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CHAPTER ELEVEN

A va took a long moment to study Rig and consider what was happening. She placed the book down next to her on the ground, leaning up against the side of the chair. There wasn’t room for it on the table.

“First, I’d like to start with this.” She reached for her wine. She knew she was going to need it. This place was going to turn her into an alcoholic. “Actually, before my first question, let’s assume we’re going to tell each other the truth going forward.”

“Agreed.”

“My question is this. How did you wind up here?” Asking him that suddenly made her realize she didn’t know how Ibin and Nos had wound up in the Web, yet. Everything had been so chaotic; it hadn’t occurred to her.

“Ah, yes. Well.” He took his own glass of wine and sat back, looking off toward the waterfall. “No one is sent to the Web without good reason, my dear. The fae do not like to keep their most dangerous and undesirable creatures alive. We are here because we are the ones they could not kill.”

“Couldn’t kill, how?”

“For various reasons. Some, like you, because you are now bound to a thing that is fundamentally indestructible. Sure, I am certain if we were to find a star to pitch both you and the grimoire into, you would be obliterated”—he gestured with his free hand in a circular motion—“but you get my meaning.”

She reached out for some of the bread. “And for the others?”

“Some of it is political. Children of powerful dukes or lords. Others are those that cannot be killed for legal reasons. The fae abide by their contracts and rules like no other. Once they have made a situation binding, they abide.” He huffed a laugh, clearly thinking little of the practice.

“And which of those three options are you? Are you cockroach, is it nepotism, or a legal loophole?”

He barked a laugh. “Oh, I do very much think we will get along. I am the second, my dear. My father is a powerful lord who serves both the King and Queen.” He crossed one of his fur-covered legs over the other. “He beseeched both on my behalf to spare me. Lo, I was sent here.” He gestured vaguely at the world around him. “To learn my lesson. ”

“And what lesson was that? What’d you do?”

Rig met her gaze for a long moment before speaking. “I am able to control the thoughts and actions of those around me. I tired of wielding it against those upon whom my peers deemed it acceptable.”

It took half a second for it all to sink in. He was a hypnotist. And he’d used it against his own people.

The almost-kiss.

Right.

Okay.

Great.

“I could see why they didn’t like that very much.” That was the best she could manage.

“Everyone in the Web has been wronged by the fae. All the fae do is play sick games upon one another, to one extent or another. Yet I was imprisoned for ‘victimizing my own kind.’ And here we are, victims of our own kind! I fail to see why this makes me more of a monster than they.”

“I see your point, but I don’t think that’s the issue. That’s like saying ‘I’m a cannibal, but we were locked up by serial killers, so what’s the problem?’ I’m pretty sure the problem is, they’re afraid of you being a cannibal.” Maybe she shouldn’t use flesh-eating metaphors. It was too close to being the likely outcome. “It’s hypocrisy, sure, but it’s a matter of degrees, from what I can tell. You did the same thing, just maybe in a too-overt way.”

Rig laughed hard. “Oh, a witty one. Very well said.” He had a collection of wooden charms and little figurines on leather cords for necklaces and wrapped around his wrists. “Yes, I suppose you may be valid in that observation, though I still think it is gross hypocrisy.”

“And I’m not saying it isn’t. But, either way, I don’t particularly want to be mind-controlled into whatever it is you want from me.” She took a hard gulp of wine from her glass.

Rig hummed. “I fear it is too late for that, my dear Ava. I have already made up my mind that you are precisely what I have been waiting for.”

Her mind skipped over his words like a rock on a pond for a second. “Excuse me?”

“Let us not start at the end, Ava. Let us talk about what I wish for us, first. This is not how I want this to go between us.” He gestured to the table in front of them. As he did, food appeared before her. A plate of the most delicate and yet extravagant meal she’d ever seen. Roasted duck on a bed of greens and sliced potatoes. Something that probably would go for a hundred dollars a plate or more in Paris.

She stared down at the plate. Then up at Rig. And tried desperately, desperately not to panic. She was seated across the table with an armed bomb. Or a hand grenade that someone had pulled the pin from, and she didn’t know how much time she had left.

He’d just told her he was going to mind control her into agreeing to whatever the hell he wanted. And while she didn’t know if he could get her to agree to a contract when she was already bound to Serrik, she did know that he could absolutely fuck her up very, very badly without any kind of agreement in place.

Considering the choices in front of her, she decided to take a deep breath, and do everything she could to just take a slow, careful sip of the glass of wine, and place the wine glass back down on the table in front of her. “All right…I’ll hear your proposal.”

The smile on Rig’s face was both one of relief and predatory joy. “I am so very glad to see you are a reasonable, intelligent human. So many would have started weeping or shouting some kind of nonsense.”

Yeah. That had been a possibility. “What do you want from me?”

“Consider my existence, Ava. I can tell anyone to do whatever I wish them to do. And they act without question, without hesitation—and I can make them forget.” He chuckled. “Or I can make them believe that whatever it is I desire is, to their very soul, is what they have always desired as well.”

She stayed silent. She didn’t know what to say. Or do. Or think.

“It was addicting, little Ava. Why wouldn’t it be? To have such power at your disposal.” He laughed, quietly, looking over at her with a reminiscent, blissful smile. “Everything was mine. Everything and everyone. I had it all.” His smile faded. “But it was all a lie. Every word of it, every bit of it— fool’s gold. ”

He sighed. “I could never trust their words, even after I set them free of my influence. Not even their hate was real. All of it, every ounce of it, the good, the bad—predicated upon falsehoods that I designed.”

Against all the screaming voices in her head, she stayed seated. She wanted to get up and run as fast and as far as she could. But she knew she’d make it two steps before he commanded her to stop. And it’d be all over.

He reached out a hand to gently take one of hers where it rested on the table. “Everyone here, I have already ruined. They are already spoiled against me. But you? You do not have reason to hate me yet. Fear me, yes. But that will quickly soften.”

“But to what end? What for? I mean—” She sighed. “Besides the obvious. I’m no one. I’m just stuck with a book I can’t use.”

“Exactly!” He laughed, taking another step closer. “Is it not obvious why that is perfect? Human Ava. Boring Ava. Powerless Ava. You have nothing I want. You are not a pawn on the board. The only leverage you provide to anyone would be by attachment to me or as a meal.” He waved his other hand dismissively. “Both easily protected against.”

“You still haven’t connected the dots for me here, buddy.” She didn’t like him touching her. But she needed to keep him talking. And she needed to think about how to get out of the situation. Somehow. Someway. There had to be something she could do.

Rig released her hand and stood, making her instantly nervous. He approached her and gently took both her hands in his to pull her up to her feet. Clearly understanding that he was dealing with a frightened animal about to panic at any moment, he carefully guided her away from the table and a few steps towards the clearing. “I understand how overwhelming this is, Ava. Believe you me, I do. And I do not discount the strain you have been under.

“This is what I am after, as plainly as I can make it.” He smiled, reaching up to run the backs of his knuckles along her cheek. He was getting her used to him touching her. She really didn’t like that. But she put up with it. For now. He let his hand rest at the base of her throat. When he spoke, his words sounded like an empty grave. “I have never had an honest companion in all my years, Ava.”

Oh. It all clicked into place. All the parts of the weird conversation, all snapping together as one. “You want me to be your companion—one that you never have to hypnotize into doing what you want…specifically because I’m human, and powerless, and therefore…otherwise useless.”

A sad, self-effacing smile wavered on his lips. “Well, when you say it that way, I sound downright pathetic, and yet I have managed to utterly insult you in the same breath.”

“Mm, you can hate on yourself and still think I’m somehow worse. They’re not mutually exclusive.” She was exhausted. And her adrenaline was running roughshod over whatever little control she had over the filter between her brain and her mouth.

Luckily, Rig seemed to take the snarky jab as the joke it was meant to be. He laughed, shutting his eyes. “Yes, I do suppose that is true. Well, this is my proposal to you, Miss Ava. A contract between us. You will be my willing companion until the end of your years. And I will provide you my unyielding protection in return. It is as simple as that.”

It sounded simple. Which meant there were absolutely giant, gaping, glaring holes.

Never mind that he’d already told her she couldn’t say no.

Never mind the fact that she was not at all certain she wanted to be stuck as the so-called willing companion to a satyr-hypnotist-whatever for the rest of her years. “It’s not really willing when I can’t say no.”

“Do not focus on that part just yet, Ava. Consider the offer as it stands, I entreat you.”

“Fine.” She sighed. “Let’s start at the top. Define ‘willing companion.’ What does that entail?” She had worked a summer interning at an architectural firm between her sophomore and senior years of college. She thought that she’d be working on drawings. No, she was just printing and collating contracts. Which was really boring, so she spent a lot of time reading them.

She was suddenly very grateful for those few months reading boring paragraph after boring paragraph.

“Hm.” Rig took a step away from her and began to pace as he talked. It was fascinating to watch him move, she had to admit. There was grace and beauty to him, with his inhuman legs.

She understood the allure of the “fair folk” in all the stories, now. How easy it would be to get suckered in by one of them. It was easy to roll her eyes at the old tales or when watching movies, to mock the people who made the stupid decisions. But now that she was in it? Experiencing it? There was a power in the air around them that drew her toward them, even as she knew she should be running the other way.

“Well, first, let us begin with the obvious. I would not expect you to physically service me in any way that you found unpalatable. I am not a monster, despite the rumors.” His tail flicked back and forth. “And I find no joy in lovers who do not desire my touch.”

“A good start. But what else?” Great. It was nice to know that he had a bar. Lovely.

“Simply to be at my side as a friend. An ally. Someone who I can trust to speak honestly.” He placed a palm to his chest. “You would live in my abode. Sit at my table. Read by my hearth. Play games with me.”

“A pet.”

“Too simplistic a word.” He clicked his tongue. “You would be as free as anyone in this gods-forsaken pit of despair. You would be free to associate with others. If you wished to travel the Web, to make friendships with others, to take lovers as you saw fit, I would allow it. If you chose to warm my bed, then I would be glad for it. But you would call my home yours. And I would hold your allegiance.”

She smirked. “An indoor-outdoor cat.”

He squinted a little. “If I knew perhaps what you were referencing? I think I gather your meaning.”

That made her chuckle. “Sorry. A modern phrase. I get the feeling I’m going to confuse a lot of you.” She ran a hand through her hair. It was the only thing keeping her from panicking. “It means I’m still a pet, but I get to roam.”

“There are worse fates to suffer. And there are many of them that await you. When our wardens seek out the one who holds the grimoire, and find that I hold your leash, they will leave you be. When the darker souls that lurk within the Web come knocking, they will not risk angering me.” Rig smiled faintly. “What I am offering you is beneficial to both of us. I do not wish for your soul. I am not seeking to corrupt your mind. I do not want anything but your honest companionship. Your friendship.”

“Friendship can’t be purchased, though. That’s the problem. What if we decide we hate each other?”

His smile turned dark. “I am not concerned. ‘Hypnotism’—what a lovely, curious word, you must tell me more about it—is not my only means of being convincing, little Ava.”

There it was. “Do I want to know the specifics of what you’re threatening me with?”

“I would propose that you do not. And I would rather not trouble you with thoughts of what may be, when we have not come to that particular river. Let us cross it when we reach it.” He took a step toward her.

When. Not if. When. He was assuming she was going to say yes. She could tell her time was starting to run out. “I very much appreciate your offer, Rig. And I think it is a fair and wise proposal. I would like twenty-four hours to consider it.”

That made him pause in his approach. Tapping a finger on his chin, he thought it over for a moment. “While I would love to oblige you and start this new arrangement of ours off on one of pure mutual kindness—I will have to refuse. Much can happen in the Web in twenty-four hours, and you might be caught up in other business within the hour, for all I know. And, as I said, I have already made up my mind. You will belong to me.”

Fuck. Shit, fuck, damn it.

Think, idiot! Think! she screamed at herself in her head. Use your head for something for once in your stupid fucking life!

Then it hit her. She had one bid for a few moments. A few moments, and one pathetic attempt at trying something. Because she only had one weapon she could use.

If it listened.

Taking a deep breath, she decided to give it a try. “It seems to me, then, that the only question remaining is simply whether or not you want to go forward into this contract forever knowing that I had no choice.”

“Pardon?” Rig frowned.

“There are three paths forward, as I can see. One, where I leave here bound under this contract and I am oblivious to the fact that you forced me to say yes. Two, where I leave here bound under the contract and I know that I had no choice other than to say yes.” She was counting out on her hands.

She paused. This was the gamble. This was the risk. “Or, a third choice—which is you give me a few minutes, literally two , to think over your proposal. And if I say yes, then we can go forward with a clean slate. Any worry of our friendship being based on a lie will be erased. And if I say no, you can simply erase the memory of this exchange, and we’re back to where we began.”

He studied her in silence for a long moment. “Two minutes?”

“Two. Everything’s just been…I’m not used to any of this.” She shook her head. “I’m overwhelmed, to say the least, and I just…need to think this through.”

Rig looked off into the distance. She was struck again by how damn handsome he was. Well, if her spell failed, and didn’t do anything, she supposed being friends with—and likely getting railed nightly by—a mind-controlling, terrifying satyr Unseelie fae wasn’t the worst way to spend the rest of her life.

That was, if he was telling her the truth. And not going to turn around and redefine “companion” through some kind of awful loophole and start lopping off her body parts.

Which was completely plausible at this point.

“Two minutes.” He nodded. “I will give you this gift. As a sign of my good will.” He gestured one of his arms wide as if ushering her into a ball, and took several large strides back, giving her space.

Good. Space was what she needed. She didn’t know why she knew that. But, again, she was going on instinct. She smiled at him. “Appreciated.” Pacing away from him, she turned her back on him.

She wasn’t going to let herself be trapped.

Sure enough, the moment she got about twenty-five feet or so away, the grimoire was magically in her hands. “Finally. You do that trick, and I don’t hate it,” she muttered to it under her breath. “I really, really, really hope you…can do something here to help me out.”

Turning, she faced Rig. “Here goes nothing.”

“What was that?” Rig called from across the clearing.

She took in a deep breath, held it, and…held up her hand. “I’m sorry about this.”

The book flew open in her other hand and whirled to an empty, seemingly random location, and stopped. She pressed her palm down to the empty page in front of her. Writing flared to life, as if it had always been there.

Ava watched as the carcass of a several-ton, rusted, cast iron steam train engine appeared in mid-air, some fifty feet above Rig.

He didn’t even have time to see it before it came down on him.

The sound of the rending, shearing metal buckling from the impact would haunt her nightmares for the rest of her life.

As would the confused expression on Rig’s face the moment before she ended his life.