Christina Henry: Black Night

“So what did you come for?” I said.

His lips compressed in a tight line at the belligerent tone of my voice. “You might show a small amount of gratitude, Madeline. Not only did I save your life; I saved the life of Amarantha’s son.”

Which is a lot more meaningful to you than to me, I thought, since I have no freaking idea why Amarantha is so damn important to you.

But I wasn’t ungrateful to him for helping me, or for saving the life of my friend, no matter what the identity of J.B.’s mother.

“Thank you,” I said, and tried not to sound surly. “You certainly arrived in a timely manner. Now, was there something that you wanted to speak with me about?”

He looked like he was considering further taking me to task for my lack of graciousness, but then apparently decided against it.

“Lord Azazel has asked me to accompany you to the faerie court,” Nathaniel said.

I stared at him. “How do you know about that? I just received the message from Lucifer a few minutes ago.”

Nathaniel shrugged. “Lucifer himself asked your father to allow me to escort you on your diplomatic mission.”

Diplomatic mission. That was a nice way to put it. I was supposed to go to the faerie court and negotiate a new land and power treaty on behalf of the fallen. I knew nothing about the faeries or what Lucifer was after—I had been promised further details upon acceptance of my mission. What I did know was that the faerie court had as arcane and complex a caste system as the fallen, and that since I had a terrible habit of shoving my boot in my mouth, I was just as likely to fail as to succeed.

I didn’t know why Lucifer was sticking my neck out like this. He was sure to have some ulterior motive beyond a simple treaty. If he was only interested in what he stated, then he would have sent a more adept negotiator.

And it was beyond annoying that he had specifically ordered Nathaniel to come with me. Well, maybe it was time to try out my diplomatic skills.

“Listen, Nathaniel—I don’t think it’s necessary for you to join me. It will probably be boring, negotiating a treaty.”

Nathaniel’s pale blue eyes sparkled. “You have never experienced the wonders of the faerie court, Madeline. I assure you, the negotiations will be anything but boring.”

Oookay. Time for a different tack.

“I’m sure my father has more important things for you to attend to in his court.”

“What could be more important that accompanying my betrothed on a vital mission for our highest lord?”

I blew out a breath in frustration and decided diplomacy was overrated. “What will it take to get you to stay home?”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “There is nothing you can say or do to compel me to remain in Lord Azazel’s court. I have suspected for some time, Madeline, that you are not taking our betrothal seriously. You must. You are bound to me by Azazel’s word before the court.”

“I do not and will not consider myself betrothed to you unless it is by my word, not Azazel’s,” I shot back.

Nathaniel loomed closer, crowding me, and I glared up at him. “Don’t try to physically intimidate me. I’m not afraid of you.”

He sneered. “Because your loyal dog is in the next room?”

“Because I know that I can blast you down those stairs and out of this building if I want to.” And just as if I had called it, I felt my magic alight within me again, feral and hungry, fed by my anger and frustration.

A small part of me knew that I should rein it in, not reveal myself to Nathaniel in this manner. I had been very careful over the last month whenever we met, and had pretended not to shudder when he touched my arm or placed his lips on my cheek. I knew that any coldness on my part would be interpreted as nerves or shyness by my father and that he would explain my behavior to Nathaniel as such. I shouldn’t be showing him now that I despised him.

“Don’t push me,” I said raggedly, trying to keep my magic and my temper under control. “I did not choose this.”

“Nor did I,” he replied angrily. “Do you think it is my wish to be engaged to a woman who clearly hates me?”

I looked up at him in surprise. There had been something in his voice, some hurt that I hadn’t suspected. It flickered in his eyes for an instant before he covered it with anger.

“I don’t hate you,” I said, and the lie tasted bitter on my tongue. Anything less than the truth would encourage him. But I had to walk the line that Azazel had laid out for me until I could figure out a way to break free of the binding.

Nathaniel looked uncertain for a moment. Then he surprised me, leaned forward as if he intended to kiss my mouth. For a second I felt a strange, unwanted flare of desire. The thought was so foreign that I couldn’t help my unconscious reaction, and stepped back until I felt my butt hit the counter. Irritation flared in his eyes.

“If you do not hate me, you are doing an excellent approximation of it.”

“What does it matter to you?” I said, feeling slightly embarrassed. “You get to marry Lord Azazel’s daughter, don’t you?”

“Yes,” he said tightly. “I do. I will arrive in three days to escort you to the court.”

He swept into a mocking bow and then exited out the open back door. And that reminded me.

I followed him to the top of the stairs and shouted down. “You’re going to pay for those doors you broke, buddy!”

“Yeah, good luck with that,” Beezle snorted from behind me, and I turned around. He had flown in while my back was turned and was in the process of pulling a clawful of cookies from the cookie jar. I wondered how much of my conversation with Nathaniel he had listened to. “You could just use the money that Azazel gave you to fix them. Nathaniel was here on Azazel’s business.”

“I don’t want to touch that money,” I said.

Beezle shrugged and shoved chocolate mint cookies in his beak. “I don’t see why not.”

“You know why not. It’s just a rope by any other name, and I will not be bound to Azazel’s plans any more than I already am.”

“You won’t be bound to his plans by using that money to fix your doors.”

“No, but I’ll feel indebted to him. And he wants that. He wants me to accept what he offers so that he can manipulate me into place like a chess piece. Lucifer does, too.”

“Yeah, well. REALLY good luck trying to extricate yourself from those two. They’ve been tying mortals in knots for ages untold.”

“Yes,” I said, rubbing my head. I felt a headache coming on. This day, like so many others of late, had exhausted me. I remembered with fondness a time when the most difficult part of my day was filling out forms in triplicate.

I wandered listlessly into the living room, thinking I could convince J.B. or Gabriel to spring for a pizza for all of us.

“So,” J.B. said as soon as I entered the room. “I hear you’ve got a big mission coming up.”

I glared at Gabriel. “What did you blab about that for?”

Gabriel looked surprised. “Because he is Amarantha’s son.”

“The court that I’m supposed to be going to.”

“Yup,” J.B. said.

“That’s your mom.”

“Yup.”

“Do you think you might have mentioned sooner that you were a faerie prince?” I said, annoyed.

“Do you think you might have mentioned sooner that you were the daughter of one of the fallen?” he retorted.

“I didn’t find out until . . . Never mind,” I said, not wanting to get into a childish argument. “Whatever. So, you’ve got an in with the court. You can help me negotiate with your mom, then.”

J.B. shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. I’m her heir, but she doesn’t really like me.”

“Wonderful,” I said. “Is there any useful information you can give me?”