Page 30 of The Witch & the Tiger

“If you wish to waste such a precious thing, be my guest,” the fae said, though it didn’t seem offended. “The boy was drowning. By sheer dumb luck, he made it into the room. And then I helped to preserve him when he starved.”

“You saved him? Why?” Martin snapped. “Why only him?”

“The door only opens for those of the Unseelie Court,” the fae replied colorlessly. Its voice rasped on occasion but seemed more than willing to talk. Perhaps it was a byproduct of being isolated in this room. “It also apparently opens for those whose blood faintly echoes an ancestor from the Unseelie Court. This boy’s luck came from having the right ancestor at the right time.”

“That makes sense.” Professor Z’Hana glared at the fae. “I saw that the enchantment would allow members of the Unseelie Court through.”

The fae bowed mockingly. “It also opens for glyph breakers like you, too.” The lips curled into a vicious smile. “My name is Morgryn. I’m afraid I cannot give you more, for you might use it against me.”

“Morgryn,” Z’Hana said with courteous respect. “You’d be the first of the Unseelie Court I’ve ever had the pleasure… or misfortune of meeting. Those of your blood don’t surface often. I am curious to know why you are confined. I doubt you will tell the truth, though, as the Unseelie are not known for their honor.”

Morgryn chortled. “Honor is for the sycophantic Seelie Court. Though the truth is…” His eyes shifted to Kati. “I wish to make a deal with you.”

“Accepted. What is the deal?” Kati said, and something dark flickered in her eyes. Z’Hana and Umber both suddenly looked anxious.

“For my freedom, I will tell the truth and nothing but the truth. If you do not deem the truth to be worthy, then I will stay in these chains and rot. But should you find my truth worthy, then I will be free. This is the deal I wish to make.”

“Careful,” Z’Hana snarled, but Kati had already stepped forward, darkness flaring around her.

“I accept the deal; the contract is made. The price of the contract, however, will be that you can never again use your magic to harm a mortal being.”

Something angry flickered across Morgryn’s face before he bowed in acquiescence. “Ah, mortal being. Nice touch.”

“Just in case,” Kati said sweetly.

Kati could cripple a powerful being like that with just a contract? Now Willow saw exactly why she’d been needed. Fae couldn’t resist deals. And Kati’s deals always came double-edged due to the dark origin of her magic.

Professor Z’Hana grinned, patting Kati’s back enthusiastically. “All right then, Unseelie. For your freedom, tell us why you’re here.”

Morgryn closed his eyes for a moment, sinking backward until the front chains became taut. “How shall I conceptualize it for your tiny mortal brains? Oh, how clever you must feel right now.” He lapsed into silence, and Willow wondered for a moment if he might refuse to talk out of spite. However, with his freedom on the line, she doubted he’d resist for long.

“I used to be the king of the Unseelie Court,” he said, and Professor Umber let out a curse.

“No way! Are we dealing with royalty here?”

“I am bound to tell the truth, am I not?” Morgryn nodded to Kati, who nodded back rather reluctantly. “Royalty is conditional. We change leader every hundred years so that all the most powerful in the court will eventually have their turn. It’s not always so straightforward, of course.”

“I can imagine,” Willow murmured. She pictured a strange, ethereal place where weird purple beings like Morgryn backstabbed each other all day long or all century long, according to whatever absurd lifespans they happened to have.

“In more recent times, there were some voices in the court who disagreed with the compact to remain aloof from the mortal realm. Out of their greed and passion for mortal souls and for the power they gained by making deals with mortals, they wished to breach the silence we had left. I did not agree. I told them it was foolish. I told them there was a reason we refrained from getting involved with the affairs of mortals.” He smiled, showing his canines that were as sharp as needles.

“You were overthrown? That’s it?” Professor Z’Hana folded her arms, suspicious wrought across her features. They had no good reason to trust a fae being, but under Kati’s contract, he should be telling the truth. The problem was, even when bound to truth, you could omit things or not express them completely.

“Something like that, yes. We are not so easy to kill, and some in the court still hold some respect for me. And here I am.”

“All right.” Professor Z’Hana sighed. “Is the Unseelie Court behind all of the recent issues in the mortal realm?”

“Luckily for me, they are,” Morgryn said.

“Why lucky?”

“Simple. This… place, this shard of our realm that you see – was cut off to completely isolate me and hide me from those who might search. But the more the Unseelie make their little deals, the more they bargain with the random mortals whom they drink the power from – it brings our realm closer. After many years and many deals, finally, this sliver of a place was touching your world. Barely, of course, but just enough for individuals to potentially slip through, should the timing be right. And, as long as the Unseelie continue to make their little deals, we are headed on a collision course. Soon, the court and the mortal world will be indistinguishable.”

Martin raised his hand. “That’s a bad thing, right?”

“Quite,” the fae sniffed. “It was why all the courts severely limited their dealings with mortals in the first place. A full collision would do untold damage. Neither world would function properly, and the laws each world follows would blend. The magic of the fae realm would be far too much for normal places, and it would twist and kill life from sheer overload. I agreed on this separation with the courts. I was even one of those who brokered the deal. But there were those in the court who saw me as a traitor, who wanted little more than to follow their passion, to indulge and feast with no regard.”

“So what? You’re a good guy, is that it? And you expect us to feel comfortable with freeing you?”

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