The Changeling Soldier Page 6

  “Do you promise to release her once you have your wish?” He hoped Ella would agree. Would she look him in the eye or was he now guilty by association?

  Melody ignored him.

  “Swear you’ll let her go afterward, and I’ll do as you ask.” At least on the surface. He could play this game and win. Melody wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize her success, which meant that as long as Ella played along they had a chance.

  “Only if she doesn’t want revenge. I don’t understand why you care so much. I’m your sister. You should care more about me.”

  That was why he’d advised her that this wasn’t a good idea. But the moment she’d flipped on him, well, his sense of self-preservation overrode the love he had for her. Believing in fairies was one thing, but catching and harming one was another.

  He drew in a breath; sure he could taste the iron on the back of his throat. He didn’t like it at all. However, he had to convince Mel he was on her side until he found a way to save Ella and leave without arousing suspicion.

  “I do care, Mel.” It wasn’t a total lie. She was his sister and life after he’d gone must have left deep scars. He wanted her to get help, so she’d never hurt anyone else again, the way she was hurting Ella, and him. Mel had been the one person in his family he thought he could trust. He swallowed down the ache. He’d deal with it later. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

  Chapter Six

  Waking up had never hurt so much. Her head throbbed, she was cold and groggy and there was a weight on her legs. She moved a little, only to feel the hot sting of iron on her flesh. Ella gasped and tried to shrink and escape the pain. Nothing. The iron was stopping her from using magic, and she was too weakened by the coming winter to do much else. She sat up, carefully, so she could see how she was trapped.

  “Please don’t move.” Isaac carefully adjusted the iron so it was no longer touching her skin, but she could feel it through her clothes. Her ankles were burned despite the protection of the fabric. He was sitting next to the bed, on guard duty no doubt.

  What had happened while she was unconscious? Damn Melody to the river. She should’ve returned to Annwyn and left the ungrateful girl out of pocket and with no dress.

  But she’d expected more from Isaac. “How could you do this to me?”

  Her snarl wasn’t as effective when half reclining. However, she was sure her glare had maximum effect by the way he glanced down.

  Was he part of his sister’s plan? All part of the trick to lure her in. What a fool she’d been. She hadn’t even realized the trap had been closing around her. The Court would laugh at her stumble. If she couldn’t look after herself in the mortal world, she’d be doomed in Annwyn.

  “I didn’t.” But he wouldn’t look her in the eye.

  “You told her what I was, helped set me up.” How had she ever found him interesting and attractive?

  He glanced at the stairs and was silent for a moment before answering as if he wanted to be sure no one else would hear. When he spoke, his voice was lowered. “I didn’t even know what I was until you showed up.”

  “She doesn’t know you’re changeling?” And he didn’t realize that he’d given over a bargaining chip she could play with. She needed a way out of here before Melody came back and tried to force a wish from her. Well, humans called them wishes—fairies called them deals, and there was always a price. Annwyn could be a costly place to live.

  Isaac shook his head “I’m trying to protect you from her.”

  “And you’re doing a grand job of that.” She pointed to the shackles on her ankles and iron nails all over the floor. Melody knew what she was doing. She tried to remember what had happened to other fairies who had been caught over the centuries. Usually they made the deal and went on their way. She’d made plenty in her time, but the harm caused wasn’t worth it. She couldn’t revel in a mortal’s fall like she used to. She’d spent too much time among the humans and become too soft like them. “Why should I trust you?”

  “Because I want to get out of this alive, the same as you.” His gaze flicked to her face. “Melody is armed and unstable.”

  That wasn’t news. Her head still throbbed from where she’d been hit. She really should’ve known better. “I need to go home. Release me, and everything will be all right.”

  He looked at his hands. “I want to. I’ve tried picking the lock without success.” He opened his hand to reveal a small piece of metal. “She isn’t sure if I’m fully on her side because I’ve protected you. I know she’s going to pin your disappearance on me as soon as she gets her wish.”

  Which would mean Isaac would take the fall when she vanished, if his sister had her way. He didn’t deserve that—assuming he was telling the truth.

  “I need time to work out a solution and find the key.” He pointed at the shackles. “And I have to be very careful.” He opened his hand, and she saw the telltale mark across his palm.

  She didn’t have time. “The iron makes me weak. I’ll die.” If Annwyn hadn’t been in winter, she would’ve had more strength. However, it wasn’t just the iron that could kill her. If she was trapped for too long, the power shift would happen and she’d be on the wrong side of the veil. Any fairy on the wrong side of the veil would die.

  “How did you know what I was?”

  She didn’t owe him any explanations. She relaxed onto the bed, careful not to move her legs and cause the iron to slip off her jeans again. It was bad enough it was close. Oh, to be able to drop the glamour shrink and hide. She should’ve done that in the lounge room instead of playing human. At least then she’d have only been trapped in the house, not chained up. If Isaac could get the iron off her, she’d be able to use magic again. She needed his support, and truly he needed hers. His sister was as mad as Ella’s father had been before being thrown in the river of damned souls.

  “Your eyes gave you away. They’re fairy blue. There’s a hunger as though the mortal world could never satisfy you and that you don’t know what you want. You crave a home you can never see.” She sighed. She wanted to see Annwyn again.

  “You’ve known others like me.”

  She laughed then hissed as the iron slid off her jeans. He used the corner of the blanket to protect his fingers as he adjusted it for her. “I’m nearly seven hundred mortal years old. You do the math.”

  His mouth popped open for a heartbeat. It was nice to see him shocked.

  “You knew you weren’t like other people.” Ella gave him a casual glance. “Tell me, what gift did your fairy blood give you?” There was always something. Once, those gifts would have guaranteed the mortal status, but gradually humans had come to fear the fairy magic and changelings had become persecuted, and now forgotten.

  He looked at her for a moment before shrugging. “Glimpses of the future.”

  Rare; but not unheard of and not always useful. She lifted her hand and swept it across the room. “Did you see this?”

  “Not exactly, but I felt like something bad was going to happen. Around you all I felt was cold and snow. I didn’t know if they were separate or combined. My talent is unpredictable.”

  “Yet never wrong. Nostradamus had the same gift, but it was stronger. It drove him crazy, thus the riddles. I didn’t know him personally, but I heard. Not all changelings deal with their gift so well. So tell me, do I live or die?”

  “Live…I think.”

  “Well, you’re not much of a psychic, are you?” And she was kind of disappointed. She’d hoped his power would be stronger and he could see a way out of this mess. A way out where Melody got a taste of her own medicine.

  “No, I’m not. It’s more like an early warning for something I can’t change.”

  That had to be hard. Some saw an ever changing future that they could manipulate, others so far that they couldn’t comprehend what they were seeing. But to see what couldn’t be changed? That was cruel. That made her feel sorry for him, too often a changeling’s fairy magic was more of a burden than a gif
t.

  He closed his eyes. “Do changelings have a soul?”

  That was an odd question. “Of course you do. You’re mortal. I don’t though. No one born in Annwyn does.”

  “And if I had no soul?” He lifted his gaze and looked at her. His eyes were beautiful, a pale ice blue that let her glimpse his pain and concern. A fairy would never let anyone see so much.

  In that moment he was quite possibly the most beautiful man she’d ever met. He wasn’t running and hiding from what he was learning, he was hungry for more. Curiosity was in his blood the same as any fairy. He might not have known what he was but he’d been searching for answers long before she’d walked into his life.

  She put her guard up and refused to be dazzled by the changeling who was becoming more interesting by the moment. Perhaps the iron was dulling her mind.

  “You’d be dead, the same as any other mortal.” Unless he gave up his soul in Annwyn, but she held back, not wanting to reveal too much fairy lore to him so soon. Just because she needed his help to get out of here didn’t mean she trusted him completely.

  He nodded but didn’t look convinced.

  A shiver scraped down her spine like a lover’s fingernails. He’d seen something and it involved her. “Why do you ask?”

  “Curious. Can I get you anything?”

  “The key.”

  “I’m working on it. You do get out of here. We both do.”

  He’d definitely seen something. And since he’d said that he couldn’t change the future she had to assume that whatever he did would get her out of here. “Is your sister always this crazy?”

  He sighed. “No. This is her first kidnapping. Why didn’t you give her the wish?”

  She’d promised herself no more deals with mortals a long time ago. Melody didn’t realize what she was asking, yet in hindsight it would’ve been the easy way out and she wouldn’t be lying here surrounded by iron.

  “Because there’s a price, Isaac.” She liked the way his name formed on her lips. “What would she give up to have what she wants? Fairy deals never end well for humans. It’s been nearly two centuries since I’ve made a deal with a human. I’ve tried to blend in.”

  “You sew magic into your dresses.”

  She smiled. “Yes, because I enjoy making them, and I want the wearer to enjoy them too. That’s my gift to your world. It can’t be forced from me, the same way your gift can’t be forced. Warn your sister not to proceed.”

  After Isaac left her, Ella spent some time trying to change her size a little, just enough that she could slip her foot free, but she had nothing. She was completely without magic and she was cold. She needed sunlight and warmth. She needed to return to Annwyn. In her heart she knew she might not get home in time. Her long and colorful life was going to come to a silent and dark end in a basement with no one to note her passing.

  Isaac would notice. He’d probably even mourn. But that wasn’t what she wanted, she wasn’t ready to die and find out what kind of afterlife fairies went to. There were things she still wanted to do. She wanted to spend time at Court again. She’d like to find love—not that she’d ever say that aloud, as the Court fairies would laugh. Perhaps the two things she wanted couldn’t be had at the same time. She’d like to have a child. A fairy child. Someone to carry on her name.

  She wasn’t going to be bested by a slip of a human.

  Melody would regret that she’d ever hear the name Ella Aaron.

  The door creaked open and a light flicked on. Ella blinked a few times and lifted her head, but it wasn’t Isaac coming down the stairs. It was Melody. Her stomach flopped over and then curled up. It took a moment for Ella to recognize the feeling as absolute terror. Fear was something she didn’t feel very often. Terror was new and much colder and sharper than fear. It locked her muscles and caught in her throat.

  For the first time in her life, Ella was close to understanding what it meant to be mortal, where life could be snatched away in a heartbeat and there was nothing she could do about it. She didn’t like it at all. Where was Isaac?

  “I thought it was time we had a talk.” Melody crossed her arms and stared down at her, as if aware she had all the power.

  That alone rankled. She was Eletta merch Arawn, daughter of the old Lord of the Hunt, a Court fairy who was on sabbatical in the mortal world. It was more like hiding until the scandal involving her father blew over, but still, she was here by choice. She was not some weak, banished fairy, or even a Brownie serving mortals in exchange for lodging and food. No, she’d carved out her own life in the mortal world and she would not let Melody take it from her. She forced herself to sit up, ignoring the burning of her skin as the iron connected and the weakness in her body from the prolonged contact. She wouldn’t give Melody the satisfaction.

  When Melody stepped back a pace, Ella bit back a smile. Good. Fear me, mortal. Your day of reckoning will come.

  “Yes, we should talk. You do realize that trapping a fairy isn’t a wise thing to do?”

  “I don’t see an immortal army beating down my door to save you. In fact, I see no one. No one even cares that you’re missing.” Melody tilted her head a fraction and gave her a saccharine smile. She would fit right in at Court, the games, the deals and quests for power. She’d probably even enjoy it. And it was fun as long as you were winning. “Grant me my wish and I’ll let you go.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “Why would I harm you when you’ve given me what I want?”

  “Because I might seek revenge.” She would. Whatever the terms of the deal, there would be ways around it. She doubted Melody had a clue about making a deal with a fairy. Lawyers had come about to facilitate deals and stop humans making bad ones, but that knowledge had been lost by mortals.

  “If you threaten me, I’ll kill you, and I don’t want to do that.” Melody smiled again but it wasn’t reassuring. Melody would quite happily kill her after getting what she wanted. She’d have to do better to lie to a fairy. A fairy would never stoop to outright lies—half-truths were a given.

  “You had no problem capturing me.” Or binding me with iron.

  “You weren’t as strong as I thought you’d be.”

  “Iron is my kryptonite.” Melody didn’t need to know that the magic of Annwyn was weakening and thus affecting her as well. “I can’t do magic while it’s touching me.”

  “I’m not stupid. I’m not freeing you until you grant my wish.”

  That made things tricky. “It’s not a wish, Melody, it’s called a deal and you’ll have to pay for what you want.” That made the starlet blink in surprise. “Did your sources not tell you that?”

  “You’re lying. Fairies grant wishes.”

  She wished she were lying down. The room was staring to spin and she wasn’t feeling so good. “Fairies don’t grant wishes; we never have and never will. We make deals with each other and unsuspecting humans.” Ella allowed herself a grin, the kind a hungry wolf might wear when cornering a succulent rabbit. “Are you willing to make a deal with me?”

  Melody swallowed. Her boldness had been swallowed up by uncertainty. “What’s the price?”

  “What do you desire?” History was littered with people who made deals and found them not to their liking. For a moment she was tempted to warn Melody, but then changed her mind. This girl deserved what she got.

  “I want to be famous. I want people to remember me long after I’m gone.” There was a glint in her eyes that made Ella sad. Here was a woman who’d trade everything for the belief that fame would somehow fill the gap in her soul. It wouldn’t. Until Melody recognized her own worth, no one else would either. This was why deals went wrong. Humans were too flawed.

  “Fame, couldn’t you be more creative?” It was always fame or riches. A few asked for love. Even fewer ever asked for something that would help others.

  “I want to be the name on everyone’s lips.”

  The temptation to make the deal and get free was so close. Melody wasn’
t even being specific. It would be too easy. However, Ella hated being forced to break her vow not to harm mortals. Most other fairies wouldn’t blink twice. Her heart had grown too delicate living here. “Think about what you’re asking for, Melody. Will the achievement be as sweet if you don’t do it on your own?”

  “I don’t care how I get there. I just want to be known.”

  How far would Melody be willing to go to get what she thought she wanted? Ella fixed her with an unblinking stare. “Then I want a soul in exchange.”

  Melody jerked as though she’d been slapped. “A soul?”

  “Yes.” Often the first-born child was the price, but what did she want with a baby right now? Besides, that would have meant finding a fairy man willing to sleep with Melody and also taking Melody across the veil to give birth. No. A soul was much simpler and a test to see how far Melody was willing to go.

  She could’ve asked for something as simple as a kiss, but a soul was much more dramatic…fairies liked dramatic. It was why magic had gotten tangled up with death and sacrifices. Demanding a soul was usually enough to put off those who weren’t committed. Taking the soul would give Ella a shadow servant in Annwyn for as long as she chose to keep it before letting it go for judgment.

  “You want me to kill?”

  Technically no, but since Melody wasn’t asking the smartest of questions, Ella wasn’t going to explain, either. Already she could feel a plan forming. She knew exactly which soul she’d like to take back to Annwyn and she was betting Isaac would be willing to cross the veil. “How else are you going to give me a soul? Think about it. You have one day.”

  Melody started walking away, then stopped and turned around. “You’re my prisoner. I’ll take as long as I want.”

  “Wait too long, and I’ll die from the iron and then you’ll have to find yourself a new fairy.” Not quite a lie, but not the whole truth. Fairies prided themselves on the ability to split the difference.