10. The Princess
Of course Theron had been eavesdropping. I shouldn’t have been surprised.
He didn’t hear anything too damning, but when he witnessed the blood bargain, he would certainly have questions. He already noticed too much during the fight with the dark fae.
It was a risk I had to take. There was no other way to enlist the help of the pixies. I needed a show of strength right now.
And far more was at stake than just Theron’s life. If the pixies assisted us, believing I would hold up my end of the bargain, then perhaps I would have allies in the war against Calista.
Theron hobbled forward with a scowl on his face, his skin ghostly pale. To his credit, he made it to the center of the crowd without falling over. Not only that, but he managed to climb up the mountain to get here. If it weren’t for the shadows under his eyes and the pallor of his skin, I would question whether he’d been truly poisoned.
“A little worse for the wear, aren’t you, darling?” Nyra crooned.
Theron only glared at her.
Nyra beckoned me closer with a look of glee on her face, and I approached, pulling up the sleeve of my shirt to expose my wrist. As I did so, I pressed my thumb hard into my flesh, infusing my invisibility into my blood. I didn’t do it often because it hurt like hell. Fiery pain spread through my blood, and I bit down on my bottom lip so hard I broke skin, leaving a coppery taste in my mouth.
It’s only for a few minutes,I told myself. Just hold on to your magic for a few minutes. That’s all.
Black spots danced in my vision as the agony throbbed against my skull, pounding relentlessly. I could barely hear Nyra’s voice as she uttered the terms of our bargain, reiterating everything I had promised and in turn vowing to heal Theron and let us go without harm or injury.
Then she sliced the dagger into her palm. Dark purple blood oozed from her wound and dripped onto the snow. She brought the knife to my wrist with a hungry look in her gaze. I closed my eyes, focusing on channeling my magic further into my blood, praying this would work.
The sharp sting of the knife barely registered amidst the roaring pain in my body.
But I certainly noticed the stunned gasps around me.
Nyra cut into me again. More gasps.
“What sorcery is this?” she screeched.
I offered a weak chuckle. “Hmm, that is strange. I guess I have no blood to offer you after all.” I opened my eyes, taking in the wide gash on my wrist that exposed the pink underside of my flesh. But no blood.
Nyra stared at me with a mixture of rage and disbelief. “You tricked me! I’ll have your head for this!”
“Ah, but you can’t.” I rolled back my sleeve, holding on to my invisibility for a moment longer. “The bargain demands that you let us go without harm or injury if I survive the ritual.”
“There was no ritual,” Nyra seethed. “We did not complete the bargain!”
“Not true. I gave you my word, which is as true as any fae bargain. And you shed your own blood, which means you are bound.”
I had to let her think I wasn’t bound to the bargain. But this wasn’t true. My blood had been shed—it was just invisible.
I was still held to the terms of the blood bargain. And infusing my magic into my blood lessened the force of bond, keeping me alive. Otherwise, Nyra was right—it likely would have killed me, as I was half human.
Nyra released a wild scream before lunging for me. I stood there, unflinching, as the fae bond stopped her in her tracks. She stiffened, her limbs going rigid and her hands clawing at her temples in agony. She roared in pain, falling to her knees in front of me.
I merely watched with a small smile on my face. My gaze flicked to Theron, who stared at me in utter shock. His eyes roved over me as if searching for some hidden weapon I was harboring.
Oh, yes, he knew there was something else at play here. I would need to be extra careful around him from now on.
“I didn’t know you could do that,” Frisk muttered, sounding impressed.
I shushed him, keeping my eyes pinned on the queen. When the pain of the fae bond subsided, she slowly rose to her feet, gasping for breath. A few pixies surged toward her, but she waved them away. She cocked her head, assessing me as if re-evaluating my strengths and weaknesses. I was certain she’d first seen me as a weak human. But now?
Now I was a worthy opponent.
Silence surrounded me, but I leveled an even stare at the queen, waiting for her response.
Her expression changed. A slow smile spread across her lips, and a deep, rich laugh resonated in her throat. Her laughter intensified until she threw her head back, her body quivering with chuckles. A few other pixies joined in, but most of them looked uncertain, as if worried their queen had gone mad.
Nyra clapped her hands together with glee before fixing her eyes on me once more. “Oh, you surprise me, princess. And not many can do that.” Her laughter subsided as she appraised me with warmth in her gaze. Or as much warmth as she could muster with her all-black eyes. “Come. Join us for a meal. I will heal your friend.”
I lifted one finger. “By join us for a meal, do you mean…”
Nyra laughed again. “I mean we will feed you food that is safe to eat. Some pixie tribes feast on human flesh, but I assure you we do not.”
Relief filled me as I drew closer to her. “Thank you for your hospitality, my queen.”
“And thank you for the entertainment. It is not often I witness trickery that rivals us pixies. Are you certain you have no pixie blood in you?”
I suppressed a shudder. “Quite certain.”
“Brune, see to it that our guests are fed and have a place to rest for the night,” Nyra said, turning to the orange-skinned pixie standing behind her.
“Oh no, we don’t—” I started to object, but Nyra waved away my excuses.
“It’s a blizzard tonight, princess. Do you intend to sleep on the ice?”
I fell silent at that.
Several pixies yelped, and I turned toward the commotion. Theron had collapsed, finally giving in to the weakness claiming his body. No doubt the strain of climbing the mountain had done him in.
“Ah,” Nyra said idly. Her great lavender wings spread wide and she flitted in the air before zooming toward the wounded hunter with lightning speed. The rapid movement of her wings reminded me of a hummingbird—a blur of color that made me gasp with awe.
Two burly pixies hoisted Theron up, his head lolling and his damp brown hair flopping over his eyes. Blood and ice, he looked terrible. Seeing him limp like this made me realize just how much he was holding back before. He must have pretended to be unconscious while astride Mauro.
That was one determined assassin.
Nyra lifted a hand and pressed it to Theron’s chest. The hunter groaned, his body jerking violently. White light burst from the center of his chest, and he unleashed a horrible scream that made me jump, my skin and bones trembling in horror. I stepped forward, my hand outstretched, but I wasn’t sure why. What could I do? But that scream… It was full of terror and anguish, a sound I never expected to come from a hardened warrior like Theron.
It shook me to my core. And as much as I hated him, I never wanted to hear that sound again.
The pixies seemed unaffected. They merely looked on with mild disinterest, as if this were an everyday occurrence. I pressed a hand to my chest as the scream went on, shutting my eyes against the sound. But it burned in my ears, spearing right through me.
The white light vanished. It was likely only a few seconds, but the duration of that scream made it feel like an eternity. When Theron went limp again, there was color in his face. Only when silence fell among the pixies did I realize I was gasping for breath, my heart racing.
“Our magic isn’t for the faint of heart,” said the pixie next to me, a tall, wiry woman with bright pink hair and emerald skin. She winked at me conspiratorially as if we were sharing a joke.
“Your companion is healed!” Nyra announced, and the pixies all cheered.
“Is he all right?” I asked the emerald pixie beside me. He still looked limp and unconscious.
“Oh, he’ll be fine.” The pixie waved a hand. “He’s healed, but he’ll need to recover from the intensity of the spell.”
I nodded numbly. As much as I didn’t like the idea of spending the night with pixies, perhaps it was for the best if Theron was in too poor a shape to travel.
“I’ll go check in with Mauro,” Frisk said.
“Wait!”
He turned to me, his black eyes appraising me with curiosity. “What?”
“I—Thank you. For bringing us here. For negotiating with the queen. I know that wasn’t easy.”
“Anything for you, Snow. Don’t get into too much trouble while I’m gone. No more fae bargains, understand?”
I chuckled as he trotted away, his white tail bobbing until he disappeared in the crowd of pixies. Suddenly exhausted, I moved closer to the colorful fire and sank onto a log, my eyes pulled in by the explosion of colors.
“Refreshment for you.” Brune, the orange-skinned pixie from earlier, appeared in front of me and shoved a platter into my hands. Startled, I accepted it, scrutinizing the sizzling meat alongside leafy vegetables and bright purple berries.
“Um,” I said uneasily. “What kind of meat is this?”
Brune flashed his sharp teeth. “Best I not answer that, princess, since I cannot lie.”
I shuddered as he bounded away, then steeled myself and inhaled deeply. Whatever meat it was, it smelled heavenly. I took a tentative bite, and an explosion of flavor caressed my tongue, the spices and seasonings making me groan with pleasure.
“Shivering bones, this is delicious,” I said to no one in particular. I glanced around and found the emerald pixie smirking at me. “This isn’t human flesh, is it?”
She laughed. “No. It’s wyvern. Brune was just trying to scare you.”
“Wyvern? Really?” I looked up as if expecting the dragon-like creature to screech and fly overhead.
“Oh, yes. They often dwell in mountains like these. The tenderest meat you can find. We wouldn’t dare touch the fae breeds, but the feral ones aren’t smart enough to dodge our traps.”
“How long have you lived here?” I asked her.
“A few hundred years.”
I nodded, unperturbed. Though I was half human and wouldn’t have as long a lifespan, I was accustomed to being around immortal creatures. “So do only some pixies eat humans, or what?” I took another bite of the wyvern meat and groaned again.
“Some do. But we do not associate with them. We believe sentient species should be preserved.” She flashed her teeth in a grin. “Even one as feeble as humans.”
I shrugged one shoulder. “We are pretty feeble.”
The pixie’s eyes widened, and then she laughed before sinking to the log beside me. “I like you, princess. It’s not often we meet humans who surprise us so.”
“Well, I’m only half human, so that’s probably it.”
“Probably.” The pixie crossed one leg over the other, her pale green wings quivering behind her. “My name is Sage.”
“Eira.”
“I know.”
I shrugged again and took another bite of food.
“I knew your father.”
The meat stuck in my throat, and I choked. After hacking and coughing, I finally spat the piece onto the ground and whirled to stare at Sage. “You—you did?” As far as I knew, pixies were a wild species who didn’t mingle with the seelie or the humans.
Sage nodded, her smile vanishing. “He was a kind person. One of the few seelie who treated me with respect. We were discussing a negotiation between our kind, and I was to be ambassador for the pixies.”
My heart lurched at this revelation. I’d had no idea… Then again, I’d been fifteen when he died. I hadn’t exactly been interested in matters of the court back then.
Sage fixed her intense black eyes on me. “I think that’s why the queen believed your claim. Not because of the blood bargain—but because you are your father’s child. If anyone can unite the seelie with the unseelie, it’s you.”
I shook my head faintly. “I don’t know about that. Thousands of years of prejudice can’t be erased overnight. But I’ll certainly do my best.”
“King Midelia believed it could be done. And if it weren’t for that wretched harpy he married, he might have accomplished it.”
“My father was a well-respected full-blooded fae,” I said. “Perhaps I could have earned the respect of the people for being his daughter, but once he died, Calista made it quite clear my human blood tarnished whatever claim I had to the throne.”
Sage cocked her head at me. “You fear her.”
I whipped my head toward her. “What?”
“The queen. You fear her, don’t you?”
I swallowed, my appetite gone as I stared vacantly at the platter on my lap. “Of course I do,” I whispered. “Who wouldn’t fear a fae who has power over blood?”
“But you can do this trick again, can’t you?” Sage gestured to where Nyra stood chatting with a few other pixies. “With your blood?”
I huffed a hollow laugh. “I’m afraid it’s not that simple. This was more of a parlor trick. But the magic of the queen is quite literal. If she cuts me, nothing will stop her from wielding power over me.”
Sage leaned forward, her black eyes glittering. “Then you must wield power over her first.”
I would have laughed or rolled my eyes at the incredulity of that statement… if it weren’t for the intensity in Sage’s hardened gaze. Her expression was full of fiery determination, such harshness that all laughter or humor died in my throat.
She was serious.
And perhaps she had a point.
I knew Calista better than anyone. She may have distanced herself from me as soon as she’d assumed the throne. She may have despised and spit on me, but she’d still been my stepmother for a full year.
“If blood has power,” Sage said slowly, “then you should seize it.”
I blinked at her, my mouth falling open as realization clicked into place.
Calista’s blood. If she could control a person with one drop of their blood… did that mean I could do the same with hers?