One kiss. That was all he asked. I could kiss an immortal faerie and sign over a piece of my loyalty indefinitely if it meant getting Tolek back.
“Fine.”
Lancaster leaned over me, his hand grabbing the back of my neck. Then, his lips were on mine, and I jolted—it was the first time I had kissed anyone besides Malakai.
It was different, kissing this faerie. Wrong. Despite the magic that passed between us as I opened for him, there was an unnatural collision in the way our mouths moved. Though it was clear he was skilled, had probably spent centuries bedding females, I did not want him beyond this deal.
His magic twisted along my bones as the bargain solidified itself, tying us to each otherindefinitely, until the day one of us broke our end of the bargain. It tasted ancient, made of secrets and the foundations of nature.
A bolt of lightning flashed between the trees, striking the frosty ground where we stood, and he backed away.
“Done.”
His smile turned vengeful, ready to hunt. And fear flooded my gut at the gravity of what I may have just agreed to.
Lancaster lifted his hand, conjured a small charm out of nothing.Gold and engraved with a symbol too worn to make out. “Add that to your necklace. Wish on it when you want to invoke our deal, and I’ll know.”
Shaking myself of the inexplicable sensation that bargain had wrought within me, I pushed every fear of what I’d just committed to from my mind.
“Can we get on with this now?” I asked once the charm was hanging beside my token from Angelborn.
“Give me five minutes,” Lancaster said. “And your path into that camp will be clear.”
I nodded, watching him disappear silently into the trees, unsure of what he was about to do but knowing there was a time we would meet again.
Creeping back to the edge of the camp, I tried to form a plan as if this was nothing more than one of Cyph’s drills. Find the guards’ weaknesses, look for those who seemed slowest, map a route in and out.
The seconds ticked by painfully as I waited for a signal. Doubt crept in. If that pointy-eared bastard had bailed on me, left me sitting here like patient prey through some loophole, next time I saw the faerie, I’d ensure he paid?—
But a satisfied smile split my lips when an inhuman roar cut through the air.
Thank you, Lancaster.
The guards snapped to attention, running from the clearing toward the supposed threat.
I shot out of the brush, heading for the largest tent.
I peered inside. There was nothing?—
A second scream froze me, this one guttural. Desperate and strained. And it was coming from the opposite direction of Lancaster’s distraction.
From a voice I recognized all too well.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Ophelia
I didn’t stopto think. I ran.
Another echoing cry spurred me on, faster.
Tangled branches of the cypher trees whipped at my cheeks, a trickle of blood slipping down, but I was barely aware of anything besides my pounding heart and trying to keep my hands locked on Angelborn. One name repeated in my mind:
Tolek.
He screamed again—more ragged and closer this time—and I sped up.
My throat was raw by the time I saw a smaller tent through the gaps in the trees. Darker than the rest and tucked away from their crowd. Hidden.
