One
Tessa
I’d been born to fulfill a promise to the fae king. It was an ancient promise, bound in powerful magic. I was sworn to serve his every need, smile and laugh at his jokes, be silent when commanded, and offer myself up as his next mortal bride.
Instead of all that, I leapt into a chasm where monsters lived.
The rope slipped through my gloved hands as I skidded down the side of the rock face. A welcome wind whipped my hair, cooling the back of my neck. The chasm was one of the only places in the Kingdom of Light where I could escape the oppressive heat of the eversun.
Something glittered in the corner of my eye. I braced myself, squeezing my fists tight around the rope and slowing my fall.
“Oof.” My best friend, Val, lurched to a stop beside me.
“Careful,” I told her. “You need a more controlled descent or you’ll end up pulling your arm out of its socket.”
I knew from experience.
“I keep forgetting the protection doesn’t work in here,” she muttered.
Val had only been helping me mine gemstones for a month, and there were some things you could only learn through trial and error, like remembering we didn’t have the fae king’s protective magic down here, a power we’d depended on since birth. Because of him, wounds healed fast, and we couldn’t be killed. The only thing that plagued mortals who lived on this side of the chasm was old age. And even then, we went quietly in the middle of the night.
Every single mortal got one hundred years of supposed bliss.
That protection didn’t extend to the Great Rift, though. Because of that, no one ever ventured inside of it, despite the powerful gemstones that could be mined here. That and the king’s strict rule prohibiting any living soul from touching them.
“That’s a big one,” Val whispered as she eyeballed the gemstone protruding from the black rock. I nodded and traced my fingers along the smooth edge of it. An ancient power thrummed against my skin, echoes of the old world. A time when the Kingdom of Light had been a force to be reckoned with, before the Mist King had vanquished the light and plunged most of the world into an endless night, trapping those left alive behind the Great Rift.
“The biggest one I’ve found yet,” I said in a soft voice that echoed through the whistling chasm. “The rebel leader will be thrilled.”
Val nodded and passed me the metal pick from her belt, though I could tell by the furrow of her brows that she had something to say.
The steel shrieked as I slammed it against the rock. “Go on then. Out with it.”
She cleared her throat and waited to speak until after I’d knocked some of the rock free. “It’s just...have you found out who he is yet? The fae asking you to do this?”
After brushing my thumb along the indentation I’d made around the flaming gemstone, I continued to use the pick to pry it free. Slam after slam after slam, sweat trickled down my neck, but I was used to this work. I’d once spent five hours on a single stone.
“No,” I finally answered, handing the pick back to Val. “But it doesn’t matter. He’s trying to help us.”
“How can you be sure of that?” She handed me a smaller instrument now, a little steel bar in the shape of an L.
I slipped the short end in behind the jewel and gave it a little jiggle. “He’s the one who told us about these gemstones in the first place. They hold great power, Val. He said that if he gets enough of them, he can banish the mists. And then we’ll be free from this place.”
Val knew I was right, as cautious as she was. King Oberon had once been the most powerful fae alive, but the Mist King’s curse had trapped him here. Mortals could cross the Great Rift, but no fae could—there was an invisible wall of power blocking them. Of course, none of us mortals even dared try. Out there, in the darkness and the mists, we no longer had the protection of our fae king. There were things on the other side, too. Monstrous beings, lurking in the shadows. Shadowfiends, joint eaters, and wraiths that drank blood. I’d even heard stories of the mists themselves turning men to ash when they spent too long out there.
And the Mist King was always in the shadows, watching and waiting.
“I’m just saying, maybe we should keep some of these gemstones for ourselves,” Val said.
The gemstone popped free and landed in my open palm. It glowed red and orange, flickering like the depths of a blazing fire. The magic inside of it called to me. Temptation crept along the back of my neck. Maybe Val was right. I could keep it. Just this one.
Something sharp curled around my heart, like a thorny vine. I loosed a breath and slipped the jewel into the leather satchel slung around my neck.
“We can’t, Val. What would we do with it? We’re humans.”
She pursed her lips, but then nodded. “Fine. But I’m coming with you to the drop-off this time. Me and Nellie. If something goes wrong, we don’t want you to be by yourself.”
“All right.” I smiled and tipped back my head to gaze up at the lip of the cliff where my younger sister, Nellie, was waiting for us. She leaned forward with her hands gripping the edge, her chestnut hair tumbling around her face.