He felt her beauty washing away everything, the hatred that had brought him here, the love for his brother, and himself. Do not look at her, Jacob! He clutched his injured arm so that the pain would protect him. The wound caused by his brother's sword. He squeezed it so hard that blood began to run over his hand, and he remembered. Will's face distorted into hatred. His lost brother.
The Dark Fairy stepped toward him.
Yes. Closer.
"Are you really so arrogant as to believe that you could come here and make demands of me?" she said, stopping right in front of him. "Did you really think that just because one Fairy couldn't resist you, we're all doomed to fall for you?"
"No, it's not that," Jacob said.
Her eyes widened as he touched her white arm. The night began to weave a web around his mouth, but Jacob uttered her name before she could silence his tongue.
The Dark Fairy pushed him from her and raised her hands, as though she could still fend off the fatal syllables. But her fingers were already transforming into twigs, and her feet were pushing roots into the soil. Her hair turned to leaves, and her skin to bark, and her cry sounded like the wind rushing through the branches of a willow.
"It is a beautiful name," Jacob said, stepping under the hanging branches. "Such a pity it may only be uttered in your realm. Did you ever tell it to your lover?"
The willow groaned, and its trunk bent over the pond, weeping over its own reflection.
"You gave my brother a skin of stone, and I give you a skin of bark. Sounds like a fair trade, don't you think?" Jacob buttoned his coat over the bloody shirt. "Now I'm going to go and look for Will. And if I find that his skin is made of jade, I'll come back and set a fire to your roots."
Jacob couldn't tell where the voice was coming from. Maybe it was just in his head, but he heard it as clearly as if she were whispering the words into his ear. "Let me go, and I will give your brother back his skin."
"Your sister told me that you would make promises and that I shouldn't believe you."
"Bring him to me, and I will prove it!"
"Your sister also told me to do this." Jacob reached into the branches and plucked a handful of the silvery-green leaves.
The willow sighed as he wrapped them in his handkerchief.
"I'm supposed to take these leaves to your sister," Jacob said. "But I think I'll keep them to trade for my brother's skin."
The pond was like a silver mirror, and his hand that had touched the Fairy felt burnt.
"I will bring him to you," he said. "Tonight."
A shudder ran through the willow.
"No!" the leaves whispered. "Kami’en needs him! The Jade Goyl must remain by his side until the wedding is over."
"Why?"
"Promise me, or I won't help you."
Jacob could still hear the voice after the pond had long vanished behind the shrubs.
"Promise!"
Again and again.
47
The Chambers of Miracles
"I will bring him to you." But how? For at least an hour, Jacob stood behind the stables that lay between the gardens and the palace, keeping his eyes on the windows of the north wing. There was still light coming from them, candlelight, as the Goyl preferred it. Once he thought he saw the King. Waiting for his lover. On the eve of his wedding.
"Bring him to me."
"But how, Jacob"