But his magic boomed louder, and I found myself compelled to turn for the shore, moving at a fast clip.
I’d done it, though, for just a moment. I’d started to resist him.
When I stepped out onto the shoreline, the first thing I saw was a Lincoln Town Car parked by the street, windows shaded black. Already, I knew it belonged to Salem.
I glanced behind me, my breath stuttering at the sight of Gwydion coming for me, sword drawn. Lyr strode from the sea right behind him. He gripped the binding collar.
Fear tightened my throat, and I rushed for the car like Salem was my salvation. I wrenched open the rear door, throwing myself into the back seat. One last glance at the sea, and I saw them running for me at full speed.
“Drive!” I shouted.
I hadn’t even had a chance to get a look at the driver when the car pulled out at shocking speed. I slammed back into the leather seats, scrambling to right myself. As the driver took a sharp turn, I grasped frantically for the seatbelt. He was leaning on the gas with frightening aggression, but I guessed the situation called for it.
A magical attack spell slammed into the car, and I hit the seat in front of me before I could get the belt on. Gods, are they going to kill us?
I tumbled again as the driver took a sharp turn, smacking against the door. As the driver sped around yet another corner, I managed to grab hold of a seatbelt and jam it into place with the full force of my will.
I turned, looking through the rear window. Distantly, I saw the crackle of magic through the streets. Still, we’d lost them.
It was at this point that I smelled the air, which was thick with marijuana. For the first time, I glanced at the driver.
In the front seat was a large, slender fae gripping the wheel, with a spliff hanging out of his mouth. The streetlights flickered over him as he sped past them, and I could see that he wore a crooked crown of dandelions threaded into his messy platinum curls.
“Aenor,” he said. “You made this pickup harder than it needed to be, you know. Ruined my chill vibe in here.”
He wasn’t wearing a shirt. Over his arms and chest, names were tattooed. Women’s names—Amy, Zenobia, Laura…
In the front seat, near his head, three colored birds flitted around. By their glittering sheen, I could tell they were magic. As we sped past another car, their wings flapped frantically.
The stranger turned to look at me, still driving at an insane speed, eyes not even on the road. When the streetlights flashed on his irises, I saw pale grey streaked with gold. His lips curled in a half-smile. He was pretty, really. “Glad you made it, though. I was a little worried I might have to kill everyone in the castle and ruin my buzz.”
He turned around again and careened onto an exit that took us onto a highway. I still felt too stunned to speak. From the car speakers, a hip-hop song about donuts played softly.
Not what I expected, but okay.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Ossian. Your driver. I’m not normally a driver, you know, on account of I don’t entirely know how to drive. It doesn’t seem that hard, though, you know what I mean? And I’m a fast learner. I didn’t want to tell Salem I couldn’t drive, because, you know… It didn’t feel manly. So I just went with it.” He shrugged. “You got your seatbelt on, yeah? I’m supposed to bring you alive.”
“I do now.” I lowered my face into my hands, trying not to think about what the hells had just happened.
“You look sad, girl,” said Ossian. “Tell me what happened. Do I need to fuck somebody up?”
“Oh, are we going to talk?”
“I sense heartbreak. I’ve got a knack for sensing it. It’s my thing.”
I nearly launched into the whole story about Lyr, before remembering that Ossian was taking me into captivity with a monster. “Well, for one thing, you’re delivering me to the devil. Any idea what he wants?”
“Revenge, I think?”
I blinked. “Against me? For what, exactly? Not dying easily enough when he destroyed my kingdom?”
“Nah… Something else. Anyway, I can’t really get into that. He just needs you to help him find something. So the real question is, who broke your heart? Because I will fuck him up.”
I fell silent, my mind turning over the word revenge. I felt hollow.
“Was it the big blond one coming after us?” he added. “Looked like a proper dickhead, if you ask me.”
“I didn’t.”
“You’re well rid of that wanker. Trust me.” Smoke clouded around him.
I sighed, resigned to this conversation. “What makes you an expert, then?”
“Oh, I know heartbreak, believe me.”
“So are we going to be bonding over pints of ice cream and wine coolers sometime soon?”
“I wouldn’t rule it out, my friend. As long as you stay alive. Because honestly, I’m not sure what Salem has planned for you.”
I rubbed my eyes. “You seem very concerned for the state of my love life considering your total disregard for my actual life.”
“Well, you know, I’ve come to accept I can’t control everything.” He spoke with a London accent. “Fate rules us all, innit.”
I guessed it wouldn’t kill me to make an ally. “So who broke your heart, then?”
“Fate,” he barked, suddenly energized. “Fate broke my heart.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “What happened, Ossian?”
“What’s the worst thing that can happen to a fae? Do you know? Guess.”
“I don’t know. Losing your kingdom and your magic comes to mind, but I’m sure there are worse scenarios. Children dying? Being tortured to death? I’m sorry, this is the most morbid guessing game I’ve ever played. I will be needing that ice cream soon. Or vodka.”
“I’ll tell you, Aenor. Watching your mate die is the worst thing that can happen to a fae. You don’t have a mate, do you?” He took a hit from his spliff. “If you did, you wouldn’t have been running from that proper dickhead.”
“No, no mate for me.” To be honest, I’d never been sure if fated mates were real or not.
“They’re rare. Very rare. But here’s the thing: if you find your mate, you are driven to protect them at all costs. You no longer care about your own life so much. You only care about theirs. As long as your mate is okay, you’re happy.”
A feeling of dread rose in my stomach at where this story was going. “And something happened to yours?”
“Ripped apart by the Ollephest,” he said quietly. “I saw it happen.”
Brutal. “I’m so sorry.”
The Ollephest was a terrifying sea dragon I hoped never to encounter. Phantomlike, it could sneak up on you unnoticed. It got inside your head. The first sign that it was nearby was that your worst fears seemed to manifest before you, and you could no longer tell what was real or what was imagined.
Then, while you were hallucinating and flailing, it would solidify into a serpent form and eat you alive.
“Her name was Willow. We were sailing in the Irish Sea, heading for Mag Mell. I mean, she was sailing—I was making music, sunning myself. Strange thing was, I saw her die in my mind first. Because that was my worst fear, wasn’t it? I didn’t know I was having a vision from the Ollephest. I just thought she stood before me and plunged a knife into her own heart. So I was screaming and screaming…”