Last night comes rushing back to me in a flash. He… oh my God, he drugged me.
On the plus side, the apple definitely did its job. That added to the rest I got when Rys put me under with his faerie dust means that I’m firing on all cylinders. Sitting up, I figure this is one of the tents he set up. Since I’m still wearing Rys's cloak and my boots, I can tell that he just laid me down inside of the tent after he knocked me out.
Good. That means I don’t have to waste any time before I can crawl out of this tent and find him.
He’s standing outside, already up and ready to head out. His tent is dismantled, the pieces
lined up next to his satchel. One glimpse and I can tell that he’s been waiting for me to get up. One glimpse and I know he’s expecting me to be angry.
And I am. I totally am.
However, before I can even begin to ask him about the stunt he pulled last night, Rys looks me up and down and says, “Where’s your ring?”
That takes the wind out of my sail. Clutching my hand to my chest, I cover my fingers. “What did you say?”
He gives me a shrug that is so effortlessly attractive, I take an involuntary step toward him.
“I know you have questions, Leannán.” He sounds so reasonable, so persuasive. And that name. That name. “I know you want answers. Let’s make a deal. For every answer you give me, I’ll give one in return. If you’re detailed, I will be, too. One word answers earn the same. And if you refuse, then that’s fine with me. I’d like to be out of the Shadow Realm as soon as we can.”
“I… … you… ah! You’re such a fae!” I spit out.
He grins. Oh, did I miss that sexy grin of his. “Does that mean that we should be on our way?”
I show him my hand, tapping at my bare finger. “You want to know what happened to my ring? I gave it to Siúcra when I made my sacrifice. It represented home for me and, since I can’t ever go back, it obviously worked.” I pause for a moment, waiting to see if Rys is going to respond; at the very least, I wonder if he’s going to say something about me never going back to the human world. He doesn’t, so I toss back, “What about you? What did you give up?”
“Any chance of making you my ffrindau, and you already knew that. Saxon told you.” When I stare at him, shocked into silence at his response, he says, “Another round?”
I nod. “Uh, yeah. It’s your turn.”
“Tell me what happened to you after you left Siúcra. From the inn to the stage, tell me everything.”
Welp. I did want to have this conversation, didn’t I? And Rys… oh, he’s a tricky, tricky fae. He maneuvered me exactly where he wants me. He has to know that I’m going to turn that question right around on him, just like I did with the first one. It’s his way of conceding that he’ll tell me everything I want to know about what happened to him while we were separated—and all it will cost me is reliving my last few weeks.
There’s one good thing about being human. When I launch into my adventure—just like he knew I would—everything I tell him is the truth. I just don’t tell him everything.
Still, he listens to me speak with a strangely flat expression on his gorgeous face. He doesn’t interrupt except to offer me another apple. In between bites, I tell him about landing in the Shadow Realm after Saxon pushed me, my attempts to clear the “debt” I owed the gnome, my friendship with a lonely Unseelie female, and how I got trapped by the redcap. I don’t mention how afraid of the rider I was, how I impulsively ate the imps’ cakes, or what happened the night I went to retrieve the raven’s feather. Those parts of my story I keep to myself.
When I’m done, he frowns. “All that happened while I was gone.”
It’s not a question. I answer him anyway.
“Yeah. Wait— gone? What do you mean, gone?” I don’t know why I automatically assume he means that he’d gone somewhere, but I’m sure of it. “Where did you go?”
“Is that your question?”
What? Oh, right. “Yes.”
“Across the veil.”
Is that it?
I point at him. “You said that your answer has to match mine. I talked for like fifteen minutes. Don’t think those three words are gonna cut it, buddy. We have a deal.”
“We do, don’t we?” Rys laughs. “Let me elaborate. Remember how I decided we needed to leave Siúcra because we overheard the guards discussing an uprising against the Summer King?” At my nod, he explains, “It’s worse than I thought. Now that Melisandre is dead, some of the fae want to see Oberon keep the Unseelie Court under his control. Others want him off the throne so that a new ruler can take his crown. We’re heading toward war. Tell me, Leannán. When kings go to war, who loses the most?”
“Not the king, I know that much.” At his silent urging, I guess, “The regular people.”
“Yes. In this case, the lower races of Faerie will pay first. The lower races… and humans. It’s why it was so important to send you back to the Iron. You’d be safe there. The upcoming battle wouldn’t touch you. It’s what I had to do. Only…” Rys shakes his head. “I went across the veil to warn the Shadow. Do you know about her?”