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T he fae shifted from meek and terrified one moment to sharing her deepest thoughts the next. How was I supposed to know how to respond to anyone so unpredictable?

Before I had a chance to say anything, she gripped the lute with both hands and sped away from me.

I don’t think you hate us.

That’s what I should have said. It was obvious she didn’t hate us. I could have given her that small reassurance. But instead I was too confused to respond in time. The only other people who had ever approached me with close to the same audacity were my cousins—who were all caught outside the curse—and the twins, who showed no respect unless I was threatening them.

But tonight, that had changed. Koan had shown more respect and solemnity when I found a mob in my corridor than I’d thought he was capable of. Was that this fae’s work? And if so, had she cursed him or …

The other possibility left me even more confused. What if his improved behavior was simply a product of his interactions with her? What if she could somehow bring out better behavior in my delinquent young noble just by having him guard her room?

I was still standing in front of her door wondering when the twins returned with dinner trays. They bowed politely with their typical carefree smiles, but then Koan paused.

“Your Majesty?” he asked.

“Yes?”

“I just arranged for the kitchen to send someone up here with food for her three times a day, so that her meals aren’t delayed by changes in our schedules.”

I nodded. Thoughtful and responsible?

“Your Majesty?” Koan needed something else?

“Yes?”

“You’ll allow that, won’t you? She… Fae eat just as much as we do. It would be cruel to not—”

I cut him off with a wave of my hand. “Of course I’ll allow it. It was good of you to arrange.”

He grinned and dipped his head. “Thank you, sir!” Then he knocked on her door and disappeared inside with Jolter after she opened it.

Fagan laughed out loud. He, Mylo, and Aunt Acantha had gathered in my sitting room for our weekly discussion on the state of affairs of Sirun and ways to end our curse.

“Let me be sure I’m hearing this right,” Fagan said between chuckles. “You’re concerned that your fae prisoner is plotting something because she’s stayed nicely in her room and Koan has developed a sense of propriety and respect over the last week?”

“And responsibility,” I added. That just set him laughing again. “His interactions with her are the only things that have changed. And he started changing his behavior the day he met her.”

Fagan collected himself and smiled at me. It was a fatherly sort of smile I was not in the mood to indulge. “Aedan, forgive an old elf for finding humor in our cursed condition.”

I couldn’t be annoyed at him after that. He was trapped farther from home than anyone else here. And that was my fault.

He sighed. “Sometimes, a simple act of kindness can wake up an elf’s desire to serve or protect or respect. And when that kindness is not deserved, it is even more potent. I suspect our young friend has simply found himself inspired and motivated to improve.”

Was Fagan talking about Koan now… or me? But he couldn’t know how the fae’s kindness to her brother had made me want to protect her since I’d met her.

“She did ask for history books,” I reminded them.

“But she didn’t complain when you refused them.” Mylo, whose personality would have made him my best friend if his position hadn’t been a soldier, leaned forward so his weight pressed his elbows into the table. “I agree with Fagan. She’s done nothing suspicious on any of the days I’ve watched her, and she’s accepted every limitation we’ve given her with grace and patience.”

Acantha shook her head, letting her black curly hair bounce around her shoulders. “She’s most likely biding her time, waiting until she has everyone’s trust. Once we all drop our guard, she will strike.”

Mylo leaned back and folded his arms. “And exactly how will she strike? What is her great, secret plan to destroy us?”

Acantha’s slender lips tightened into a thin line, and she stared at each of us before she spoke. “Most likely power. That is the motivator I have seen the most amongst fae.” She turned to me. “Perhaps she intends to kill you. Perhaps destroy the roses that strengthen you. Perhaps steal our secrets. I can’t guess at her agenda, but I will not trust her. And if her human inheritance allows her to lie, we have no weapons against her deceit.”

I almost regretted telling them that she was only half fae. But these elves had been with me through my parents’ deaths and the curse. I’d trusted them with nearly every secret I’d had for years.

But I hadn’t told them that I’d bound her to me with a mistek bond. Or that I could sense her lies through it. Or that I knew she could lie, but she had not… except for when she told me she hated lemons.

Of all the ridiculous things to say when asked to form a lie! But then, nearly everything she’d said had surprised me every time I’d spoken to her. What would it be like to have a real conversation with her—one that wasn’t overshadowed by a high stakes event? I was almost jealous of the twins’ ability to casually join her for dinner so often.

What would they do if I joined them? I shook my head. They wouldn’t want my company. I needed to stay separate and aloof to maintain order and safety in my kingdom anyway.

“Aedan?” Acantha had been talking, and I hadn’t actually heard anything she’d said. “You shook your head. Do you disagree?”

I shook my head again. “I’m sorry, I was distracted.”

“I was merely pointing out,” she said with a justified look of annoyance, “that we haven’t seen any fae in Hemlit for centuries. Then, a year after your parents’ unexplained death, Radira—a fae—showed up and trapped us with a curse. A curse we still haven’t found a way around. Now, only a decade later, two more fae show up… and one of them is inside our fortress.”

“Thirteen years.”

“What?” Acantha asked.

“It’s been thirteen years, not ten, since the curse,” I corrected. Thirteen years since I’d inadvertently killed a fae who used her dying words to separate Sirun from the rest of Hemlit and turn me into a drekkan.

“Still, my point remains. What if they worked with Radira and it’s just taken them a few years to get in here?” She cast a furtive glance in the direction of the fae’s room. “I’m not even sure our sound barrier is keeping her out of this meeting.”

“She hasn’t used any magic,” Mylo said. “I’m wondering if being only half fae limits her powers.”

Acantha shook her head. “We’ve known half fae before. They were terribly powerful. I think she wants us to believe she…” My mind drifted. Acantha had always been paranoid, and my parents’ early deaths hadn’t helped. And while she had been very helpful in setting up more security since then, I couldn’t focus on her nerves.

Not when my fae prisoner occupied so many of my thoughts.

Four hours later, I set my pen down and closed my ink jar. Since I had not been able to focus earlier, I made a list of all my distracting thoughts. I intended to burn the parchment to help purge them from my mind so I could focus on more important topics.

Instead, I read over it:

The fae’s name is Callista.

Times I felt her fear through the mistek bond:

1- When she was in the dungeon

2- When she defied me in the anteroom

3- When Lady Carmine threatened her

4- When she stood on the balcony

I can feel when she lies through the mistek bond.

She hasn’t lied.

Can she trick the bond when she lies?

Were the stories of the evils of fae nature that Acantha told me true, or were they the result of her paranoid mind?

Did Callista have any purpose in coming here besides a spontaneous decision to save her brother?

This last one was the most disconcerting. It was a question I couldn’t know the answer to, but that answer determined… everything.

All my other thoughts dissipated when I considered the final question, and sequences of logic fell into place. This was the reason thoughts of the fae plagued my mind! I slammed my hands against the desk as I realized the source of my distraction. How had it taken me nearly a whole week to know why she troubled me?!

I should have realized it on the first day. I organized my life and kingdom around two guiding principles: safety for my people and honorable justice. If Callista had truly come here with no other purpose than protecting her brother, then confining her and limiting her activities was a violation of my honor and any justice that might exist in elven or human lands. If this was her only purpose, then my people’s safety was not threatened—and that safety could not justify the violation of my values.

I stood up and paced to the window, staring at the dark sky but seeing nothing. My mind drifted to the last time I saw my parents, dying from an unexplained poisoning. Acantha believed it was the work of fae, but we had no proof.

No proof!

I slammed my hand against the window pane, wishing the clatter of the wood or the sting in my flesh could numb the anger I still felt, fourteen years later. Or solve the moral dilemma I now faced—should I continue to confine the fae on the other side of the wall to mitigate a potential threat that may not exist from her or should I give her more freedom, risking the dangers that Acantha had warned me about for over a decade?

Did my parents’ murderer still hunt me? And was that murderer tied to Callista?

I stalked across my room and stared at the wall I shared with her. Did she even realize our rooms were connected? Did she hate me for taking away her freedom? For binding her to me?

If I only had some proof, one way or the other! I could stomach keeping her contained if it was necessary, but I hated the thought of caging someone who only wanted to help her brother—even if he had trespassed and attacked my roses. But how was I to know if she was less harmless than her brother or Radira or my parents’ unknown murderer?

I leaned my forehead on the wall and pressed my palm silently against the wooden barrier. Heat rose from my anxiety into my hands. She thought it was difficult to live in a place where everyone thought she hated them, did she? Maybe it was difficult to live in a place where everyone expected you to keep them safe, but complained when you were too harsh. I pulled my magic deeper into myself and hit the wall with my hand.

A groan rose from behind the other side of the wall, and then a muffled. “Ugh. Can’t you just sleep? Work off your anger issues tomorrow when you can fly around the mountains.”

I hadn’t planned to hit the wall, and I had definitely not expected her to respond to it. “You’re awake.” My voice was flat and empty. I could hardly believe she’d spoken to me like that.

A dramatic sigh answered, followed by a slightly louder, “I am now.”

Not only had I caged her, I’d kept her awake with my own turbulent thoughts. Or…

Had she kept me awake by intruding into my thoughts? If that was the case, then it was most appropriate that her night be as sleepless as mine. “Can I talk to you?” I asked.

She snorted. “You already are.”

“There’s a door in this wall. Can I open it?” Hearing the words take up space in the dark night—and then not hearing her respond—made me realize how that request could be misconstrued.

Just as I realized how awful it might sound, she finally asked, “To what end?”

I knocked my forehead against the wall. How could I have been so brash? “To speak with you,” I clarified. “That is all. I have questions, and I would prefer not to have a wall interrupting the conversation.”

Silence again.

At least half a minute passed before her voice returned, more timid than before. “I have questions too.”

I smiled. She might be unpredictable, but Mylo was right—she had not been a difficult prisoner in any way. “Might I suggest an exchange of information and ideas, then?” I asked. “Through an opened door?”

I turned my head and pressed my ear to the wall. Sounds of shuffling blankets, footsteps, a wardrobe opening and closing, and more footsteps had me checking myself to see what I wore. A formal tunic and trousers. Perfectly appropriate.

When she softly called, “You can open the door now,” I did so quickly… and then I froze.

She had wrapped a pale blue dressing gown over whatever she was wearing to bed. It was modest and decent, but seeing her stand in it with her arms crossed and her eyes tired, made her look both beautiful and more vulnerable than any other time we’d spoken. I felt doubly cruel for everything I’d done to her, and the urge to protect the selfless goodness she offered her brother surfaced again.

I realized I was staring at her when she asked, “Do you want to start?” in a voice barely over a whisper.

I raised a brow. “Why are you whispering? We’re the only people in this tower.”

She mirrored my brow raise but managed to add a sardonic glint to it. “I suspect either Koan or Jolter is sleeping in the hall.”

“Sleeping?” I should wake them up. “They’re supposed to be guarding you, not sleeping.”

A warm smile replaced her earlier expression. “I believe they’ve set their magic to alert them if anyone enters the hall.”

The warmth in her face and voice made me jealous. What emotions played on her face when she spoke of me? But that was a line of thought I could not afford to entertain. Kings orchestrated order and safety—they did not worry about what others thought of them.

“Do you like the brothers?” I asked instead.

She nodded. “They’re sweeter than I gave them credit for when I first met them.”

I scoffed. “You mean when they attacked you in the dungeon?”

She smiled. “Yes. I’m… not mad about that anymore.”

“Because they’ve been… sweet?” That made no sense. One good deed did not make a bad one disappear.

She tightened the gown around her. “Sort of.” She must have seen my confusion because she elaborated. “I don’t think they went down there with the idea of hurting me. I think they were curious. And prone to making poor decisions without thinking through them. And they’d been told a lot of untrue things about fae in general.”

She swallowed but kept talking. “Once they realized they had hurt me, and scared me, they felt really bad, and they’ve done their best to make it up to me.”

I nodded slowly and gestured at her gown. “Did they get you clothes?”

Her eyes widened as she dragged her chin back and forth twice. “No, Your Majesty.”

My eyes narrowed. “Then who?”

Her jaw clamped closed and a fervor burned in her eyes just like when she’d stood in front of me and fought for her brother. She raised her chin and said, “I don’t think I’m going to answer that question.”

What? Why would she defy me? Heat rose in my veins and the temptation to strike her down with fire burned through me.

But I had promised her safety.

But her defiance was greater than I’d tolerate from any elf in my kingdom.

But I had promised.

I clenched my hands into fists and pushed the heat down, deeper inside my control. “Why not?” The words rumbled out, as if a drekkan inside me had taken over my voice box.

Her posture and voice exuded confidence and arrogance that would easily be cured by a few days in my dungeon, but… I felt her fear through the mistek bond. She challenged me even though it terrified her. Why?

Her words answered the question… and stunned me. “You are clearly angry about it. Arranging clothes for me was a kindness, and I will not have it rewarded with your wrath.”

“You would protect… an elf from… me ?” The idea was backwards— I protected my elves. They didn’t need help from a fae who may or may not be connected to Radira, who may or may not have been connected to my parents’ deaths.

But she nodded.

And I remembered her brother. Koan and Jolter. And now an elf she would not name. She was making a habit of sparing people my anger. A new heat rose in my chest, and it had nothing to do with my magic. It was an illogical attraction to her ability to temper my anger. It was a bravery I had not seen before, and it rose like a phoenix while her own fears burned in the background .

It was beautiful.

“Can I ask a question now?” Her voice drew my mind back to my original purpose. I’d wanted to find out her intentions here, but I’d started with a meaningless interrogation.

“Yes,” I answered. She should have a question, and then I would ask one that mattered.

“Why do your people hate fae so much?” Her fear intensified as she asked the question.

That was an easy one. But first, I had to respond to her emotions. “You do not need to fear me.” Her eyebrows popped up. “I know that wasn’t your question, but I want you to know that I will keep my promise to you. I will not release my anger on you.”

She responded with a tight smile, but I felt her worry lessen.

Her question had a short answer. “My people have never trusted others, but we have a particularly upset history with fae. It was a fae that cursed me with the drekkan form and trapped our people within the barrier your brother temporarily damaged.”

Her head tipped to the side. “If you were trapped, why were you so angry that he disrupted it?”

My hands tightened into fists again. “We couldn’t use his damage—it had already started fixing itself before you came through it. His crimes were more than just damaging the barrier. He also trespassed, attacked my roses, and lied about his actions. I do not trust him or his motives.”

Which brought me to my question. “And I need to know what your motives are here.”

Her brows wrinkled, emphasizing the confusion in her blue eyes. “Are you asking why I’m here?”

I clenched my fists again. This was the question that everything hung on. “Yes.”

She chuckled and shook her head, as if she couldn’t believe I’d asked such a thing. “I’m here as a deterrent for my brother, a living collateral so you can ensure his behavior with my potential death. I can’t imagine why that would keep you up at night.”

I would have laughed at her snark if I didn’t need to know more. “I realize that. But is there anything else you hope to accomplish while you are here? Do you have any other plans?”

I stopped talking and held my breath. After being impressed by her kindness and attracted to her bravery, I truly hoped her motives ended with what she’d said. I wanted to make her happy and comfortable, but I could not do it if I felt her lie now.

Her eyes skittered to the floor and her breathing sped up. The anxiety that had lessened a few moments ago burst into fear as great as when she’d breathed a terrified plea to not push her to her death.

She raised her gaze to mine. “I don't have plans, but I do have an additional hope.”

Her honesty helped me relax. I breathed more easily, but her voice trembled as she said, “I don't know how it will even be possible, but I'm hoping that I can find Motab—my mother—while I'm here. Though, I'm afraid that since everyone hates fae so much, she's probably hiding or disguised.”

“Your mother?” Curious. She’d managed to surprise me. In all the speculation about her secret evil plans, nobody had suggested she was looking for family. “Is she here?”

She nodded. “The last time we saw her, she was coming here for a day, but she never returned.” She shrugged. “Of course, that was thirteen years ago, so I don't have high hopes, but I've seen some of her magic, which makes me hope a little…”

She drifted off as my expression contorted. I tried to keep an impassive face, but… the things she said! Thirteen years ago. A fae. Coming into Hemlit.

I forced my mind to focus on the facts. I didn't have them all yet. It could be just a coincidence.

But coincidences were for fools. I knew better.

My voice fell to a hoarse whisper. “What is your mother's name?”

The half-fae in front of me smiled and her fears almost disappeared entirely. “Her name is Radira. Radira Blackwater. Will you… look for her?”

Radira Blackwater.

A sinking feeling of horror tightened my throat.

I never knew her family name, but I would remember Radira every day for the rest of my life.

I was the one who had killed her.