There was a long pause before he answered, “Yes.”
Keeping my voice as even as possible, I explained everything to him. The tournament, Devil, Angus Gower, the kiss. He listened in silence, pulling chunks of grass from the earth beside him. When I finished, he shook his head slowly.
“I’m a fool and a coward. I’m so sorry.”
“Will,” I whispered, putting my hand over his, “you’ve been my truest friend…since I can remember. You’ll always be my friend, but I am not going to come out of this the same.” I waved my hand around at the Arden. “So, I don’t think I can go back to the same life. Even if I don’t stay here…I can’t go home either, and I know home is the one place you’ll never leave. At least this way, you can go back and tell Tuck and Sissi not to worry for me.”
Will just nodded, then someone cleared their throat behind us. I turned to see Devil standing against a tree trunk nearby, his face stoic. “Arachne is waiting for you.”
I stood up and helped pull Will to his feet, then approached Devil with my arms crossed. “Promise me he’ll be safe while I’m—”
“Oh,gods above, I cannot—”
“Shut up!” I snarled. “I wasn’t finished. He will be safe while I am at Arachne’s,andwhile we are at the revelry,andhe will find his way safely out of the Arden tomorrow.”
I put my hand out and Devil eyed it suspiciously. “Another bargain?”
“If that’s what it takes.”
He just raised an eyebrow. “I cannot guarantee his safety, and so I would not take anything from you in exchange for it. I can only promise you that he will come to no harm from anyone here in the Hollow while we are away.”
“That…that is enough,” I said, pulling my own hand back. I turned to look at Will, but he was already being led away by a pack of small fay children, supervised by Larch and Jon, who was human again and, mercifully, wearing trousers.
Chapter fourteen
Gown & Glamour
Arachne was in nohurry to let me see my new gown, and so I became more impatient by the minute. As I listened to her communicate with Primrose in clicks, chirps, and the strange language of the Fair Folk, I fought the urge to tap my foot, or pull off the silk bandana tied over my eyes. There was some sort of hard collar around my neck, which I presumed was holding part of the gown up, but I could feel nothing else except a tight bodice around my torso and the soft brush of fabric against my legs and arms. When a sharp knock finally echoed through the hovel, I nearly jumped to answer it myself, so eager was I to be rid of my blindfold and the disconcerting clicks coming from Arachne’s spider legs.
“At last, he shows his face!” the old woman cried when the door creaked open. “We began to imagine ye fluttered away rather than face Titania with a human girl in tow.”
Devil’s steady voice came from somewhere nearby. “Titania can rage all she likes. She knows she cannot touch me, nor anyone I have a bargain with. Now, let us see what you’ve cooked up for my darling May.”
Arachne just snorted and I prepared a sharp reprimand for the way he’d referred to me. Before I could offer it up, however, I heard a long, low whistle.
“Madame, you’ve outdone yourself,” he breathed. The heat of his light magyk radiated on my skin, and I felt his fingers tracing over the fabric, deftly avoiding my exposed shoulders and upper back as he circled me.
“Are the two of you quite done now?” I groaned. “I should like to see what the fuss is about.”
“Patience!” Arachne chided. “The final touch.” She slid what seemed to be a pair of bangles over my hands, but moved them all the way up so they sat on my upper arms just beneath my shoulders, then squeezed them tight. Another pair went around my wrists, and she fiddled with them for a few minutes before declaring the ensemble complete.
“A mirror, if ye please, imp,” she said to Devil. I squirmed impatiently as the light he conjured up shone through my blindfold. Finally, a hand brushed against my ear and the cloth fell away. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust, but when I saw the image in the mirror, my knees almost buckled.
The gown was unlike anything I had ever seen, unlike any of the fancy ball gowns I’d glimpsed from a distance when Will and I spied on Johar’s royal parties. Around my torso was a forest-green bodice stitched with intricate, deep purple designs that, from my vantage point, appeared to be scenes of the forest—foxes and birds and rabbits and deer dancing beneath the Arden’s trees. The skirt was made from layers upon layers of fluttering chiffon in various shades of green, trimmed with purple satin, and I could see brown, white, and purple eyelets embroidered along the hem, to imitate the markings of the Huntress moth. Around my neck and down my chest hung a braided bronze collar in the form of a coiled snake. Its eyes and the tip of its tail had been inlaid with swirling green malachite stones, which almost made the undulating body look alive.
But the thing that truly made my jaw drop was the cape. Attached to the top of the bodice with tiny bronze rings, it flowed down my back, with the upper edge fixed to the four cuffs on my upper arms and wrists, also made to look like malachite-eyed serpents. When I lifted my arms, the heavy silk spread open behind me, patterned exactly like the wings of the Huntress moth, complete with twin tails that flowed out on the floor like a train.
“It’s…it’s breathtaking,” I murmured. Holding one hand out to keep the magyk mirror in place, Devil came to stand behind me. He leaned down so our faces were reflected beside each other in the rippling surface.
“I was going to say the same thing,” he whispered, eyes lingering on my face.
I lifted my fingers to run them over the head of the snake at my throat and asked, “A collar for your human pet?”
“Not a collar.” He shook his head with a small laugh. “A torque. Before humans carved this land up with their borders and crowns and thrones, the torque was a symbol of power and authority. Only the most respected, or feared, rulers were granted the honor to wear them.”
With a sidelong glance, I muttered, “I’ve hardly earned it, then.”
“You will,” was all he said. “Besides, I would never presume to collaryou, Mayhem. A torque can be removed at will. See?” He reached around my shoulders with both hands and lifted the snake slightly, showing me how the gap between its coils, and the flexibility of the braided bronze, would allow me to pull it off myself. Uninvited heat rushed through my body at the sensation of his fingers on my collarbones and his breath on the shell of my ear. I cleared my throat and took a step toward the mirror to distance myself, pretending to examine the hairstyle Prim had somehow managed without removing my blindfold. It was simple, with the front pulled back like a crown and the rest of the thick curls falling loose around my bare shoulders. But when I glanced at Devil in the mirror, he was still watching me closely with a strange expression on his face. Arachne had shuffled away to the back of her cave, so I turned and folded my hands.
