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I hadn’t been, but I was glad the warden considered such things.

“A potion has stifled Neve’s magic,” Roar continued. “Will that affect the binding?”

“No need to worry, my lord.” High Staret Celi held up two gold vials. “Magic lives in the blood. I will draw some life-force from both of you, and you two will carry that of the other. Shall you betray one another per your agreement, it will cause crippling pain to the betrayer.”

I winced.

“Are you amenable?” Roar asked.

While no one wanted to consider the possibility of crippling pain, I recognized it as a way of protecting both the warden and me. He would seek to avoid pain as much as me. That made us equals.

“Yes,” I said.

“Hold out your arms.” The staret produced a blade with a ruby encrusted hilt.

Roar and I both did as we had been told. When the staret opened my vein first, I blinked.

“No pain,” I said, surprised.

“It’s spelled.” He placed a vial where my blood poured. “It will also only allow the wound to be open for as long as I need it.”

As soon as High Staret Celi said the words, he pressed the flat edge of the blade to my cut, and it closed.

Roar did the same, and when two gold vials of blood no longer than my thumbnail filled, the staret closed his eyes. He said nothing, but silver-white magic filled the air, swirling around the vials.

Jealousy crept over me like an ice spider climbing over mountains. I’d never seen my magic act like that. What would it look like? What color would it be? Would that change when I used it in different ways?

Soon, I told myself, in less than one moon, I’ll learn what lay inside me all along.

When the staret’s magic stopped, the old fae looked between us. “The vials are charmed. You, Neve, will carry Lord Roar’s blood. And he will carry yours. Should one betray the other, the slighted person only needs to ingest the blood to cause crippling pain to the other.”

High Staret Celi handed over the vials, and I clutched the vial of Roar’s blood. As much as I didn’t want to consider drinking blood like a vampire would do, this was a safeguard. A contract written on paper, while valuable, could be ignored, but not this.

“That’s it?” I asked.

“It is.” The staret nodded.

“Very good,” Roar said. “Do you have other questions, Neve?”

“I think not.”

With the staret’s job done, Roar saw the holy fae out, and when he returned, he smiled at me. “Shall we begin?”

Chapter 11

After sealing our contract, Roar insisted I needed to be seen around town.

Frode knew the truth of my identity, as did the guards who had heard him proclaim my blood slave status, and Staret Celi—all of whom had been sworn to secrecy. But no one else knew. Not even Althea knew the truth because, as Roar claimed, she didn’t ask. She merely agreed to help because that was what her lord had asked.

So, it was time to begin reinventing myself.

“Would the Winter Court really send people here to ask about me, though?” I asked as we walked toward the castle gates. “That’s quite a journey from the east.”

Above, the bruised sky promised snow, and the temperature was far lower than anything I’d ever experienced in the Vampire Court. Even I might truly get cold here around the eleventh or twelfth moon of a turn, those true winter months. But not today.

In lieu of the thin slave garb I’d arrived in, I wore a dress and a fur-lined cloak that would keep out any wind and hide my bandaged wings from view. Completing the ensemble, comfortable, thick-soled boots protected my feet.

“If, after we arrive at court, the king has even the slightest suspicion that I made a deal with you, then yes, he will send someone to ask around. So we must spread your tale far and wide.” Roar blew out a breath, and the air plumed white. “With clear roads, the trip takes eight or nine days in a covered sleigh. But a single knight on a strong horse can make it in five days. Be sure that King Magnus will send a swift rider.”