14. Aldrin

Chapter 14

Aldrin

H orror runs through me as I stare at the brave and strong woman before me. Keira fought every step of the way like a creature of the shadows, and now I know why.

This whole time, she thought she was a slave captured by an enemy force. That I was going to force her to - the thought is too confronting.

How many warriors would have been crushed under the weight of those circumstances? And here she is, still battling for her freedom. This is a woman I could respect.

A deep sadness fills me at what the humans clearly think of us. What she thought of me.

I am at a loss on how to gain her trust, until a terrible idea comes to me. Completely foolish, really.

“I will pledge a blood oath to you, Keira,” I say with as much grandiose as I can muster. She raises mocking eyebrows at me. “I will never hold you against your will, enslave you, make you a prisoner or a forced consort. This oath will stand as long as I live.”

I pull a knife from its sheath at my waist and slice it across my palm.

Glittering spheres of white lights gently float up from my outstretched hand, hovering above our heads, then shattering into hundreds of fragments and raining down on both of us. A tinkling sound fills the air like the ringing of a hundred tiny bells.

Keria places out a hand and catches the sparkles on her palm. They absorb into her skin, lighting up the flesh for a single moment.

The roots that bind her at my command slacken completely, falling to drape across her hips and legs. I can never restrict her like this again.

Not unless she wants to be tied up beneath me.

The image flashes in my mind. Her arms tied to the posts of my bed and her stunning eyes hooded with hunger as they stare into mine. A light flush over her freckled cheeks and lips parted as rough breaths escape them, as I hover over her.

I blink hard to return to the present.

“Yet, here I am, bound up by your power for a second time. I’m starting to think you enjoy tying up vulnerable women.” The smirk that forms on her lips is absolutely wicked.

I am a fool for not taking an oath to her earlier. For not proving to her she is safe with me. If only she knew what I have endured because of my respect for humans.

I grin stupidly and lazily retract the roots.

“Wait. Let me try.” Keira’s brow furrows and sparks of light flow through her hair, lighting up the red, orange, and gold strands. Interesting. There is a lot this little human is not telling me. The tree’s roots are whole one moment, and turn to dust the next, the particles holding the original shape for a heartbeat, then floating away into moats.

Keira sighs. “My magic is different here. Stronger. I’ve never done anything like this before.”

It is autumn magic. The command over elemental wind, fire, and earth magic to destroy and sow back into the ground. It is the opposite of my earth magic of spring, creation, and growth.

I hold out a hand to guide her over the broken ground and she takes it.

Actually allows me to touch her this time.

The skin of her fingers are soft and pale, and her nails are well-shaped and clean. These are not the hands of a laborer. I try to ignore the weary, measured look she gives me and the fact that she pulls away from me the moment her feet are on level ground.

I analyze her from the corner of my eye. The regal straightness of her back, the fact she holds my eye when she argues with me, rather than showing the subservience of a peasant. She has a light scattering of freckles on her face that would intensify if she worked under the sun.

And she is incredibly well articulated.

Keira is no commoner who accidentally crossed into my realm while foraging for berries.

Nor is she a druid, the only humans who seem to cross between worlds with regularity anymore. Not with her level of ignorance.

I have to find out her story, and I know I will not like it.

I lead Keira back toward the camp, Drake and Silvan following behind but giving us space. When Keira turns to me, head slightly cocked to the side, there is an analyzing look in her eyes. I become caught in them and suddenly there is nothing else in the world. The night retracts to only the two of us.

“You keep defending your ancestors.” A frown deepens on her face. “Saying my history books have been corrupted, but what if your histories are wrong?”

I let out a long-suffering sign. I had been enjoying the few minutes of peace between us. “Tell me, please, what do humans say of the fae?”

She bites on one of those perfect, rosebud lips. “The lower fae are devious and wild. They are as likely to attack a human as they are to bring her to their wild parties in meadows and make her a lover.”

“Is that why humans come here, to take a lover?” I feign a laugh, but it is a very real question.

Keira laughs. “No. No, of course not. The reputation of this realm has a certain appeal. Of beautiful fae with wings and colorful skin, lavishing attention on a girl and taking her to festivals where she can enjoy herself with complete abandon. Of absolute freedom. This realm is enchanted compared to ours. There is wondrous magic everywhere. Human women are expected to behave, to cover up and hide any aspect of her sexuality. To get married, have children, then die. Here, a woman could be something else, whatever she wants.”

There is such longing in her voice, I wonder if she too were trapped back in her realm.

“And the high fae?” I ask, as we approach a denser part of the woods, lighting more orbs to illuminate our way.

I have very, very little fire magic, left over from a distant Summer Court ancestor, but these are simple tricks.

The smile fades from her lips and the space between us suddenly widens as though she remembers I am some terrible predator. It only twists a dagger in my heart a little.

“The high fae are known for kidnapping our women. For taking them to bear their children, because fae women are near barren.” She shoots a nervous, apologetic glance at me. “That a human should avoid high fae at all costs or be used and destroyed by them. That wars are fought between courts over the possession of a single human woman.”

Tension coils through me at her revelations. I knew we would have to break prejudices within the human world, but I didn’t think they would be this bad.

“The threat we pose to your kind is that dire, and yet still you choose to wander into my realm?” I muse.

“I didn’t—” Keira turns abruptly to face me and almost walks straight into a low-hanging branch. I reach out and lift the thin limb before it can strike her, bringing our bodies close for a fraction of time. Keira doesn’t flinch away and it makes something swell within me.

“And do we eat our own babies as well?” I ask in a perfectly innocent tone. “Or are we supposed to kidnap human children to eat? I need to know how I should behave.”

Keira shoots me a dark look.

I shake my head. “Do you realize this is the most common propaganda monarchs use to turn their people against a perceived enemy? Stealing brides and babies? ”

“Do you know what every single fae does in this court?” She throws at me. “Are you aware of their every action in other courts? Can you guarantee that a high fae has never hurt a human woman? Never tried to keep her against her will? Kidnapped a plaything?”

“Well, no.” I rear away from her intensity.

“These sorts of stories come from somewhere.” Keira picks up her pace and stomps through the woods ahead of me.

“It is not a systemic issue,” I call after her, then speed up so I am walking next to her. “It’s not normal fae behavior and would not go unpunished. That is the difference. It sickens me that humans think all high fae indulge in violence and rape and slavery.”

Keira stops abruptly and we glare at each other. Her lips work but no sounds come out.

There are cracks in her anger, as though the rationality of my words get through to her.

I chance taking a step closer. “Think about it, Keira. Do you not have criminals in your realm? It doesn’t mean all humans are corrupt. What do the druids say to your people? Do they counter these lies?”

“The druids?” Confusion crosses her face.

I nod. “They are the only humans who cross between realms every alignment, and who truly know us fae. There are communities of them in each court. I have visited their city here in the Spring Court. They could tell you that your histories are full of lies. That their females aren’t harassed.”

Keira stares at me for a long moment. “Their order is incredibly secretive. The masses don’t even know druids still live in this realm. I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t even share information between their fractions.”

Disgust fills me. These people allowed hatred and fear to fester in their realm, without bringing the truth to light. We walk at a slow pace, and I grind my teeth. A glower forms on my face as I stare at the darkness ahead.

“So they allowed prejudice to grow,” I say finally. “And they become complicit in their silence.”

Keira gives me a sidelong glance, delicately lifting herself up over a fallen log. “I once found a book in our library of court transcripts that were a couple hundred years old. Multiple druids were burnt at the stake for contradicting the known history of the Great Fae War. For trying to disband what you claim to be lies.

“They were charged with treachery, abuse of their position of power, and for conspiring with the enemy. Maybe they decided their version of the truth wasn’t worth their lives, especially when no one else was getting hurt.”

I raise my eyebrows at her. “A peasant girl who forages for berries can read? Has access to a library and the time to go through old court documents?”

A blush blooms across her cheeks. “All people are given the opportunity to learn to read where I am from.”

My smirk widens. She is becoming more and more interesting.

“Well, what do the fae think of humans?” She shoots me a hard glance. “Cyprien accused you of a crime when he thought you had opened the portal.”

“It’s not what we think, it's what we know,” I venture, then realize how arrogant that must sound. “The portals between worlds were once permanently kept open, so humans and fae could pass through the checkpoints at will, and people of both races lived in both realms.”

“Yes, and the fae high lords stole half of our kingdom, becoming our rulers.” Keira doesn’t miss a beat.

“Not exactly. A fae could not own land in the human realm. But some married a human and became custodian of their land when their spouse died and their children were too young to rule over the land. Some did this for many generations of their family, stepping in whenever they were needed. I cannot imagine the trauma of outliving so many loved ones.”

I shake my head, but quickly press on before she can interrupt. “A black market rose in the trade of “magical flesh”. Vulnerable fae were hunted and slaughtered, so humans with little of their own magic could consume our bodies and steal what was ours. The human kings did nothing to stop this trade, some even indulged in it. Evidence of the practice was clear, when a king who had no magic suddenly showed new abilities.

“When we fae decided to protect ourselves and created a warrior band that tracked down and destroyed the human traders, war broke out between the realms. It was we fae who closed the gates and knocked them out of alignment, so it would be very difficult for humans to travel here.”

Keira gives me a disbelieving glare.

“We could open the portals again if we wished, but it is a crime,” I say. “You see, many of us believe humans slip into our lands to hunt our lower fae to continue the ancient black market flesh trade. That they steal our babies when they prey on our males for their seed and return home with a child in their belly.”

A darkness crosses Keira’s face and for a moment I think she is going to be sick. “And what do you believe?” she almost whispers.

“I believe it. The perfect society doesn’t exist. A people where every single one of them are good and just. It’s not possible.” My boots crunch over frost dusted across the wild grasses, but I hardly feel the cold. I pull aside the broad fronds of a fern to allow Keira to pass.

“There are humans who would march an army on us to slaughter every fae to remove the threat we pose and steal every drop of our magic,” I continue. “There are fae who would occupy human lands, hoard their resources and enslave their people. I am sure there were fae lords who abused their custodianship when our realms were connected. A system of laws and consequences is needed that makes corrupt individuals accountable. To ensure no race gets away with exploiting the other. Keeping the realms apart is not the answer. We both suffer from it.”

“And this is what you are fighting for?” she utters, those huge, pretty eyes gazing up at me. Something changes in her expression. Like she finally hears me.

“One of many things, yes.” I soften from looking at her.

A silence stretches out between us as she chews on my words. It is peaceful. The silvery moonlight casts the forest in soft hues and the chilled air swirls around us in a gentle breeze, carrying the scent of disturbed soil and bruised leaves. Puka skitter in the branches high above our heads, the mostly nocturnal low fae only visible as small blurs of black fur and huge ears fleeing our approach.

“Tell me,” Keira says softly. “Why are you so sure that my histories are corrupted but yours are accurate?”

I scratch at the stubble on my face. “Because we don’t only write our histories in books. We extract a copy of the memories from people who lived through the events, seal them with magic and preserve them in libraries. Anyone can view it.”

“Memories are tainted with the bias of the people they belong to. You preserve the prejudice of those fae as well.” She throws me a hard look.

“Yes, we do, but it doesn’t mean their experience is any less authentic. Our Living Memory Scrolls cannot be tampered with later. They are experiences seen, heard, tasted, and felt firsthand.”

“A snippet can be taken out of context,” she snaps. I don’t understand why she is fighting me on this.

“Often, dozens of memories are preserved after a significant event,” I counter and Keira opens her mouth, but I throw my hands up in the air. “Perhaps you need to view the Living Memory Scrolls before you can judge if they are valid or not.”

“Perhaps I will.” She shoots off through the brush ahead of me.

“Are you normally this argumentative?” I call out.

“No. People normally find me quite agreeable.” She slaps foliage out of her way with exaggerated aggression. “But people don’t often villainize my entire race.”

“Villainize?” My voice pitches high in my shock. “But you said - but I - you're trying to get under my skin now.”

She laughs at my reaction, but then her face turns somber. “Are you going to get into trouble for fraternizing with humans?”

This woman makes my head spin. The track splits and she walks in the wrong direction. I grab her elbow and pull her toward me, onto the correct path.

“You have no idea of the grief I have suffered for being sympathetic to humans,” I say. “I suspect it’s why Cyprien was surveilling me, to make sure I was behaving - which I was. Your timing was very unfortunate for me.”

“Are you some sort of rogue party?” Her eyebrows crease into a frown.

I exhale, long and slow. “You could say that. Exiled. To the wildlands. We cannot step foot into the capital city unless summoned.”

“Is that why you were fighting Cyprien? There was so much anger between the two of you.”

A flash of red-hot anger boils within me at the thought of the man. “Cyprien is a fool. A blind, rash fool.” Bitter betrayal floods through me. “We are enemies because he killed my sister.”

Keira stops suddenly and stares at me, stunned. I almost crash into her. The blood drains from her face and her skin turns deathly pale. “And now he has my sister.”

Unshed tears glaze her eyes and her hands start to tremble.

“No,” I say, wiping a tear that escapes her eye with my thumb. “No, it’s not like that. He is not a cruel man, just stupid.”

Keira angles her whole body away from me, as though she remembered I am a monstrous high fae. It hurts more than it should.

“I will make that bargain with you, Aldrin.” Her entire countenance is cold once more. “I want my sister freed from Cyprien, but I will not return to the human realm until I am ready to leave. I have hardly experienced this realm.”

A distance opens up between us and all I want to do is close it back up again. I don’t want her to leave either. I have a feeling I am going to need her.

“A bargain.” I hold out my arm to her. “I will help you release Caitlin from Cyprian’s capture. Once your sister is free, you will tell me your story and why you traveled to this realm when I ask for it.”

Keira takes my hand. “It is a bargain.”

I slide my palm up her wrist, so that we grasp arms instead, then shake it firmly twice. Thick ribbons of bright white magic wrap around our clasped arms, tying them together with multiple loops. They feel like silk brushing against my skin, warm like a ray of hot sunlight on a cold day. My skin tingles where it meets with Keira’s .

The glow of the magic dissipates, with silvery loops etched into the skin of our wrists in matching tattoos. Keira looks down at it, then up at me, with horror growing on her face. Those pink lips part in shock as she struggles to speak.

“Don’t fret,” I brush away the strands of curling red hair that fall across her face. “A fae bargain isn't the horrendous thing I am sure you have been warned about. They are our most valuable currency. The only one that binds a person to their word.”

I scan her face, tipped up at me, large doe eyes wide. It is an effort to keep my hands at my side, when I want to grab her chin and turn her face from side to side, so I can inspect every detail of her beauty. I want to brush those lips with my own, to see how they would taste. If they are as soft and supple as they look.

Perhaps this is why only young, beautiful women wander into this realm; because we fae find them so irresistibly beautiful. So delicate and fleeting.

Her chest heaves. My hand somehow clutches her wrist, and I lift it to examine the markings of the bargain there. Her creamy flesh is pale and iridescent compared to the tan my own. Smooth, where mine is full of calluses from years of handling weapons.

Keira doesn’t pull away from me, but I let go of her anyway. “We will leave in the morning. I expect to find Cyprien by nightfall.”

I am almost certain I know where he has set up camp. The man is far too predictable.