Page 52 of Fae Tithe

Eleanor’s flinched in horror, mouth falling open. “No, please…”

“Please what?” he growled. “You lied to me, Eleanor. I did not know you were claimed by the High Prince. It is, however, ultimately irrelevant. The moment he leaves you to return to the sea, which he must do eventually, I will come for you. You are mine. I will accept no other.”

“He didn’t claim me, he adopted me. There is a big difference,” Eleanor hissed. “And you, King, should not be claiming anyone! All the girls you stole for your Fae Tithe had lives and families!”

Rian’s eyes flared red. “Your family are the only ones in Seelieland history to come for their daughter. Most humans offer their children willingly or accept a fair Bride Price if their daughter is taken. I did nothing that had not been done by every King before me, barring my father. It is my right to order a Tithe.”

“And I have a right to choose my own future!” Eleanor snapped.

Rian glowered down at the Changeling he had created. “This is not over, Eleanor. I will come for you, and your family will suffer for it.”

The Seelie King’s eyes burnt into her, and he pulled taut the magical lines he had woven into her chest and forehead. Eleanor felt the invisible hooks yank, even in her dream. She fell forward, whimpering in pain.

Helena felt Lance’s gaze on her. She turned her face from her sleeping daughter and took in the High Prince. He looked exhausted. Sweat peppered his forehead, and large bags took up most of his face, starting just beneath his eyes. Lance’s hair tangled messily around his shoulders, so different from his usual loose, long ringlets.

Helena removed her circling hand from her sleeping daughter’s back. “We have a lot to talk about,” Helena signed across the room to where he stood.

“Yes,” he replied with shaking hands, “we do.”

Helena watched as he wobbled on his feet. “Sit,” she signed, then pointed to the armchair.

Anger simmered just beneath the surface, but she was not about to let her Merman collapse onto the worn-out rug beneath him. Lance nodded and dragged himself over to the armchair, lowering his body onto the cushion. Helena stood, tiptoed over to the jug of water on the small side table next to Lance, poured him a cup, and handed it to him. She quickly refilled it another two times after he hastily gulped it down. Helena finally poured herself a drink and sipped, the cool water easing her dry tongue and cracked lips.

She placed the cup gently down onto the battered side table, desperately trying not to wake her exhausted daughter. “I need to know,” her hands moved quickly, “why didn’t you tell me? One year of friendship, five years of love, and you never told me.” Her face held an accusatory glare, eyes narrowed, and lips tugged down.

“I’m sorry, I should have,” he signed, his shoulders drooping. “From the beginning, but I was scared. Then I left it too long, and it got harder to explain. I meant to tell you everything this visit, before I asked you to be formally Bound to me, so you had all the information for your decision.”

She huffed loudly through her nostrils, skin prickling with anger. “Yes, but why didn’t you tell me?” she repeated, hands snapping through the air.

“I didn’t tell you because there are rules in my court that even I have to follow. I didn’t want to have the possibility of your location being spread throughout the sea. Things are not well between my cousins, who rule the neighbouring principalities to my territory. I wanted to keep you safe, and to do that, I felt I had to keep everything about that life of ours a secret.” The Merman’s jaw clenched as his hands and fingers continued to move swiftly through the air. “Every time I set foot on land, I am supposed to have my personal guard with me. I didn’t want to bring that to your doorstep.”

A muscle in Helena’s jaw feathered and her hands clenched and unclenched as she processed the information. “Next question,” she signed.

“Yes?” he gestured.

“Why didn’t you just march straight into the Seelie Court Palace and demand El back?”

Lance blinked before moving his hands in response. “It’s illegal for me to enter Solas, just as it is illegal for the Seelie King to sail across the waters of my Capital. I had considered it as an option, if I am honest.”

“Not good enough,” Helena signed, her jaw aching as she clenched it, anger constricting her chest. “Why is it illegal?”

“Because it’s part of a complicated treaty that was put in place long before I was born. The idea is to try to keep the opposing magics apart.” He stopped his hands for a moment, looking thoughtful. “If I were to do that, march before the Seelie Court and demand Eleanor back, they would be well within their rights to kill me on sight. And then what would happen to you? To her?”

“They didn’t, though, and I saw your water magic force the King’s back,” Helena signed.

Lance exhaled heavily through his nose with a huff. “No, they didn’t kill us on sight, but they could have.” His hands moved with quick agitation. “When I swap my tail for legs, my magic halves. And the further I get from the sea, my power drains even more. Then, after so long on the road with barely any sleep, I felt weak. I was scared. I was scared that I couldn’t protect you and that my power wasn’t enough to keep you safe.” His throat bobbed and he licked his dry, cracked lips. “That. I. Wasn’t. Enough,” he emphasised with slow deliberate movements of his hands.

Helena began to sign. “You—”

The High Prince held up his palm to stop her signing and continued with his own. “I don’t like him, but when Declan offered that way into Tithe Manor, I realised that it was probably the safest way to go, and the only path where we were least likely to have to depend on my magic, as it had dwindled so much. We were lucky that I still had enough to protect us in front of Seelie Court. We were even luckier that they let us go.” His shoulders slumped, eyes cast downwards.

Helena stepped forward and caught Lance’s wrists with her hands. She looked down at him in the chair, tears streaming down her face, making tracks through the sweat and blood caked onto her skin. She rubbed her thumbs along the velvet skin on the underside of his trembling wrists, feeling the slight raise of the thick veins there. His eyes met hers and he gave her a slight, hopeful smile.

She gently released him and slowly moved her hands. “You. Are. Enough.”

Lance’s smile grew.

Helena made sure he was watching carefully as she continued to sign. “I am so angry you didn’t tell me before. You should’ve told me when you kept returning all that time ago.” She smiled softly as she reminisced. “I remember that you kept coming back, every other week, with all those different fish. You’d weave them onto a long string of kelp and hold them up to show me as a gift.”