Chapter Five
VIOLET
“Perhaps you can be useful after all,” he muses. His eyes flick to my mouth, then back. “There is something I must do.”
He is considering my offer with something specific in mind, even after acting as if he were above my help. But there’s no time to feel smug.
“Obligate yourself into my service and bind yourself to me. If you fail to do what is needed, then you will die. However, if you succeed, I will consider the price of your crimes paid in full—and to show you how generous I can be, not only will I personally ensure you stay alive until you have fulfilled your end, but I will allow you to keep your life beyond that.”
“How long will I be bound and obligated to you?” My throat is so dry that my voice is barely a whisper.
He hums. “I thought you wanted to live.”
“I do,” I say. “But I deserve to know the extent of what I’m agreeing to. What kind of life would it be if it were not mine in the end to live as I chose?”
He nods. “Then, if I succeed, you will be free of any obligation and binding.”
I can’t possibly imagine what I could do for a fae that he could not ask of a thousand others, far more capable, but I don’t intend to waste this opportunity.
“What must I do to fulfill my end?”
He steps back, and warmth fills the space between us. “You will find out once you are bound and obligated. The details are too important to speak before then.” When I don’t answer right away, he adds, “So, what will your decision be? Will you bargain or die where you stand?”
“Does it count as a bargain if I’m forced into it?”
“You were the one who wanted to bargain in the first place,” he says flatly. “I am merely providing you with… motivation to decide.”
“Still, death threats are a bit much from someone who didn’t even need my help five minutes ago,” I mutter.
“Would it help if I offered to kill everyone you know and love?” he quips.
My eyes dart toward the second floor before I can stop myself, and he catches it.
“Who else is here?” he snarls.
“No one,” I say.
He’s already moving toward the stairs. I try to block him, but he pushes past. I race after him. He has already opened the doors to the other rooms and is striding toward my parents’ room.
“Wait—”
He opens the door and pauses on the other side of the threshold, giving me time to catch up.
The fae continues further in, though I cannot bring myself to follow. He stops a few feet from my parents, their bodies frozen and trapped within enchanted ice. The tension slips from his posture, shoulders sagging.
They, like countless others over the years, are among the brave who volunteer to protect their town from the dragon who brings winter storms throughout the year, terrorizing the innocent people of this empire by turning them into this.
“If I succeed, then I will break this curse on them all.”
The way he says it makes it sound like a small, insignificant thing. That promise tells me what I have failed to realize before now—he is no ordinary fae, but the wicked fae prince who commands the Winter Dragon.
No one else has the power to free its victims.
The prince crosses to the mortal lands once a year, and for one reason—the Choosing.
The depth of the obligation he demands crashes down around me. It is far more than servitude—I would be his wife.
At least until he sacrifices me to his monstrous beast, as he had his six wives that came before me.
It's no wonder he didn’t want to give me details before I agreed.
My hands ball into fists at my sides. I cannot afford to lose my temper now—especially not with the most powerful fae Arum has ever known.
The one who is the reason, I’ve been alone for the past three years, never knowing if I will get the chance to hear my parents’ voices again or hug them one more time before my heart ceases for good.
“Why not now?” The question slips unbidden.
He glances over his shoulder. “You cannot expect payment without having done the work first,” he says, though not unkindly.
The cruelty is gone from his face. There is something so sorrowful in his features when he is not delivering threats.
Is this nothing more than a facade to disarm me, or is he a tormented soul using his claws to keep the world at a distance? I squeeze my eyes tight to shove away the absurd thought. Of course it’s a trick.
He turns and strides past me, moving so fast that I barely manage to catch him as he reaches the front door.
I can’t let him leave. Not yet.
I may die at the end of it all, but if there’s a chance my sacrifice can help the people who have suffered for too long under him, then I will have done more than I ever dreamed possible.
“I’ll do it. I’ll bind myself to you—I will be your wife and obligate myself into your service if you promise to break the dragon’s curse.
” Then, for good measure, I add, “And keep me alive until the end of it—no sacrificing me to your dragon.” I am as clear as possible so that later, he cannot claim that I didn’t ask for what I wanted.
One corner of his mouth ticks up, but there is no triumph or glee in it. Once more, he approaches.
“I will do all you have asked. In exchange, you will freely bind and obligate yourself to me until my task is complete.” Taking my hand, he rests it over his forearm. “In three days, I will come for a bride. Do whatever you must to ensure you are in a position to become that bride.”
I nod. I don’t know precisely what marriage to him will entail. I doubt it will include anything typical.
“Will…” I hesitate, “will we be truly married?”
“Why?” His long, elegant fingers wrap around my wrist. “Is the thought of being my wife repulsive enough to give you second thoughts?”
I shake my head. “No… I just…” I feel my cheeks warm slightly.
“It is a formality to provide a reason to keep you close. The moment we succeed, our bargain will come to an end, and so too will our marriage. You will not have to endure being tied to me eternally.” His upper lip curls in a sneer.
A hum of energy races through me as his fingertips glide over my skin.
Where he touches, a shimmering thread forms. It lengthens as he guides it around his.
Each end snakes out as if it were alive, and knots around the base of our middle fingers.
The thread catches the light as it moves, alternating between silver, black, deep blue, and then red.
He releases me, and as the space between us grows, so does the thread, keeping us connected before fading from sight.
The bargain is sealed.
“Keep in mind, you will not be able to speak of this bargain to anyone. I do not suggest testing it. You may find the effects unpleasant.” He turns to leave, pausing with his hand hovering over the doorknob. “Remember—three days.”
I blink, eyes tired from sleep eluding me all night, just as it had the two before. Smiles are not enough to hide the dark circles under my eyes or the pallor of my skin.
If Talya notices my weariness in my work, she doesn’t say anything. She never does.
I’ve never known if it’s because she doesn’t want to remind me of my impending death looming ever closer, or if she cannot bear to acknowledge the unpleasant reality of my condition, or if she’s determined to be the one person who doesn’t look at me with pity.
The weight of the fae text bumping against my hip with every step has my nerves on edge. I feel as though anyone who looks at me will instantly know it’s there. Once more, I’ve smuggled it out of the archives.
There was only a small window of time to grab it before Sebastian and Talya glued themselves to my side for the festivities before the Choosing. I didn’t dare risk anyone catching me breaking the Old Laws again by taking it sooner.
I thought I should return it to the prince as a gesture of good faith. And perhaps a little leniency, if I’m being honest.
Like every other business in town, with the exception of the shops at the heart of the square, the archives are closed today. The three of us met bright and early, taking two hours to reshelve yesterday’s books and prepare everything for the next day.
A few years after my episodes, I woke in the middle of the night from a bad dream.
My parents’ voices floated up from downstairs.
They didn’t shout, but there was tension in their words I wasn’t used to hearing.
I tiptoed to the top of the stairs to listen.
Mother was crying, and they were talking about me as though I were already dead.
That was the moment I realized I’d let fear and misery take over my life, and I’d been blind to the hurt it caused everyone who cares about me.
As I sat at the top of the stairs, I vowed to do everything I could to find a cure and to live my life as if I were promised the same number of years as anyone else.
My nerves have been tangled into a tightly wound ball since the moment I sealed the bargain with the prince. In the past few nights, I have been seeing the inevitable in the same way I used to view my impending death. In the final hour before dawn, I finally stopped tossing and turning.
I stick my hands in my skirt pockets and press the folded letter against the fae text. It took me the last three evenings to draft it. I didn’t want to say goodbye—that would feel too final.
The prince promised to spare my life if we were successful. I didn’t want to give that possibility strength, because the reality is that I might not live through it. Instead, I settled on asking her and her family to watch over my parents and home in my absence.
“You look terrible, Vi,” Sebastian says. It earns him a sharp elbow to the ribs. “What in the Otherworld, Talya?” he groans, rubbing his side.
She gives him a look that would send demons running. Sebastian straightens and clears his throat, obviously understanding her meaning.
Talya and her family have known of my condition since the beginning, but she has always been my fiercest protector.