Page 69 of A Killing Frost

The Luidaeg leaned forward and picked up my bird. I felt a pang of loss, like this was something that absolutely couldn’t be allowed to happen—something impossible and forbidden. I pulled the knife from my chest, intending to fight her for the bird, and she fixed me with a look that froze me where I knelt, making any further motion as good as impossible.

“You agreed to this,” she said. “Youchosethis. As much as if not more than anyone else who has ever made this particular bargain with me. I just hope, for all our sakes, that you’re right. We can’t afford to lose another hero right now.”

I might be frozen, but Simon wasn’t. He lunged to his feet, moving to put himself between me and the Luidaeg. “She may have agreed to this, but I didn’t! I don’t! Take it back, right now! Don’t do this to her! Please, Luidaeg, if there’s any good left in you, please, don’t do this to her. Don’t hurt her for my sake.”

The Luidaeg fixed him with a look like a spear, and asked, “Do you think I would if I had any choice in the matter? She’s worth a hundred of you,failure, and I didn’t want to do this. Thank your Firstborn, if you’re ever unlucky enough to see her again. She can finish devouring you and tell you that you’re welcome as she picks her teeth with your bones. I believe this is yours.” She reached into her overalls with her free hand, pulling out a bottle. A bird was trapped inside, wings beating weakly against the glass. She popped the cork with her thumb and the bird flew free, slamming into Simon’s chest and disappearing.

His gaze cleared further, and he dropped to his knees in front of me, nearly setting his trousers on fire as he gathered me clumsily into his arms. “October, October, I’m so sorry,” he moaned. “I never wanted to hurt you again, I never wanted to hurt anyone, but I got solost, and it was like I was someone else, someone who didn’t care enough to stop himself from doing all those terrible things...”

“Apologize to Quentin, not me,” I said, and forced a smile. “I signed up for this. He didn’t. Patrick’s probably going to be a little pissed at you for turning his eldest son into a tree, though.”

Simon paled again. Apparently, the thought of Patrick beingangry with him was even more distressing than I’d expected it to be. Interesting.

But not for long.

“Again, I’m sorry about this, and I hope you’re right,” said the Luidaeg, and shoved my pigeon into the bottle. It should have been too big to fit, but somehow it just got smaller and smaller until it was inside, and she pushed the stopper home. Something snapped under my breastbone, leaving me untethered. The world got fuzzy around the edges, and I couldn’t breathe.

I blinked several times, trying to clear the dizzying specks from my eyes. Someone was touching me. No one was supposed to be touching me. I pushed them away, and managed not to shriek when I saw that it was Simon Torquill, my liege’s brother, a man who’d never been willing to give me anything more than a smirk or a sneer when he saw me in the halls of Shadowed Hills. Sweet Titania, was he one of those perverts who liked changelings more than he should, because we were usually younger than any pureblood girl it was acceptable to fuck?

I scrambled to my feet, spinning to see the rest of my surroundings. I was in someone’s living room, shabby and lived-in, with a large, comfortable couch up against one wall and a variety of other chairs and small tables scattered invitingly around the place. There was a candle burning by my feet, and no television. Whoever lived here must not have liked fun.

It was impossible to guess which of the people around me lived here. There was another Daoine Sidhe in addition to Simon, a boy barely out of his teens, with hair in an improbably deep shade of metallic bronze. He was staring at me like I’d just sprouted another head. He must have been one of those sheltered kids who’d never seen a real changeling before, the ones whose parents wanted to keep them “pure” and uncorrupted by the human world and its byproducts. There was a Tylwyth Teg man standing in front of what looked like a really sweet chemistry set, boiling a bunch of rose petals in a beaker. Great. I’d fallen into a pureblood drug den. It wasn’t the first one. But alchemists in living rooms didn’t usually intend anything good for the local changelings.

A Bridge Troll stood near one wall, looking at me miserably. Maybe he knew what that alchemist intended, and why I’d been brought here. Bridge Trolls don’t tend to have changeling kids oftheir own, on account of them being too big; they’d break any human they tried to get intimate with. Maybe that’s why they’re generally pretty mellow about us.

The other three people in the room didn’t make things any easier to understand. There was a woman with orange hair and stained glass wings, who didn’t look right to be an Ellyllon, but was too tall and not scrawny enough to be a Puca; a human teenager in overalls, who had probably been brought here for the same terrible purpose I had; and—

“You fucker!” I pointed at the Cait Sidhe man who was watching from the other side of the room, his face an impassive mask. Like the others, he wasn’t wearing any illusions to make himself look human; unlike the last time I’d seen him, he wasn’t manipulating his form to seem closer to Daoine Sidhe, either. His hair was striped like a tabby cat’s and looked halfway to becoming fur. His eyes widened when I spoke to him. Probably startled that I dared open my mouth in his presence, the jerk.

“O-October?” he said, voice wavering a little. “What’s wrong? What has she done?”

She? She who? There were two options, and while the human girl was closer to me than the woman with the orange wings, neither of them looked hostile. “Nothing’s wrong, except someone’s decided it would be a fun time to abduct me, and of the available options, you seem like the most likely.” I kept pointing at him. “The only other person here I know is Simon, and he wouldn’t snatch me off the street. Sylvester would never forgive him if he did.”

Once I knew where I was, I could run for Shadowed Hills. Sylvester would protect me. Or I could go Home. Between Sylvester and Devin, I’d be safe. There was no one in this room who’d dare to go up against both a Daoine Sidhe Duke and a changeling crime lord in his own den. I’m good at pissing people off, but none of my enemies are remotely that powerful. Sometimes I’m still stunned that my allies are.

Tybalt’s face fell, and for a confusing moment, he looked like he was going to cry. That didn’t make any sense, but then, nothing about this day made any sense. I took a step backward, trying to put the end of the couch between me and the rest of these people. Simon grabbed my arm before I could get past him, jerking me around so he could stare into my eyes. He really did look almostexactly like his brother. Twins are creepy. Faces should be like fingerprints: one copy ever, no imitations allowed.

“October, wait.” He held me tightly, not letting go. The smell of smoke and sweet cider began to rise in the air around him, surprisingly strong. He must have been preparing one damn doozy of a spell. “No one here is your enemy.”

“Like hell, Uncle Creepy.” I jerked my arm out of his grasp. He let go, realizing I was going to hurt myself if he didn’t. I glared at him. “You’re like the evil grand vizier from a Disney movie. You only show up when youwantsomething, and then Sylvester has to chase you away again before you get your slimy hands all over Shadowed Hills. He,” I hooked a finger toward Tybalt, who hadn’t moved, “hatesme. He always has. Any room containing the two of you isn’t a room that means me well. Devin didn’t train no fools. I don’t give one sweet fuck about how much you want me to stay here. I’m not hanging around so you can hurt me.”

“October—”

The human teenager, who must not have been all that human, to be surrounded by this many fae—fuck, was I even wearing an illusion?—and not be freaking out, held her hands out toward me in a calming gesture. I reached up to feel the point of my ear and confirm that I could currently pass for human, and nearly screamed when my fingers found something much more pointed than it should have been. The entire shape of my ear had changed. What’s more, it didn’t itch; I wasn’t disguised. I backed deeper into the corner, trying not to hyperventilate.

“What thefuckdid you people do to me?” I demanded.

“We loved you,” said the teenager. “That’s all. The rest, you did to yourself. I know better than anyone what you’re fighting against right now, but if you can focus, even a little, I think that will make things easier on everyone.”

There was something happening to her eyes. They were changing, going from green as a broken glass bottle to solid black from side to side, like the eyes of a shark. I raised one shaking hand and pointed at her, whispering, “Eyes like pitch and a friendly face. I know you. Iknowyou. You’re the sea witch, aren’t you?” Greatest of Faerie’s demons. Worse even than Blind Michael, who Rode the hills and stole children away in the middle of the night. She couldn’t be here. I couldn’t be herewithher. This wasn’t possible.

This wasn’t happening. The thought was strangely appealing.Simon had a flair for illusions. I let my hand drop to my side and turned on him, spitting, “Stop this.”

He looked at me like he was innocent, hurt and confused and a little perplexed. I leaned over and planted my hands at the center of his chest, shoving him. There was blood under my fingernails. Why was there blood under my nails? I always tried to have as little contact with blood as I could manage. The stuff was disgusting, and the fact that Mom used it in her magic didn’t help.

“I saidstop!” I yelled, as he fell backward into the couch.

“Wow, this spell really tailors itself to the target,” said the teenager who might be the sea witch, blinking her black eyes but looking otherwise unconcerned. “August ran into the woods like nothing had changed. You went full evil mastermind and started trying to kill us all...”

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