“Try the beginning. The prophecy.”
I groan. I’m so over the prophecy.
Nine’s frown tells me he agrees. “Alright. There was a prophecy. About a mortal… who wasn’t.”
Sounds familiar. “Let me guess. Half-human. Half-fae.”
He nods. “But it’s not the Shadow Prophecy.”
What?
“Nine, what are you saying?”
“When I was born, there was a prophecy. About a mortal who wasn’t, and a fae who would be indebted to another before he could earn his fated mate.” Nine reaches into the well of his palm, plucking the pebble out with two of his long, slender, pale fingers. He holds it up. “I’ve long owed Aislinn a debt. This pebble carries the weight of that debt.”
“Not just a regular debt,” cuts in Ash. “A life debt.”
“A life debt?” I echo.
“Yes. Because he saved my life.”
He did? No one’s mentioned anything like that to me before.
“I didn’t want to believe in the prophecy. As soon as I came of age, I had other things to do. I needed to begin my search. Melisandre was already on the throne and I wanted to do anything I could to change that. I was arrogant. Cocky. Sure of everything. Even more than now, if you can imagine. I thought I could beat fate. The fate of Faerie was more important than my happiness.
“My search took me right into the human world. This was years and years ago. It was easier to hide as a fae. A quick touch and I had the strength to make the shadows do my bidding. I’m a Dark Fae. It was my birthright. I could go anywhere, here or in Faerie. I was untouchable—or I thought I was. But no Unseelie can fight the sun without a little help.”
Like being brought to the human world by a shadow-wielding halfling who kept him as a statue, acclimating him to the sun until he was more like me than the all-powerful Nine he’s always been.
I gulp.
Nine keeps talking. Now that he’s started, he finds it easier to continue.
“Aislinn was one of Melisandre’s guards. She posted him along a Seelie portal, watching over the Iron. The human world. If it wasn’t for a chance encounter when the shadows disappeared, the sun would have ended me. Only Aislinn was there as he pulled me back into Faerie. When I finally recovered, I owed him a debt.”
“Because you can’t beat fate,” snaps Ash. “Foolish Dark Fae. You never should have tried.”
I notice that there’s less heat in Ash’s tone now than before.
“It led me to Riley, so how can I regret it?” He folds his fist, tucking the pebble away into his pocket. “The prophecy was going to happen whether I want
ed it to or not. I stopped searching the Iron because I finally realized that my fate was tied with Aislinn, one way or another.”
“I couldn’t get rid of him,” muttered Ash.
Nine ignores him. “I went to the Shadow Academy, where the Unseelie guards are trained. Melisandre handpicked me to join her soldiers, but that was because Ash manipulated her to choose me. I needed to watch over him—and then he disappeared into the Iron, too.”
Right. Because he met my mom and chose to stay with her.
Because it was possible. Nine just doesn’t want to stay with me.
I don't want to hear about his past when I’m not too sure either one of us is going to have a future—especially not one together.
He wants to beat fate.
I’m supposed to be his fate.
“Half-human. Half-fae,” I mutter again.