breaking the connection to me placed by Nut. Secondly," - I had started to grit my teeth I was so agitated - "I am not requesting you reverse the joining at all. I have
not
forgotten what you said."

Aliath glowed slightly, an unnatural Light surrounding his features, but rather than a bright white like mine, it had a shadow of Dark silhouetting its shine. I had angered him with my answer and although like all fairies he has Light at his command, his Court was all about the Dark, and he would naturally call on
that
when preparing to fight.

I forced myself to calm, which was difficult in the face of all that Dark power, but I did not want this to escalate. I hid my own Light, kept it contained and out of sight. And just waited for him to get himself under control. A few moments later his Light had diminished and thankfully the Dark surrounding it had too.

"Impressive," I said with a forced smile, he raised his eyebrow at me in reply. I sighed, this was not going well, once again my political skills at negotiating what I wanted were woefully lacking. But I couldn't back down now.

Taking a deep breath I forged ahead. "The Ambrosia believes he can break the joining, but to do so I need Avery's willing participation. As you can imagine, that is not something I can easily convince him to do."

Aliath looked at me, unmoving for a moment and then cocked his head to the side like a bird. It had been a while since I had seen him do that particular and unsettling motion, it always reminded me he was not of this world - not necessarily a bad thing to remember. He waited for me to go on, a clear sign he wanted me to say the words. He wasn't going to make this easy. I couldn't blame him for that, but I disliked him right now anyway.

"I would like you to help with convincing him this is the right thing to do." There it was done and I could feel the weight of debt I had incurred settling in the room. Like a tangible element, it hung between us, taunting me, accusing me, waiting for Aliath to accept that debt and seek his payment in kind.

"What would you give for this boon?" he asked after several seconds of taut silence had passed.

The fact he had asked the question was reassuring, it meant he was considering the task, that he knew he was capable of carrying out his side of whatever bargain we struck. But the fact he hadn't come straight out with a payment was disconcerting, because it meant I had to acknowledge how expensive this debt would be.

I didn't want to ask it. Asking any question of a fairy felt plain wrong. But I had no choice, I had no idea what Aliath held precious, what would be enough for him to
want
to do this for himself and not just to protect me.

"What you would want?"

Aliath closed his eyes slowly a look of pure anticipation crossing his face. I had just given a fairy, a member of the Royal Court of
Dökkálfa,
a way to capture my soul. I could see the enjoyment that knowledge gave him, he was unable to hide his delight at my words. And then I felt it. He was feeding off my emotions as he sat here. Even though I knew he had never done so before. I don't think he realised what he was doing, I don't think he had ever intended to feed off me, but I had just opened a floodgate and he couldn't stop himself.

It wasn't painful, it was nothing like I had considered it would be. I had expected it to hurt, unbearable agony, but it felt like I was just being fed on by a vampire, a part of me being sucked away. But the fright I had thought that would accompany it, never came. Instead I felt myself becoming weightless, my body floating up off the couch. It wasn't sensual, although I am sure it could have been - I had the feeling the
Dökkálfa
could make the experience whatever they pleased, like a vampire when feeding - it was unusual, even enjoyable to some degree, but I knew at any moment I would begin to feel its effects. Like a loss of blood, too much of my emotions taken would leave a semi-permanent mark.

Finally his eyes dropped open, a sleepy, contented look on his face. Samson had moved, but I hadn't seen it. He was growling, fangs down, eyes a deep crimson red, right up in Aliath's face. Aliath blinked several times, took in Samson's stance and proximity and then flick a glance to me. I had fallen sideways on the sofa, my breathing shallow, my face flushed, unable to move or speak.

He said a word or two in his Fey language, from the tone I think it was a curse, a swearword or something equally as venomous. He licked his lips as he held my gaze and then turned slowly and nodded to Samson.

"I am under control," he said, although the tone of his voice indicated not. Samson snarled, but backed a foot away. He still hovered menacingly, but didn't attack. "You will not suffer for long, Princess. The effects will wear off in a minute or two." He cleared his throat and rolled his head on his shoulders. I was guessing he was uncomfortable with this turn of events. "You took me by surprise. I had come to accept you as a worthy opponent and not one to offer such a delicacy without a fair amount of warning beforehand. I was not prepared and you tasted," again the lick of his lips, "enchanting."

"What emotions?" I asked in a whisper, my voice sounding alien to my ears. I wanted to know what he had stolen from me. I couldn't tell if it mattered, but I needed to know to be sure.

A flush washed his pale features, a colour I had never seen on the Prince's haughty face before. "Your courage," he said in a low voice. "It has always been the quality I have admired in you the most."

It had taken courage to ask that question, but I was surprised he hadn't fed off my fear as well. I had been feeling
that
in spades.

"We can only feed off one emotion at a time," he answered my unspoken thoughts, surprising me. Had he read them or just guessed? "To feed off more is harmful. We must choose in the moment that we take that fateful step to feed, which emotion that will be. It is a balance we learn to control, temptation to taste more can be so great."

"And you chose my courage?" I said, managing to finally sit upright again on the couch.

"Its taste was too pleasant to ignore. As I said, you caught me off guard."

I thought about that for a moment, then said, "Will it grow back, or something?"

He smiled, trying to hold a bubble of laughter in. "I have not drained you, so yes, the emotion will
grow
back, as you say."

"And if you had drained me?"

His smile faltered. "Then no," he whispered. "Your courage would be no more."

I paled at those words. Aliath had just lost control enough to actually feed off me, something he had never done before. What if he had not been able to stop himself from feeding from me until he had
drained me dry
?

"I never planned to feed from you, Princess." His eyes met mine, the gravity of what he was about to say blatant in his stare. "My apologies, consider my request for forgiveness payment for all the multitude of questions you have just asked, that I have ignored." Ignored the debt they incurred. I wasn't sure the balance of payment to debt was fair, but I was too tired to negotiate for more. I knew his slip in feeding off me was not enough of a payment for my original request, so I didn't bother to use it as such.
That
debt would be considerably more.

"Now," Aliath said, returning to the fairy I knew, "your request." He paused, making sure I was paying attention I suppose and then went on when I held his steady gaze. "There is something you
could offer as payment. Something worthy of the task I would perform."

I waited, there was no point talking, Aliath had taken the floor. This was it, the payment I would have to make in order for him persuade Avery to comply. I told myself, as I braced for his next words, that we needed this, that we had no choice. That whatever he asked, I'd have to agree. If we didn't get this joining reversed - or broken as the Ambrosia had said - then the Champion would make her move. Or at least one of her operatives would. I wondered, distractedly, who she would send to end my life. Gregor, her Enforcer would not obey. Neither would Michel of course, her assassin and spy. But she had others who would, I didn't doubt.

I forced myself to face Aliath without flinching, in a moment those thoughts would be moot. Aliath would agree to convince Avery to be part of the unjoining and I would be doing something for him in return. Easy.

"I wish for Sofiq's death."