"Nesilhan—" I start, but she cuts me off with a look.
"It's my choice, Kaan. My price to pay." Her hand finds mine, squeezing tight. "I'd rather face the Fae courts unable to lie than leave you to face them without me at all."
Peri Ayse claps her hands together once, the sound echoing through the chamber like a thunderclap. "Wonderful. Two prices agreed. Now..." Her attention swings back to me with stalking focus. "Let's discuss transportation."
"And transportation?" Elçin asks quietly, her voice carefully controlled. "Safe passage to the Grove, where Banu's grandmother's people might still have healers who understand essence-draining poison."
"The Forgotten Grove, I assume?" Peri Ayse nods with something like approval, though her attention remains fixedon me. "Wise destination. Even gods hesitate to violate those borders."
She pauses, and I see her recalculating, adjusting her approach based on what she's learned of us. "But passage between realms for five immortals—after I heal your fairy, naturally—breaking through dimensional barriers while concealing your traces from both Veil creatures and divine attention..." She trails off deliberately. "First I save her life. Then I transport you all to the Grove where their healers can complete what I begin. The sequence matters, shadow prince. Transport her in her current state and she dies enroute."
"And the transportation?" Elçin presses, not letting the Peri evade. "What's the cost there beyond logistics?"
Peri Ayse's attention shifts fully to Elçin, and I see her recalculating her assessment of who to watch in this room. "Ah." The Peri's smile turns knowing. "The Grove's borders are... particular. They permit entry, but departure requires permission from the Seelie Queen herself. You might find yourselves permanent guests. Honored guests, certainly. But guests nonetheless. As for the price..." Her gaze locks onto mine with an intensity that makes the air between us thicken.
She moves closer, each step measured, and I catch the scent of night-blooming jasmine again, stronger now, intoxicating. "A night with you, shadow prince." Her voice drops to something intimate, almost a whisper, but it carries perfectly in the stone chamber. "Just one night. You and I, alone, to... discuss terms more thoroughly."
She's close enough now that I can see the gold flecks in those burning eyes, see the way her form seems to shimmer slightly at the edges. "I've been bound in this lamp for millennia. Do you know what that means?" She doesn't wait for an answer. "Centuries of silence. Of isolation. Of consciousness trapped in copper, feeling time pass like a knife scraping bone."
Her hand rises, not quite touching my chest, but close enough that I feel the heat radiating from her palm. "I'm quite eager for... companionship. Especially from someone as magnificent as you. Someone who understands power." That expression again, promising paradise and delivering damnation. "One night. Your company, freely given. I promise you'll find the experience... unforgettable."
Beside me, Yasar finally speaks. "Interesting bargain," he observes, his eyes tracking between the Peri and me with clinical assessment. "Though I wonder—why him specifically? You could ask for a night with any of us. Why fixate on the shadow prince?"
Peri Ayse's smile sharpens. "Because he touched my prison, clever cousin. Because his darkness called to mine across centuries of silence. And because..." Her gaze slides to Yasar with something like amusement. "You're beautiful, yes. But you're not interesting. And I have waited millennia—I will not waste my freedom on mere beauty."
"Absolutely not," Nesilhan snarls, trying to struggle to her feet despite her exhaustion, jealous fury blazing in her golden eyes brighter than any magic she's wielded. Her face has gone pale except for two spots of color high on her cheeks. "I won't let you touch him. I don't care if we die here, you're not?—"
"Let me?" Peri Ayse's voice remains silk-soft, but something dangerous flickers beneath the surface. She finally tears her gaze from me to glance at Nesilhan, and the look is almost pitying. "Child, you seem to misunderstand your position here."
She gestures around the cave without breaking eye contact with Nesilhan. "You are dying. Your friends are dying. Your stolen magic is feeding a parasite who stands beside you, draining you with every heartbeat. And your enemies—" She tilts her head, as if listening to something distant. "—are minutes from breaking through these dimensional barriers."
Her attention returns to me, dismissing Nesilhan as thoroughly as if she'd ceased to exist. "One night of your company, shadow lord. One night, and I'll heal your fairy, then transport you all safely to the Forgotten Grove, seal your passage so thoroughly that not even the Veil itself will find your trail." That burning gaze holds mine. "I promise you'll find the experience... educational."
I feel the trap closing around us like iron jaws. This creature doesn't want simple payment—she wants me. Everything else is negotiable, but that hunger in her ancient eyes is not. And there's something else, something she's not saying, lurking beneath her perfect smile like sharks beneath calm water.
A night with this creature. One night, and everyone I love survives. Simple arithmetic. So why does my chest feel like it's caving in? Why can I feel Nesilhan's heart breaking through our bond, even damaged as it is? I've done worse things than spend a night with a beautiful ancient being. I've tortured, murdered, destroyed. This should be easy.
But the way Nesilhan is looking at me—like I'm already gone, like she's already lost me to this creature—makes something crack in my chest that I didn't know could still break.
From the main chamber comes the sound of stone grinding against stone. Our pursuers have found the entrance.
"Time grows short," Peri Ayse observes, though her tone remains pleasant. Her gaze never leaves my face. "Shall I assume you've reached a decision? Or shall I leave you to face the Veil creatures alone?" She gestures toward the lamp with elegant nonchalance. "I'm quite comfortable in my copper home. I can wait another few centuries for more... agreeable clients."
I look at each of them in turn. At Nesilhan, whose twilight magic flickers with exhaustion but whose jealous fury burns bright enough to light the cave. At Elçin, her warrior's composure barely masking the desperation in her eyes whenshe thinks of Banu dying alone in the outer chamber. At Yasar, carrying the weight of his betrayal but still somehow thinking he deserves to have opinions about our survival.
The choice isn't really a choice at all. But I'll be damned—more damned—if I let this ancient creature see me beg.
I step closer to her, matching her feral energy with my own, and watch her pupils dilate. "And your night with me? That's going to be the most educational experience you've had in millennia. I learned cruelty from Erlik himself, Peri Ayse. I've spent two centuries perfecting the art of beautiful suffering. Are you absolutely certain you want to play games with his son?"
For just a heartbeat, something flickers in her ancient eyes. Not fear—beings this old don't fear easily. But recalculation. Recognition that perhaps she's chosen prey that has its own teeth.
Then that slow, knowing smile returns. "How deliciously unexpected." She traces one finger along her collarbone, the gesture deliberately provocative. "A shadow prince with bite. How rare." She pauses, and I see her weighing options, adjusting her strategy. "Very well, then. Two requests instead of three. Fifty years each from the four of you for the fairy's life. One night with you for safe passage to the Forgotten Grove."
Her lips curve wider, ancient and knowing. "Though I suspect, shadow prince, that you'll find there are always hidden costs in deals made with desperate people. Some prices reveal themselves only after the bargain is sealed. And some nights..." She lets the sentence hang, pregnant with implication. "Some nights last far longer than the hours between dusk and dawn."
Nesilhan makes a sound like a wounded animal, but before she can protest further, Peri Ayse raises one perfect hand. Golden power begins to build around her—ancient, terrible, and absolutely capable of destroying us all if we refuse.
"Do we have an agreement?" she asks, and for the first time, I hear the steel beneath the honey. This is not a request.
