Page 8 of Black Hearted (Cursed Fae #4)

Evander grabbed my arm, stopping me. “Hang on. Should we try Kelsie first?”

I glanced at Elida and was almost certain she wasn’t merely asleep but had lost consciousness. “If it were my wife, I’d want the best.”

Evander rubbed a hand over his mouth but nodded. If we tried Kelsie and failed, I’d never forgive myself.

As we walked through the busy lane, I was dismayed to see a long line of fae stretching from the healer’s front door all the way around the corner.

Some clutched broken arms; others were bleeding or leaning on loved ones.

This would take all day. I maneuvered Elida to the end of the line and told Evander to stay with her.

Nellie remained at my side as I bypassed the line and stepped up to the healer’s door.

“Hey, no cutting,” someone spat from the line.

“I’m only asking a question about price,” I assured the male fae, who was holding a sickly looking child.

He grunted but said nothing, so I stepped inside.

A bell chimed overhead as I glanced around the warm space.

To the right was a waiting area of six hollowed-out logs, and a desk stood in front of me, manned by a stern-looking fae in a green apron and a blue bonnet.

Above her, hundreds of potted flowers hung from the glass ceiling.

The place smelled earthy and wonderfully fragrant.

Behind the woman, a brightly painted hallway led to rooms where more helpers, dressed similarly, bustled about.

“Checking in? Payment upfront. Give me your name, and I’ll put you on the list,” the stern fae said without looking up from her parchment.

“I’m just inquiring about price,” I explained. “We’re at the back of the line, and my friend is gravely ill.”

She glanced up, glaring at me. “So is everyone who comes here. But Percy is the best. No one leaves unhealed.”

I sighed. “I’m here for my friends. We just traveled from the Fall Court. They’re in their fifties and coughing up gray dust.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Middle-aged fae with powder lung?” She let out a low whistle. “That’s gonna cost you.”

“How much?” Nellie demanded, her voice tinged with sass.

I elbowed her lightly to calm her down.

“Five gold coins,” the fae said flatly.

“Five golds! Are you insane?” Nellie shrieked, earning her another nudge from me.

The fae’s eyes narrowed at Nellie’s outburst.

“Five for the female, and I’m assuming another five for her husband?” I clarified.

She nodded.

“Is there a rush fee? Could I pay extra to move to the front of the line?” I asked.

She leaned forward, lowering her voice. “For ten gold coins each, you can use our side entrance and get immediate service.”

“Ten golds,” Nellie grumbled, and I nudged her again.

My heart sank. I had plenty of money back in Ethereum, but I hadn’t thought to bring any with me. And anyway, it was useless here.

“And what if I were on a secret mission for the Spring princess, a close friend?” I asked, grasping at straws. “Could you bill her?”

The fae glared. “Are you wasting my time?”

“No,” I promised. “I have the backing of Princess Lorelei.”

She rolled her eyes. “Then where’s your official summons?”

This wasn’t going well.

“Okay,” I said, desperation creeping into my voice. “If someone in this town wanted to make money fast, where would they go?”

“The treasury,” she said as though it were obvious.

Right. The treasury.

“If you have collateral, they can loan you coin.”

A loan? The Ethereum lord of the Western Kingdom getting a loan—it was unheard of. I had enough gold to buy this entire town.

“Next,” she called over my shoulder, and someone scurried forward to take my place.

Defeated, Nellie and I left the healer’s shop and headed for the treasury.

I wasn’t a quitter. I would see Elida and Evander healed, and Nellie would get her sweets. I just needed to make some quick coin first.

The treasury master, a Mr. Donahue, stared down his crooked fae nose at me. “Let me get this straight. You have no deed to any land, no witness of character, and no job, yet you want a loan for thirty gold coins?”

I’d spent the last ten minutes trying to convince him that giving me the money was a good idea, that Princess Lorelei would pay it back. But the way he looked at me now, with such disgust, told me I was wasting my time.

“Yes,” I said firmly.

Donahue tipped his head back and laughed, the smell of alcohol wafting over me. I glanced at Nellie to see if she noticed. She scrunched up her nose and scowled at the man.

“I’m not leaving without the money,” I said, standing tall and towering over him as he sat at his fancy burgundy desk. Nellie stood as well, mirroring my movements. “Can you send a messenger to the Spring Court? Princess Lorelei will vouch for me.”

At least, I hoped she would.

He sized me up, his beady-eyed gaze traveling up and down my body. “You’ve mentioned Princess Lorelei thrice now, and yet you do not wear the Spring Court armor, nor do you have a letter with her signet.”

I growled softly. “My clothes got ruined by the river of black oil back in the Fall Court. Send a letter to Princess Lorelei, and I promise you she will vouch for me.”

“I could,” Donahue said, standing and tapping his long, crooked fingernails on his desk. “But that could take days, and I’m guessing you need this money fast?”

The sly glint in his eye put me on alert. He was about to offer me something I couldn’t refuse—I could feel it. “I do.”

“How tall are you?”

“Why?” I ground out through clenched teeth. The more he spoke, the less I liked him.

“Ever fought in hand-to-hand combat?” he asked.

That was unexpected.

My powers negated the need to fight in hand-to-hand combat, but I enjoyed the workout, so I’d trained in boxing and wrestling for years as part of my regular exercise.

“I’ve been known to win a few fights,” I told him, thinking back to when Stryker and I used to spar as kids. We had a no-magic rule, which made things particularly fun.

The fae grinned, ear to ear. “Tomorrow night, there’s a little competition. Each business owner sponsors one champion in an underground fighting ring. The prize is two hundred gold coins to be split with the fighter.”

Two hundred gold coins—one hundred for me. That was decent. It would be enough to pay the healer. With what was left over, I could probably buy us a horse to get to the Spring Court faster. And Nellie would get those sweets I promised her.

Next to me, Nellie shifted from one foot to the other anxiously. “You want him to fight for you?”

Donahue nodded. “My current champion is decent but not nearly as big as Master Zane here.”

Master Zane. He was already fluffing my ego.

A thought struck me. One that would make it impossible for me to fight and keep my identity secret.

“Is this a magicless fight?” I asked. If I used my magic, everyone would know I was from Ethereum. Nellie, a twelve-year-old child, had figured it out within seconds of meeting me.

His eyes lit up, and he leaned forward. “Of course. Why? Do you have magic? What kind?”

His eagerness made me wary. Perhaps magic was rare here, so I didn’t want to give anything away.

“No. Just making sure I know the rules before I agree.”

He nodded. “It’s five fights. No magic, no rules. Occasionally champions die, but—”

“Die!” Nellie gasped. “No way. He’s not doing that.”

She reached for my hand and tried to yank me out of the office, but I stood strong.

I caught her gaze. Her eyes were filled with tears, and something tender tightened in my chest. She’d lost her nana, and even though she barely knew me, I was now her lifeline.

It felt like a lot of responsibility and not something I wanted to mess up. I crouched down to her level.

“Trust me,” I whispered. “Death will not come easily for me.”

She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest, clearly unconvinced. “You’re too confident. You’re probably not as strong as you think.”

I smiled. “And you’re a lot cheekier than you think.”

“Cheekier,” she said.

Straightening, I turned to face Donahue and extended my hand. “I will fight as your champion for a fifty-percent cut of the winnings, but I want twenty gold coins in advance to heal my sick friends.”

Elida didn’t have until tomorrow night.

The fae scowled at my hand. “How do I know you won’t take my money and leave town?”

He was right to be cautious. “I could leave you with something valuable as collateral.”

He glanced at Nellie, and the look he gave her sent chills down my spine.

“Not her,” I growled and noticed Nellie take a half-step back so that she was a little behind me. I wanted to rip the fae’s head off for the way he looked at the little girl. But I tamped down the desire.

Reaching into my pack, I pulled out Isolde’s faestone dagger and laid it on his table. The blue kyanite stone embedded in the hilt glinted as it caught a beam of light.

His eyes widened, and he gasped as he stared down at the deadly weapon. “You’ve had this in your pack the entire time? There’s no need for you to fight as my champion. I’ll buy this off you—”

“It’s not for sale,” I told him, and he snapped his head up to glare at me.

He studied me with suspicion. “How did you get this?”

“Does that matter? Do we have a deal or not?”

He glanced between me, Nellie, and the dagger, weighing his options.

“Fine. Twenty gold coins, but if you lose the fight, I keep the dagger.” He held out his hand.

“That’s not fair,” Nellie said, outraged, but I held up my hand to stop her.

The dagger was worth far more than a hundred gold coins, let alone the twenty I was asking for. But I didn’t plan on losing any of the fights, so I nodded and shook his hand.

Nellie huffed beside me, clearly unhappy, but it didn’t matter. The deal was done.

With one last look, I handed the faestone dagger over to Mr. Donahue, and Nellie and I left. We went straight back to the healer. After handing over the twenty golds to the fae at the front desk, she led Evander and Elida through the side entrance.

Within ten minutes, Percy, a flamboyantly dressed fae with a flair for theatrics, entered the room. He had them chew on some flowers, then placed his hands over their chests.

Nothing happened for a couple of minutes, but then they both coughed out the flowers and expelled more than a cupful of dust from their lungs. It was grotesque to watch, and Nellie looked positively green by the end of it.

“I can breathe,” Elida said as we walked toward an inn on the main row of shops.

Evander grinned, holding his wife’s hand. “I haven’t felt this good since before the curse.”

They both looked ten years younger, and their pace was noticeably faster as well.

“Thank you,” Evander said as I pushed their cart filled with their belongings.

“You’re welcome,” I told him, matching his grin. It felt good to see the two of them well again.

Evander stopped and grasped my upper arm, forcing me to look at him. There was a tenderness in his gaze that made my chest tighten.

“I mean it, son. Thank you.”

At his words, a lump formed in my throat. I hadn’t been called “son” in so many years—since my father died. It reopened an old wound inside of me, but I managed a nod.

“You’re welcome. And I’m out of coin now, so I hope you’ve got money for the inn,” I joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Everyone burst out laughing. “Now that I can manage,” Evander assured me, and we made our way to a little yellow building with a bustling tavern beneath it.

It had been a long day, and I was weary. With an even longer day ahead of me tomorrow—when I planned to win those fights—all I could think about now was getting some sleep.