hold something of my choosing while it changes. For each time it changes, I release one person."
She snapped her finger, and the witch muttered to herself, and the fae nearest us - a short and fine-boned creature with skin like a peach and pinkish green hair - burst into flame. It wasn't glamour because the room didn't change. They were real flames even though they didn't seem to hurt the fae.
"She can't hold flame, without dying," said Ariana. She hadn't looked at Samuel or me since I kissed him. I don't know if she suspected something was up - or if she thought we were lovers. "And that breaks the heart of the bargain. It must be something that is possible - however unlikely - for the challenger to accomplish."
"Fine," said the queen. "If you are so particular, Silver, you may be the challenger." She laughed, and the roots in the ceiling writhed as the sound of bells echoed in the room. "Of course I knew who you were, dear Silver - how could you think otherwise? Are there so many of us who chose to live so disfigured by the fangs of hounds and wolves? No. Only Silver. So you may take this bargain, and the alternative is that I will kill this almost-mortal woman who is not so human as your Phin or the boy. Half-blood is not human enough to be saved by the guesting laws of the Elphame."
Ariana didn't seem to hear the queen's taunts. Instead, she said clearly and slowly, "I take hold of this fae, who will change - the first shape of fire counts as one. After that, for every time he changes, one of my comrades will go free. He will change five more times, three minutes each form, and if I succeed, all shall leave. If I don't, one leaves for each shape I hold."
As she was talking, Ariana set Phin down next to Gabriel. Even under the queen's thrall, Gabriel put a hand on Phin's shoulder to steady him.
"Four times," said the queen. "Five shapes. I will not let go of Mercedes Thompson, who holds the Silver Borne."
"It's all right," I told Ariana. "I'm a survivor. Ask anyone. I can deal with the queen about the book when all of you are safe."
"Six forms," said Ariana. "One for each. It is in the rules. 'The bargain requested, all prisoners invested in the outcome tested.' "
The poetry didn't flow well, but I suppose that it didn't need to be very good poetry to record the rules of a fairy queen.
The queen's eyes fluttered in irritation. I had a hard time not looking away - or blinking too fast myself.
"Agreed," she snarled. "But Mercedes is the last to be freed and your grandson first."
Samuel said, "Phin, Jesse, Gabriel, Ariana, me, and Mercedes, then."
"Phin, Ariana, then the rest followed at the end by Mercedes," counteroffered the queen.
I saw what she was doing. By putting Ariana and Phin at the beginning, she thought she was reducing Ariana's motivation even as the bargain became harder and harder to keep.
Samuel shook his head. "Phin, Jesse, Gabriel, Ariana, me, and Mercedes."
"I am getting bored," said the queen. "Agreed. The bargain is struck."
Ariana gave Samuel a narrow-eyed look - I think it was because he put her before him. But I agreed with him. Get the helpless ones out first, then those who could best protect themselves. That meant Ariana before Samuel.
"The bargain is accepted," agreed Ariana, and she stepped forward, embracing the flaming fae. As soon as she touched him, her hair burst into flame as did her clothing, and what was not burnable dropped to the ground, including the stone Zee had given her to hold. Its steady light was almost unnoticeable against the flames as the rest of Ariana smoldered a moment before lighting up as well.
"She holds earth, air, fire, and water," Samuel told me. If I hadn't known him as well as I did, I might have thought he was disinterested. "It is what made her able to do great magic after most of Underhill was out of reach. Magic fire will do her no harm."
The queen was speaking to the witch. After she was finished talking, the witch stood up, a steel knife in her hand. She gathered up her chains and moved to the farthest extent, which left her just able to reach the forest lord. She plunged the knife into the tree-like creature, and it bellowed, shook, and bled amber