Page 37 of Fae Tithe (The Cursed Courts #1)

The Merman’s towering frame took up most of the side of the table he sat on. Declan’s bravado dissipated as he lowered himself onto the offered seat next to the High Prince. Eleanor stifled a giggle as he perched on the wooden chair, clutching his glass with both hands.

She took in his somehow familiar features. Hazel eyes, fluffy blonde hair and pointed ears. He was slim and small beneath his dark grey cloak. The material was held in place by a brooch, onyx in colour, shaped like a small bird in flight.

“It worked, then. You got out?” Declan asked Eleanor, but before she could answer, he turned to Helena, giving her a wink. “Looks like you owe my faeries some Seels.”

“She’s not paying you anything. You’re lucky I don’t tide-damn drown you, like I promised. Things didn’t go as planned,” Lance answered for them through gritted teeth. “We got caught. The Fae guards weren’t exactly incapacitated by the time we got in there. We had to figure our own way out.”

“No need for threats.” Declan sipped his drink.

“I suppose I’ll waive the rest of the fee.

” He tapped his chin with his finger, then shrugged.

“It was the first time the kitchen staff had tried spiking their meals, so I suppose there was always a risk it wouldn’t work well.

” Declan put down his glass, reached over, and took a slice of the bread.

“You… you didn’t know if it would work before you sent us in there?” Helena growled. “Declan, if you’re wasting my time now, I’m— ”

“I’m not. Look, time was short, okay? The Seelie Court was only gone for a little while. The faeries did their best with the limited time they had. I mean, you got her out, didn’t you?” he whispered harshly.

“'Her' is sitting right here!” Eleanor hissed. “You shouldn’t have misled my parents that way. It was only thanks to Lance negotiating with the Seelie Court that we got out.”

Declan turned to his head to the Merman next to him and looked him up and down. “I have to ask, how? I have never heard of them negotiating with anyone.”

The Merman placed his spoon down on the table and turned his hand upwards. A hovering water orb appeared above his palm. It swirled, growing larger and larger, until it was the size of Declan’s head.

Eleanor watched, eyes wide in amazement. Beautiful. The salt tang met her nose. It smells like home.

“Because I’m the High Prince of the Sea,” he replied.

Lance waved his hand, and the water orb quickly dissipated. He picked up his spoon and continued eating his stew. Declan blinked, jaw slack, at the Merman for several moments, before turning back to face Eleanor and Helena.

“I pride myself on knowing things. I didn’t see that one coming,” he admitted.

“Let’s get on with it, shall we?” Helena asked, her voice low, barely audible over the surrounding din of the dinnertime rush. “I hear you want someone to remove the King.”

“That’s right,” Declan replied. He stuffed a bite of buttered bread into his mouth before he began to rifle through the inside pockets of his cloak. He finally fished out a nearly flat copper disk, the size and thickness of a golden Seel coin.

Eleanor watched Lance’s eyes narrow as he studied the coin and wrinkled his nose. “That reeks of fire magic. It’s a different one to the King’s though.”

The Changeling flicked through her mind, thinking of all the faeries she knew of whose magical talent leant more towards fire. I wonder which type of fire faerie’s magic it is. There are Grants, Salamanders, Aibels, and Wisps…

“A Wisp, perhaps?” Eleanor asked.

Declan smiled across the table at her. “Exactly right. How did you know?”

“I’m well-educated, well-read,” she replied with a shrug. The young man ran his eyes over her. Eleanor prickled under his gaze. “What are you looking at?”

“I’m looking at what they did to you. I’m sorry. You’re not the only one who has been abused by the Seelies.” He tucked the fluffy curls on one side of his head behind an ear, accentuating the pointed tip. “If you got away…” He turned his head to Helena. “Then why do you want to kill him? ”

The reminder of Rian sent a needling pain over Eleanor. She rubbed her knuckles across her chest and ran a thumb across her forehead. It did not help ease the irritating pain.

“He did something to me. He claimed me and then changed me,” Eleanor answered, before her mother could. “He wove some sort of magic into me that means he can talk to me in my head, come to me in dreams, and pull me to him. He’ll never really let me go.”

“That’s why,” Helena chipped in. She had finished her stew and placed the spoon neatly across the rim of the bowl before wiping her mouth with a rough cotton napkin. “Tell me about this Wisp coin,” she said, pointing down to the innocuous trinket on the table.

“It was made by a Wisp artificer. They wove their magic into the device and its twin,” Declan whispered, leaning across the table.

“Its partner will be placed on his carriage just before it leaves Tithe Manor. When this one…” He pointed down at the coin on the table.

“Is crushed in your hand, it will ignite the one attached to his carriage. You will need to be close to the carriage for it to work properly.”

Eleanor watched as her mother reached out to grab the Wisp coin. She stopped, hand hovering over the device. “What about the other girls?” Helena asked, retracting her hand again. “I won’t do this if there is a chance any of the other girls are in the carriage, too.”

A muscle feathered in Declan’s jaw as he clenched it.

Eleanor guessed he had no answer to that. “They won’t,” she chimed in. “I learnt from someone in the Manor that the Seelies only travel alone. One carriage, one Seelie. They even travel separately to their wives. The Governess said they preferred it.”

“The Governess?” Helena’s eyes met Lance’s across the table. “She was the one who led us to you, El. I’m sorry, love. She… died trying to help us.”

Eleanor lowered her head, worrying her lip at the revelation. She did not much care for the Governess, but it reminded her of the death of someone she did care about.

“Miss Taylor, too. She was killed trying to stop the Portson Guard from taking me for the Tithe… I feel like it’s my fault.” Eleanor sniffed, squeezing her eyes shut, fighting back the tears. She leant over and rested her head on her mother’s shoulder.

“It’s not your fault, El,” Helena reassured, turning her head to kiss the top of Eleanor’s waves. “It’s theirs ,” she growled. “They took you. The Governess, Miss Taylor? Their blood is on the Seelies' hands.”

“Anyway,” Declan coughed, cutting in. “You know that he won’t have his claimed with him, because you have her here. Who cares about the others?” His eyes darted down to the Wisp coin still on the table.

Lance glowered down at him. “That’s an awful thing to say, like they don’t matter at all?!”

Declan’s throat bobbed. “They don’t, not compared to the maybe thousands of faeries indentured to the Seelie Court. Five Changeling girls compared to all of them.”

Eleanor’s eyes widened in shock. They all got changed too… so I’m not the only one? Her minded flashed to the silent, reserved girls she briefly saw in the courtyard. “What are you talking about? They don’t matter compared to the faeries… do you mean the ones with the silver bracelets?”

Declan straightened his back. “Yes.” He lowered his voice. “They would all be free.”

A prickle of irritation needled at Eleanor, scowling at his vague answer. “What do you mean?”

“I mean what I said, they would all be free. When you make a bargain and they put the compulsion bracelet on you, there are three ways out.” Declan held up three fingers.

“You’ve served your years.” He dropped a finger.

“You die.” Another finger down. “Or the master of the bargain dies.” The final one folded.

Lance shook his head, a deep frown lining his face. “Then… why agree to wear one?

Declan shrugged. “Most faeries only agree to them because they are desperate. There’s a threat to your family, or—”

“They take your child?” Helena interjected.

Eleanor focused on the Wisp coin, still sitting on the centre of the tabletop.

If Mum and Lance do this… I’ll be free. She remembered the faerie who healed her, the one with the cut across her wings, done with such precision that Eleanor knew she would never fly again.

And so would she. The Changeling’s gaze met the young man’s face and frowned.

“Why didn’t they use a Bargain Bracelet on me, before… this?” She gestured to herself.

“It only works on people with magic,” Declan explained. “An enchanted bargain can only bind those who have magic.”

“Then how are the faeries in the manor helping you?” Eleanor asked. “If they have bargains and masters… that doesn’t make sense, they shouldn’t be able to.”

The young man exhaled through his nose. “Because they are working within the limits of their deals. They are still going about their work at Tithe Manor and doing what they can within that. Placing a coin on a carriage is a not a violation, nor is passing on a message, nor leaving a note. If they go about their work, the deal is kept.”

Helena interjected. “But…” She lowered her voice. “Why wouldn’t the Fae, the Seelies... plan for that?”

“Arrogance,” Lance and Declan said together.

Eleanor suppressed a giggle as the Merman scowled down at the Half-blood, who lowered his gaze in response.

“The High Prince is right,” Declan agreed. “If you think you’re untouchable, then you act like it.”

“They can’t be doing the carriage part though… right?” Eleanor asked, gaze on the copper disc again.

Lance nodded in agreement. “No matter how arrogant you are, surely a deal of service would include the requirement of not killing your master.”

Declan huffed. “That’s because they are not the ones using the devices for the act. The stable faeries are just placing them on the Seelie carriages.”

“So… who is?” Eleanor pressed.

“Family members of the indentured, the artificers themselves, Si—” He let out a long exhale. “Look, do you want to help, or not?”

Eleanor turned her face to her mother, who had been unusually silent during the back-and-forth between the three. The Changeling studied her mother’s expression. She looked as though the wheels in her mind were turning fast, like those on a carriage pulled by a Seelie Stallion.

She laid her hand on Helena’s arm. “Mum? You okay?”

Lance leant forward over the table. “Sweetheart?”

“I’m in,” Helena agreed, picking the device up from the table.

“Mum, you can’t—” Eleanor argued, pulse quickening in concern.

“Yes, I can. Anything to keep you safe.” Tears silvered in her mother’s eyes. “I won’t lose you again.”

Eleanor huffed angrily, her gaze passing between her mother and Lance. He nodded over the table to Helena, a soft look on his face, before turning a glower to Declan.

“If this is a lie or you betray us, I will drown you,” the High Prince promised.

The young man swallowed and looked up at the towering Merman. “Understood. There is no lie here, Highness.”

“When is this all happening?” Helena asked.

Declan snapped his head back to her. “Soon. It will be within the week. The servants are trying to fix it, so they leave all around the same time and the partner coins are attached shortly before their departures. We are aiming for a coordinated removal. There are twelve devices, six pairs, one for the King and five for the Lords.”

“I will be ready,” Helena replied. She met Lance’s face across the table. “We will be ready.”