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A curt nod. A nearly undetectable twitch of the jaw.
“Our king pleaded for mercy and made an official bargain with the witch. We got to keep a small section of our island where our survivors could continue to live in exchange for giving up the rest of the island, where she could conduct her experiments.” He stopped before a gilded archway, fingers flexing, voice carefully measured. “After that, the mist appeared, encircling us and trapping us in. Or most of us, at least.”
He gave me a pointed glance that told me I wouldn’t escape a future interrogation about my Walking abilities, but I couldn’t stop his last words from ricocheting through my eardrums over and over again.
We got to keep a small section of our island where our survivors could continue to live in exchange for giving up the rest of the island.
It was cruelty presented as a neat, bow-tied gift, and it made my very marrow fucking boil.
“I know it’s not worth anything,” I said, dragging in a deep breath, “but I’m really sorry, for what she took from you. And I hope to change it.”
Skepticism chiseled itself into every fine line of Kanuk’s face. He jerked a head at the room and simply said, “Jagaros will speak with you in there. Good luck.”
Then he turned on a heel and left.
Alone now, the three of us glanced at each other, silence weaving between us—well, except for the pleasant tinkling of water up ahead.
Examining every detail as I went, I led the way through the archway.
It was a sunroom bordered by the high, jagged rise of an actual cliff, where waterfalls meandered down the stone and splashed into a garden pond below. Turtles moved languidly among the reeds, and there by the edge right before a curious stone table, watching them all—
A massive white tiger.
At our approach, the feline beast flicked its head our way. Again, I could have tried to communicate with him mind-to-mind, but that wasn’t necessary with a Wild Whisperer here, so I stepped back to let Dazmine do the talking and listening.
With a quick heave of her chest, she stalked up to the tiger and crouched down low, her head angled slightly down.
“Jagaros, faerie king of old…” She licked her lips, more nervous than I’d ever seen her—and that included Hallow’s Perch. “We’ve come on behalf of Rayna Drey to ask you a favor.”
Favor didn’t exactly describe the extent of what we needed from him, but it was a start. I waited with bated breath, silently willing him to cooperate.
The tiger’s tail swished once. His pupils hardened onto Dazmine. He snarled.
Terrin twitched, every muscle taut.
“What did he say?” I asked.
Quietly, Dazmine backed away from the pond and breathed, “That he’ll eat me if I get any closer. And I think he means it.”
“Well, he is a tiger, after all,” said a new voice from behind us.
The three of us whipped around, my grip tightening on Old Veracious.
There, framed by the archway, stood a male that could have been Kanuk’s identical twin: broad shoulders, ochre skin, blinding white hair, studs in his eyebrows. The only difference was the stripe-like tattoo collaring this faerie’s throat.
And when I reached out with my mind, an instinctive defensive measure, I crashed into a familiar blaze of fire and ice.
“Jagaros,” I said, keeping my face blank despite the surprise that rippled through me.
The male dipped his head and leaned against the archway, folding his arms. He didn’t so much as glance at Terrin or Dazmine, eyes locked on mine with a kind of mutual understanding passing between us.
“What is this I hear about Rayna Drey needing a favor?”
“Absolutely not. You have to find somebody else.”
Half an hour later, Jagaros stood on one side of that curious stone table while I faced him on the other. Dazmine was lolling by the tiger who’d threatened to eat her, clearly having won him over, while Terrin pretended not to stand guard behind her.
I’d just spent the last thirty minutes explaining my predicament and Rayna’s proposed solution, all while Jagaros paced like an animal too used to being caged. Now, he stood so still and statuesque that part of me worried he might fossilize.
