The Faceless Woman by Emma Hamm (i love reading .txt) 📕

day we met.” The queen lowered herself from the ceiling and rested on her throne with a sarcastic grin. “What do you want?”

He lifted his arm and pointed at Aisling. “She would like to perform a spell.”

“She or my son?”

“Both, it seems. They have the same end to their desires.”

The queen rolled her eyes. “Are you going to make a show of this?”

“Would you expect anything less?”

“Do I need to get my son?” The Unseelie queen extended her long nails in front of her, staring at them. “So far, your performance is underwhelming.”

“Oh, it’s only going to get better, darling. You should bring him down.”

“He’s with his father.”

The Raven King reached out and snagged Aisling’s arm, dragging her against his side. “He’ll want to see this.”

The queen narrowed her gaze on them. Aisling could see thoughts ticking behind her eyelids. She was trying to figure out what the Raven King was planning. The moment she figured it out, her eyes lit with excitement.

“Oh,” she exclaimed. “Oh! You intriguing man. How unique.” She glanced up at the webs, her gaze softening. “Fine, my darling king, put our son down so I can see what’s going to happen.”

For a moment, Aisling thought she was talking about the Raven King. But his hold tightened on her, and the web ripped open in the center of the room. Bran was tossed down, though he landed in a crouch.

Flipping his hair back in a wave of movement, he glared at his mother. “Was that necessary?”

“Just keeping you on your toes.”

“You go too far, Mother.”

“No, I’m not going far enough.” She pointed at the Raven King. “I think you’d like to hear what he has to say.”

Bran’s gaze cut toward them. He stiffened immediately, then lunged to his feet and reached out to her. “Aisling, come here. Now.”

Before she could answer, the Raven King cut in. “She’s going to stay right here with me. I heard a little rumor you were trying to break a curse.”

A muscle jumped in Bran’s jaw. “You can’t stop me from doing that.”

“I can try.”

“It’s my choice.”

“No, it’s really not.” The Raven King chuckled. “You can’t change fate, my boy.”

Head spinning, Aisling shoved at the Raven King’s chest. “Would you all stop talking about something I clearly don’t know?”

“Aisling,” Bran growled, “stay out of this.”

“No! This isn’t about the binding curse, is it?”

“We promised we would come clean later. We need to finish this first.”

“I’m not sure I want to.” She clutched the vial to her chest, the blue light glowing through her fingers.

His eyes pled with her. “Don’t change your mind now, of all times. Give me the vial, I’ll break the curse, and all will be well.”

“What are they talking about Bran?”

The Raven King released her and strode between them, slowly clapping his hands. Mist swirled at his feet, and a raven stretched out of his shoulder, snapping its beak at her. “So it is as I thought. You don’t know what he’s trying to do.”

“Stay out of this, Raven King,” Bran spat.

“I don’t think I will. You’re misleading this beautiful woman, and I would be remiss to allow you to continue.” He flipped his cape over one arm with a flourish. “Aisling, my dear. There is no way to break a binding curse.”

“Faeries can’t lie,” she whispered. “This will work.”

“The ingredients you have gathered, and I thank you for telling me the story in such detail, are not for a binding curse. You see”—he pointed at Bran—“he is my successor. Each Raven King has someone who will take their place once every thousand years. He has a chance to break the King’s curse, of course. An impossible task that can only be performed under great duress. Remarkable really, because no one has managed to do it before you.”

Bran lunged forward. Webs shot from the ceiling and pinned him to the floor. He strained to get up. “Aisling, don’t listen to him.”

She ignored him and lifted the vial in her hand. “Then what is this for?”

“That’s the best part, my dear. All the things you’ve struggled—risked your life—to gather will break the King’s curse. A few runes, a circle of magic, a faerie who has no idea what she is doing.” He lifted his hands and swayed from side to side as if waltzing. “The blood of a dead god placed inside a still beating heart, and make no mistake, the duchess’s heart is still beating. You pour the waters of Swan Lake inside, not to drown it, but to give it life. The cursed man drinks the elixir, and all of a sudden, he is free from a future ruling the Sluagh in Underhill.”

“What good does that do to break our binding curse?”

The Raven King tilted his head back and laughed. “Look at him, Aisling. Truly look at him. Why do you think he doesn’t look like his parents? All his siblings resemble spiders in some way, or did you think that it was magic? He’s not like them for a reason. He’s been selfishly leading you all around the country because he had no choice. Time was running out to break the King’s curse, and you had to go with him because you were bound to him.”

She stared at Bran, really looked at him as though she were trying to climb inside his soul. She saw the raised feathers on the side of his head. The slash of dark down that covered his forehead and narrowed to a point above his nose. The angular features of his face and the bird leg that clawed desperately at the ground, trying to get to her.

She saw him for what he was. The lies, the secrets, the forbidden past that he hadn’t trusted her with.

“Bran,” she whispered on a near sob. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

He shook his head. “I couldn’t.”

The Raven King rubbed his hands together. “You see, if he breaks the King’s curse, then he’s back to the spider-like faerie he was before I chose him. It will