“Right in front of you,” came the voice, and then Osalor appeared again. But now he was taller, more beautiful, somehow. He was already the most beautiful person they’d ever seen. Now he glowed. Every movement was as delicate and vivid as when he had made sunlight turn into a butterfly, and then a leaf, and now a crown. Saeldian wanted to impress him, to do something good that would make him smile…because anything that would make him smile was the right thing to do.
He snapped his fingers, and the feeling broke like a slender thread. Osalor no longer towered, robed in sunshine and something that made Saeldian feel the need to be pleasing. He had twigs in his hair. He was still beautiful, but that was all.
He had done it with magic. And he was going to give Saeldian magic so they could protect the thing Osalor wanted to hide.
“I see you understand. You’ll be able to do that too, eventually. If you’ll agree to my bargain.”
Saeldian could do that, with power? He’d teach them? “What is it?”
“You asked for details first,” Osalor said. “Good. Smart. Always know what you’re getting into.”
He reached into the neck of his robe and lifted a round, carefully edged locket on a chain. “This is an amulet. I want you to guard it, to never let it go, and in exchange, you will have fey magic.”
Saeldian watched it swing and glitter in the afternoon light. “And the witch won’t find me?”
“You’ll be here in Faerûn,” Osalor said. “I’ll go back to the Feywild, and she will look for me. She’ll never imagine I let it out of my hands, because it’s so precious. And you will be strong, with the same powers I have, from your pact.”
“Will I be able to do what you did? Look tall and beautiful like you?”
“You will be able to make people see what you want them to see,” Osalor promised. “You will be beautiful, or frightening, or so anonymous people barely notice you are there. You can even make them feel what you want them to feel, for a few minutes. Long enough for you to get your way…or get away. You will be powerful, and no one will ever hurt you again.”
Saeldian giggled, answering his smile at his own joke. They stuck out their hand, palm up. “I’ll do it.”
“Wait—” Osalor lifted the amulet out of Saeldian’s reach. “We’re not done. I have told you what I will give you. What will you give me?”
What did they have? Nothing. A stolen cookie, and that wouldn’t be enough. “I don’t have anything to give. I don’t have any gold,” Saeldian said.
“Gold’s not worth enough for this,” Osalor said. “Whatever you offer, you can never have it again. Can you sing?”
“No.”
“That would have been too easy,” Osalor said with a shrug. “And that would have been precious. I don’t want to ask for something it would hurt you to give. It could be something that could hurt you to have.”
“Do you want Mr. Wheeler?”
Osalor laughed. “How perfectly bloodthirsty! I like you.”
Saeldian wanted Osalor to like them more than anything in the world.
The elf gave a thoughtful nod. “But there’s an idea. Why don’t you give me the thing that hurts you the most?”
He didn’t mean Mr. Wheeler’s ugly words and angry hands. That wasn’t what hurt the most. And when Saeldian looked up at Osalor, they knew they had the answer.
“My heart?”
“My dear. My protégé,” Osalor said, his voice gone soft and admiring. “The symmetry is stunning! It’s perfect. I accept.”
He lifted the amulet from around his head and draped it over Saeldian’s. “Hold it to your heart, and repeat your pact to me. Osalor, my protector…”
Chapter One
The Pigeon Drop
In Which Saeldian Is Given an Offer They Can’t Refuse
Aunt Lothiel’s Teas and Temptations was full of sparkling charm, and Saeldian was sorry they would never be able to come back after this scam was over. The pearlescent glitter the hostess had sprinkled on their hands had felt like divination magic, and Saeldian had to assume they’d been caught using their disguise.
The gnome who had shaken the powder across Saeldian’s knuckles while greeting them with “Make a wish!” hadn’t reacted, though. She led Saeldian to the table they asked for, sitting in a sunbeam with a lacy tablecloth draped all the way to the floor, and left them to get comfortable. The right man had noticed Saeldian when they first arrived and had already glanced their way again as they sat down.
