38. Take me

The fireplace burns bright, illuminating the bedroom I've been sleeping in since I was a child, and the pain in my calf that lured me back to Demeter finally relents.

Esme releases the head of the pin and tucks her socks back in place before she hurries over to me. "By the spindle! Where were you?"

Her hair, braided in two braids instead of one, wraps around her head like a crown. I'd compliment her if it wasn't for the terrified gleam in her eyes. "Faerie."

"Of course, Faerie. It didn't take me long to figure that. Your Father asked for you about twelve times. You were not supposed to leave for another couple of days. I didn't know what to tell him." Her hand shoots out to grab the emerald pendant hanging from my neck, and her throat bobs. "The Shadow King gave you that necklace… Why?"

A loud pounding on the door stops us cold. "The king wants to see you now, princess."

Judging by the last time my father summoned me to his office in the middle of the night, this is going to be far from pleasant. "Just a minute."

We exchange a quick glance, and Esme wrangles out a dress from the chest at the foot of my bed and starts unfastening the necklace. "You can't show this to your father. Might as well have come home with a promise ring."

The guard barrels through the door, and his eyes bulge as he takes in my appearance. "The king said that you should come immediately."

Esme slips the emerald in the fold of her skirts and glowers at the guard. Tipping her chin up, she slaps the man's arm, quick as a snake. "She needs a minute to change, you brute! Do you want me to tell the king you dragged his unmarried daughter out of her room in her undergarments?"

The guard shrinks at the reproach. "No, Ma'am."

I change and hurry downstairs, the flustered guard keeping a respectful distance on my heels.

"You asked for me, Father?"

His gaze darts over to me for the first time in what feels like months. "Where were you?"

I open my mouth to speak, but I'm missing some crucial information.

"You were in Faerie, weren't you? You sneaked out of your own free will. You've shamed yourself, and me," he adds with a defeated sigh.

I guess it doesn't matter what I did or didn't do because he doesn't control me anymore, and that's the real problem.

"He corrupted you, just like I knew he would." He clasps his goddess talisman. "May the Mother forgive her, she was such a lovely, innocent girl," he mutters to himself before facing me again. "You, young lady, need to reflect on your choices."

The anger inside me boils over. "My choices? You dare to call them mine when you were the one who sold me out. I never asked for this!"

He jumps to his feet, and I recoil out of instinct, his voice loud enough to pierce the confines of his study. "Your mother handled the specifics, not me. And what good did it do? She didn't have a boy, and now, I have to remarry."

My brows raise in understanding. His visits to Danu… If he's about to remarry, he can't keep me around, or my magic and its Faerie association will become too obvious.

I find solace in the knowledge that his outburst is totally unrelated to my growing feelings for the shadow realm and its inhabitants. It has nothing to do with Isaac's engagement, after all.

"I am to marry Danu's princess. The entire royal family will be joining us for the weddings in less than a week, and you can't be here when they arrive," he explains.

Weddings…

Danu is known for its harsh winters and harsher treatment of women, and the royal family does not deal in half-measures when it comes to alliances.

My heart beats at my temples. "And Cece is now betrothed to their oldest son…" I reach for him and stop myself at the last second. "Father, no. Please. Danu priests twist our Mother's words to excuse their barbaric ways. You can't possibly?—"

"Together, Demeter and Danu will thwart the assaults of the evil Faerie lands. I should have made this decision sooner. I shouldn't have banked on a weak, silly child to save my kingdom from demons."

Esme cracks open the servant door hidden in the tapestries, and our gazes meet, a flash of fear written across her severe features.

Father clears his throat at her arrival like he expected her to come. "Esmeralda, please join us."

Esme walks over to me, a fresh candle burning in her hand. "You sent for me, Your Highness?"

Father moves to grip her chin, and I jump at the sudden move. "You were my first mistake... I can't afford to let myself be distracted by your charms, anymore." He leers at her chest longingly and grazes her hair before spinning away with a hint of regret.

Wait. Esme…and my father?

If I can't be here when the Danu princess arrives, then his lover Esme can't, either.

He clears his throat again, and the dry noise scrapes my ears. "I saw you with your spellbooks, sorceress. I know what you were up to. You've been poisoning my daughters from the moment you set foot in this house, and you will be moved to the dungeons." He turns to me, hands tucked at his back. "And you… Are you still my daughter?"

"Yes!"

"I figured out a way to settle this once and for all. I asked the guards to move this in here." He unveils the huge golden-trimmed mirror that was in the basement and picks up a long-stemmed maillet.

My lids close, suddenly so heavy. If he breaks that mirror…

"It's a simple test. If you go through the mirror, I'll know for sure that you're no longer my daughter. If you don't, then you will stay away from your sister until this wretched Fae matter is resolved. Win the bet, and you'll be sent to the temple to become a priestess, and maybe then I'll allow you to see her again."

"Father. Please." My stomach clenches in a violent squeeze, and I hold an arm across my body.

The emerald and gold mask is heavy in my skirt's pocket. If I leave now, he'll never trust me again, but if I stay, there's no guarantee I can stop this wretched wedding from happening…

His eyes narrow, and he stalks forward. Under his cold, empty stare, I'm no longer his daughter, but something less-than. Something ruined. "But if you let the Shadow King defile my kingdom, your sister will never set eyes on you again. And I'll make sure she pays the price for your disgrace."

"How could you say that?" Cece squeaks from the dark corner of the room, standing behind a museum crate I hadn't looked twice at, and my eyes bulge.

By the Mother! Was she there all along? Did she sneak in behind me?

Father reels at her arrival, his cheeks flustered with a deep red hue, and his perfectly rehearsed manners are quickly replaced by the drunken mumblings of a confused man. "Cecelia, go back to your room at once! How dare you?—"

He wraps a hand around her upper arm and attempts to push her out of the room, but she escapes his grip at the last second. He gives chase and ends up flat on his ass by the door. "Come back here!"

He struggles to stand, his movements heavily impaired by the booze.

Esme pulls on my elbow. "Now, Penelope. This is our chance."

I dig the balls of my feet into the carpet as Cece runs back over to us. She grabs my arm, her blue eyes full of unshed tears. "Nell, don't go."

Esme slips inside the glass and makes her escape, and I don't blame her, really, but I couldn't leave without saying goodbye.

My voice cracks in a million little shards as I squeeze Cece's hand. "I love you, Cece."

"Nell! Nell! Take me with you."

My heart practically booms out of my chest. Cece wrangles her hands in front of her as though she's about to kneel down to pray, her immense hope burning brighter than the sun.

Regrets drag down my chest, and if there's still blood in my veins, it's as cold and still as a dead horse in a frozen field.

"I can't."

There. The words that have been haunting me ever since I set foot in Faerie. Disappointment and betrayal twist Cece's lips, and guilt numbs my body.

Father grabs her by the arm and holds her away from me. "Go now, and never come back."

I concentrate on Cece. "I'll see you soon. I promise." I look down at my emerald mask, and my knuckles turn white.

There's no doubt, now. The princess mask is the one I need to break.

With a newfound resolve, I vanish through the mirror. The quill and ink in my skirts allow me to draw the correct runes on my arms, the process a little more complex in the midst of the sceawere, but not impossible. The bite of Faerie's maze of glass frosts my eyelashes as I draw "Fae" and "heart" and "flame" to reach One directly.

I've heard enough excuses. I need to know the stakes of the bet and figure out how to save Cece from a marriage she never wanted, hopefully without condemning my country to some wretched fate.

When I step out of the mirror, my dark Fae is alone in the gym, the string of his golden bow drawn.

"Good evening," I say quickly.

His shadow arrow runs straight through the closest mannequin, and a shiver quakes me from head to toe. Judging by the dark and desperate look on his face, he's not happy with me.

"You pleaded with me to help us, and then took off without a word…"

The icy pool of hurt brimming through his voice sparks a hot line of shame along my spine.

My throat bobs. I wish I could kiss him and cower inside his arms, but the time for hushed confessions and illicit affairs has passed. I need to petition the king for Cece's freedom so he gives me permission to bring her here. And I'll give him whatever he wants in return.

"I need to see him." One's eyes narrow, and I stand a little taller and tip my chin up to make him understand I won't take no for an answer. "Take me to the Shadow King."

He opens his mouth like he's about to argue or turn me down, but his shoulders hunch, and he finally nods. His regal-looking bow vanishes into thin air, and the shadows around him thicken. "You're right. It's time."