Page 61 of What Lurks Between the Fates

22

Estrella

Nila prepared me for the next evening as I stood in front of my wardrobe, staring into the mass of fabric and dresses waiting there. I’d never worn pants prior to spending time with the Resistance, and yet I couldn’t help but long for the security they offered. With Mab’s propensity for wielding sex as a weapon, I would have felt moderately better having something to cover myself—particularly after the exposure of the day before and everything that had been plucked, scrubbed, and shaped on my body while she watched.

The gown Nila pulled from the wardrobe was a deep teal, the color of the depths of a cove. It was embroidered with beading, white gems sewn into the fabric in a stunning pattern that accentuated the waist. There were no sleeves. The fabric merely rested against the shoulder in thin straps, leaving the chest open. Another piece of fabric hung about the hanger, a collar of sorts that I had to hope would conceal the iron at my neck.

“The Princess of the Winter Court will not look like a prisoner when we welcome the royals from the other courts,” Nila said, running her fingers over the delicate pieces of fabric that draped down from the collar and would hang over my arms like sleeves.

I stripped off the silk robe I’d dressed in while I dried from my bath, allowing Nila to style my hair as she saw fit. She helped me into the dress, carefully doing her best to avoidtouching my iron collar as she clasped the beaded material over the top of it.

I winced as she pulled the laces of my dress tight, pressing my breasts into my chest forcefully until it felt like I couldn’t breathe.

“I think the collar is less painful,” I wheezed, touching a hand to my chest as I glanced down at the swell that peeked out above the low scoop of the neckline.

“Don’t be dramatic, Princess,” Nila said with a chuckle. She knew as well as I did that it simply wasn’t true, but that didn’t change the fact that I couldn’t breathe.

“You haven’t told me what to expect during the Solstice. I think I should have some idea of what I’m walking into,” I said.

Nila sighed, fluffing the fabric drapery to hang over the top of my shoulders and down my arms. “There will be Seven Events, all culminating in the Tithe,” she said, her voice dropping low as if even in the Court of Shadows, the subject of such was forbidden.

“The Tithe?” I asked, turning to look away from the massive mirror that hung on the wall opposite the windows of my chambers.

“In order to keep the boundary between the court and Tartarus in place, the Fae must pay a sacrifice to the Primordial Ubel in order for him to agree to uphold it,” she explained, staring down at me as she nodded. She dropped to her knees in front of me, placing the heeled shoes upon my feet one by one as I stared down at her.

My emotions were unpredictable on the best of days, but the word sacrifice would always send a flash of panic through me. I’d lost my father to such a notion, and nearly lost mylife. If Caldris hadn’t broken through the Veil when he had, I would already be dead. My life given to the power of something that I no longer believed should have continued to exist; something that was always meant to fail so that Fallon and I, or both of us, could end up exactly where we were now.

It all seemed so... pointless in the end.

“What does that have to do with the courts?” I asked as she fiddled with my hair and placed a silver circlet upon my head.

“I do hope Twyla has received word of your existence. She should bring your crown with her if she is aware, and that would be far more befitting of your station,” Nila said, carefully evading the subject.

I ignored the panicked thump of my heart in my chest, the horror of wearing a true crown. I thought of Caldris’s spiked silver crown that bled shadows upon the earth, wondering just how heavy the metal of it had to be. His amusement pulsed down the bond, as if he couldn’t wait for the day my discomfort became reality.

I swallowed, shaking off the dread I felt over the forced acknowledgement of my status in this world. I hadn’t asked for any of it, but it seemed I’d been born to receive gifts I’d never wanted.

Or maybe they were a curse when it all came down to it.

“The Tithe, Nila,” I said, reminding the Fae woman of the topic at hand. My dread couldn’t be stopped, but I could focus on what was to come that night and do my best to prepare for it.

“We sacrifice seven lives to Tartarus every seven years. It is necessary, else things slip through the wards containing the prisoners of Tartarus. It has been... difficult since the Veil wasconstructed. We’ve gone far too long without paying a Tithe, and this will be the first Solstice since the Veil fell—”

“What does the Veil have to do with the sacrifices? Do you mean to tell me that the Fae sacrifice humans to Tartarus?” I asked, my outrage only growing.

Humans had been sacrificed to the Veil for over a century. Humans were sacrificed to Tartarus even longer. It never stopped amazing me just how little any of the creatures in this world valued human life—as if our ability to reincarnate changed any of the heartbreak left behind for loved ones to experience.

“Changelings, yes,” Nila admitted. “The Fae once took their place in the human realm, so their families never know they’re missing at the time. It is better to avoid mass panic as a general rule, and the person disappears eventually over the course of the year. It’s gradual, so the humans never realize their loved ones were taken all at once. With the Veil down, the practice will resume.”

“The courts are bringing human Changelings to sacrifice?” I asked, hanging my head forward. If any of them were a loved one of mine, I would bring down the entire court before I allowed them to die.

“Six of them. Mab has also selected one of her own,” Nila said.

I sighed. “Why seven? There are five courts,” I answered.

“Seven is a magical number to the Fae and witches alike. So each Tithe year, two of the courts must present two sacrifices instead of one. They rotate. This year it will be the Winter Court and Summer Court, Twyla and Rheaghan.”

“I think I’ll stay here tonight,” I said, shaking my head in disgust. I didn’t want my first memory of Caldris’s mother to be her participation in such a brutal ritual.

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