Page 8

DAEMON

“ I don’t know what you’re up to, but I think we can safely say you’ve fucked it up.”

I scowl as Odessa shuts the door behind her with a snap and strides into the bedroom.

We have hardly moved or spoken since Odessa had the good sense to get Alix out of the room. I’m grateful for her timing. The situation is bad enough as it is, but wasn’t made any easier by the fact that I couldn’t focus on anything except Alix’s body in my wet shirt.

“You’re not helping.”

“I wasn’t trying to help you,” Odessa retorts, standing in front of me with her hands on her hips. “You’ve been back for all of a few hours, I don’t even get a hello, and now you’ve kidnapped the wrong woman. That’s quite an entrance.”

My frown remains in place, but I stand begrudgingly to give my cousin a one-armed hug. It’s been ninety years since I’ve seen Dessa, and I did miss her—even if at this precise moment, I can’t recall why.

“How’s my mother?” I ask, withdrawing from the hug.

“Fine, I believe,” Dessa says a bit bitterly. “She’s living at the Ashwater Estate.”

I nod curtly. “You didn’t go with her?”

She shakes her head. “You’re lucky I didn’t. How would you have recognized Alix without my help?”

I step back, my frown deepening, and sink into my chair. “This is a fucking nightmare. Did you find out what she knows?”

Dessa shrugs, leaning against the bedpost. “It’s hard to tell. The book that Isabelle wrote will undoubtedly shed some light on things.”

“I need to read this book,” Jett pipes up, grinning.

“When have you ever read a book?” Kastian asks.

Jett shrugs. “There’s a first time for everything.”

I roll my eyes. “I doubt you’ll have time. The second he finds out we don’t have Isabelle, Thorne will send us all back to Dyaspora. We’ll be lucky to be out for an entire day.”

“I suspect you’ll have at least a few days,” Dessa says. “It will take that long for anyone to reach the king at the Winter Palace.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “If that’s the case, we should start running now. Maybe if we can avoid Thorne until the rose moon…” I trail off, realizing as I speak that there’ll be no escape for me. The others might go free if they avoid the king until the curse becomes permanent, but if it’s not broken in the next few weeks, I’ll be lost to the curse forever just like everyone else.

“We could run,” Kastian chimes in, “but what about Alix? What are you going to do with her?”

“Nothing,” I growl. “I’ll send her back home before Thorne ever knows she was here. I’ll just tell him I found Isabelle, but she aged.”

“But then there’s no chance of breaking the curse,” Odessa interrupts.

“There wasn’t, anyway.” My voice comes out rough and angry, but it’s not Odessa or my friends that I’m mad at. “Thorne didn’t leave enough time. He’s fucked all of us. The curse isn’t going to break, and telling him about Alix won’t change that.”

“Is Isabelle dead?” Kastian asks.

I shake my head. “I don’t know. I don’t think so from the way Alix talked about her, but wherever she is, she clearly didn’t wear the necklace for the last sixty years.”

“You should use her,” Fox says flatly.

I’m startled by his suggestion. He’s so silent, I had almost forgotten he was in the room. Judging by the way everyone turns to look at him, they had too.

“Aren’t you listening? We can’t use Isabelle.”

Fox looks pained, like explaining himself is causing physical agony. “No, use Alix. You took that woman because you thought she was the king’s bride. They’re identical. Just take her to Thorne instead.”

“That’s fucking absurd,” I say, laughing. “Thorne would notice that Alix isn’t Isabelle.”

“How do you know?” Jett says with a shrug.

“He’s evil but he’s not fucking stupid. It would be hard to miss that your betrothed was switched out with another person.”

“No one else noticed, and they’re not stupid either,” Kastian says slowly. “And remember that the king didn’t recognize me. He’s not exactly observant.”

“Why should he recognize you?” Jett scoffs. “You’ve never met him, have you?”

Kastian ignores Jett, still focusing on me. “Thorne hasn’t seen the real Isabelle in sixty years. It could work.”

I round on him. “You’re not serious.”

Kas puts both hands up as if in surrender. “I’m just making an observation. It’s been a long time since they’ve seen each other and I doubt he ever paid much attention.”

I shake my head angrily “Thorne might not notice that she’s not her grandmother, but there’s still the fact that Alix is not Isabelle. She can’t break the curse.”

“How do you break it?” Jett asks.

“It only breaks when the king finds his true love,” Odessa explains.

“That’s fucking stupid.” Fox scoffs. “Why would anyone cast that curse?”

“Spite,” I mutter bitterly. “Ninety-nine years ago, Thorne was betrothed to a woman the entire kingdom believed was his soul-bonded mate.”

“She wasn’t?” Jett asks.

I shake my head. “Apparently not, because the week before their wedding, he betrayed her with another woman. Unfortunately, the girl was a powerful sorceress. She was so heartbroken that she cast the curse on the entire kingdom, then flung herself off a tower.”

Jett makes a startled noise, and Kastian’s eyebrows raise so high they nearly disappear into his hair. Even Fox looks surprised.

I’m not shocked by their reaction.

Everyone knows that once mated, Fae males never stray from their partners. Ever. It’s not exactly a choice, but a compulsion—a biological shift that only happens once in a lifetime. That’s why it’s so astonishing to hear the reason for Thorne’s curse. I’ve only ever heard of two cases of infidelity in the history of the kingdom: my brother is one. The other is our shared father who betrayed the queen by taking my mother to his bed. Betrayal runs so deep in our family it’s practically written on my bones.

“So you see, I don’t think Thorne is capable of loving anyone.”

“He must think there’s a chance if he was so concerned about finding Isabelle,” Odessa points out.

“True, but he doesn’t love Alix and she certainly doesn’t love him back.”

“Does she have to?” Jett asks.

I frown. “What do you mean?”

“Is the curse broken if the king loves someone and they love him back? Or is it just that he has to love her ?”

“That’s an interesting question,” Kastian muses. “If Thorne loves Isabelle and believes Alix is Isabelle, would it break the curse?”

My frown deepens, an uneasy feeling churning my stomach. “Wait a minute.” I grit my teeth. “What are you suggesting?”

Kastian runs a hand over his jaw. “If it doesn’t matter if she loves him back, maybe Fox is right. You could bring Alix to him instead. It might work.”

“Exactly,” Jett says, jumping on the chance to keep pushing his theory. “The worst that can happen if he notices is that we’ll be thrown back in Dyaspora, just the same as if you don’t bring her at all.”

“Or he could kill us on the spot,” I growl.

Kastian looks sideways at me. “Could he, though? That’s a serious question—is he stronger than you?”

“We’re evenly matched,” I admit. “Or, we were, ninety years ago. All four of us together could beat him, but he has thousands of guards and I trained most of them myself so they wouldn’t be easy targets…” I shake my head roughly. “But none of that matters because we’re not doing this. As far as I’m concerned, you four should start running now. You’re not cursed. Leave me here and go into hiding outside Vernallis until after the rose moon.”

“While you just wait to die in a month?” Kastian asks angrily.

“Yes,” I snap. “I’ve accepted it. I stopped expecting the curse to break years ago. What other choice is there except acceptance?”

Odessa flounces across the room to the dark window and peers outside, as if she can see anything beyond the rain. “If you ask me, you should try it, Daemon. At least ask Alix. If we leave you here, you’ll die in a matter of weeks. If we bring Alix to Thorne, there’s at least a small chance of saving everyone.”

The uneasy feeling in my stomach churns harder, like excitement mixed with dread. “What about Alix?”

“What about her?” Fox rumbles.

“I can’t force her to agree to marry a stranger.”

“Maybe she’d be into it,” Jett says, grinning widely. “Sure, Thorne is a first-class asshole, but he’s a king! He’s handsome and rich. What woman wouldn’t be willing to overlook a few flaws if it meant she could be a queen.”

I have no idea why but I have the strongest urge to punch Jett for saying that. I ball my hands into fists, forcing myself to stay calm.

Kastian shakes his head. “Don’t worry about the details for a moment. The immediate problem is convincing Thorne that Alix is Isabelle. You could make a deal with her. Give her something she wants in exchange for playing along.”

“Like what?” I ask through gritted teeth. “We don’t have anything she would want. Maybe if this was before Dyaspora, but any money or land I had is gone.”

“Then lie,” Fox grumbles, shrugging.

“That’s fucked,” I snap.

“So is Dyaspora,” he replies, his gaze hardening. “If it’s a choice between lying to some human woman we don’t know and all of us going back there, it’s not even a question for me. It shouldn’t be a question for you either. Who’s more important? Your own life and all of ours, or the comfort of a woman you fucked once and have known for less than twelve hours?”

I hate that he’s right.

I just met Alix last night, but I’ve been friends with them for decades. My loyalty should be to them and myself only. So why do I feel like shit about this?

I run a frustrated hand through my hair, and close my eyes in defeat. “Fine. You’re right, I’ll talk to her. But I can’t force her to agree. It could still fall apart.”

“Not a problem, Ashwater,” Jett says cheerfully. “When have you ever had difficulty getting anyone to follow you? Especially women.”

Again, I hate that he’s right. I know I can convince Alix to help us; I just wish I didn’t have to.

Fifteen minutes later, I steel myself and fix a bored expression on my face before knocking on the bathing room door.

“Come in!” Alix calls out.

She’s wrapped in a large towel and stands with her back to me, squeezing water out of her hair with a second towel.

“Oh, hey, I’m just finishing up,” Alix says, still not looking at me. “Did you end up finding any sweatpants?”

I shut the door behind me with a snap. “Afraid not, Peaches.”

She jumps, her spine going straight, and whirls around to look at me. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

I raise an eyebrow. “You said to come in.”

“I thought you were Odessa.”

“Sorry to disappoint.”

She wraps her towel more tightly around herself and looks down, unable to meet my eyes. “Get the fuck out, I’m not dressed.”

The corner of my mouth twitches up in a smirk. “You can’t exactly cry scandal. I’ve seen it all before.”

Her cheeks flush pink. “Yeah, well, enjoy the memories because that’s not ever happening again. Seriously, now get out!”

I ignore her protests and cross my arms over my chest, leaning against the wall. “Calm down, Peaches. I need to talk to you.”

“Unless you want to talk about taking me home, then I don’t want to hear it.”

“Actually, that’s exactly what it’s about.”

Her glare intensifies, and she mutters darkly under her breath before pulling the towel even tighter and sitting on the edge of the tub. She raises an expectant eyebrow at me. “Fine. Shoot.”

I shake my head to clear it and blink a few times, casting my gaze at a point over her shoulder. I need to fucking focus.

I decided to have this conversation this way to put Alix at a disadvantage, but I’m starting to think I played myself. All I can think about is how easy it would be to yank her towel away and pick up right where we left off in the human realm.

“Well?” she says, annoyed at my silence.

I clear my throat. “I’m sorry. Despite how it probably looks to you, I don’t typically kidnap women and I didn’t plan to bring you here. I didn’t know who you were.”

“Right, so you were just planning to kidnap my grandmother?” Alix scoffs. “That’s so much better.”

“Look,” I growl, frustrated, “I don’t want to be involved in this any more than you do. I’ve never met Isabelle. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have brought her here either.”

“So why were you looking for her?”

“It’s complicated,” I grind out. “Our king was put under a curse nearly a hundred years ago.”

“I know about that,” she says quickly. “It’s in the book, but I thought the curse was broken.”

I need to read this damn book.

“It wasn’t broken, and unless it is by the end of the month, it will become permanent.”

She lets out a breath. “I’m sorry. That sucks for you—seriously—but I don’t know what you want me to say. I’m still processing that this is all real, okay? I definitely can’t help you with anything, um, curse related…”

I stare at her, unsure where to go from here. “How is the curse broken in your book?”

“True love,” she says, sounding a bit embarrassed.

“At least that part’s right.” Sort of.

“Wait, seriously? So you’re telling me that the real King Thorne actually loves my grandmother?”

“I have no idea whether he does or not. All I know is that he came to me yesterday and asked me to find Isabelle.”

“And you just jumped at the opportunity to kidnap a stranger? Who the hell does that?”

I take an involuntary step forward. “I didn’t exactly have a choice,” I bark. “Until yesterday, I hadn’t been back in this palace in ninety years. I’ve spent decades longer than you’ve been alive in prison slowly freezing, working eighteen hours a day in the mines, then fighting to stay alive until morning.”

Alix leans back, trying to put more distance between us. “So you escaped from prison to find my Nana?”

“No one has ever escaped Dyaspora. There’s never been a pardon in the history of Ellender, until yesterday when Thorne offered me and my friends a chance to return to court in exchange for finding one human woman. That might seem selfish to you, Peaches, but after one day in the Dyaspora you wouldn’t believe what men would do for a chance to escape. I used to have a life here—lands and money and people who depended on me. I could have all that restored. What would you do in my place?”

“Depends.” She cocks her head. “What did you do to get sent to prison?”

I let out a defeated sigh. “It’s a long story. Look, can you just understand that I didn’t have a lot of good options. And I still don’t. If I don’t bring Isabelle to the king, he’ll throw all of us back there without a fucking thought.”

She shakes her head slowly, and conflict wars on her face. Finally, she lets out a defeated breath. “Okay fine, I get that, I guess…even though that doesn’t really sound like something King Thorne would do.”

I let out a harsh laugh. “Maybe not the fictional version you’re familiar with. Trust me, Peaches, Thorne is no one’s fantasy hero.”

She scowls. “Fine, whatever. But why you? Why would he ask you to find my Nana if you didn’t know her?”

I open my mouth to tell her that Thorne is my half-brother, then close it again. For some reason, I don’t want her to know that. Maybe because soon, she’ll meet him and realize what kind of man he is. I’d rather die than have anyone think we’re the same.

So instead, I offer her a partial truth. “I used to travel to your world frequently. That’s not unheard of here, but it’s far from common. It requires more magic than most Fae have to spare.”

“Why did you want to go to my world?”

Again, I falter. I don’t really want to tell her about my time in the human realm or the reasons behind why Fae might want to escape to another world…not if she doesn’t know already from her damn book. “I used to help people escape or find rare objects,” I answer evasively.

“Is that why you were in prison?”

“Sort of,” I grunt. “But that’s not important right now. What matters is that there’s only a month left before the curse becomes permanent. Thorne is desperate to break it, and he wants Isabelle. If I don’t bring her to him, he’ll make sure everyone I care about is tortured for centuries long after he’s gone.”

For a fraction of a second, pity flashes across her face before she quickly masks it. “I’m sorry. Truly. I wish there was something I could do to help.”

“There is,” I say, almost desperately. “You can pretend to be Isabelle.”

I hold my breath as Alix just stares at me, then she lets out an incredulous laugh. “No. Absolutely not.”

I let out the breath I was holding. I’m not sure if I’m relieved or disappointed. Alix gets to her feet and begins to pace around the room, her bare feet slipping slightly on the tiled floor.

My friends’ faces swim in the back of my mind. Fuck, I need to pull myself together. I have to convince her.

“Why?” I take another involuntary step forward, reaching out as if to touch her. “It’s perfect. You look so much like her even Odessa was initially fooled. You already know all about Ellender and Thorne from the book, and whatever you don’t know we’ll be there to explain to you.”

Alix walks toward the windows. “You’re telling me that the real Thorne is this evil guy who throws people into prison camps, but also that I should pretend to be in love with him? You’re out of your mind.”

“Probably. But you just said you wanted to help.”

“Yeah, but I meant ‘help’ in a figurative sense. Look, where I come from, asking a friend for a stupid ride to the airport is a big deal and this is so, so much bigger than that. You might as well have asked me to donate both my kidneys. It’s not going to happen.”

I want to shake her, force her to understand. “You helping us is the only chance we have.”

“No, it’s the only chance you have,” she corrects me. “I’m sorry, but I have nothing to do with this. I don’t owe you shit. I just want to go home.”

“I can arrange that,” I tell her quickly. “You won’t have to pretend forever, just for the next month.”

“But I can’t break it,” she says, her eyes widening. “Even if it’s true that my Nana could break the curse, I’m not her. I can’t help and you’ll stay cursed forever anyway, so what’s the point of me being here?”

“Because we think there’s a tiny chance it won’t matter. If Thorne just believes you’re Isabelle, it could be enough to break the curse.” She scoffs, but I continue, “And even if that doesn’t work, this would still help us because the curse doesn’t affect any of them.” I point toward the closed door to where Odessa and my men are waiting outside. “The curse only affects the Kingdom of Vernallis. None of them were born here, so as long as they don’t get thrown back in prison in the next few weeks, they’ll be safe.”

“And what about you?” she asks, raising an eyebrow.

“What about me?” I scowl. “There’s no saving me, Peaches. I already expected to be doomed. I have nothing to lose except for them and everything to gain if by some miracle the fucking curse does break.”

“Look…” She turns to me with wide pleading eyes. “I’m probably suffering from some kind of Stockholm syndrome but I do kind of feel bad for you. I wish I could help, but I can’t. I’m so not the right girl for this. I just want to go home.”

I steel myself for what I have to say next. “The only way you’re getting home is with my help.”

“So if I don’t agree to do this, you’re just going to keep me here as a prisoner?”

I squeeze my eyes shut, feeling nauseous. “Think of it as a partnership. If you help us, I’ll help you get home. The way I see it, Peaches, you don’t have much of a choice.”

“No?” she snaps, her eyes flaring with anger. “I’d say I do have a choice. I could tell King Thorne the truth and have him put you back in prison.”

“He’d probably kill you,” I say bluntly. “Or worse, send you to Dyaspora with us.”

“Which means I’m fucked no matter what,” she snaps back. “So the way I see it, you need me more than I need you. If I’m going down, I will gladly take you with me.”

This infuriating woman. She’s braver than I expected, or maybe she’s just as crazy as she promised me she was. Unfortunately, she’s also right. This plan is already almost certainly doomed to fail, but if Alix won’t play along, we might as well give up now.

I wrack my brain, trying to remember anything she said about her life before everything went to shit. Suddenly, I remember her phone call—the one she probably doesn’t realize I could hear every word of.

“You need money,” I blurt out.

“Who doesn’t?” she snaps. “Capitalism is the root of all evil.”

I swallow thickly, suddenly realizing I’m about to do the exact same thing her husband is doing—use money to control her.

It’s not for me, it’s for my family.

“I know you need money more than anything else. I don’t have any at the moment, but I will.”

She narrows her eyes. “How?”

“I’m the Baron of Ashwater. That’s a province north of here.”

“So you’re royalty?”

“No,” I blurt, a little too quickly. “Just nobility. A regular member of the high court, but I lost all that when I was banished to Dyaspora. Thorne will return my title and land once I deliver his bride, and then I could give you enough gold to last you generations in the human realm.”

“You’re shitting me.” She laughs harshly.

“Not at all. If you help us, I’ll pay you every fucking coin I have and then take you home.”

Her breath catches and she goes still. “How long would I need to stay here?”

“Just under a month. There’s three and a half weeks until the solar eclipse that marks hundred years since the curse was cast. After that, the curse will be permanent and there’s nothing more that Thorne can do to any of us.”

“Nearly a month,” she breathes. “That’s a long time. My family will think I’m dead.”

“But you’ll return with enough money to restart.”

She bites her bottom lip, obviously tempted. “Okay…I’m not agreeing to this but just like in theory, how would it work?”

“What do you mean? You just pretend to be Isabelle.”

She widens her eyes. “Yeah, but my Nana is in her eighties.”

I can’t help the smirk that crosses my face. “So? I’m 121, and I think I still look pretty damn good.”

She blinks at me, startled, then shakes her head roughly. “Sorry, I think I just had a mini stroke, but I’m good now. You’re immortal. No big deal. I’m totally fine.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Is there a question in there somewhere?”

“Yeah. Is your king so oblivious that he would think Nana didn’t age?”

“That necklace you’re wearing was a gift from King Thorne to Isabelle. He told me he enchanted it to keep her young until she returned to Ellender.”

Alix reaches for the locket and holds it between two fingers. “Seriously?”

I nod. “I guess the real Isabelle didn’t wear it, but it doesn’t matter. Thorne is expecting that she did and will still be young.”

I watch her carefully, trying to read what she’s thinking.

“A month,” she mutters again under her breath. “Alright. At least I can say I did something interesting with the last of my twenties.”

My eyebrows raise in disbelief and I can hardly believe that I’ve managed to convince her. “Really?”

“Yes. I’ll pretend to be my grandmother and in one month you’ll send me home with more money than I could possibly spend in one lifetime.”

She holds out her hand as if for me to shake, and I take her fingers immediately, my own hands feeling suddenly cold. The strangest sensation washes over me. It’s relief mixed with anxiety. Satisfaction and dread.

Plastering a smirk, I squeeze her fingers lightly. “We have a deal.”

Alix looks up and meets my eyes, her hand still clutched in mine. “God, this is fucking crazy,” she mutters, more to herself than to me.

I answer anyway, “You’ve got that right, Peaches.”

She pulls her hand back and tucks her fingers under her arm as if burned by my touch. “There’s a lot of stories about how humans shouldn’t bargain with fairies,” she says, tilting her head in contemplation.

“I’ve heard them.”

Her breath catches, and my gaze drops from her eyes to her mouth, watching as she drags her tongue over her bottom lip.

For fuck’s sake.

Even through all the stress and worry swirling in my mind, I still can’t stop thinking about how easy it would be to back her into the wall. How I could run my own tongue over her lip, then down her throat to every other part of her. But I can’t. If by some miracle this plan works, Alix is about to become the most off-limits woman on the damn continent. I need to get used to feeling indifferent to her.

“Are those stories true?” she asks, a little breathlessly.

I smile grimly and take a step back, running both hands through my hair. “I don’t know, Peaches. I guess you’ll just have to find out.”