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.’
A frown lined his brows. ‘The egg will be undamaged from their possession, as for anything else, I cannot say.’
I grunted in acknowledgement. ‘Fair enough. So that’s it? There’s nothing else?’ Like wanting my blood-bond?
Bastien smiled. ‘There is one other condition.’
Of course there was. ‘What?’
‘Time is of the essence,’ Card Bastien said. ‘You must leave now. No stopping to converse with your friends or anyone else. Otherwise the opportunity to attain the rune will be lost.’
I rocked back on my heels. ‘You’re kidding me?’
‘He cannot lie, bean sidhe,’ Viviane said softly. ‘His spirit is guided by the cards.’
I looked away from the card to the open space, at those I loved gathered around Gold Cat the imposter. If I left now, with her there, they might never know I was gone . . .
An ache closed my throat; my eyes stung. I took a deep breath, swallowed the threatening tears back. No way would I give Bastien the satisfaction of seeing how much leaving would hurt. Then panic overwhelmed that hurt as something way more crucial hit me. Gold Cat was out for survival, her own and her pride, and ruthless with it. If I left now, who knew what she’d do to Katie, and to Finn. And Bastien’s price meant I couldn’t even warn them, let alone protect them—
I had Ascalon. I could kill her.
It would take no more than a minute.
Or ten.
Or she’d fight back, and even with Ascalon I might not be a match for a primal spirit. Then what if I killed her? There’d still be the fallout. Ten minutes could end up an hour or more . . .
But no way did I trust Bastien or Viviane’s tarot cards not to skew things in their favour. For all I knew I could have days, weeks even, before the chance to locate the Rune was lost. But could I take that risk when the fae’s fertility was at stake, and ultimately their lives too?
In a weird déjà vu moment, I realised I’d been here before, not this exact spot, and not this exact choice, but I was still making a decision that would affect them all. But as Tavish had told me, it was my blood on both my fae and vamp sides that had started this. I was the key. If I screwed up and chose wrong it wasn’t only Katie and Finn in peril, but Tavish and Ana and Freya and Sylvia and Ricou and Baby Grace and all the rest. They were all fae. They would all die.
My heart hurting as if it were being ripped in two, I turned back at Bastien.
‘Well, what choice do you make, my sweet sidhe?’
I pointed at Malik a get-out-of-the-deal idea sparking. ‘Unfreeze him, or there’s no deal.’
One eyebrow rose, then Bastien smiled. My stomach sank – he looked way too pleased with himself – as Malik’s hand closed on my arm. I turned and gave him a short and not-so-sweet update, then asked, ‘Do you know who holds the Fabergé egg?’
Malik’s eyes emptied, turning opaque as black glass as he flicked a look towards Bastien. ‘No, I do not.’
Damn. Bastien’s reaction had told me that would be Malik’s answer, but I’d still hoped. I clenched my fist around Ascalon’s ring. Maybe I should just kill the psycho vamp and take the chance that, with Malik’s help, I could find the egg.
Bastien laughed, the sound grating on my ears. ‘Oh, yes, one more point. If I die, then the one who holds the Fabergé egg will destroy it.’
Fuck. He was right. I couldn’t kill him. Not yet. Not till I had the egg in my hands. And no way was he going to give me that before I got the rune.
‘Genevieve.’ Malik took my hand in his and drew me aside. ‘You do not have to do this. I will fetch this rune you need. Give my soul back to Bastien, stay here and help your friends, and live your life. Let me do this for you.’
My heart filled with warmth, and more, that he would offer.
But I had to do this. I knew it in my gut.
I had to make this journey.
I kept my gaze on Malik, but spoke to Bastien and the magic. ‘I agree the terms.’
A chime split the air. The sound reverberated inside me. Bargain made.
I took a shaky breath. Then another stronger one, and gave Malik a grim smile. ‘Looks like I’m leaving for the Fair Lands.’
Malik’s hand tightened around mine, my own resolve reflecting in the black depths of his eyes. ‘Then, Genevieve, we shall go together.’