Corrigan Fire Bloodfire - Helen Harper Page 0,49

bent down and made a show of tying my shoelace. When I stood back up, I shrugged. ‘So?’

His face tightened. ‘Very well. What will it take to stop you? Do I have to kill you?’

‘I don’t think that will solve the problem somehow. There are plenty more where I came from.’ My expression was earnest. ‘Believe me, I’m a hell of a lot more moderate than other Brethren leaders would be.’ I pretended to mull it over. ‘The changelings are not the ones responsible for the murders. And they are, as you point out, children. Except I have heard that children are the ones I should be looking for.’

‘I will not hand over Fae children to you,’ he spat.

‘I would not treat them kindly,’ I agreed. I looked him in the eye. ‘What punishment would you deem appropriate? If, say, a Fae died as a result of their machinations?’

‘That wouldn’t happen.’

‘Wouldn’t it? Your children gave the Ghillie Dhu silver. What would happen if I encouraged the use of iron?’

‘You pathetic man-beast. You would not dare.’

I dropped my voice. ‘Watch me.’

A muscle pulsed in his cheek. ‘Very well,’ he snapped. ‘Two years. I will imprison the culprits for two years.’

‘But your Majesty,’ I said lightly, ‘you’ve already made it very clear that time means little to your kind. Two years is hardly appropriate. And if we’re talking about two human years, well, what would that be for them? Two blinks of an eye?’ I felt dangerously calm. ‘Fifty Fae years.’

For the briefest moment, his mouth dropped open in shock. ‘You are crazy.’

‘The Fae live a long time.’

‘They are children. They did wrong, I grant you, but…’

‘They’re Unseelie children,’ I interrupted. ‘You’re probably proud of them.’

He inhaled deeply. ‘They should have known better than to attempt to play with Otherworlders.’

‘They should have known better than to play like that with anyone. Very well,’ I said, making a show of trying to reach a compromise, ‘thirty years and a promise to keep your people in check from now on. Tricks are one thing. Encouraging murder is something else. And this will apply not just to my shifters but to every living creature.’

‘Even humans?’ he asked, calling my bluff.

‘Why not?’

The Winter King tapped his cheek. ‘Five years.’

I shook my head. ‘Twenty-five.’

‘Ten then.’

‘Twenty-five.’

His fists bunched up and the stress in his broad shoulders was palpable. ‘Fifteen.’

‘Done,’ I snapped, so quickly he was taken aback.

‘You drive a hard bargain, Lord Corrigan.’

‘Fae live a long time. Fifteen years will not be much.’

‘You will remove the changeling bounties?’

I gestured behind to Albert who nodded and quickly disappeared. ‘It is done. You should consider removing the changelings altogether, however.’

He looked at me in what seemed to be a rare moment of honesty. ‘Some traditions are hard to break. You are not the only leader who is looking for change.’

I tried not to react to the news that my bid to alter the Brethren’s way of doing things was reaching even Fae ears.

‘Besides,’ he said, ‘no-one really suffers from the practice. The changelings learn humility and their place in the world. The humans in Tir-na-nog progress quickly and remember nothing upon their return to their own families.’

‘That doesn’t make it right,’ I replied quietly.

‘No.’ He spat in his palm and held it out. I did the same, taking his in mine. His grip was so powerful I thought for a moment he would break my fingers. But he let go at the final moment. ‘I do not want to meet you again, Lord Corrigan.’

‘Keep your Fae in line and we won’t have to.’

He dipped his head down and left.

The second I was sure both the Winter King and his entourage were away, I let out a huge sigh of relief. That could have gone either way.

Albert edged up to me. ‘Did you get ten years then?’

I grinned. ‘Fifteen.’

He blinked. ‘That’s fantastic.’

‘We’ll see. I’m not sure if it really counts as justice for Annan and Shah and he really needs to keep those damn faeries in check in future. But there’s been no further bloodshed and we negotiated a compromise.’ I clapped him on the back. ‘Things could be an awful lot worse.’

Feeling rather relieved and, if I was honest, very pleased with myself for not caving in the face of the Winter King’s intimidation, I headed back inside. Maybe things were starting to go our way. Then I stopped myself. I wasn’t particularly superstitious but I couldn’t help sometimes being affected. I was essentially a black cat, even if I