Dark Promise by Annika West

15

“Stripping will not soften me,” I lied.

It totally would. How had he known my weakness?

Marco didn’t hesitate, and soon, he was shirtless. “I have to show you this. Maybe you’ll understand. I was always sick as a child. Jessica had the stronger genes. She never needed human medication. I was not so lucky.”

I squinted at the mark on his shoulder. It was a little clove-shaped scar. The familiar shape sparked recognition, but I couldn’t’ place why. “The hell is that?”

“Polio vaccine,” he answered.

Now this made sense.

They were definitely from Earth.

That crossed out the theory that they were Faery-bred Cuts that Adair was using to sway my formidable will.

Marco explained, “I was on Earth until my twenty-third year. Even though no immortality triggered within me, I did develop a slight affinity with animals. I thought it was all in my head until I made a tiger at the San Diego Zoo climb the enclosure cage and cuddle with me. It had been all over the papers and news stations. It was impossible to ignore, and the fae hounds noticed instantly. They kidnapped us the day after.”

Again with these hounds. One of them had been on my trail in Los Angeles, too. But who do they work for? The other courts?

Jessica’s voice choked when she said, “We haven’t seen our parents, our siblings, for sixteen years.”

I threw my hands up. “Adair, you fucktard! You can send an employee to get me a damn cake pop on Earth, but you can’t let them visit their parents?”

Jessica touched my arm, her smile full of regret and sadness. “It is not his doing. We were captured by Summer Hounds and chained by the Summer Court. Summer and Autumn still participate in the old barbaric practices, and they force all halflings to make a blood oath promising to never return to Earth. Even if Adair led us through a portal himself, we’d die.”

Marco added, “And I’d never allow my family to visit us here. None who I love will ever step foot in this realm. Even under Adair’s protection…”

His eyes grew cloudy, his pupils only tiny dots of terror. “They can’t come here. Not even to this Spring Court. I would rather die than risk that.”

“Jeez. Dramatic.” The words flew out of my mouth, and I clapped a hand over my stupid lips. “Sorry.”

Marco glared, but Jessica just chuckled. “I’m sure it seems dramatic from someone who has not known our pain. We couldn’t possibly expect you to understand.”

“So what’s the solution?” I asked.

The siblings looked at each other. “Well, Lord Adair cannot purchase all of the halflings. I mean, he could afford to. But the Summer Court will not allow it. It will mean losing a large portion of their free workforce. The economy would suffer too much.”

Marco nodded and added, “Wars would only mean more of our kind dying. We’re not the strongest species in the world, as you know. And no immortal fae wants to die for our sake.”

“What’s going to make this stop?” I demanded.

“Earth needs to know. In no uncertain terms. The only reason why Faery has been getting away with the kidnapping and their barbaric laws is because they’ve been doing it without the network of Councils realizing. As far as the Councils know, half-fae Cuts don’t exist at all.”

“I could tell them.” The moment I said it, I understood the idiocy. No way would a Council take my word on such a huge problem.

I held up a hand before anyone could tell me the obvious. “Alright, alright. Earth needs to know. What else?”

Jessica said, “Well, we’d need to be released from our blood oaths. The Councils might be able to force Faery to abolish their kidnapping policies, but they can’t force anyone to revoke blood oaths. Autumn and Summer Court leaders will have to agree to do it. They must release the magic themselves.”

“And to do that, we need leverage.”

“Leverage,” Adair agreed, speaking up for the first time in a while. He rested his arm over my shoulders.

I swatted it away, much to the horror of my fellow Cuts, who were looking at me like I’d just dropped my pants to reveal a pair of alien dicks.

Adair clearly didn’t take the hint because he still patted me on the head.

I swatted at him again, but he easily avoided my lightning-fast attacks.

“Leverage,” he repeated, submitting to my overwhelming power and agreeing to cross his arms. “To force their hand, we must offer something they need.”

Need. Not just ‘want’.

“When you open the portals, we will command control of them. That means we will oversee creating agreements between Earth and Faery. If the other courts wish to have a say in how our relationship with Earth changes, then they must release their halflings from all blood oaths and agree to recognize basic rights.”

Marco’s eyes gleamed with hope. “You say that like it is possible.”

“Because it is.” He touched my shoulder again.

“Do I need a taser?” I barked, smacking his hand away. “Because I could probably get one. I know people.”

Adair ignored me again and proclaimed, “This is my halfling daughter, as you likely have realized. She bears my mark. She is the key to realizing your dream.”

“Subtle with the manipulation tactics,” I grumbled.

* * *

As it turned out, Adair did not coach them to tell me anything. In fact, he didn’t coach the nearly five hundred Cuts he had employed at the court, the court grounds, and the neighboring town.

I talked to way too many people to be legal. By the end of the day, my tongue was numb as hell. My head hurt. I needed straight sugar-water to function.

Maybe I was part hummingbird. Maybe I was going insane.

Who could possibly know?

But one thing was certain. Adair wasn’t lying about the state of the Cuts’ lives in Faery. I reconfirmed it over and over and over.

I also learned that many immortal fae Cuts had a funny little detail I hadn’t expected.

Fae ears.

Not fully pointed like a full-blood fae, but about half as noticeable.

That confirmed yet another detail. Since I’ve never before seen ears like that on Earth, those people had been kidnapped when their ears came in.

Or before, if they had any noticeable fae powers.

Damn.

As I engulfed half of the dinnertime food table, much to the horror of all Adair’s staff, I realized I had no choice in the matter.

I had to save Faery and all the Cuts trapped here.