“Most,” I admit. “Most fae in this realm hate me for my past deeds, and I don’t blame them. But that doesn’t mean that my motives now are not pure. There is much the realm doesn’t know. Most don’t know about the monsters stalking them.”
“Monsters?”
I bite my lip, eyes still pressed closed, and take another tentative step forward. Cool waves clang into my shins, chilling me and knocking me off balance. “They’re like you,” I tell him, “but I’m hoping you have more empathy. From the stories I’ve heard, you would not be befitting of the term beast, or monster, or nightmare, as I’ve always called my enemy.”
“Your enemy.” The king breathes, like the swish of waves.
“He’s an ancient.”
The water stills at my feet. “How did you, child of the fae, become the enemy of an ancient?” His voice is low. He is dubious but curious.
“When I was an adolescent, I... I made a mistake. I disobeyed my parents and ran away into a set of tunnels where I believed I would find my freedom. Instead, I found him. The Night Bringer.”
“Night Bringer,” the king’s powerful voice repeats slowly, tasting the word.
“Do you recognize the name?”
Water washing over my feet is his only response.
“He trapped me. Tortured me. And forced me into a bargain.”
The sound of a clicking tongue makes me pause. “You cannot be forced into a bargain.”
“No,” I whisper. “But you can be coerced into one. I was given a choice—live a long life full of agonizing pain—pain he ensured I felt plenty of before my decision—or agree to the bargain.” The hair on my arms stands up straight as I recount my worst moments. The decision that haunts me, even now. The pain and fear that brought me to make it. “He had me in his grasp,” I say, voice growing quieter and quieter. My breath quivers. “This was my only way out. Sometimes, I hate myself for making that choice. But I did, I agreed to kill one fae I’d never met to earn my freedom.”
“You killed an innocent fae to spare yourself.”
“I agreed to those terms, yes. But what happened... was more complicated. I was given instructions on who to kill, but he was never named. I was misled. I was told to kill the youngest heir of the Luminescent Court king. I went to a ball and met Rev, the youngest Luminescent Court Prince. And if I had killed the fae prince the Night Bringer led me to believe was the target, not only would I have killed an innocent—my fated mate—but I would have failed the bargain and become this monster’s eternal slave. Because Rev is not truly the Luminescent King’s heir. He is not his son. The game would have ended there, and I would have freed the Night Bringer and his mate without any ability to protest. But when I met Rev, I couldn’t do it. Instead, I stalled, and by luck or sheer stubbornness, I uncovered the twist in his bargain, and I instead killed another. The true target of the bargain.”
The water at my feet freezes, stilling.
“Reahgan, Rev’s brother. He was not innocent. He was not good. And I do not regret his death.”
The water rushes again, rising to my knees, growing in power. “You mean to tell me, child, that you have come here to convince me to give you my aid by telling me the story of how you killed your mate’s brother to save your own skin?”
“No,” I whisper. Breath trembles from my lungs and refuses to return. “The story I’m telling isn’t about me. It’s about the enemy I am requesting that you help me defeat. I have never believed myself to be a hero. And you might think my story makes me a terrible person; I don’t think I could disagree with you. But Reveln knows all of it, yet he still loves me. Still chooses me. I don’t always understand why, but it has to mean something, right?”
The king does not respond.
“But the monster that put me in that position to begin with—the monster that plotted to enslave me and use me for his own evil—he must be dealt with, no matter the cost.”
“I require a sacrifice,” the king growls.
“I said no matter the cost,” I say through gritted teeth.
The water retreats quickly, sucking at my feet. I nearly lose my balance.
“And you want me to kill this monster for you?”
“This monster is a common enemy,” I tell him. “I don’t know what name you knew him as before. But he was once the ancient of the Shadow realm.”
A growl reverberates from the still retreating waters.
“He and his mate were among those responsible for the conflict that led to your slumber.” My bag trembles on my back, as if terror has taken over the spell book.
The Light King’s growl turns into the deafening roar of a colossal wave rising over me. I cower before the power that’s ready to end me here and now. Am I wonder, if it will all be for nothing. If I fell into the same damn trap as when I was a child. Tears sting my eyes as I think about Rev.
It will destroy me. I curl into a ball, shaking as my end finally greets me.
