Page 81 of Frozen Hearts and Death Magic

“It is.”

“And you don’t have a last name.”

“You can call me River Annoying.”

Fel rolled his eyes. “Fascinating. And what does the illustrious River Annoying want? I’m sure you’re here for a reason.”

“First was to keep you safe.”

“Your help was impressive, River.” He didn’t hide the derision in the way he said his name.

“I’m glad you liked it. I want a deal.”

“I’m listening.”

The fae then stared at the shovel, now digging the second grave, and frowned. “You’re going to do it all with your magic?”

“As opposed to what? Using my bare hands?” Fel raised his arms. He was wearing long sleeves, as always, but it was still obvious that his hands were gone.

“Right,” River blinked. “Anyway, they sent three men. What do you think will happen when they find out they failed?”

“They’ll send more.” It was obvious. But there were things he didn’t understand. “But how did they even get to Umbraar? I mean, the portals are closed.”

“You do realize there are other ways to travel, right? They could have gone through the woods. Getting here is not that big of an issue. The thing is… if you don’t do something, this won’t stop, and eventually you won’t be able to save yourself.”

“What do you care?”

“I don’t, actually, now that you asked.” River tilted his head. “But your sister does. And she asked me to make sure you’re safe. So here I am. But see, I can’t be everywhere at once, so I want you to make my job easier.”

“Do you expect me to hide?”

“Kind of.” The amused expression was back on his face. “Pretend you’re dead. Make your father announce it. The Ironholds are arrogant, and they won’t suspect that their henchmen failed.”

“Won’t they notice they didn’t come back?”

“Committing a crime is easy. Escaping is hard. I don’t think they care.”

“But one of them is an ironbringer. It has to be someone related to the royal family or something. Do you know anything about it?”

There was a slight hardness in River’s reddish eyes. “I’m not here to give you information on Ironhold. I’m here to ask you to pretend you’re dead, so that they won’t bother you again.”

“Won’t they try to find Naia?”

“Say you’re both dead. Puff. Easy. Problem temporarily solved.”

“What do I get if I do that?” Fel knew that fae liked bargains, and he wanted to take advantage of that. “If I announce that I’m dead?”

River stared at his nails, which were ugly and dark. Goodness, how could Naia stand those fingers with those disgusting things? Well, probably better than no fingernails—or fingers. Depressing thought.

“Well, your sister, we… I want to marry her. Truly. But I want to give her some time to think if that’s what she really wants. To get to know me. If you pretend you’re dead, I’ll guarantee she’ll keep her… virtue, like you say.”

Oh, gross, he couldn’t be meaning to make a deal involving that kind of thing. “Naia will always be virtuous no matter what she does, and you can’t be such a creep to want to make a deal of that.”

“Yes, always virtuous, I agree. We don’t use these words, I was just trying to speak the way your kind does. Do you want details on what I won’t do?”

Again, gross. “No, no. But I trust your honor. Didn’t you say your heart belonged to her?”

“It’s not the only part.”

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