Page 422 of Flirting with Darkness

Fae king, I need your assistance, if you please.

Nothing. Not a word or a tingle or a single lick of fire.

And isn’t it strange to be wishing for the very things I thought were my worst torment not a few days ago?

I tighten the flax ropes one-handed and try again, aiming my thoughts at the same place I had each time we spoke.

Fae king, I know I asked to be sent back, but I truly need your assistance.

I’m only met with silence. No thickening air, no strange hollowing out of my head…

How often had the king and I spoken silently while in those woods? And yet at no time did I feel the unsettling things I felt here when the same happened.

Why is that?

Because more often, you initiated. You spoke to me first, starting the connection, which I found quite pleasant.

I go still at the honeyed voice in my mind, tingles radiating from the base of my skull down to my toes.

I’m terribly sorry you didn’t find it enjoyable when I initiated the connection with you, but I had some mental walls to break through in order to be heard. You should thank your Father. He taught you well.

I allow my heart to swell at that, but I can’t stay with that feeling for long. I have to work fast.

I’ll do that. And thank you for responding, fae king. My father needs your help.

He waits several moments before responding.

Your…your father? So you’re not…He goes silent, failing to finish his thought.

Not what?

He sighs into my mind and a sweet shudder rolls through me.It is of no consequence, little bird. What does your father need from one such as me?

* * *

I’m not above saying ward magic isn’t my strong suit. Father trained me in the baneful arts, but wards simply weren’t that interesting to me.

But as I sketch the stroke that completes the sigil, a new hollowness surrounds me. Surrounds the entire house.

Like holding my ear to a shell, the hollow sound whooshes by and through me.

The fae king said I’d know when it was done.

So I rise from the floor of my bedchamber and sit on the edge of my bed, waiting.

Is it done?

Yes.My reply comes quickly. I’d like to get on with this as soon as possible.You promise you won’t try to take me back to the fae realm to be executed?I ask again.

I’ve told you countless times, Liesl, I don’t make bargains with humans. I’ve given you my word and that will have to do.

I wasn’t asking for a bargain, just an assurance.

I had been staring at the far wall while having this conversation with him, but now, and with surprisingly little fanfare, he stands before me.

“I never intended to see harm come to you, Liesl.”

The king looks down at me, a twisting silver crown atop his raven-black hair. His leathers, newly oiled and supple, shine in the daylight, while the linen clothes beneath are black as night.

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