“Release her,” the queen commanded. She stepped back, her blood-red lips curving up. “I wish to taste her fear.”
The man let go of Tamsin’s wrists—and she gasped, feeling as though he’d tipped a bucket of ice water over her head. All her calm detachment washed away in an instant, leaving behind only cold realization.
It is real. This is all real. This is really happening.
The elf queen drew in a long, satisfied breath, as though sniffing a rare wine. “Ah. There it is. Marvelous.”
Heart hammering, Tamsin whirled. Wherever she looked, she could only see cruel smiles and gleaming eyes. High, mocking laughter rang in her ears. She tried to run, but strong hands grabbed at her, tossing her back into the center of the circle.
“P-please, there’s been some kind of mistake,” Tamsin stammered. “Please, let me go!”
“Why would I do that, little human?” the elf queen said, looking amused. “You were tithed to the unseelie fae, in accordance with our most ancient laws. You belong to us now.”
“But, but I can’t just disappear off the face of the earth. I have a job, friends who’ll miss me…” Fresh horror struck through Tamsin. “Oh no! Angus!”
The elf queen’s laughter rang over the rest. “You have a lover, little one? Do you fear he will pine and waste away without you?”
“No, Angus is my dog.” Even more laughter greeted this statement, mocking and derisive. “You don’t understand, I left him tied up at the bottom of the hill, he’ll be cold and hungry and scared—please, please let me go!”
Tamsin turned on her heel, searching for a single kind face, any hint of mercy…and found the queen’s armored bodyguard. Alone in the crowd, he wasn’t laughing at her. His expression was studiously neutral, but his shoulders were tense, his hands balled into fists. Their eyes met, and she saw pity in those emerald depths.
“Lady Maeve.” The bodyguard stepped forward, but not to address Tamsin. He dropped to one knee in front of the elf queen, bowing his head. “Give me this human.”
The elf queen’s delicate eyebrows winged upward. From the shocked whispers that ran around the crowd, and the way that they were all staring at the bodyguard, Tamsin guessed that this was not a typical request.
“My dear beast.” The elf queen sounded amused. She ran her fingers through the man’s hair, stroking him as though he was some kind of pet. “How unusually bold of you. One might think you had scented a bitch in heat.”
Titters rippled through the crowd. The man’s jaw tightened.
“When I returned your changeling child, you said that you owed me a boon.” The man lifted his head, and his feral stare pinned Tamsin like a spotlight. “I claim it now. I claim her.”