She had Sebastian, hiding his grief and his fear so that he could be the kind of person he had to be to meet Teague’s demands and keep her safe.
She had the contract, she had Sebastian, she had the idea that she needed Teague’s true name, and she had herself.
She knew how to negotiate. She knew how to talk her way out of things.
And she knew how to solve problems.
Maybe she didn’t have access to the secrets in the Book of the Fae, maybe iron and bloodflower didn’t work on Teague, and maybe she was chained to the wall inside a room with the man who’d scarred Sebastian’s back and left him afraid to be touched.
That wasn’t going to stop her.
Nothing was going to stop her, because she had nothing left to lose. At some point, Teague would decide he was done with Thad’s connections, and would kill her brother. At some point, he would push Sebastian too far—give him something even his devotion to Ari wouldn’t allow him to do—and then with the contract broken, Teague would kill them both.
She was facing the most dangerous evil her kingdom had ever known, and she was going to be the weapon that brought him down.
She would be iron and bloodflower. She would be trickery and deceit.
She would uncover the secret he’d left behind at birth, and she would speak it.
And when she was finished with Teague, there would be nothing left.
FORTY-THREE
SEBASTIAN STOOD OUTSIDE a tiny clay house on the outskirts of Kosim Thalas, his stomach in knots.
Until that morning, Sebastian hadn’t been aware that anyone but Teague himself could collect a soul, but apparently, as with all of Teague’s magic, it was a simple matter of blood contracts. A new contract had to be drawn up giving Sebastian the power to collect soul debts in Teague’s stead. A short while later, Sebastian’s bloody fingerprint was on another contract, and he was armed with a vial of fae magic, an incantation written out on piece of parchment, and a stern warning from Teague that the magic only worked on those who’d signed away their soul, so if Sebastian tried it on Teague himself, it would backfire and kill him instead.
Sebastian didn’t dare fail to collect this debt. Not when he was contracted to collect on any debt owed to Teague. And not when a whiff of disobedience on his part would cause Teague to end the princess’s life.
But even though Sebastian wanted to do anything to save Ari, he was having trouble scraping up the awful will to enter the house and take the soul that had come due. He’d been standing outside, watching the sun slowly chase shadows across the strip of grass that separated the house from the road for over an hour, and he was no closer to going inside.
Kora Mitros. He stared at the name on the contract Teague had given him. Kora, who ten years ago wished for a house of her own, paid in full.
How was that wish worth her life? Her soul?
And how was he supposed to look her in the face as he claimed what was owed?
He’d thought that only wishes that took a life cost a soul. When he’d said as much to Teague, the fae had laughed and said that some people were willing to pay anything for their wish, so why should he refuse them?
He closed his eyes as pressure expanded in his chest. His body tensed for a fight, though this was one enemy he didn’t know how to defeat.
For weeks now, he’d waded through the filth of east Kosim Thalas, doing the bidding of the monster he loathed. It felt like he wore the stench of it beneath his skin where it would never come clean. There was blood on his hands, and he wasn’t completely sure all of it belonged to the guilty.
Kora Mitros had made her bargain and signed it with her bloody fingerprint. There was no doubt about her complicity in the deal.
That didn’t make it any easier for Sebastian to knock on her front door.
What finally galvanized him into action was the memory of the princess’s face as he’d told her she wasn’t facing this alone even while he was leaving her behind with his father.
The trust in her eyes. The connection between them that let him drop his guard, even with his father at his back. He couldn’t bear to fail her.
He didn’t know exactly how it had happened, but he couldn’t escape the truth—he was so far past friendship with her that he had no idea how to find his way back.
He’d been careful since the moment a few weeks ago when he’d lost his mind and nearly kissed her at the stove before being interrupted by Teague. He’d tried to stay close enough to be her friend, but far enough away to keep himself from wanting the things that he could never ask her to give.
Turned out there was no distance far enough to keep him from wanting.
He couldn’t be the one to push Teague into finishing the incantation that would kill Ari. If that meant he had to collect Kora Mitros’s soul, even though it felt like losing part of his own, he had to do it.
Girded by this decision, Sebastian approached the house and knocked on the door. It was opened almost immediately by a short, softly rounded woman with graying black hair and skin just beginning to wrinkle.
Sebastian swallowed around the lump in his throat and said, “Kora Mitros?”
She nodded.
He tensed, rolling to the balls of his feet in case she decided to run. “I’m here on behalf of Alistair Teague.”
Her face crumpled, and she slowly stood aside to allow him in. The tears that slid down her cheeks felt like a knife in his chest.
“I’ve been expecting you,” she said, her voice catching. “I’ve said my good-byes.”
His stomach churned, and he had to grab the wall to stay on his feet as dizziness hit.
He couldn’t do this.
He had to.
Kora had signed her life away for a house.
The princess had made a bargain in hopes that she could stop Teague and save both her brother and her kingdom.
“Why?” He forced the word out, desperate to hear something that would make her guilty of foolish greed. Something that would make his task a little bit easier. “Why did you sign the contract?”
Tears dripped from her face and plummeted to the floor, but her voice was steady enough as she said, “I had nothing. No shelter. No food. How was I going to take care of my babies?”
“Babies,” he whispered.
“Six and eight at the time. Now they’re grown enough to take care of themselves.” She smiled, grief stricken and proud. “They have jobs in the market. They have this house. They’ll be all right.”
He couldn’t speak. Couldn’t see the incantation past the tears in his own eyes.
Here was a mother who’d done the unthinkable to buy herself enough time to raise her children in safety and security, and she would pay for it with her life, while his own mother had turned her back on her sons time and time again without a single consequence.
“I’m ready,” Kora said quietly.
Sebastian shook his head and stared down at the parchment and vial he held. “I can’t.”