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The next few hours are a blur. My chest aches, head pounds. I try not to think too much because I might change my mind. I might break down, sobbing for what I’ve lost. What I must do. I might drive myself insane.
“Alright, my dear! Let’s make you beautiful!” The deep echoing voice that is the Night Bringer calls to me.
“Why?” I croak. Why can’t I look like I do now?
“Haven’t I mentioned? I’m sending you to a ball to meet your prince.” His tone takes on a high-pitched ring, like he’s putting on a role. Playing an act.
“A ball,” I say stupidly, my voice dull of life.
“You are to kill the Luminescent Court prince, what better time to find him, kill him, and leave without a trace, than at a ball? And there just so happens to be a ball happening tonight.”
“Tonight?” The ball celebrating the chosen High Heir. If it’s happening tonight that means I’ve been here for at least three days. Not weeks, or months or years. Days.
My stomach twists. “Don’t worry, child.” His voice is low and soothing. “Now that you’ve chosen to be on my side, we are allies. We can make this fun.”
Fun. I let out a shaky breath.
“You’ll have to loosen up a bit, dear. Don’t you want to go to this ball? Don’t you want to make a splash? Not even the queen of your court was invited. You’ll make them regret it.”
I bite my lip but anger stirs in my gut. “You don’t need me to enjoy it. You don’t need me to agree with it. You only need me to do it. So, stop with the games and do what you must so I can get this over with.”
The cave rumbles with the monster’s laugh. “Very well.”
A rush of power collides with my body, burning with heat and power that sears every ounce of my body. I scream in agony as the black tentacles press into my skin. I feel it pop and sizzle, shoving and clawing.
“No, no, no,” I cry, clawing at my own chest as it burrows through my skin and into my body. It’s inside of me. It’s inside of me!
“Relax child, it’ll be easier if you calm yourself.”
I fall to my knees, sobs wracking my body.
“All transformation is difficult. This one is worth it.”
A black coiling of magic claws its way through my chest, making my core its home. Like an evil cat pawing and clawing, looking for a comfortable place to lay inside of my stomach. Except every pass, every swipe, shoves at another organ, ripping and shredding everything in its path.
After what feels like hours, but I suspect is only minutes, the creature inside me settles to a simmer. A strange foreign power has made its home inside my body.
Panting, I look up to the black void where I know my monster to be. “What was that?”
“The magic you bargained for, my dear. Look at your arm.”
I swallow and look down at my hand, palm first, then turn it to examine the fingers, nails, veins. Nothing out of place. But there is a new addition. A black design around my wrist. Small and dainty, like a tattoo bracelet.
“A sign of our bargain.”
I swallow. “How long will it stay?”
“So long as you owe me. Kill the boy, and you will be free; the markings will be gone and the magic yours.”
A dull pulsing stirs through my chest. Purring.
“It will take time to fully appreciate what this magic means and how to use it adequately. But it is quite powerful. You will have a great future with this amount of power. But as a gracious host, I warn you. The magic still recognizes me as its master. It’s yours to use as you please to achieve your mission, but you will not own it completely until the life you have been ordered to end is snuffed out entirely. It will be inside your mind at all times. It will know when you’ve given up. I will use it to find you if I must. I can use it to destroy you from the inside out. I can use it to blind you, gag you, so that you tell no one what you’ve agreed to. Do you understand, child?”
I nod quickly, tears in my eyes. “But once it’s done... once the prince is dead—”
“It will be yours entirely and completely. A bargain well struck.”
“And I’ll be free—entirely?”
“As free as you ever were before.”
I blink and mentally translate—I found you before. I could do it again.
“Now, let’s get you ready to meet your prince charming.”
With a snap, another rush of power greets me, tossing my hair back. This time, though, no pain comes. Instead, I rise off my feet and then right back down into a pair of heeled boots. My chest constricts with a corset.
I look down at gorgeous glistening beads covering the low-cut top of my new gown. The beads stretch past my waist, like arched fingers reaching towards the lovely soft fabric of the black skirt.
“The perfect dress to seduce a fae prince,” the Night Bringer chuckles.