“Just like the moon, she had a side of her so dark that even the stars couldn’t shine on it. So cold that even the sun wouldn’t dare burn against it.” – Unknown
I tipped my head back and closed my eyes as cool night air floated in through the open window of my stone-cased study. It caressed the back of my throat, mixed with the inhale of my cigar. And that’s when I could smell her coming. Could see her in my mind for hours now. The young Summer Fae traipsed through the Dark Forest in search of me. How valiant she was to brave all that the wretched forest offered. None of it pleasant. For a Summer Fae, anyway.
But this one endured.
Children of Summer rarely ventured this far. To my fortress of stone and glass and darkness. A Dark Lord’s home. But this one reeked of sunshine and desperation. She needed me.
The lovely creature was just a few yards away now. With a gentle squeeze of my hand, I gripped the fabric of everything around me and left the comforts of my study to appear just outside the front door. To greet her. I could smell the burn of the sun carried by whiffs of cherries from the black cherry trees that thickly lined my side of the forest.
She emerged from it, covered in dark splotches of red and purple, only heightened by the stark, blood-red hair that hung down across the front of her torn, stained cotton dress. Her crazed eyes–like glittering emeralds–scanned and found me. And when her heaving body relaxed with relief, I realized… she was the most incredible thing I’d ever seen.
What corner of Summer did she crawl from?
“Dark Lord,” she addressed, chin raised and still out of breath, but she fought to hide it.
I stuffed a casual hand inside the broad pocket of my black coat as I flicked the last of my cigar into a murky puddle. “Oden is fine.” We sized one another up for a moment. She’d trespassed, and she knew it.
I watched as her wide green eyes raked over me, scrutinizing every line. “You’re not what I expected.”
“Oh?” I raised a curious brow, surprised by her audacity. “And what did you expect? A leather-winged monster? An old crony consumed by his own darkness?”
She shook her head. I wanted to reach out and ring my finger through one of her blood-red locks that tipped the ends of her long hair. “I thought… I’d heard….” The female gestured up and down at my appearance. “I just wasn’t expecting…this. Tall and handsome, draped in black velvet. Hair like…”
“Like what?” It’d been so long since someone stroked my ego. Was this a tactic? She’s clever, then.
As if she could read my mind, her gaze lowered and narrowed. In an instant, she became a cunning and admirable foe. “White, like doves’ wings. As if… you’re trying too hard to appeal to me.”
Did she know? That I could cut her half in the blink of an eye? Throw my darkness in a blade through the air and slice her in two, three, even four pieces if I wanted to. She was a trespasser. Albeit, she’d somehow survived the horrors of the Dark Forest. But I’d already let her stand in my domain longer than any other outsider ever dared. But something about this one spoke to me. Called to my darkness with questions and demands. And part of me wanted to give it to her.
So, I changed the subject.
“What brings you to this depth of hell?” I gently motioned a wave at the wall of thick trees behind her.
“My sister has caught the eye of the Summer Lord.”
Kheelan. I stifled a grumble. Pompous, warmonger.
“They’re to be wed within the year,” she added.
“And you wish to… steal him from her?” I asked.
“No, no,” she replied and sucked in a deep breath. Her scent suddenly filled with a strained sense of love. She loved her sister, but jealousy consumed her. “I wish to… find my own love.”
My eyes flashed a warning. “You won’t find that in my domain, dearie.”
She straightened, her expression stark and cunning. Oh, she’d make a fine queen, indeed. “Won’t I?”
“What is it you truly seek?” I demanded curtly. My patience was already waning.
“I need…” The Summer Fae rapidly blinked through her thoughts, clenching both fists at her sides. “I need a love potion.”
I couldn’t hide my surprise. “A love potion, you say?” I turned and slowly paced in front of her. Testing how much my presence intimidated her. But she didn’t so much as flinch. “And what makes you think such a thing can be done?”
She looked me firmly in the eyes, and I saw madness there. A flicker of it. Waiting to be ignited. “I know it can.” She whipped a small knife from her belt and dragged the blade across her palm before turning it over.
My eyes widened. “What are you–”
Blood dripped to the earth at our feet. My earth. My domain.
I didn’t bother hiding the annoyance in my sigh as I pinched the space between my eyes. “Where did you learn that?”
The female shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. What does matter is you’re now bound to me. You must bid me one request.”
Curse those ancient laws. Ridiculous binds and wards created by Therians that, unfortunately, could be used by Fae, as well. Our world was never the same once word spread of what could be done to us. To use us. Control us. It sickened me.
“A love potion.” My back teeth grit together.
She nodded with confidence. “A love potion.”
I stared, unblinking. So did she. Could I use this to my advantage? She was a pretty thing, clearly a strong female. Powerful? That was yet to be determined. I kept my expression even. “I have conditions.”
“Of course.”
“I need to know who it’s intended to be used on.” A whiff of panic filled her scent, but she nodded. “And I require a bargain. To trade for the potion.”
“I expected to pay,” she replied coldly. “Name your price.”
I clucked my tongue. “So eager to get what you want that you’d blindly enter a bargain with a Dark Lord?”
“Not blindly,” she replied and returned her dagger to its hilt. “I’ll hear your terms.”
Her confidence was impressive. “First, I must know.” I continued pacing, leaving her filled with anticipation. “Do you seek this potion truly for love? Or for power?”
Again, her scent tinged the air with a burst of dread. But she held a lovely smile on her rounded face. “For love, of course.”
“And the receiver of this potion?”
She took in a long breath. “For the king.”
“The Seelie King?” I balked. The audacity of such a thought. An inward groan turned over in my chest. I wished I’d thought of it. “You hope to woo the High King of this world? To what end?”
Finally, she let a little of the tenor I could feel in her presence slip through, and a wicked grin tugged at the corner of her mouth. “Like I said, for love. I wish for him to fall madly in love with me so I may be his Queen, his equal.”
A guffaw escaped from me. “You don’t know Orion too well to believe you’d be his equal or anything close to it. You’d be a trophy, at best.”
“You let me handle that,” she replied so coolly I almost believed perhaps she could see the future. The certainty of which she held on to this plan of hers…it was admirable.
But I was already growing tired of it. It was time to get what I wanted out of this. “Very well.” I stopped pacing and tucked my hands behind my back. “I’ll construct a love potion so strong Orion will grovel to his knees at first sight of you.” Her answering grin was so wicked it stirred a sleepy darkness in my gut. “In exchange for your first-born daughter.”
Her face paled, and she stumbled back a step. “My…what?”
I let my boredom show to hurry her mind along. “You heard me. A love potion in exchange for your first-born daughter.”
Her gaze, laced with guilt, fell to the ground. “Why a daughter? Would any child do?”
My fingers plucked at the single button that held my black jacket closed, and I sat on a large rock. “You see, I’m in the market for a Queen myself. You may keep and raise her, but she’ll be mine upon her eighteenth birthday.”
She stared at me with pursed lips. “To what end?”
I chuckled at the use of my own words. “What was it you said? For love?”
She only hesitated a moment before offering a hand. “Deal.”
“Just like that?” I pushed to my feet. “How desperate you are for power.” I closed the distance between us, and let her scent envelop me. Lies, deceit, jealousy. She reeked of it all. I caressed a finger under her chin, and she lifted it to hold my stare. A formidable foe, she would become.
The Summer Fae finally let the extent of her wickedness show through and spread across her parted crimson lips. “For love, you mean?”
Oh, how this dance would prove worthy of my investment. “And for love, it shall be.”
I stepped back and held out my hand. She glanced down at it and, for a fleeting moment, hesitated. Just as she moved to take it, I said, “One more condition.”
She glared up at me from under her lowered brow. “The scales of this bargain are beginning to tip in your favor, Dark Lord.”
“Just a simple request,” I replied. “Necessary for the bargain to hold.”
Her eyes darted to my still-outstretched hand. “What, then?”
“Your name.”
Her fingers opened, and she reached for me with an unapologetic sneer. “Mabry.”
Her soft hand slipped into mine, and I gripped it tightly, sealing the bargain in gold bands around our wrists. The tendrils of the bond crawled around our joined hands. Swirling up and around our arms until driven into both our chests with a hefty force. But it only seemed to ignite that madness I’d seen dormant in her soul just moments ago.
“Mabry Solborn.”
Author Candace Osmond 