The High Lord's Champion

The Bargain

I had seen that wound. Her arm was nothing but shredded flesh and tendon. She was lucky it was still attached to her body. Not that those under the mountain that report to me had failed to mention the side effects. It wasn't truly necessary. I had fought side by side with humans in a war. I knew it took little to nothing to bring them to illness. Infection and fever were no friends to dear Feyre.

Betting on her victory had cost me. Amarantha had kept me at her side, the loyal High Lord I was. And so it was time to slip into the game again. Prythian will always come first. Velaris will come first. The potential savior would be my key to that, blindly or not.

I slipped through the darkness, entering the cell Feyre was being kept in. She raised her head slowly. Weakly. I painted on the cruel smirk. "What a sorry state of Tamlin's champion."

"Go to hell," the brunette snapped, her words' sharpness dulled my the raspy nothing she called her voice. I shoved down the stench of vomit, casting a glance to the corner for dramatic effect alone. She blinked slowly and I raised my hand to her scalding brow. "What would Tamlin say," I murmured, "if he knew his beloved was rotting away down here, burning up with fever? Not that he can even come here, not when his every move is watched."

"Get away," she demanded, choking.

I raised a brow. "I come here to offer you help and you have the nerve to tell me to leave."

"Get away," she rasped again, her stormy eyes dull as their lids drooped.

The girl would die from sheer stubbornness because I'd painted myself a villain. "You made me a lot of money, you know. I figured I would repay the favor." Her head thumped against the stone. Somehow those eyes were open enough to glare at me. "Let me see your arm," I said quietly. Stubbornness or weakness led her to defiance. Perhaps it was a bit of both. "Let me see it," I demanded more firmly.

The sound that left her as I gripped her ruined limb was something agonizing I nearly felt within myself. Whether she heard it herself I'll never know. "Oh, that's wonderfully gruesome." She scowled, bringing a few foul words into the conversation. "Such words from a lady."

"Get out," she wheezed again.

"Don't you want me to heal your arm?"

"At what cost?" she demanded, her eyes still hard as my grip tightened at her elbow.

"Ah, that. Living among faeries has taught you some of our ways." I brought her arm back to the stone as gently as I could. "I'll make a trade with you," I said, keeping a level tone even as I watched her eyes shut. "I'll heal your arm in exchange for you. For two weeks every month, two weeks of my choosing, you'll live with me at the Night Court. Starting after this messy three-trials business."

Her eyes flew open. "No."

"No?" I leaned in closer. "Really? You must be holding out for one of your friends-for Lucien, correct? After all, he healed you before, didn't he?" She gave a weak attempt at confusion. "Oh, don't look so innocent. The Attor and his cronies broke your nose. So unless you have some kind of magic you're not telling us about, I don't think human bones heal that quickly." I straightened, beginning to casually pace the cell. "The way I see things, Feyre, you have two options. The first and the smartest would be to accept my offer."

She spat at me and I gave her a frown. "The second option—and the one only a fool would take—would be for you to refuse my offer and place your life, and thus Tamlin's, in the hands of chance."

I froze, staring down at her with a hardened gaze. "Let's say I walk out of here. Perhaps Lucien will come to your aid within five minutes of my leaving. Perhaps he'll come in five days. Perhaps he wont come at all. Between you and me, he's been keeping a low profile after his rather embarrassing outburst at your trial. Amarantha's not exactly pleased with him. Tamlin even broke his delightful brooding to beg for him to be spared—such a noble warrior, your High Lord. She listened, of course—but only after she made Tamlin bestow Lucien's punishment. Twenty lashes."