Page 3 of A Beastly Court

“Stop. Laughing.”

She only cackled some more, her shoulders shaking and steel-streaked hair coming loose from the bun at the top of her head. “Did you forget Violet was a primal force of Nature?”

I hadn’t. It’s how she’d escaped me, as well as the entirety of Elfame, leaving me a laughingstock before the courts.

“Her daughter must’ve known what you were about and sealed away her magic so you’d never get it. And the bargain she made with you?” Iris howled at the ceiling, becoming truly unhinged. “You vowed to help unlock her magic. You’ll never get through that shield—it’s fueled by her very core. Only she can unlock it. Tell me, Stag Man, what are the consequences of you breaking your end of the bargain when you fail to help her unlock her potential before the winter solstice?”

My hands, which had balled into fists on top of the table, shook with the rage that trembled down my entire body. Depending on the nature of the bargain, the consequences for breaking one were… messy. The greater the promise, the greater the risk. And I had promised Violet’s daughter to release her full magical potential.

The Old Gods help me if I don’t deliver.

My very life, perhaps even my soul, were at stake—something I hadn’t even considered when I’d made that bargain. Hubris had convinced me Meadow would be like all the rest—pliable, manipulable, fully submissive to my glamour and influence.

But her magic… I’d attacked that shield twice already to no avail—me, a high fae lord, the true king of the Court of Beasts! It was Violet resisting me all over again, this time through her descendant and chosen heir.

And this witch was laughing at me. She was not fit to snivel at my feet, much less lick the dust off my hooves!

With a feral snarl, my fists flung open. The gemstones around my neck grew hot as I drew upon their stored magic, supplementing my own. Copper light shot from my fingertips like lightning, seizing hold of the male witch Tod. He wasn’t a true Hawthorne, but he was strong. At least, he had been before his purgatory within the farmhouse had worn on him.

In two steps, he was directly behind Iris with those two knives digging into either side of the matriarch’s throat. Iris choked on her laugh, blinking away the crazed glaze from her eyes. Two spots of garnet red beaded at the tips of the knives, trickling down her neck in twin thin threads.

“Mother!” Forsythia burst upright and raked her iron cuffs against each other, summoning her battle magic. “But the bargain—you can’t hurt us!”

“I am not hurting her,” I answered in a carefully controlled voice. Mortals always seemed more afraid of those who were calm in their cruelty rather than hot-tempered, and they needed reminding who was master here. “Tod is.”

“Let them go!”

When she chambered her fist back to her ear in preparation of punching a bolt of dark green magic at me, I merely flicked a finger.

One knife left Iris’s throat to lay across Forsythia’s, and the witch stilled. On the opposite side of the table, his blades pressing into the necks of those he loved, Tod’s light brown eyes blazed with a hatred so intense I knew I’d made an enemy for life. I snorted; as if a high fae ever needed to fear a witch.

“Remember,” I told Iris, “if I can’t help Meadow, you never get your witch back. Would you like me to tell you stories of the Unseelie Court prisons, or would you like to speculate? I can assure you, my facts are much more terrible than anything you can possibly imagine.

“And if you decide you’d rather risk sacrificing him to that fate rather than helping me, you must know my magic does not disperse with my death. Fae magic is not like your paltry tricks. It lingers. Sometimes a year, sometimes a century. For how long can you—can this entire town—exist should I perish?”

An appropriate level of fear filled Iris’s eyes that I released the hold on Tod without being begged. The male witch staggered, his wife catching him. He’d fought against my control the entire time, the strain weakening him almost to the point of unconsciousness, but even now, he never let go of those cursed knives.

When I was sure he wasn’t going to fling one at me, I returned my attention to Iris.

She was trembling. Good.

“You must persuade her to release the shield,” she whispered.

“That’s rather difficult considering how alternatingly despondent and combative she is. I’ve had to drug her with toirchim tonic and Caer powder just to stabilize her.”

“You… you must woo her,” Iris said, looking pained. She should. She was basically informing an enemy how to breech an ally’s castle.

I cocked an eyebrow. “Woo her? As in, seduce her? I could do that. Quite easily, in fact.”

Tod’s face went from red to purple with rage. “You bast—”

“No!” Iris interrupted, sending him a scathing look to shut his mouth. “A fae marriage will not get you what you want, Stag Man.”

Again, she proved she knew too much about high fae. A consummated marriage would grant me a portion of Meadow’s power, and perhaps even bludgeon past that infernal shield around her core, but it would not be enough to summon the portal myself. The magic of the portal would know it was me summoning it, anyway, and reject my call. However, bedding Violet’s daughter would definitely give me a considerable advantage when I returned to Elfame to reclaim what was rightfully mine.

“I said, a fae marriage will not get you what you want,” Iris repeated firmly. Obviously my internal musings had projected onto my face. “It’s not that kind of wooing. Meadow’s acting out because, though you’ve beguiled her with your illusions, her instincts are telling her something entirely different. And a Hawthorne always trusts her instincts.”

The matriarch swallowed. “The most convincing lies always have the most truth in them. Let her see her friends, let her bake, let her breathe fresh air—I assume you have her locked away somewhere just like us, yes? The more you convince her and make her feel comfortable, letting her get on with the normalcies she’s come to expect in life, she will relax. When she feels she’s no longer in danger, the shield will allow itself to be unlocked.”