Before I even made it two steps Zyacus, Aric and Taz blocked my way. Lora and Legacy looked at each other confused.
“We all decided,” Zyacus said, resting a hand on his belt. “If you go, the three of us are going too.”
“Going where?” Legacy asked.
I didn’t need all of them risking their lives when it only needed to be me. “No, it’s too dangerous.”
Taz chortled. “That’s exactly why we’re going with you.”
My eyes filled with tears. I truly had amazing friends. I didn’t want them to join me and yet for my own selfish reasons I wanted them to come more.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Legacy said, folding her arms.
“And what’s too dangerous?” Lora added.
“It’s a lot to explain,” I said with a sigh. “I’ll tell you later but whatever you do, don’t volunteer.”
“This sounds dangerous,” Legacy said.
“Indeed.” My group of friends and I walked into the night air to make a deal with the Fae.
Firo smiled upon seeing us and bent into a shallow bow. “Highnesses, meet Helios, Prince of the Summer Court.”
He was exactly like I remembered him and resembled Firo as I suspected. Gold blond hair, pointed ears, slender but strong build. A perfect, angular face that could never be human.
“Good evening.” His voice had an otherworldly presence to it as well, like the Winter Prince. “Firo has brought me up to date with everything. I must warn you that time is something we don’t have a lot of. But a way to stop the Winter Court from completing their ritual is something we do have. If you vow to come to faerie and kill the Winter King as the prophecy says, I will ensure the ritual doesn’t come to fruition.”
I’d thought it over and Nimblewatt seemed to think their control was linked to food and drink, and people in our land would be getting desperate for both if they weren’t already with the famine. The poor folk here had scarce enough to last days let alone weeks. The Winter Court would ride in proclaiming themselves saviors, and who would believe the warning of a few who had no proof? Desperate people do desperate things.
I had no choice. I had to accept the offer.
A warm pulse of magic hung in the air. I had a feeling any deal I made with them would be bound by magic. Something neither side would be able to back out of without serious consequences. I’d heard rumors of broken deals. One woman had been immediately struck dead the moment she broke the agreement. Another one suddenly fell ill with a sickness no magic could heal. My own mother had broken a deal and her beloved horse died in her place. A young man of eighteen went back on his deal and withered to an old man with a weathered, wrinkled face and a hunched back. He lived out the rest of his days that way.
If I made a deal, I couldn’t go back on it.
“She only goes if I go,” Zyacus said.
“And I,” Aric and Taz added together.
Legacy and Lora both stayed quiet but the worry in my cousin’s eyes told me she was considering making an offer too. I hoped she didn’t. “First,” I blurted. “This is a magical deal. I need specifics. I add to the deal that our service will be fulfilled when the Winter King is dead or the Winter Court falls, and all of us will be provided a way to return to our own realm. You must state that you as a representative of Summer Court agree to these terms and that the Summer Court Fae will stop the faerie blood moon rituals, rituals of taking human brides and stealing magic, or there is no deal.”
Nausea swelled inside of me. I couldn’t help but feel this was wrong. Even if everything were true, the Winter King had to be thousands of years old, no one had ever been able to kill him. This deal could trap us all in faerie for the rest of our lives, and I wondered at how long that might be.
With a curt nod, Helios said, “We have a deal.”
The magic pulsed through me and I knew there was no backing out now.
“How can you stop the ritual?” I asked, realizing I should have inquired this sooner.
Helios smiled. “The rituals cannot take place without the agreement of all faerie courts. All of our combined magic must be present. When we withdraw there is no ritual.”
“That’s it?” Zyacus asked skeptically. “There’s no fight? No end of the world type battle? You simply don’t participate.”
“Oh there will definitely be a battle,” Helios said but didn’t look worried. “But it will happen after the blood moon has passed. This realm will be spared.”
This realm would be spared. Relief flooded me. Our people, my people wouldn’t be stolen away and murdered. My parents wouldn’t be forced to fight a war with the Fae.
“I’ll be back to collect on our bargain in eight days,” Helios said. “You know there are consequences if you flee when my end of the deal is held up.”
“I’ll be here.”
With a wave of Helios’s hand a glowing orange portal appeared, and he disappeared into it.
I looked long and hard at each of the boys. But they wouldn’t be spared. All of us would fight in a war, and holy unicorn, I should have never allowed them to vow their service. I may be prophesied to kill the Winter King but it didn’t say I would survive it.
When we walked away from the Hazelvales, they almost looked remorseful. Like a child who’s done something bad and knows they’re about to get caught. Maybe they thought the bargain we made with Helios was impossible too.
Legacy suddenly whirled on all of us and shoved me so hard, Zyacus had to catch me before I fell.
“How dare you make an unbelievable bargain like that! Your parents will never allow it. Especially when you’re taking them down
