Page 10 of Dark Fae's Desires
“Ambrosia,” I whisper, knowing it has to be her. Anders would Puffport in. She is Dark Fae. Whatever magick is down here, must be dampening hers as well to a degree.
“Do it, child,” Rath’Na mutters.
I bite my lip and wait until I see Ambrosia by the lightof the fire torch she is carrying. Her look of disgust pisses me off and focuses my attention back to the matter at hand. Get the hell out of here and back to my family. I need their support while I grieve for my men. The sadness threatens to wash over me, but I have to shove it back right now. When I am back at home, I can allow myself to think about them.
“Savannah,” Ambrosia drawls, looking at her fingernails and not me. “Come to a decision yet?”
My mouth is bone dry. But this is it. Plan A. If this fails, then I have no plan B. I’m banking everything on my next words and Rath’Na’s strange faith in me.
“Yes,” I say, my voice strong and determined.
Her eyes shoot to mine in surprise. “Oh?” she asks before she checks herself and gives me a shrewd look. She searches my face to see if she can see the deception, but I keep it as blank as I can by pushing my fingertip to an iron bar and concentrating on that instead of my ruse.
“You agree to give me the Dark Fae Kingdom in exchange for your freedom?” she asks, coming as close as she dares. The skirt of her voluminous green dress brushes up against the bars of my cage.
“Let me out of here, and I’ll leave. You never have to see me again,” I say carefully, word for word of the two sentences I practiced in my head when I came up with this cockamamie idea.
She narrows her eyes.
My breath is non-existent.
She is a fool, no doubt, but I need her to be a really big one to buy what I’m selling right now.
“You’ll leave?” she asks.
I nod. “Yes.”Please don’t say ‘back to Earth’ and make me lie.
As it stands, all I’ve told her is that I’ll leave, and shenever has to see me again. I’ll leavehere,and she can stay and not see me. It’s simple but can so easily be undone if she’s a hustler who pretends to be stupider than she is.
“How do I know you’ll abide?”
“We’ll shake on it,” I say steadily, even though my blood is roaring in my ears as the moment approaches. I have to do this. To try this manipulating thing, I have to touch her, and I need to sway her mind to just open the cage. That way, I’m free and clear to fuck off and never set foot on these lands again. Fooling her into believing I’m giving her the Kingdom is too risky for it to remain in place. I just need it to get her hand in mine, and as a last resort, if I fail at the manipulation, if she still lets me go, I can deal with the consequences of my deception when I’m back home.
Luckily for me, the carrot is too big for this silly donkey and with a smile of triumph, she delicately holds her hand out, forcing me to put my arm through the bars to shake it.
Gripping her cold hand tightly, I ignore the pain of the iron as it touches my skin.
“We are in agreement, then,” she says and is about to pull her hand back.
I have to actnow.
Drawing on every speck of magick I can find within myself in this dampened cage, every ounce of pain and sorrow that I felt from Rath’Na through my empathic ability rushes to the surface as I open the gate I had put them behind and let it flood me. I grimace and channel that into one thought that I try to ‘beam’ into Ambrosia’s head. I have no fucking clue how this works, or how to do it.
Let me go. As your niece, as your blood, let me out of this cage.
She tries to pull her hand back with a grimace, but Icling to her. I don’t know if it’s working, but I need it to. I’m relying on this to escape and get back home to my Kingdom.
Her face relaxes, and she smiles. I let her go. I have no choice now.
I hold my breath as she looks at me.
Did it work?
Did it?
Chapter 4
Jerrick
