an especially gifted and powerful Druid. I had to claim him before another Faerie Queen did.”
There were more of them? Kylah’s fear spiked.
“There are more castes of the Fae than there are different races of you humans.” Cliodnah seemed to read Kylah’s mind without tearing her hungry eyes from Daroch, which added to her disquiet. “I am Queen of the Banshees, alone, and only answer to Elphame, or Maeve, as your myths call her. She is chief among the Council of Queens.”
Kylah watched the water embrace Daroch, watched his lips move in silent incantations. He’d sheared his hair to above his shoulders and away from his eyes. He looked more brutal somehow. More stark and ancient and feral. Reaching for a sharp needle and a bowl of blue ink, the muscles in his magnificent body flexed and strained with his fluid movements. He dipped the needle in the ink, and let the wooden bowl float nearby as he reached across his chest to the one empty space on the entire left side of his body.
The one above his heart.
With a series of deep punctures, he painstakingly stabbed the needle into his flesh again and again, all the while his lips whispered magical things in a language no longer spoken. He’d whispered those words into her ear as she’d come apart.
Kylah could hardly bear them now. “What did you mean when you said you’d claimed him?” She already suspected, already knew, but wanted to hear her Faerie liege say the words.
The Queen turned to look at her then, but her attendant first caught Kylah’s eye. It was the look of disapproval on the blue Faerie’s face that drew Kylah’s notice. Not directed at Kylah, but at her Queen.
“Things have not always been as they are now between the Fae, your Gods, and humans.” Cliodnah could have been called wistful, if such a thing were possible for the Fae. “Untold thousands of years ago we, the Fae, and your deities united in war against an ancient evil for supremacy of this world. After we conquered, we tried to share this plane but ultimately began to war amongst ourselves. The Gods had already created many different kinds of warriors to fight evil, and we had blessed many humans with our own Fae gifts. We used these humans as our pawns and as our fodder. As the spoils of war and as slaves.”
Kylah felt as though she might be sick, but knew it was impossible, so she suffered through the Queen’s horrible, dispassionate tale.
“Boredom is an unpleasant side effect of immortality. There are many pleasures that humans afforded us that angered your Gods. There were hunts and experiments and magical debauchery that your mind couldn’t even envisage.” The Queen’s eyes were wide and held an exhilaration that terrified Kylah beyond comprehension. Cliodhah wasn’t glad these times were over. She yearned for them.
She was bored, now.
“I claimed the Druid at the end of these times, when I knew a pact would be decided upon by a court of your Gods and our Queen.” She turned her attention back to Daroch, who precisely punctured his flesh and paused every so often to clear the blood with sea water.
He never even flinched.
“Faeries love consorting with human men. They fuck like savages. Like they have no time left because their lives are so brittle and finite. Their fear smells delicious and tastes even better.”
Kylah didn’t even want to consider what the Queen meant by that last statement so she, too, kept her eyes locked on Daroch.
“A long and complicated pact was decided upon by your Gods and our Queen that took hundreds of years to write. But the gist of it is that we can no longer meddle among you humans, not without your consent or that of the Gods. The consequences are very— detailed.”
The drop of blood running down Daroch’s chest was the tear of regret Kylah could not produce. She traced it as she addressed the Queen. “Why are you telling me this?” she whispered, horrified.
Cliodnah reached her hand out to Daroch’s specter and made a wanton sound so inhuman that Kylah’s very essence shrank from it. She was glad she hadn’t mentioned the Arborlatix and vowed never to do so. It was the only advantage he had over the Fae and now she hoped he had opportunity to use it.
“Times were different when the Druid was my—guest,” the Queen murmured.
“When he was your prisoner, you mean.” Kylah knew she was being bold, but it didn’t