No Promises, page 31
I searched the room until I found my phone. Iliana, or one of her subordinates, had placed it in one of those wooden boxes like the one they had pulled the cuffs out of last night. The box had some kind of magical shielding on it—my fingers tingled when I touched it. But it didn’t seem to have had any effect on my phone. If anything, it had made the battery last longer—it was still almost fully charged.
With one eye on the door—no one had come looking for Iliana yet, but I knew better than to trust that my luck would continue indefinitely—I gave a quick call to Skye, letting her know where I was and that I was all right. Vicantha had made it back. I could hear her in the background, demanding to know what had happened and where I had been. I hung up without giving her an answer. There would be time for that later. For now, I needed to get out of there.
Disposing of the body took me longer than I would have preferred. I had planned to scrub the blood off the floor when I was done, to make sure I didn’t leave any evidence behind. But I reconsidered when I took another look at the state of the barbed wire. There was no way I would be able to clean that, and Arkanica could take a sample of my blood from the wire as easily as from the floor. Not to mention, the fae at the park last night had all gotten a good look at my face. Chances were at least one of them could put a name to it. Which meant they would know who was responsible for what had happened here, no matter how hard I tried to scrub away my sins.
So I left the room the way it was. Hopefully the lack of a body would make them waste some time searching for the Lady of the Balance. Aside from that, I would just have to make sure I took care of Arkanica before they could come after me again. For now, with Iliana’s body safely buried, I hurried back to the bed and breakfast.
It didn’t take me long to get back. Iliana’s hideaway, no matter how remote it looked from inside, was just a few minutes off the highway that led to Hawthorne. I had discovered that when I had searched for a place to hide her body. She had helpfully left her car parked in the driveway, too—a new model, the kind that was more plastic and aluminum than steel. But I didn’t want to make it any easier for Arkanica to find us by driving it back to the bed and breakfast. I took a cab instead, and pretended I didn’t notice when the cabdriver’s eyes lingered questioningly on the shredded and bloodstained sleeves of my shirt.
Back in the room, Skye and Vicantha weren’t nearly as shy about staring. I tucked my arms behind my back as I summarized the events of the past few hours and explained what I had learned. I left out most of the gore, but Skye still looked sick.
Vicantha, on the other hand, just looked angrier and angrier with every word I spoke.
After a few minutes of watching her face darken, I subtly shifted until I was between her and the door. But this time, she didn’t try to leave. Or go for her daggers, or say anything about taking revenge on the humans of Hawthorne.
It took me a moment, after my explanation was done, to figure out that was because she wasn’t angry with the humans this time.
“They sold us out.” Vicantha was a statue in the center of the room, fury etched into every line of her body. Her lips were the only part of her that moved. “The Summer Court sold us out.”
“What she said about climate change—is it true?” I asked, although I knew it had to be. Not only did it make sense, but she couldn’t have lied to me. The only way she could have given me false information was if she had misunderstood the situation, and I doubted that was the case. But I asked anyway, because it meant delaying the moment when we would have to figure out what to do next. “Is it a problem for Faerie?”
It took Vicantha a moment to pull herself out of her anger long enough to answer. “We’ve been noticing small effects for some time now. The snow no longer falls year-round in yeti territory, making them range farther for food. Winter lost a couple of small villages that way, before Mab sent in her soldiers to take care of the problem. The kraken have been restless—the undine ambassador keeps asking Mab to do something to drive them back. But that’s never been my area of expertise. I didn’t know it had reached the point where Faerie itself was threatened.”
“Then you don’t know what plan Mab has for dealing with it?”
Vicantha shook her head. “I told you, not my area. But why is this relevant right now? Summer is the issue here.”
“I’m wondering if it has anything to do with why she sent those agents here, centuries after Faerie officially sealed itself off from this world.”
Vicantha’s brow furrowed. “That explanation is… plausible,” she finally said. A deeper anger, one tinged with hurt, flashed in her eyes—but only for a second. “Whatever her reasons, I intend to uncover them. But that’s a question for another time. For now, are you certain the Lady of the Balance is dead?”
I remembered the long, slow process of getting her to that point, and shuddered. “Yes,” was all I said aloud.
“Then we only have one thing left to do,” said Vicantha. “Destroy Arkanica, and make sure their work can never continue.”
“Agreed,” I said. “And the sooner the better. They probably already know something is wrong, with the Lady of the Balance gone missing. The question is how we’re going to do it. You saw how outmatched we were the last time we set foot in that building—and we’re no closer to a plan now than we were then.”
Vicantha frowned. “What do you mean? Now we know exactly where to strike.”
“That doesn’t do us any good if we can’t get inside.”
“We know how the scanners work now. All I need to get in is the blood in my veins.” Her eyes gleamed with a hint of what I had seen in her the night she had almost taken her revenge on the humans of Hawthorne. She rested her hands against her waist, where her daggers lay.
“But not me,” I said, before she could sink too deeply into her daydreams of vengeance. “I told you what the Lady of the Balance said. I’m the only person in this world or the other who can’t get in.” I tried not to sound bitter about that. It wasn’t easy. We had come so close, only for my blood—an unchangeable fact—to hold us back.
“Which only means *you* won’t be going in,” Vicantha said impatiently, like I was failing to keep up with her basic reasoning. “The scanner will let me through, and I’ll do what I came to this world to do. The two of you can go back home. You’ve helped all you can.”
I strode across the room to stand in front of the door, as if Vicantha were ready to push past me right then and march straight to Arkanica. For all I knew, maybe she was.
Vicantha tilted her head in confusion. “Your work is finished. In a few short hours, your human will be safe. And once I’ve returned to my world, I’ll follow through on my promise. I would have thought you would be pleased.”
“Pleased?” I pressed my aching arms back against the door. “This is my fight now. You dragged me into it. I bled for it; I *died* for it. Now you want me to go home, while you try to take on all of Arkanica by yourself?”
“Not all of Arkanica. Only the bottom floor. If you’re concerned that I’ll die before I have a chance to plead your case to Mab, I can send a message home before I go.”
“You forced me to help you. Then you wanted me to stay badly enough to bribe me into doing it. It’s too late to change your mind.” Maybe I would have been happy to take Vicantha’s offer if Arkanica hadn’t killed me. Or if I hadn’t been forced to do what I had done to the Lady of the Balance in the name of Vicantha’s cause. But even if I believed Vicantha could do this on her own, even if I were certain Skye would be safe as soon as Vicantha walked through Arkanica’s doors, this fight had cost too much for me to walk away now.
“I didn’t change my mind,” said Vicantha. “You served your purpose, and did it well. You have my gratitude. And my respect.”
As if either of those meant anything, next to the possibility of her dying in that iron room while Arkanica continued to do their work and Skye remained in danger. “I said I would walk away until Skye didn’t need protection anymore. She won’t let go of this until Arkanica is gone for good. That means I’m not going anywhere.”
“And when did she say that?” asked Vicantha. “Was it before she learned my true feelings toward humanity? Was it before she listened to you describe torturing a fae noble to death? Ask her how she feels about the fae now. Ask her how much she wants to save us, now that she’s learned the truth.”
She turned her gaze on Skye. “Do you understand now, little girl? Have you finally accepted that we are not the creatures of your imagination, who inspire your people to believe in wonder and reward you for your faith? We are your rightful rulers, driven from our place, and those who seek to seek to use our magic for their purposes will receive only one reward—and not the one they sought. You’ve seen our true face now. So tell me—would you still risk your life to save ours, so we can take our revenge on humanity when the time is right?”
My eyes followed Vicantha to Skye. Through the whole conversation, Skye hadn’t said a word since I had first walked in the door, when she had told me she was glad I was okay and then demanded to know what had happened. Somewhere along the line, she had moved away from us to sit cross-legged on the bed. She was bent over her laptop, pretending to stare at the screen. But her hands weren’t moving on the keyboard, and I didn’t miss the way her eyes darted up to look at us before hastily dropping back down.
I wanted to go to her, but I couldn’t risk leaving the door unguarded. And after what Vicantha had said, I wasn’t so sure approaching Skye wouldn’t do more harm than good. “Is she right?” I asked, from where I was. “Are you ready to go home?”
She kept her eyes fixed on the screen, but didn’t bother pretending she hadn’t heard me. “I said I wasn’t leaving until we brought Arkanica down.”
“That was before—” I couldn’t make myself repeat Vicantha’s words. “You should go home.”
“Is Arkanica gone? No? Then I’m not leaving.” Skye snapped the laptop shut. She surged up from the bed, her eyes blazing with a fire warmer than Vicantha’s, but no less intense. I had seen that fire in Ernest’s eyes a handful of times, whenever his father or his brother had written to him and begged him to come home.
“Maybe half the fae would kill me for trying to stop Arkanica. Maybe the other half would kill me just for being human.” She shot a quick glance toward Vicantha at that. “But that doesn’t change who I am.” This time, her eyes landed on me. “Even if it did for you.”
“When you’re older,” I said, “when you’ve had a chance to see what taking up a cause will get you, you’ll understand.”
“In that case,” said Skye, “I guess I’d better hurry up and do as much good in the world as possible before that happens.” She forced a smile.
I answered with a stern glare. “If you keep going down this path, you’ll die before you get the chance. And unlike me, you won’t have the choice to start over.” My gaze softened as I studied her. Half of me wanted to make her understand, whatever it took. The other half wished I could preserve her under glass, keep her idealistic innocence intact forever, the way I hadn’t been able to do for myself.
I tore my eyes away. “Vicantha is right. You’ve done your job. You’re going home.”
Skye crossed her arms. “Go ahead—try and stop me. And then see how far you get with multiple warrants out for your arrest.” Now her smile was a weapon, aimed directly at me. “Among other things.”
I clenched my teeth. As much as I wanted to believe she was bluffing, I knew better. But at least her stubbornness made it easy to make my case to Vicantha. “You heard her. She’s not leaving. Which means neither am I.”
Vicantha answered, not with the argument I expected, but with a brisk nod. “Very well. She will help me prepare, by using your skills to make Arkanica believe I work for them. Can you do that?”
Skye nodded. “I can put you into their employee files. I can’t get you an ID, though. I don’t have the right equipment.”
“Good enough.” She turned to me. “You will stay here and keep her safe. I will handle Arkanica.”
“We’re not having this argument again.”
“You’re right. We’re not.” Vicantha’s eyes narrowed. “This is my mission. My people to protect. You don’t care about saving them. And you don’t care about the larger threat to the fae. All you care about is Skye. Isn’t that right?”
I wanted to say yes. Even though it would do nothing but strengthen Vicantha’s argument. I wanted to believe I was the person I had so badly wanted to be, the new identity I had carefully crafted for myself in the wake of the Second World War. But the memory of driving the rental car straight into the fae who had threatened Vicantha, instead of escaping to safety, was still fresh in my mind. And I hadn’t forgotten my last thought before I died. In those final seconds, I hadn’t regretted the loss of my life of luxury. I hadn’t even thought only of Skye. I had fought that last futile fight against the encroaching darkness because of the fae prisoners. Because they needed somebody to save them.
“You know it’s not,” I said through gritted teeth.
Vicantha shrugged her dismissal. “Your sickness is your own concern. If it’s finally leading you to feel guilty for your inaction, that’s too little too late, and not relevant to this problem. Whether you’ve decided you care about the fae or not, you have no way to get inside, and I don’t intend to limit my own options to accommodate your need to appease your conscience.”
“Then we’ll make another plan,” I said. “One that involves you going inside, while I do something to back you up from the outside.” I held up a hand before she could speak. “Something besides sitting here and pretending to make myself useful. Doesn’t that make more sense than cutting me loose entirely?”
“I’ve made my decision. Now move aside—I have preparations to make. Unless you would rather start a fight you can’t win, and force me to waste my strength on you instead of saving it for Arkanica.”
I didn’t move. “You would turn down a potential ally because you don’t think I care enough? What does it matter how much I care, or what my motivations are, as long as I’m doing what you need me to do?” I shook my head. “You value competence. Results. I’ve shown you I can get you those results. So why force me out now?”
For a long moment, Vicantha studied me, with an expression I couldn’t read. I thought maybe she wouldn’t answer. But then she spoke. “Because you are human,” she said quietly.
“I’m not human.”
“You share their blood. You share the world they stole. You’ve spent your entire immortal life fighting for them. Whatever else you are, son of Oberon, you are human—and humans are the enemy.”
“I have nothing to do with Arkanica. I might as well say you’re the enemy because the Lady of the Balance helped them.”
“Do not compare me to that traitor.” Vicantha’s eyes flashed. “She and those who followed her here are nothing but a handful of idealists overtaken by a brief, deadly madness. I will see to it that they die before their ideas can spread. Humanity, though… humanity has been the enemy for a very long time. Arkanica’s actions are only the latest volley in a war that spans centuries. Be grateful you’ve earned enough of my trust, and enough of my gratitude, that I’m willing to leave you at my back instead of slitting your throat before I go.”
In those last words, I could hear everything she had been keeping tamped down since I had stopped her from taking her revenge. I hadn’t known how close her anger was to the surface, even now. She was still walking that edge—and the slightest nudge could push her over.
“You don’t have a problem accepting Skye’s help,” I pointed out. “Why not mine?”
“Because I need what she can give me. Anything you can offer, I can do better for myself—especially given your current condition. Sometimes one has no choice but to trust an enemy, but I prefer to limit my trust to as few enemies as necessary.”
“So now I’m your enemy,” I said. “Funny—a few days ago, you were standing in the same position I’m in now. Blocking the door, keeping me from leaving. Because you needed my help. You were ready enough to trust me then. I would have been content to lie on the beach and watch the clouds, but you woke up the thing inside me again—the part of me that can’t see someone in danger without rushing in to protect them. Oberon’s sickness, you said. Whatever you want to call it, you can’t push me and push me until it comes back to the surface, then complain what I want to do what it demands.”
“Which brings up an interesting question.” Vicantha gave me a thin, satisfied smile, like she had won a battle I hadn’t known we were fighting. “Do *you* want to save those prisoners and stop Arkanica? Do you even care about protecting Skye? Or is it only a compulsion you’ve inherited from your father?”
I open my mouth—and paused.
Inside my mind, some part of me shouted that of course it was who I was. The rest of me knew better. I had seen too much of the humans, and too much of the fae, to think they were worth protecting. A long time ago, maybe I had been that hero. Now, though? Now I was willing to believe it really was a sickness that lived in my blood. When I looked at Skye, I had no way of knowing whether it was my fond memories of Ernest that drove me to protect the granddaughter of the man who had killed me, or whether the magic in my blood was twisting my thoughts, even with the steel watch fastened securely around my wrist.
Vicantha read my answer in my expression. “I’m doing you a favor,” she said, more gently than I would have expected. “You don’t want this—not really. Stay here. Protect the human girl for as long as you feel is necessary. Then return to your life of luxury, and forget.”
