“You will make the bargain?” He asked.
“State your terms.”
“Simple: you obey me completely,” he said. “Your life becomes mine, to do with as I please, for as long as you exist. In exchange, I will save your sister.”
“I want to know that she won't come down with another sickness after you cure her,” I said. “What if you save her, and then she dies a year later from bird flu or some such shit?”
He smiled widely. “Very smart, Riley,” he noted. “I'm impressed.”
“You know my name?”
“I know everything about you.”
“Of course you do.” I rolled my eyes. “You're a fairy king.”
“I will guarantee your sister's continued health if you keep your end of the bargain,” he said. “I cannot guard her against future accidents, but I will guarantee her health for as long as she lives. Is that acceptable?”
“Yes.”
“Then we have an understanding.” Drostan held his hand out to me, and I shook it.
Something zinged up my arm and into my heart.
“AnUnseelieUnderstanding,” he whispered.
Chapter Two
A week later, my sister was home and in full health. I still couldn't believe it. The first day she started feeling better, I kept expecting it to be a mistake. The second, I began to hope. When the doctors told Hannah that she could go home, I was overjoyed... and scared out of my mind.
“That fairy fucker was telling the truth,” I whispered to my empty bedroom.
I was packed and had done as Drostan instructed; put my affairs in order. I didn't tell my sister I was leaving; I was still holding out the hope that Drostan might not show up. So, I wrote her a letter. I told her the whole thing, every crazy bit, and knew she'd either think I'd lost my damn mind, or that I had been fooled by a con artist. Either way was better than her wondering what happened to me for the rest of her life. I couldn't do that to her.
My doorbell rang.
“Holy fuck,” I whispered as I walked to the apartment door in a daze. “It's him.”
I opened the door, and there he was. Drostan, King of the Unseelie; miracle healer and gorgeous motherfucker.
“Hello, Riley,” he purred. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah, just let me grab my bag.”
“I can provide for you,” he said crisply. “Leave your things.”
“It's not just clothing,” I protested. “There are pictures and things that I treasure in that bag.”
He sighed and picked up the bag. “As you wish,” he said. “Though this will be the last time you argue with me. Understood?”
“Sure, whatever you say.”
“Good.” Drostan offered me his hand.
I took it, and the world went dark.
Chapter Three
I woke up in a sumptuous bedroom, lying on a bed that was so big, it was ridiculous. I sat up; trepidation rising in my chest. What the hell had Drostan done to me? And where was I?
