Chapter 19
Chapter
Nineteen
My brain melted into a hallucination of exploded popcorn.
The books my dad must’ve gotten from the library of antiquities were filled with elaborate spells, theories, history, facts, and all of it poured into my lower brain like a perfectly mixed macronage.
Clockwork hearts. Deals with devils. Split souls. Enchantresses and fairies…
So much pounded into my lower brain while I carefully focused on each word in the book about peppermint cream.
It took twenty minutes to consume all the knowledge in my lap. I clicked the pocket watch closed, and the world snapped back into focus with a lurch.
And then I was rushing for the garbage bin. I thew up, although there wasn’t much left since my body must’ve burned through the magic bread.
I shivered then put my batch of set macarons into the oven. I sat at the counter, idly reading the recipe books while my brain tried to sort and absorb all the information. It took a long time for my thoughts to settle.
The key was the heart.
However the enchantress had gotten the devil’s heart, I needed to undo it. If I shattered the heart, that would likely kill him. But if I brought it to life, I could put it back in the devil’s chest. Sure. No problem.
I took a deep breath then there was a knock on my front door. I went out of the kitchen, peering to the front. Lo, the pretty daffodil fairy, was knocking on the front door and managing to look like a cocky idiot. What a surprise.
I walked over to the glass then stared at him through it.
He blinked then stepped through the glass like it wasn’t there. “Weren’t you going to open the door for me?” He raised a yellow brow while his emerald eyes danced with malicious intent.
“What do you want?”
He smiled slightly. “You aren’t being nearly as polite as you were to my uncle. He said that you have an iron collar. Can I see it?”
I bared my teeth at him. “I don’t know. You tell me. What do you want?”
“My uncle asked me to fetch you to dinner. Apparently, that’s part of your deal. No idea why my uncle would agree to such a thing, but he’s involved with that enchantress.” His lip curled with disgust.
“You don’t like her? But she’s so beautiful. Isn’t that all you people care about?”
He flashed his sharp teeth at me. “You’re joking. We care about power. Beauty tends to give one power, but it’s empty in itself. Are you coming like that? You look ridiculous.”
I followed his derisive glance down to my fluffy skirt and silk bodice. I gave him a hard smile. “Yes. Shall we?” I unlocked the door and held it open for him to pass through.
He did with a slight sniff of disgust. “It’s what Uncle wants.”
“I like his scar.”
He jerked like I’d electrocuted him. “Don’t mention it.”
“No? You think he’ll kill me? That would be a relief.”
“He wouldn’t kill you. You think he doesn’t know how to keep things alive that wish they could die?”
“I beg your pardon. As far as I know, he wiped out all my relatives. That sounds like he enjoys a nice clean death. I don’t really know anything about him.”
“Your family were monsters, every last one of them. Your mother was the worst. She embedded herself in your heart like a tick and sucked all the life and happiness out of you!”
I stared at him. “Did you actually know her?” No way he did, because that gossip was just ridiculous.
He blinked his eyes rapidly, cheek twitching while he got it together. “Yes. I thought I knew her very well.”
“Wait, seriously? But you’re so young!”
He gave me a contemptuous glance. “I’m over a hundred. Your mother was twice my age when she…” His nostrils flared then he looked straight ahead, walked to the cab, climbed inside, and said nothing else the rest of the ride. He didn’t look at me, either.
He’d actually known my mother? Impossible. Had she not been raised by my great-uncle after all?
We finally pulled up at a house in the nice downtown neighborhood, ancient trees hanging over the street giving it a forest feel.
The houses were grand, marble or Victorian with elaborate gables and gingerbread.
The house we pulled up to was quiet looking, pale brick, austere landscaping of evergreens pruned into interesting shapes.
A tall wall curved around the house, enclosing the rest of the yard so only the front was revealed.
I went up the walk, stepping over a pinecone while the daffodil fairy walked behind me. He was still angry, remembering my mother. So weird.
The door was large, simple, elegant without being ostentatious. This door did not belong to the daffodil fairy.
“Knock,” he ordered.
I didn’t have to do what he said, because he hadn’t collared me or stolen a deal I’d made with a devil, but I knocked anyway.
Tap, tap.
The door swung open, and there was the butler. Just kidding. It was the king himself, with his scarred face, wearing black silk pajamas.
No, some kind of kimono, and he looked so startlingly attractive that, for a moment, my brain got confused.
“I like your scar,” I said, exactly what the daffodil fairy had told me not to say.
For a moment, the world held its breath as the fairy king considered whether or not to kill me.
He nodded and turned, gesturing me into the stretch of darkness past the front door. “Your grandfather gave it to me,” he said. “He also liked it before I separated his head from his body.”
I swallowed hard at that image. “What can I say? My relatives have great taste.” I stepped into the shadows, heart quaking.
“Where is the partial soul?” he asked, closing the door and leaving us in complete black.
I blinked in the nothing and took a deep breath. The air smelled fine, clean, clear. I wasn’t going to suffocate however dark it was. “At home. I don’t usually bring him to dinner. Is that a problem?”
He lit a match then I got to see his face in the flickering light of a single flame. Terrifying, but also kind of a relief. It was nice to be able to see the ugliness of his soul right there on the surface. “You treat it like a child holds a teddy bear for comfort. You may need comfort.”
I gurgled a laugh. “Thank you for considering how comfortable I am as you work out how to kill me before the five years are up.”
He smiled back at me, twisting the scars in a way that made my stomach lurch. “Five years is a blink. I have no trouble waiting patiently for the vengeance I crave.” His voice sparkled and danced on my senses in the most terrifying way.
I had trouble swallowing. The siren in him was not a good guy. Neither was the fairy.
He actually winked at me before he turned and walked through the darkness with that one flickering flame in his fingers.
I followed quickly because I didn’t want to be left in the darkness. The pretty daffodil prince hadn’t come in. I only realized that as we reached a wall of shadows, and the fairy king passed through it like it was a black liquid door. I followed before I started having hysterics.
I stepped through a waterfall of rainbows and happiness. I blinked at the gloriously beautiful pool filled by the waterfall I’d just come out of and surrounded by moss-covered cliffs on all sides. Floating in the center of the pond was the devil.
“This is the weirdest place. Did you build it? Impressive.” I looked up at the sparkling clear sky, bluer than blue, with distant puffy clouds that looked like dreams.
“There is your devil,” he said, gesturing at the person floating in the water. At least he was face-up. His eyes were closed, and he looked like he was sleeping. He was also wearing nothing but a pair of black shorts, and the scars on him were absolutely horrifying. Did he seem peaceful? Mostly.
“Can I touch him?”
“Why would you want to do that?”
“To see if he’s dead.”
“He has no heart to beat. Doesn’t that mean he’s already been dead for as long as you’ve known him?”
I searched the fairy king’s face. “Oh. I have his soul, so as long as his soul is healthy, he’s all right, right?”
He studied me for a long moment before he gave me a short nod. “Well enough. Won’t you sit?” He gestured at the picnic blanket and the dishes of fairy food set out to the right, in a lovely grassy spot between the cliffs and the pond.
“Oh. Right. I’m here for dinner.”
He gave me another terrifyingly fascinating smile. That scar. “That’s the deal, is it not?”
I nodded and stepped off the stone ledge down onto the grass.
I took off my shoes then curled up on the blanket while he took his place across from me.
“What’s for dinner?” I looked up at him until he slipped off his shoes, leaning back on one arm while he picked up a bottle of something and poured me a glass of rainbow elixir.
I took the glass and smiled at him. “What is it?”
“Are you worried I’ll kill you?” he asked in the silkiest voice imaginable.
“I’m worried you’ll turn me into a zombie. But you don’t need an elixir for that, do you? You just have to speak and my will follows. What’s it like being a siren? Do you crave swimming? Is that why we’re near the water?”
His smile was sharper for a moment. “Music. I hear the music in everything. Particularly in screams. Sometimes, you can create an entire orchestration out of screaming bodies and souls. What’s it like to be a fairy-goblin?”
I shivered. “That sounds lovely. For me, it’s annoying. First, everyone’s always telling me that I’m impossible. And then I’m always getting sick, and my magic is basically useless. Also my wings. It’s not a very good genetic combo. Siren-fairy and fairy-enchantress are much better.”
He studied me like I was saying something fascinating instead of incredibly mundane. “Interesting. You have no ego.”
I blinked at him. “Excuse me? I’m very confident about my baking. It’s not a very glorious talent, but it makes me happy, and that’s what’s important.” I glanced over at the floating devil, unable to help myself. He also made me happy.
“Your mother didn’t raise you to destroy me?”
I stared at him. “Um. No, but she did teach me to pour tea properly. And dance. She also taught me how to make all the fairy delicacies.”