“Indeed!”
Her knees buckled.
She’d closed her eyes, and when she tried to reopen them, everything was dark and blurry. The only clear figure was the shell of Hywell. Her hair whipped around her face as if she’d been caught in a vortex, and she couldn’t decipher from the indistinct shapes around her if the wind impacted the inn or anyone else. A sudden pressure gripped her shoulder—the firm squeeze of an invisible hand. It grounded her, and she leaned into it.
“You agreed to a meeting,” she roared, bracing herself against the wind. “That is all I’ve ever owed you, and you’re not here!”
Adeep chuckle spread into the marrow of her bones, nothing like the mirthful giggles from their first meeting in Cinderfell. “Careful, queenie. I agreed to release you and your friends once. We arestillcontracted by our bargain. Next time, you won’t be so lucky.”
“You called me a thief,” she spat. “I haven’t stolen anything.”
“No, this debt is generational.” There it was, the faerie and his riddles. “One you will end.”
Another deal, when she hadn’t even completed the first. Another to trap her into another debt.
“Tell me what I owe you,” she shouted against the wind.
“Don’t you dare promise him anything,” came Garin’s voice, an echoing growl in her ear.
They’d planned on having Kestrel sign tonight, to have every party sign, but especially him. It was a clause inhisdeal they’d struck in Cinderfell.Why the change of heart?
Did this annul his bargain, or was there still the threat of Garin’s urge to kill her over their heads?
A sick dread coursed through her. Lilac thought of Garin, the way Kestrel’s power had possessed him before she began her accession ceremony. “I need your signature. We can’t do this without you.”
No answer.
She couldn’t see the bar now, the tavern, or anyone else in her periphery, but could sense Garin’s presence nearby. “Tell me you will sign, or I will never return whatever it is you’re asking.”
“A threat.” Hywell’s mouth finally cracked wide, his teeth gnashing together in an unholy grin. “Plucky little thing when you’ve got all your friends by your side, aren’t you? Your promises in Cinderfell reeked of selfish resolve. I don’t know that you would have decided to draw a set of Accords concerning the Daemons if it weren’t for your vampire.”
A pang of guilt resounded in her chest. She thought of all the harm her father had done, the unjust beliefs her family had upheld. “He helped me realize the changes that needed to be made. I would have eventually come to the same conclusion.”
“Would you? Without the Trevelyan boy’s ravenous affection for you?” He leaned forward and she tried to retreat, but her feet wouldn’t move. “Without the threat of him tearing your throat out?”
Sherefused to answer, seething. Garin’s presence glared over her shoulder.
“You kept your word for the first half of our bargain thus far. You successfully ascended the throne and your coronation ball looms in just under a fortnight. Keep what was stolen, as a prize.”
Stolen?Debt?But he hadn’t told her what it was. “What did my family steal from you, Kestrel? Land? Jewels? Weapons? You can have them, just tell me?—”
“After careful consideration, I have decided it may prove more useful to me in your hands. Yet the debt remains, and Iwilltell you,” he said, an impatient edge to his sing-song voice, “if you shut up and stop interrupting me.”
Lilac gritted her teeth, waiting for him to finish.
“My bluejays report the coming of the Midraal Market. The caravan has something of mine—a chest, the size of a wardrobe trunk. You’ll know it when you see it. Bring it to me unadulterated and unopened before your coronation, and our bargain will be dissolved.”
She had never heard of such a thing. Her throat burned along with her face, mind spinning. “But what of the Accords?”
“Do with them what you wish. I don’t see any parchment, any draft in your hand.”
She’d written down several issues to be addressed and planned to draft the rest with all parties present. It didn’t seem everyone had arrived yet, or chosen to attend; she didn’t think she saw anyone there to represent the warlocks. Emrys wasn’t anywhere to be found.
“I brought them. They’re in my travel bag your smoking envelope ruined,” she shot accusingly.
Hywell appeared to vibrate unpleasantly, and a choking sound could be heard from his mouth as Kestrel coughed into a laugh. “Ah, yes! That was rather clever, wasn’t it? Don’t fret, I would have jumped into the nearest mortal even if you hadn’t chosen to open it at this meeting. But I knew you’d be smart enough to wait until you were back in the presence of magic and fangs to protect you.”
That was enough. “Will you sign the Accords?” she asked, glaring into his empty sockets.
