Dark Promise by Annika West

32

“He’s actually the worst. Caught me in a vulnerable state and convinced me to come to Faery with him. I’d just been in a fight with my supermodel boyfriend, and Adair used my sadness to coerce me into an agreement.”

“A blood oath?”

“What’s that?” I asked, making sure to sound as clueless as possible.

Elona replied, “That doesn’t matter. It sounds like you’re free to go whenever you please, if you didn’t make a blood oath.”

“Really? That bastard lied to me.”

“You should really ask more questions, Earthling.”

“You’re talking like you know all the things. But do you really? Maybe you have just as crappy of a plan,” I challenged.

“We have a plan that keeps everyone safe and alive,” she shot back. “Your father wants to open the gates because that will mean he can control the gates. He will hold the keys between Faery and Earth, and that will grant him more power.”

He already told me this, idiot. And I’m not stupid.

“We are dedicated to tradition, young Aster. As such a new spirit, you haven’t seen the importance of a culture’s tradition. It keeps us alive and together. When Earth was open to us, our traditions faded. Our way of living was weakened and corrupted by the open universe. The gods abandoned us, and left our people with false gifts that see false futures. Families broke apart. Legacies faded into nothingness, and our world was shattered into factions.

“When we closed our portals, Faery was united once more. The courts have been at peace ever since, despite our differences. The Free Folk aren’t at constant war. Human children aren’t replaced by changelings any more, and the unruly species of fae are no longer wreaking havoc on Earth. This is the best way for us to be.”

“What if Faery gets destroyed?” I asked.

She scoffed. “Only the Blessed Oracle can read prophecies, and there has not been one in three thousand years. Your father’s power is a fake. Treacherous!”

“Fake?”

“Of course. Our tradition shows that only the gods and the Blessed Oracle can know the future. All other prophets are false and sent here to deliver destruction! I assume he gave you some intense story about how our world is about to be eaten alive unless we do these things? Things that will, coincidentally, give him an absurd amount of political and energetic power? Summer and Autumn both agree that opening Earth will revive our magic. But it will lead to our doom! The gods will punish us! There are safer ways. Ways that will keep Earth as it is, and Faery as it is.”

“And what does this ‘way’ look like?” I shook off the creepy feeling Elona gave me.

Oddly enough, she reminded me a lot of Willow’s culty people. Her vampire clan was so focused on the ‘chosen few’ and keeping outsiders away, relying on a lofty idea of gods and fate.

All the while, the people around them suffered.

I didn’t imagine the pain and anger in Willow when she’d talked about it. Despite her cooler-than-everyone attitude, her people caused her pain. Even still.

My blood was electric. This was the feeling I got right before I was about to impulsively do something stabby.

This woman was clearly dangerous, and I was trying to buy some time while I figured out how to escape. If she planned on killing me, I needed a plan to ensure that didn’t happen.

One thing was already certain.

My powers didn’t work here.

I’d already tried to disappear with zero luck.

In fact, it was as if my powers were completely and utterly gone.

The time to freak the fuck out was not now. Until I had a plan, I’d be busy pretending like I had everything under control.

“We open the portals, but not to Earth. Earth maintains its shield, but we release the constraints on Faery. Everyone will be safe. And after this, it will be impossible for Faery and Earth to ever connect again. We would be, in essence, severing the connection forever. That is the only way to save everyone.”

A different way to save everyone… one that wouldn’t risk letting Faery and Earth risk a weird war or invasion or something odd. Would Hux think this was a good idea too? One that was less… risky?

“What about the Cuts?” I asked. “Will you release them back onto Earth and stop trying to kidnap people with fae blood?”

She shrugged. “I’m indifferent, so I suppose that’s fine with me. And with the barrier between our worlds, it’s not like we would be risking a halfling population outside of Faery either. It’s an easy solution. The simplest one that creates the best scenario. But your father… Lord Adair would rather hold the reins on the portals. He’d rather be in charge. Be in power. He’s not satisfied with the measly court system. He wants to be a king. And how convenient for him to have such a trusting daughter to help him with his goals.”

The words did sting, but I was too pissed off and tired to really care about my own hurt feelings.

Plus… she’d agreed to release the Cuts a little too easily. I really didn’t think she was being honest about letting them all go.

I had to squeeze this woman out of every bit of information she was willing to give.

“What makes me think you have any more credibility than him?” I scoffed. “You literally just kidnapped me. You clearly don’t like Adair, so you’re very likely to say anything to get me on your side. It sounds like he’s very inconvenient for you, but I have no reason to trust you even a little. It’s your word against his.”

She held out her hand. “Let me show you.”

Damn, she really wanted to lace fingers and skip down the faery garden path, didn’t she?

Rolling my eyes and reaching out —

Electricity cracked across my skin.

A sliver of my own magic clawed its way to the surface, almost like it was fighting against an ocean of thick honey.

Do not touch her.

My instincts were screaming at me.

I snatched my hand back, dumbstruck.

Elona’s eyes dropped. She still wore that easy smile. “You little bitch.”

The scent of smoke reached my nose. Smoke? Nothing was on fire.

What the hell was that? Why did I get a terrible sense of dread when I almost touched her?

“What the hell are you doing?” I demanded.

Elona… changed. Her face elongated. Her pointy fae ears flattened against her face, and her hair rippled back into scales.

Snake.

Those slitted pupils took me in. “I need you to touch me, Aster King,” she said.

But something about those words made me pause.

She needed me to touch her.

Why couldn’t she just reach out and make contact with me?

Unless…

“This isn’t real, is it?” I asked, hands on hips. I knew I had a cocky as fuck grin on my face as I looked around.

The snake woman hissed at me. “You’re really quite annoying.”

I chuckled up at the two moons. “I have to give it to you. It’s convincing as hell. Whatever this is.”

It could be an illusion. Or, they could be suppressing my energy. Whatever they did to me, I’d find a way to break it.

Pulling into myself, I searched inside of my soul room. My magic sputtered weakly. Somewhere in here was the mechanism to break through whatever this place was. No way to tell if it was a dream or an illusion, or if they’d actually brought me over to the Autumn Court via magic.

But Elona slipped up. She’d figured that I’d found her out, and so she tipped me off that there was something to find in the first place.

“See you, leafy bitch,” I said.

I shifted dimensions.

Still, nothing happened.

Fuck.

Elona’s body was changing too. She had a nasty kind of grin on her face. “So, you really don’t know how to escape. Lucky for me, then. If you don’t agree to touch me, then I’ll just have to devour you. That’s how I can really pull you across Faery and into the Autumn Court.”

“As convenient as that sounds, travel-wise, I’m going to have to pass. But you should seriously consider opening an agency. What a convenient, cost-efficient travel process. Los Angeles should take notes from you. The traffic is just horrible. Do you like Los Angeles? Have you ever been? I’ve never been to the zoo, but I’m sure they’d love to take you as long as you don’t eat the children or threaten the children or eat me —”

Please don’t eat me. And why can’t my magic work? Think, Aster, think!

If magic isn’t working here, then that must mean I’m not here either.

I’m not here.

Hadn’t she showed me her illusion power by pretending to be Hux?

Duh.

The smell of smoke came to me again and an uncomfortable feeling on my skin. I was panting, and my heart was thundering.

Had I always been feeling like this?

I shut my eyes and pushed my power out.

I’m not here, I’m not here, I’m not here.

A dribble of saliva hit my cheek, searing my skin. The snake was going to devour me. I’d have to run if I couldn’t get myself out of this in time.

Pain lanced my forearm. I hissed and slapped my hand over it. Blood gushed out —

Darkness overtook me.

Darkness and pain.