Page 55 of A Song of Air
“Sh, sh, sh,” Weylyn chastised, holding up a finger. “Wouldn’t want your mate to come running.”
“What the fuck is this, you bastard?!” A stream of tears slid down her cheeks as the pain settled. It seemed permanent, pulsing hotly. It felt like magic, but a darker kind. A deadly kind.
“Let this serve as a lesson, Iona Wylde,” Weylyn purred, looking cruel and unapologetic, “to be very careful when you make deals with the Fae.”
“What deal, you asshole?” Her fingers scraped against the leaf, but the paint didn’t smear or smudge. It seemed to hurt even more.
Hetsked. “It is even worse that you do not remember, considering you all but begged me for my gift.”
It hit her then and she remembered. Back in a camp, an old man with no tongue who’d recognized her, who knew Malika. They hadn’t been able to communicate and so she begged Weylyn for his help. He’d been all too eager to give it.
“Do not think this is a gift freely given” he’d said afterwards. “It was a favor, and I expect you to give me one in return. As to when I plan to collect? It will be when you least expect it.”
She remembered the wild gleam in his eye like he just won a prize. She hadn’t realized then what she should have. She’d been too desperate to find her sister, to know any word of what had happened that she hadn’t taken a moment to pause, look, and understand what she was doing or getting herself into.
Making a deal with the Fae, even a magical one, that was binding had been something long out of practice, and typically had only been done within the Unseelie Courts. But here they no longer had any court, and magic within the human lands was scarce.
And Weylyn had blindsided her.
“You asshole,” she growled. “You did this on purpose. You knew what you were doing.”
Weylyn snickered. “You will help me.”
“Or what?” she challenged purposefully.
His eyes narrowed, and as they did, the pain on her arm flared. It felt like sticking her flesh into fire and she screamed, dropping to her knees.
“Stop,” she ordered. “Stop it.”
The pain eased and Weylyn stepped towards her. She looked up at him and didn’t think she’d ever hated someone more.
He didn’t comment on it though he just looked down at her with that malicious smirk that she despised. “Help me conquer Bryson’s heart and the bargain will be fulfilled. Try and fuck me over?”
The pain roared again, and she didn’t have time to scream before it died down.
He smiled, flashing his teeth. “You will not like the consequences.”
