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Now the messenger is showing the first signs of panic. My guess is that whatever this bog is, its reputation precedes it.

Des steps away from the fairy.

“Wait, wait—” the messenger says as the creature nears him. “Don’t go.”

This makes Des’s lips quirk, though his eyes are as hard as ever.

Cruel Des. Dark Des. I’m catching an elusive glimpse of the beast behind the man.

The Fauna fae is still trying to move, but it’s like his lower legs are glued to the floor. “I’ll make a deal,” he says, his eyes pinned to the shadowy creature heading his way.

I’ll make a deal.

Des’s shoulders stiffen at the temptation, but he ignores the fairy.

The creature is only mere feet away.

“Please,anything!”

For a fairy who had enough courage to threaten a fae king in his own court, he sure is quick to fall apart. I don’t know what he expected would happen. Des doesn’t bend to other people’s wills. He’s the force that contorts and crushes them. I’ve seen it happen time and time again with his clients.

The Bargainer heads back for his throne, his face steely. His eyes find mine, and they flicker as they take me in. That might be the closest he comes to regret in this moment. And then the look is gone, and he’s made of stone once more.

There’s a darkness in this man, and I’ve yet to plumb its depths.

The shadow closes the last of the distance to the Fauna fairy, moving over his feet. The messenger’s ankles begin to disappear, then his calves.

That’s when the screaming starts.

Des mounts the steps to his throne and takes a seat next to me, all while the bog continues to swallow the fairy.

I dig my fingernails into my seat as I hear the man’s cries. I have every reason to enjoy the justice of this moment, but now that the Fauna fae looks less like a villain and more like a victim, I find I can’t.

I don’t want to sit here and watch this. It’s too inhuman, too fae, too wicked. All at once it becomes too much.

I get up and, among the screams and the stares, I leave the room.

No one stops me.

Chapter 4

I stand on the balcony connected to Des’s royal suite, the night sky glittering above me. After leaving his throne room, I wandered the palace grounds for a bit before eventually finding my way back here.

Far below me, I can make out fairies coming and going across the palace grounds. Beyond them is the city of Somnia.

I don’t know how long I’ve been leaning over the railing, watching this terribly foreign world pass me by. Long enough for me to question just about every life decision that led me here.

“Tell me, cherub, do I scare you?”

I glance over my shoulder. Des stands at the threshold to the balcony, his predatory eyes glittering. He stares at me like I’m the dangerous one.

I don’t answer right away, instead choosing to simply watch him. He steps out onto the balcony, still wearing—like me—his training leathers from earlier.

He appears half-wild, the moonlight carving his face into sinister shapes. He looks like he wants to devour my soul.

Does he scare me?

“Yes,” I say softly.