Page 36 of The Unseelie Wish
Picking up a dinner roll, she started pulling it apart. “Can we talk about the elephant in the room?”
“What! Where?” He spun around in his chair dramatically. “I don’t see an elephant!”
“Holy shit, knock it off.” Her tone surprised even herself. It hadn’t occurred to her until right that moment exactly how worn thin she felt. How worn thin she’d felt this entire time. Tears unexpectedly stung her eyes. She swiped at her eyes with her sleeve and sat back in her chair, angrily tossing her uneaten roll back onto her plate.
Izael’s shoulders slumped away from his ears, and he sat back as well. The playfulness was gone.
“Sorry.” Why was she apologizing? Because he’s honestly trying right now. And it felt bad kicking that horny puppy for doing what horny puppies did. Shaking her head, she shut her eyes for a moment to shove the useless tears back where they had come from. Crying was pointless and embarrassing, and she didn’t want to get the sniffles. “I can’t sit here and eat dinner and pretend this is fine.”
“You want to know what I’ve done. How I’ve changed the game.”
“This isn’t a game.” Reaching for her wine, she downed the glass in two chugs and poured herself a second. “Not to me.”
“Simply because you’re not having fun, doesn’t make it not a game.” He reached for his own dinner roll, though he was only picking bits off of it to flick it over the side of his chair and onto the floor.
“And yeah. I want to know. What the hell is this about me ‘using my wish’ to love you?” Damn it all, she was starving. She gave in and started to eat. He was right; she did feel lightheaded. The food would do her good.
“Mmh, where do I even start? I’m afraid this has all gotten a bit complex, and that is for someone who lives for these kinds of things.” Snorting, he picked up his own wineglass and took a sip. “I am playing three boards at once.” He swept his hand in front of him, gesturing to the proverbial array. “Which do you want to know about first? Valroy? Abigail? Or you?”
As tempted as she was to start with the obvious, she figured she should know as much context as she could get. “Abigail.”
“The Seelie Queen, after releasing you on your little vacation”—yeah, he was clearly still pissed about that—“sought me out. She wanted to ensure that your more musical talents were kept under wraps, and very much out of Valroy’s control. I agreed to keep you in iron shackles until we could convince you to surrender your magic.”
That was what she was expecting. It made sense and lined up with what Puck had told her. “So, okay. I’ll give up my magic, I guess.” That made her extremely vulnerable if he were successful in taking her soul, but she figured she was screwed either way. No pun intended.
“That was the plan.” He grinned. “Until I came up with a better one. No, my songbird—your magic is going to stay right where it is.”
Sighing, she shut her eyes. “What did you do?”
“I cut a deal with our dear darling Valroy, that’s what.” He cackled. “And a brilliant one indeed! See, I convinced him we couldn’t rely on your using your wish to end the treaty. But we wouldn’t need to, once your wish was completed and your soul was mine.”
“You…told him about my magic.” Not like she needed more proof, but there was another notch on the he’s-totally-insane tally. “What the fuck, Izael? He’s going to?—”
“Do nothing! He won’t lay a finger on a single pretty purple hair of yours.” He reached out, taking a strand of her hair and curling it around his finger to make his point. “Because as long as I convince you to use your wish to love me, then…you won’t mind using your magic to aid the Unseelie.”
She stared at him while it all sank in. “You want to force me to love you.”
“There is the third game I’m playing. I love you, so it’s only fair that you love me. Isn’t it?” He smiled like it was the most logical thing in the world. “And don’t you want to love me, after all?”
“If I wanted to love you, I’d love you. I—” With a breath, she shut her eyes. That wasn’t true. People fell out of love and felt badly about it every day. Her parents were an example. She was certain they both wished they still loved each other. And probably wished that they loved her, too. “Whatever. The fact remains that you want to mind control me. Force me to love you. And that’s fucked up, Izael.”
Reaching over his plate to the tray of food in front of him, he served himself some of the roast beef. “You’re going to be my plaything, no matter what you want to believe. Better that you love the time we spend together, than spend it in misery, no?”
“But it wouldn’t be real.”
“That’s the glory of the wish! Yes, it would!” He laughed, clearly finding his idea brilliant and not nearly as horrifying as she did. “If you wish for it, it would be as real and genuine as if you loved me on your own.”
“No. It wouldn’t be. The origins would be different, and that matters.”
“Does it?” He rested his arms on the table and leaned closer. “You have man-made jewels. Are they not as beautiful as one plucked from the ground?”
“They are, but there’s a reason they’re cheaper than the actual item—they’re fake.”
“That is a purely human concept. If I were to serve you a roast of beef, just like this one, but told you it came from magic and not a cow, would you not enjoy the taste? Would it not fill you up?” He huffed. “A gem made by science is just as beautiful as the ones made by nature. You simply trick yourselves into thinking one has more value than the other. It is a story you tell yourselves, nothing more.”
God, she hated when he had a point. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she took a moment to think. “The answer is still no, Izael. I’m not going to use my wish to make myself love you. Especially if it means I get turned into a human bazooka.”
“Therein is the challenge.” He waggled his fork at her. “I will find a way to convince you.”