Shadowspell

I didn’t have a chance to examine that revelation for very long, because he looked up and saw me. He wiped much of the expression off his face, although whatever was wrong bothered him enough that he couldn’t manage his usual blandness. His eyes met mine, and he shook his head.

“Dana, what did you do?” he asked. His voice sounded bleak, and I wondered for half a second if he suspected the truth. Then I dismissed the idea. I was pretty sure he’d be pissed, not scared, if he’d known I’d pledged my virginity to the Erlking.

I raised my chin and hoped I wasn’t blushing. “What I had to do to rescue Ethan from the Wild Hunt.”

“And what was that, exactly?”

Covering up for my mom had given me plenty of practice both in making up good lies and delivering them convincingly. I’d learned that it was always best to keep the lie simple, and to mix in as much truth as possible. Oh, and not to avoid eye contact, which made you look like you were lying even if you weren’t.

So I looked right into my dad’s eyes as I lied to him. “I didn’t do anything. I just had to promise to do something in the future. And before you ask, he put a geis on me to keep me from telling anyone what it is.”

The starch seemed to go out of Dad’s spine, and he dropped onto the couch. He looked like I’d just told him someone had died. Since I hadn’t told him much of anything, I wasn’t sure what I’d said that bothered him so much.

I ventured a little farther into the room, but didn’t sit down. I was too agitated for that. “What’s wrong, Dad?”

“What’s wrong?” He laughed bitterly. “What could possibly be wrong when my daughter has promised the Erlking something he wants so badly he’s willing to release one of his Huntsmen to get it?” He let out a heavy sigh. “You don’t know enough about him or about Faerie in general to make fully informed decisions. Whatever you promised him, you don’t dare give him. Even if it means he takes Ethan back.” He sounded resigned, like he didn’t expect me to listen to him.

I thought about the promise I’d made, and knew I wouldn’t be fulfilling it any time soon. No sexy dream was going to make me want to have sex with the bogeyman. Besides, Dad was right. I hadn’t made an informed decision. I had no idea what the ramifications of fulfilling our bargain would be, and until I found out, there was no chance in hell I was going to do it.

Too bad pretending a geis prevented me from revealing the promise also kept me from asking anyone who knew more about Faerie just what might be hidden in this deal.

“I don’t have to do it anytime soon, if that makes you feel any better,” I told my dad.

“It doesn’t!” he snapped, and I finally saw a hint of the anger I’d been expecting. “Listen to me, Dana: you mustn’t give him what he’s asking for. Period.”

I bit back my immediate response to being ordered around. “Do you know what he’s asking for?” I asked, wondering if that would explain the intensity of his reaction.

“I don’t have to,” he said. “There was nothing Titania, the Seelie Queen, could offer the Erlking that would tempt him to let Connor go. Can you really imagine he would hand Ethan over to you for something that wouldn’t have devastating consequences?”

No. I might not know what those consequences were, but I knew they had to exist.

“I couldn’t let him keep Ethan,” I said. “Not when I could save him. I’ll just have to find some way around the consequences. Like I said, it’s not something I have to do anytime soon. I’ll figure something out.” I hoped.

Dad was far from appeased, but he backed off for the time being. I had no illusions that we wouldn’t be talking about this more in the days to come.

He frowned suddenly and looked up at me. “Wait a minute. You said the Erlking put a geis on you?” His eyes widened in what looked like horror. “How did you manage to meet him without Finn knowing?”

“I didn’t,” I said, not losing a beat even though I hadn’t anticipated this question. “He called me.” Again, a little bit of truth, mixed in with the lies to create a believable cover story. No way did I want my dad knowing about the brooch. He’d take it away from me for sure, and I had a feeling it might come in handy again someday.

“He placed a geis on you over the phone?”

Oops. I guessed that did sound a little unlikely. Then again, I had the distinct impression that no one was sure what the limitations of the Erlking’s power were, so I stuck to my story. “Yeah. Don’t ask me how he did it. I don’t get this magic stuff at all.” Unfortunately, that was nothing but the truth.

I wasn’t sure Dad was convinced, but he didn’t ask me any more questions. Perhaps the Erlking’s alleged ability to place a geis on me over the phone wasn’t any harder to believe than the truth of how he’d managed to get me out of the safe house without Finn knowing.

*   *   *

I wasn’t in the least bit surprised that my mom called me not too long after my dad left. Although Dad had her under his version of house arrest, he didn’t have her completely cut off. She had no idea what I’d promised the Erlking in exchange for Ethan’s freedom, but like my dad, she assumed it was something terrible. Unlike my dad, she wasn’t any good at staying calm during a crisis. I’d always thought it was the booze that caused her sudden bouts of hysteria, but apparently not.