Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

he’d been thinking of. I stood on my tiptoes and damn near had to climb him to get to his mouth. I clamped my open lips to his and tried to get as much blood into his mouth as I could. After the barest instant he seemed to understand what I was doing. He participated fully, licked my lip, and set me down gently.
    I hoped the blood would work as it had in the bookstore, and that he saw what I did. It was hard to say from Samuel’s reaction, but I thought it had. Maybe it wouldn’t matter, but, outside of the gun in my shoulder holster and the one in the small of Jesse’s back, Samuel was our best weapon against the fae. Maybe he was better than the guns because he’d be a lot harder to stop. It couldn’t hurt to have him know what he was fighting.
    â€œVery affecting,” the queen said, sounding bored. “Are you courageous and clear-sighted enough to give me the Silver Borne yet?”
    â€œThat is not a bargain,” I said, trying to keep her from seeing the blood on my mouth. “It is an exchange. I would consider such an exchange only if my comrades are allowed to leave. It is having them leave here safely and soon that I’m interested in bargaining for.”
    â€œA true bargain?” she said. “Do you play an instrument?”
    The piano and I have a hate- hate relationship. I didn’t consider that playing, and I know my piano teacher hadn’t either. “No.”
    â€œA different bargain, then. You hold something of my choosing while it changes. For each time it changes, I release one person.”
    She snapped her finger, and the witch muttered to herself, and the fae nearest us—a short and fine-boned creature with skin like a peach and pinkish green hair—burst into flame. It wasn’t glamour because the room didn’t change. They were real flames even though they didn’t seem to hurt the fae.
    â€œShe can’t hold flame, without dying,” said Ariana. She hadn’t looked at Samuel or me since I kissed him. I don’t know if she suspected something was up—or if she thought we were lovers. “And that breaks the heart of the bargain. It must be something that is possible—however unlikely—for the challenger to accomplish.”
    â€œFine,” said the queen. “If you are so particular, Silver, you may be the challenger.” She laughed, and the roots in the ceiling writhed as the sound of bells echoed in the room. “Of course I knew who you were, dear Silver—how could you think otherwise? Are there so many of us who chose to live so disfigured by the fangs of hounds and wolves? No. Only Silver. So you may take this bargain, and the alternative is that I will kill this almost-mortal woman who is not so human as your Phin or the boy. Half-blood is not human enough to be saved by the guesting laws of the Elphame.”
    Ariana didn’t seem to hear the queen’s taunts. Instead, she said clearly and slowly, “I take hold of this fae, who will change—the first shape of fire counts as one. After that, for every time he changes, one of my comrades will go free. He will change five more times, three minutes each form, and if I succeed, all shall leave. If I don’t, one leaves for each shape I hold.”
    As she was talking, Ariana set Phin down next to Gabriel. Even under the queen’s thrall, Gabriel put a hand on Phin’s shoulder to steady him.
    â€œFour times,” said the queen. “Five shapes. I will not let go of Mercedes Thompson, who holds the Silver Borne.”
    â€œIt’s all right,” I told Ariana. “I’m a survivor. Ask anyone. I can deal with the queen about the book when all of you are safe.”
    â€œSix forms,” said Ariana. “One for each. It is in the rules. ‘The bargain requested, all prisoners invested in the outcome tested.’ ”
    The poetry didn’t flow well, but I suppose that it didn’t need to be very good poetry to record the rules of a fairy queen.
    The queen’s eyes fluttered in irritation. I had a hard time not looking away—or blinking too fast myself.
    â€œAgreed,” she snarled. “But Mercedes is the last to be freed and your grandson first.”
    Samuel said, “Phin, Jesse, Gabriel, Ariana, me, and Mercedes, then.”
    â€œPhin, Ariana, then the rest followed at the end by Mercedes,” counteroffered the queen.
    I saw what she was doing. By