Page 15 of A Touch of Poison
More importantly, if people knew, it would paint a target on her back. Anyone who wanted to settle a score with me could do it through her.
Rose had spent less than a minute with us and already knew.
When I dropped my hands, I found her wearing a cheerful smile like this was all terribly amusing. “And, after what you said about human brides, I doubt he’s going to let you live this down for at least a couple of centuries.”
And this is what you get for taking a human bride.I’d said those words, mocking both Lysander and Faolán. I refused to acknowledge any relevance to my situation.
Instead, I gave Rose my worst glower—the one that sent courtiers scattering from my path. “Well, he needs to.”
She didn’t flinch at my expression, but when I spoke, her smile crumpled into a soft frown. That was the tough thing about Rose—her softness.
It got me every time and now it had me opening my mouth again. “I betrayed Kat,” I whispered. “She betrayed me. And if—ifwe somehow managed to get past that, she’s married. Nothing more can happen between us.”
“Oh.” Her eyebrows rose slowly and her gaze fluttered away. I could see the cogs turning in her mind as she worked through what that meant to fae. She’d lived in Elfhame long enough to know how seriously we took contracts and the breaking of them. “And who knows about that?”
“No one. Yet. The particulars of what happened in Lunden are a state secret, and her husband isn’t exactly… present.” I clenched my hands as shadows surged around my feet, rough like a stormy sea but under control.
“Oh dear, Bastian.” She squeezed my knee, unconcerned by my shadows or glower. “It’s quite a pickle you’ve got yourself into.”
I grunted and turned to the fire.
“Good grief, you’re almost as grumpy as Faolán. Have you two swapped personalities?”
I couldn’t help the low growl in my throat. She was teasing me, like something about this was funny.
“You know,” she went on, “you could apologise.”
It didn’t feel like enough, though, and I didn’t know where to even start.
“And then,” Rose went on, “once that’s fixed, you could just… not give a shit that she’s married? It doesn’t sound like she cares.”
“It doesn’t work like that. Contracts are—”
“Sacred for a reason. I know. I know. Though I don’t think you’d lose your magic if you broke one.” I could feel her gaze on me as she paused. “And I suspect you already have, yet look, your shadows are as dark as ever.”
“That’s not…” I huffed. It wasn’t the point. I didn’t fear losing my magic. I’d never taken that part of our laws literally—it sounded more like a threat than a promise. Rather, when I thought of the fact Kat was married, it was a wrongness in my bones—in my veins.
Contracts had bound our blood to the land, had given us magic. They were responsible for everything fae were.
To break one was like breaking the earth itself.
“I know,” she said, voice sober. “It’s complicated. I can’t pretend to understand. I don’t think anyone who isn’t fae can.”
I managed to give her a small smile, grateful for her acknowledgement.
“And for the record, I accept your apology, Bastian. I appreciate you giving it. Now”—she stood—“if there wasn’t anything else, I have some dinner to prepare. I can make it for three, if you’re going to join us?” She raised an eyebrow. “Or four?”
I winced. “Not tonight. I have a ton of paperwork to do and reports to read through.”
“Still playing catch-up?”
I sighed and went to rise, but she waved off my attempt to escort her out. “I’m gone for a few months and everything goes to shit.”
Spreading her hands, she backed away to the door. “You know, if you trusted someone else to help you with the bigger things, it wouldn’t have backed up so much. And you were gone for more than a few months—it was over half a year.”
I grumbled, but couldn’t get angry in the face of her bright grin or the fact she might be right. “You sound like Faolán.”
“Sometimes he’s right. Just don’t tell him I said that.”
