Suzanne McLeod - The Shifting Price of Prey

Right. ‘What’s the choice?’

She reached over and touched the shoulder of Bastien in the card. A ripple ran through the picture and he blinked, then looked out of the card at me and flashed fang.

‘Ask your original question and he must answer truthfully,’ Viviane said.

I snorted. ‘Tell me how to find that which is lost, and how to join that which is sundered, to release the fae’s fertility from the pendant and restore it back to them as it was before it was taken.’

‘That which is lost is already found,’ Card Bastien said, and from behind the misty disc-thing he produced a Fabergé egg encrusted with sapphires. My heart stuttered as I recognised it as the one lost in the demon attack at Hallowe’en. Shit. I’d had the answer to the fae’s problem in my hands (or rather the bank) until the sorcerer had stolen the egg, and I’d never fucking known it. And now Smugly Smiling Bastien had it. I wanted to scream in frustration.

Real Life Bastien’s smile widened. ‘I know who has the Fabergé egg and on my word they have agreed to give it to you.’

‘Who’s got it?’ I demanded. ‘And when will you tell them to give it to me?’

Both Bastiens shook their heads, not that I’d expected anything else, then Card Bastien said, ‘To join that which is sundered and release the fae’s fertility from the pendant and restore it back to them as it was before it was taken, you will need this.’ He held up the misty grey disc and flashed something else. Thankfully, the tarot card was small, and everything else smaller, making it easy to ignore. ‘You will obtain it and bring it back to me.’

I gritted my teeth. ‘What is it, who has it and where is it?’

‘First you must agree the price.’

‘What’s the price?’

Both Bastiens closed their eyes, Card Bastien rubbing his fingers over the disc in a show of deep thought.

I clenched my fists as impatience warred with anxiety. The sadist knew exactly what he wanted; he was only drawing this out to make me sweat. While I needed this over with. Needed to do the bargain. Then I could kill Gold Cat and make sure my friends were all safe. Hug Katie and Freya. Talk things through with Finn. Tell Tavish how to restore the fae’s fertility. Get back to Spellcrackers and my life, away from all this craziness. And find out what happened next between me and Malik. Only, the roiling in my gut told me some, maybe even all, of that probably wasn’t going to happen.

Finally, Card Bastien nodded as if he’d come to a decision. ‘You are to keep Malik al-Khan’s soul.’

Surprise washed through me. Okay, that was unexpected and not necessarily a deal breaker—

‘No, Genevieve. You will not.’

—for me anyway. I winced as Malik’s shouted order clamped my mind, and his soul speared its claws into my heart. Then Malik’s order cracked and melted like ice caught in fire. I shot an astonished look over my shoulder to see him striding towards us, flames burning in his pupils, black shadows writhing about him in fury.

Real Life Bastien gave a grunt of disgust and, out the corner of my eye, I saw him lift his finger again and Malik and his shadows froze. I turned back to scowl at the psycho unease shivering over me. Bastien was determined to be rid of Malik’s soul, Malik was just as determined I shouldn’t have it, while his soul looked like it was clinging – literally – to my heart. And I was the one stuck in the middle. I didn’t need any of Viv’s predictions to tell me this wasn’t going to end well.

Bastien waggled his finger. ‘You will notice, my princess, that while you bear my loyal shadow’s soul you are no longer under his sway. He can no longer order you to do his bidding. Am I correct?’

Ah, well, that explained why Malik’s order didn’t take. Not that I was going to tell the psycho he was right. ‘Get on with it.’

‘You will also find you no longer carry his marks on your flesh.’ He waved a dismissive hand at me and I resisted the urge to check the bruises on my wrist and my chest, refusing to give him a milligram of satisfaction. ‘I believe that is what you wanted; to be the one in control of your life. To not have other people making decisions for you. To make your own choices, on your own terms. Well, now you can, my lovely sidhe.’

He was repeating – almost word for word – what I’d told Tavish at the gnome’s house right before the first tarot card reading. Fucking Viviane, earwigging on private conversations. And never mind what Bastien said, stripping Malik of the power to order me around didn’t instantly grant me control of my life. Or stop self-satisfied sacks of shit like Bastien from blackmailing me.

‘Fine!’ I snapped. ‘Your price for giving me the information I need to be able to sort out the fae’s fertility is to keep Malik’s soul. I—’

‘Not so fast, princess,’ he interrupted, angry colour staining his cheeks. Inwardly, I cursed. I’d known he’d want more, but I’d nearly had him. ‘There are two parts to your question,’ he said, ‘so there are two parts to my price. The first is that you are to keep Malik’s soul until either he agrees to take it back, or I agree its transfer to myself or another.’

Now we were getting to it. ‘What’s the second?’

‘When you attain that’ – he pointed at the misty disc Card Bastien was holding – ‘I am to have first use of it before any other.’

I clamped down on my shock. He didn’t want my blood-bond? Was this a trick? I narrowed my eyes. ‘Will your first use in any way negate or destroy the disc’s power, or stop it from having the ability to join that which is sundered and release the fae’s fertility from the pendant, so that their fertility is restored to all as it was before it was taken, in an acceptable time frame – which I would nominate as no longer than three human-world days – or in any way deny the fae the use of the disc immediately after you?’

‘No.’

Nice unequivocal answer, so no deal-breaker there. Something which had suspicion twitching over my skin. Really, if I ignored Malik’s agitation about keeping his soul, it was way too easy. ‘What’s the disc?’

‘An item of great power,’ Bastien said, an ecstatic expression lighting his face.

Figured. ‘Does it have a name?’

‘The Hidden Rune of Iron.’

Well, at least it wasn’t the Holy Grail or a Golden Fleece. ‘What’s it do?’

He gave me a look as if it were a stupid question. ‘One of its other names is the Restorer.’

I cut him a look. ‘What do you want to restore?’

He smiled.

I shrugged. ‘So where is it?’

‘The Hidden Rune of Iron is also thus named due to its ephemeral nature which makes it difficult to locate.’

Damn. Easy just got hard.

A sly look crossed his face. ‘But I have it on good authority that it has been seen recently at The Court of Love and Beauty in the Fair Lands.’

Crap. Hard just hit dangerous. An impossible to find magical item, and— ‘The queen of that Court is Clíona, my grandmother.’

He inclined his head. ‘Then maybe she can be of assistance to you, my princess, and your quest will be concluded quickly.’

Concluded and quick it would be, but not because I’d find the Rune. ‘My grandmother wants me dead.’

‘Well, well, not everything in life is convenient.’

He’d got that right.

On the card, Viviane twirled her parasol. ‘The time has come for you to choose, bean sidhe. Do you accept Bastien’s price, or not?’

‘So I keep Malik’s soul and attain this Hidden Rune of Iron under the exact conditions specified, and at that point you will ensure that the person who has the Fabergé egg will give the egg to me, or to any of London’s fae, with all knowledge that they have about the item, in its undamaged condition.’