Page 14 of A Dark and Lovely Devastation

My heart was going to beat its way out of my chest. “A-and that is why you forced me to come to Otherworld?”

Dagda’s face became carefully blank. “Yes.”

A burning shot down my throat when I swallowed. “And how do I know this is true? What if you are making this all up in order to get me to do what you want? To control me.”

Shadows danced in his eyes, and his jaw squared. “Faeries cannot lie.”

“Yeah, most of the time. But there is a potion that allows faeries to lie for a short time. One your daughter had access to, so why not you?”

It was called liar’s brew. Super rare, but it had been used against Mina and me before.

Dagda rocked back, his eyebrows raised. But then the anger returned. “Our daughter,” he growled.

“Yeah, well, she almost killed me, so you can claim her.” Niamh, my own daughter, who was thousands of years older than me, had created the Fomori, the organization that was bent on my demise.

Dagda stared into the dirt. “I… did not know about the liar’s brew.” He said the words with care. His shoulders slumped and sorrow laced his voice. “But she was our daughter, and she is dead now.”

“And you think that means anything?” A bitter laugh escaped. “Do you understand what it's like to be a breath away from death? Do you know the sheer terror? I’m glad she’s gone. And you… you are the last person I ever wanted to meet.”

Dagda was on his feet. “Morrigan—”

“It’s Chels.” I wrapped my arms around myself, fingers digging into my sides.

He stood rigid. Regal. Like he could bend me to his will with just his gaze. “It is late. You have nowhere to go, and the woods are not safe at night. Come with me to the palace, and we can discuss more in the morning.”

“I want to go home.”

“What about that young woman standing next to you at your house? The human?”

My chest tightened. Nellie. “What about her?”

“If you return to the human realm without getting your sisters under control, then everyone around you becomes vulnerable to their wrath.”

I shut my eyes and swallowed my anger.

I didn’t want to believe his story and everything that it implied. It was much easier to convince myself that Dagda was lying, but my symptoms confirmed what the faerie king had described. Two other entitieshadtaken over my body.

My arguments were the last gasps of desperation.

I wouldn’t put my friends and family in the human realm in danger. I’d already risked that once, three years ago, and learned my lesson with Thaya’s death. But if I remained here, I wouldn't have anywhere to go. And now that the whispers weren’t controlling my movements, a palace with guards sounded more safe than lingering in the woods.

Gathering his leather jacket in my hands, I stood and glared at him. “Fine.”

His stance relaxed a little, and he approached, pausing next to me. “Keelin, bring the pegasi,” Dagda called.

“Yes, your majesty,” came the reply from within the trees, and I realized if I had refused, Dagda and his men could have dragged me wherever he wanted, whether or not I agreed to go.

I thought of the vision I’d had of the bog witch, and how I’d leave the Otherworld. There was a way home there. I’d step through the portal in the bog and go home. All I had to do was wait until Samhain in three weeks.

He turned back to me. “One more thing.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flat metal disc. “I know you doubt me, but you must understand, this is for everyone’s safety.”

The disc clicked as he pressed the metal’s icy touch against my skin and the chords extended, wrapping around my arm and securing it in place. My connection to my faerie guardian vanished in an instant, leaving a harsh emptiness within this world filled with rich magic. I could not will it into being, no matter how hard I tried.

“What the hell?” I reached for the disc to pry it off my skin.

“Do not pull on it,” he said. “There is no taking it off, and doing so will only hurt you.”

Betrayal coursed hot in my veins. He’d forced me into this world of faeries and danger, and now I was cut off from the one way I had of protecting myself from the monsters of this realm, leaving me vulnerable.

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