“I would not have taken your life,” the Erlking said, and I jumped because he was much closer to me than I’d been expecting.

I opened my eyes and looked up at him. “Yeah, right.”

“Dana, I have no need of your life. It is only your Faeriewalker magic that I crave.”

“Well, you’re not getting either.” It seemed I was taking a lifelong vow of chastity. That reality would hit me harder a little later, I knew, but with everything I now knew, there was no way I could ever have sex. Doing it with the Erlking would literally be the death of me—and of who knows how many innocent people—and doing it with anyone else meant Ethan would be sucked up into the Hunt again.

He smiled at me. “You never know what the future will bring.”

“In this case, yes, you do.”

His look was all confidence and conceit. “You speak with the certainty of the very young. We’ll see if over time I can find the proper inducement to change your mind. I will vow to you right now that if you fulfill our bargain, I will not take your life. I would even agree to a geis to that effect.”

“Which we’d need to seal with a kiss or with blood, right?” He nodded. “No thanks.” No more blood, no more pain, no more kisses.

He shrugged. “Then I suppose you will just have to trust my word.” The look on his face hardened. “Trust my word on this, too. If you reveal my secret to anyone who doesn’t already know, I will make your brother suffer for it every day of his immortal life.”

I swallowed the lump of fear that formed in my throat. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that the Erlking would keep that promise. I didn’t even know Connor, but I couldn’t let him take the punishment for it if I opened my big mouth.

“I won’t tell,” I whispered.

His face softened into a smile again. “I know you won’t,” he said, his tone strangely gentle. “That is why I can make the threat in good conscience. You are very protective of those who matter to you, and it takes very little to make someone matter.”

I had no answer to that, so I just kept quiet.

Chapter twenty-six

It took Ethan only about five minutes to regain consciousness. The Erlking’s healing spell was impressive, and Ethan showed no signs of being in pain. Well, not physical pain, at least. He seemed to be having trouble making eye contact with me. I wondered if he’d labeled me a slut now that he knew what I’d promised, but I wasn’t about to ask him. If he had, I didn’t want to know.

Five other members of the Wild Hunt showed up shortly after Ethan woke up. For the first time, none of them wore a mask or a helmet, so I could see their faces. They all had the typical beauty of the Fae, but there was a haunted look in all of their eyes that told me they were not happy to be the Erlking’s slaves.

One of them was carrying Grace’s other accomplice over his shoulder. Blood covered the accomplice’s face, and the gaping wound that cut across his entire throat told me he wouldn’t be doing any more time in jail. Despite knowing better, he must have been tricked by the Huntsmen into striking the first blow. The Erlking nodded in approval.

“Well done,” he said, giving his Huntsman a pat on the shoulder. “I will escort Dana home.” He made a sweeping gesture that encompassed both Fred and Grace. “Dispose of these and then return to the house.” He looked at Ethan. “You should go home. Dana will be safe with me.”

Ethan looked scared and angry at the same time. “Will she really?”

The Erlking laughed. “Safer than she was with you, my boy,” he said, once again gesturing at our dead enemies.

Ethan’s face flushed all the way to the roots of his hair, and he dropped his gaze. I guess I was too stunned in the aftermath of what had happened to feel any particular sense of self-preservation, because I kicked Arawn in the shin as if he weren’t the most dangerous person in all of Avalon.

“Don’t talk to Ethan like that!” I snapped. “It’s not his fault he got shot and couldn’t help me.”

Arawn grinned at me. “Did you just attack me, Faeriewalker?”

That whole self-preservation thing came rushing back, and my stomach dropped like I was in a fast-moving elevator. But Arawn was still grinning, and there was a teasing twinkle in his eyes. He wouldn’t be looking at me like that if I’d just given him an excuse to draw me into the Hunt and capture my powers for himself. I wondered if it was the harmlessness of my kick that saved me, or whether it was being female. After all, there were no female Huntsmen, at least not as far as I could tell.

Arawn surprised me by explaining.

“It’s in the intent,” he said. “You did not truly intend me harm—your kick was nothing more than a reprimand. Therefore it doesn’t count as an attack. It’s the same thing that allowed me to feign striking you to trick this one.” He nodded his head sideways at Ethan. “If I’d had intent to hurt you, I would not have been able to swing the sword.”

I nodded, wondering if I would ever be able to absorb all the intricacies of Fae magic. And wondering about that made me remember my own spell, the desperation attack I’d launched on Grace. My first thought had been that it had failed utterly. But now I wasn’t so sure.

My eyes drifted toward Grace’s body, though I had no wish to see. Luckily, her upper body—and her severed head—were lost somewhere in the shadows. My gorge rose anyway, and I quickly averted my gaze.