Chapter 8 Never Trust a Fae
NEVER TRUST A FAE
The fae would kill me at dawn.
The guards laughed about it as they dropped off my meal. The bowl of broth they’d shoved through the slot sat untouched. Even if I could force it down, I couldn’t reach it. I was sprawled on the floor, every muscle locked in agony.
The massive rune underneath me pulsed, my skin flushing with its magic.
Each throb sent waves of sickening heat through me.
I tried to drag myself away from its center, but my arms buckled.
My stomach heaved violently, though nothing came up—I’d emptied it hours ago.
The chilled floor against my hot face was the only mercy.
Footsteps echoed down the corridor.
I didn’t look up. Couldn’t stand to see another guard mock me.
They stopped at my cell. “Gods, Aelie.”
My head snapped up.
Vaeris stood at the bars, staring at me. He actually came. A flutter of hope soared inside me that I immediately crushed.
Grimacing, I flopped on my side. Vaeris stepped through the bars like they were vapor. His mouth was set into a grim line.
I rolled over. “Come to watch me die?”
His cloak was damp, like he’d rushed here through the flooded streets, but his deep blue eyes were steady.
Cold.
A dark tendril slipped from under his cloak. It reached out, wrapping my ankle. He curled his finger, and the shadow dragged me across the floor. As soon as my body cleared the rune, relief swept into my stomach.
Vaeris knelt beside me. “What did Henrik do to you?”
My chest tightened. “Now you care?”
He bowed his head.
“I waited for you,” I said brokenly. “While he violated my mind. I kept thinking you’d come. That whatever this was between us meant something.”
His gaze burned into mine. “I wanted to.”
“But you didn’t.”
“My position in court is already hanging by a thread, Aelie.”
“You’re the Crown Prince!”
His jaw worked. “I’m a contingency plan wearing fine clothes. The moment I become more trouble than I’m worth, the king will slit my throat and breed another heir.” He gripped my shoulders. “But you—gods, Aelie. You can shatter runes. Do you know what they’ll do to you for that?”
“We needed the money. The infirmary ran out of medicine.”
“You risked your life for tonics?”
I pulled away from him. “The Rite is tomorrow. Dozens of people will volunteer just to help their loved ones.”
Vaeris went still.
“I used to be like you, stepping over bodies in the street because staying alive was all that mattered. But when I started helping others, it was the first time I felt like I actually had a purpose.”
Vaeris’s expression darkened. “You call this purpose?”
“I saved lives,” I snarled. “You have power, and you waste it.”
“I did what I could for you.”
“You gave me scraps while you lived in luxury.”
“Luxury,” he sneered. “They call me Halfbreed to my face. Every day I have to prove I deserve to exist in their world. I’ve had to fight for respect.”
You never fought for me.
My eyes burned. “Can you get me out?”
“I’m doing everything I can to make my father reconsider.”
That echoed inside me hollowly. He’d whispered promises before. Usually in bed, when he made me feel like I was more than a toy he stole between court sessions, and now he was doing it again.
“Don’t pretend.”
“I’m not.” He cupped my cheeks, his thumb brushing off a tear. “The king needs to understand what you can do. Your abilities are too valuable to throw away.”
His hand slid to my shoulder, pulling me against him.
No.
But I let him draw me close. His warmth seeped through his tunic, and I hated that my body remembered how to fit against his—head tucked under his chin like he hadn’t humiliated me at Henrik’s house.
A pathetic part of me wanted to believe him. I wanted to look at his face and see love, not sorrow.
He stroked my hair, and bile rose in my throat.
This was a lie.
“I’ll fix this,” he murmured. “I swear.”
And when you don’t? When dawn came and they dragged me to the block, Rheya would be alone. Vaeris wouldn’t spare her a thought.
I gripped his arms. “You have to find my sister. Protect her.”
“You have my word.”
That’s worthless. “I want a faerie deal.”
He pulled back, frowning. “You don’t trust me?”
“I used to.”
His hands dropped from my waist. “Sweetling, you have no idea what you’re—”
“I know what I’m asking.” Faerie deals were binding runes, carved into flesh. Fail to fulfill them, and you died. The fae used them to trap humans in impossible bargains, but right now, I’d take an unbreakable vow over his empty promises.
“I can’t.”
“Fine.” I met his gaze steadily. “Then I’ll inform the queen how you knew about my abilities and watched me shatter runes.”
Vaeris stilled. “Aelie.”
“I’ll bring up the banned books you smuggled to me. Beginning Rune Magic by Master Aldric. Books that are supposed to be prohibited to humans, punishable by death just for possessing.”
He paled.
“I’ll let her in on how you coached me. How you taught me to identify the weak points in runes. How you held my hand, whispering encouragement when I doubted myself.”
“Aelie, stop—”
“I’ll mention how you healed me, over and over, so we could practice. All those nights locked away together. I’m sure the queen would be fascinated to learn that her stepson has been personally training a runebreaker for months.”
Vaeris’s hands clenched into fists. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me,” I said sweetly. “I could tell her I’m some peasant girl who got in over her head, or I could explain how the prince turned me into a monster.”
Whatever we’d once had, I was killing it right now. With full knowledge of what it would cost.
The remaining color drained from his face. When he looked at me, I saw a stranger.
Good. That made this easier.
“What are your terms?” he asked quietly.
“Find my sister. Keep her safe no matter what happens to me.”
Vaeris was silent for a long moment. “Fine. But I have conditions of my own.”
Of course you do.
“If you survive tomorrow’s execution,” he said slowly, “you’ll come to me. You’ll break a rune of my choosing, and you’ll tell no one about this arrangement.”
I wanted to refuse. Every fiber of my being screamed against it. But Rheya flickered in my mind, her small frame trembling in the cold. I’d sell my soul if it kept her alive.
He extended his hand. “Do we have a deal?”
I stared at it for a heartbeat. Then I reached out and grasped his fingers.
The magic hit like lightning striking bone. Scalding pain raced up my arm and slammed into my abdomen, carving into my flesh. I bit back a scream.
Vaeris hissed as a pattern erupted on his arm. When the agony finally faded, I looked down to see intricate lines etched into my skin below my ribs—interlocking circles like ripples frozen in water, filled with geometric shapes that pulsed with blue light before settling into black.
A collar, just not around my neck.
I’d sold myself to save Rheya. It had to be worth it.
He flexed his hand. “Don’t forget the terms.”
He turned, his cloak trailing behind him.
I slumped against the wall, exhausted. Rheya was out there, hunted, with the full resources of the Crown mobilized against her. By morning, her face would be sketched on wanted posters throughout Skalgard. Silver marks would loosen tongues.
She was smart. She’d hide in the catacombs of the old human city. If anyone could disappear, it was my sister.
But in a few hours, they’d drag me to the Square. I squeezed my eyes shut, but the image came anyway: me, kneeling on the sacrifice rune. The executioner looming over me. His massive sword rising.
Would it hurt? Or would it be fast—one clean stroke and then nothing? My hands shook. I pressed them against the stone, trying to steady myself, but I couldn’t stop seeing it. The falling blade. My head rolling on the cobblestones.
Rheya would hear about it from the street. Some stranger would tell her the executioner killed her sister. And then she’d be alone.
Without me, she’d mouth off to the wrong guard. She’d get caught breaking into the Arcanum or sneaking into the palace or—gods, she’d probably try to kill someone. To avenge me.
I couldn’t die. Not while she was out there.
I had to find a way to survive this. For her.