The Bargainer
by Laura Thalassa
The Bargainer is one of Laura Thalassa's series, of which she has several. In this series, supernatural creatures live beside humans, ruled by their own government while the humans don't even realize. Callypso Lillis, or Callie for short, is one such supernatural creature.
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Click reveal for all the spoilers! Eight years ago, a girl kills in self-defense. She kills her wealthy, well-known stepfather who had been hurting her. Unsure of what to do next, she calls the Bargainer. Callie and Temper (Temperance) are best friends and business partners. They work as private investigators and they’re both..extra. Temper is a witch, but a really powerful one from a really powerful family. Callie is a siren, able to compel people to do and believe what she wants them to. Callie’s boyfriend, Eli, a lycanthrope (werewolf), works with them as a bounty hunter on occasion. Eight years ago, the Bargainer shows up. He mentions to the girl that could just bring her stepfather back to life – there’s just enough life left in him, but it won’t last long- but the girl doesn’t want that. The Bargainer realizes how young the girl is, and he doesn’t make deals with minors, so he tells her to call the police, but then the girl’s skin starts to glow, and he asks what she is. She doesn’t give an answer and after some thought he says he will help her at no cost, only asking if her stepfather deserved it, which she confirms thar yes, he did. The Bargainer magically sets the scene right: no blood, no mess, no fight. Then, he notices who it is that is on the floor. Hugh Anders, stock market analyst and one of the best, richest, and most well-known seers. The Bargainer tells the girl to pack her bags, she’s going to Peel Academy for summer session, a supernatural boarding school. She leaves tomorrow. If anyone asks, Hugh had a heart attack. The Bargainer will deal with the authorities. He warns her that the curse that all the sirens have might make his magic wear off with time, and she will need her glamour to protect her if that happens. Callie is on a job. Her client believes her uncle is stealing money from his old, infirm mother and wants Callie to obtain a confession to help win her court case. Callie finds the uncle at an upscale restaurant, commands everyone but him out of the room, and compels him to tell her the truth on the record. He confesses that he has been stealing (over two hundred thousand dollars, give or take). He signs a confession and a promise to pay everything back plus interest. Callie turns off the recording and forces him to make an additional promise: to spend the rest of his life righting this wrong and helping people. She goes home, to find the Bargainer waiting for her. Eight years ago, five months after she killed her stepdad, the Politia (the supernatural FBI) call Callie to ask some questions. She could go talk to them and hope that they don’t know anything, or she can run away from Peel Academy and try to disappear, or she can call the Bargainer again. She picks up her phone. Callie greets the Bargainer by name, trying to catch him off guard. “Desmond Flynn”. But he retorts with her real name “Callypso Lillis”. They’re very familiar with each other and she doesn’t like being near him, since he broke her heart seven years ago. She has a bracelet of beads ringing her left arm, three hundred twenty-two in total, each signifying a bargain made with the Bargainer that she has yet to pay. Though she does not regret any of them, she is apprehensive about what she will have to do to pay them back. The Bargainer kisses her and one of her beads disappears, he tells her he will be back the next night. Callie calls Eli while he’s out of town and tells him for the first time what the bracelet is. It’s very unlike the Bargainer to allow someone to acquire more than two or three debts, let alone more than one hundred. She breaks up with Eli, which upsets him, but she is actually relieved. She tells him that she may have to do something illegal for the Bargainer and she doesn’t want him caught in the middle. Eli works for the authorities. Part-time as a bounty hunter for Callie and Temper, part-time for the Politia. Eli tells her not to worry, he thinks the King of the Night (the Bargainer) has something else in store for her. Eight years ago while in her dorm room, Callie calls the Bargainer for the second time. He shows up and still refuses to deal with her, telling her not to waste her life by owing him. Although the prospect of a siren owing him is interesting. The things she could do for him! But instead of letting him go, Callie tries to glamour him into helping her, which infuriates him (and doesn’t work). He decides if she wants a deal, fine, they can make a bargain. He gets the cops off her back for another IOU. The Bargainer shows back up at Callie’s house that night as she’s sleeping, after she’s done talking to Eli, and gives her twenty minutes to get ready. As they leave, he unveils his wings, which she’s only seen one other time. Eight years ago, Callie calls the Bargainer a third time, less than a month after the second call. This time she just wants some company for the night. She is so lonely at the boarding school. At first, he says no, but after she reaches out for his arm, he agrees they can hang out for one night. A month later she continues calling him and he continues to visit her. Who knows why he’s agreeing to it, but now she has a wrist full of promises to the Bargainer. Although Callie is considered an adult in the supernatural world, it’s not romantic in any way, she just wants to not be alone for a little while. The Bargainer, who Callie is calling Des, flies her to a furniture store. Her task tonight is to buy furniture to outfit a guest room before the store closes, in fifteen minutes. Every time Callie strays from the task, and as the deadline gets closer, the magic causes her invisible pain. By the time the store closes, it’s excruciating, but Callie finishes the job, and two beads disappear. She complains that it’s not more beads so Des says he will change the kind of tasks she needs to do. That way she can work her debt off more quickly. Now Callie is nervous, thinking she walked right into some sort of trap. He asks her why she thinks that he left her seven years ago, she says it was because she forced his hand, pushed him too far, forced him to leave. He says thar she’s right, but he’s waited seven years, and he won’t be leaving again. Callie goes to work and receives a message from Eli. He wants to talk to her when he gets back, he’s not agreeing to break up over this, and he’s moved the Bargainer up to one of the top ten most wanted on the Politia’s list. This is not what Callie wanted, it’s the opposite actually. She lets Temper know that she broke up with Eli and that her past has finally caught up to her. That’s as specific as she gets, even Temper, her best friend since school and business partner, doesn’t know about her stepfather or the Bargainer. Temper has her own problems, she’s recently broken off a betrothal that her family set up years ago with Leonard Fortuna, son of the real big, real bad, real, real wealthy Fortuna family. But no one but Temper is happy about the broken betrothal and now Leo may be coming to visit to convince Temper to marry him. Eight years ago, after hanging out for a while, the Bargainer asks her why she killed her father. This really upsets Callie, and she doesn’t give an answer, but says that he can probably guess what happened. He leaves when she starts to cry but tells her his real name before he goes. Des shows back up to Callie’s house and flies her to his own home, which is not that far away considering he could live anywhere. She’s his first visitor. He asks her what she’s been up to the last seven years, mostly just that she and Temper became friends their last year at Peel Academy and started West Coast Investigations right after graduating. Temper uses spells to do her part of the business, Callie uses her glamour. Yes, using their supernatural abilities on humans is technically illegal, but it’s fine. He asks about love interests, but Callie has issues with commitment, so she’s had several relationships but nothing serious. She asks him what he wants from her, really. Desmond tells her something is going on in the Otherworld (the world of faeries and other creatures “too cruel for earth” that all sensible supernatural creatures fear) and Des can’t figure out what it is. He needs Callie to get some information for him from his subjects. He’s tried himself, but once they get to a certain point in the questioning the subject dies. There is one big area where their powers differ. When Callie compels someone as a siren, there’s no argument. When Des does it, they can choose not to be compelled at the cost of their life. Whatever secret these people know, they’d rather die than share it. But there’s one problem with this plan, Des is a fairy, and all of his subjects are fairies, Callie cannot compel fairies. Des knows this, he wants her to compel the changelings. Humans who have been taken into the Otherworld, most of which are slaves. Callie has a real problem with this, she’s never used her power on a victim and their talking to her could get them killed or worse. But the fairy kingdoms are restless: people are going missing, male soldiers don’t come back, the female soldiers do but they are changed. They are neither living nor dead anymore. He’d rather do this with Callie’s blessing, but she will be doing it regardless. She agrees to help him. The next night, they go over background information. He shows her sketches of the female soldiers that return, they are sent back in glass coffins. All of them have children with them, children of their bodies but it’s unclear who fathers them. Children who are very much alive and require a wet nurse to care for them. He explains the fae hierarchy. The Queen and King: Titania and her consort Oberon, are ancient and are still technically still alive but have gone under the mountain for the undying sleep, so they aren’t sentient. Then there are the four kingdoms: Flora, Fauna, Day, and his own kingdom, Night. There are two other powerful kingdoms that are kept separate and not recognized: Mar (or the waters) and Death and Deep Earth. In charge of Day is Janus, who everybody but Desmond likes. But then, they were made to be opposites so it’s no surprise they don’t like each other. Mara and her consort the Green Man rule over Flora, and Karnon over Fauna, known to be reclusive and eccentric. While in each kingdom, you must abide by that kingdom’s rules. But Callie will only be in his Kingdom and under his protection, so she won’t have to worry about that. He gives her a list of questions that he wants her to ask the changelings when it’s time. At work the next day, Callie gets a call about a client who wants to work with her, a very high paying client, but she has no details about what the work will entail. She also rescues a kidnapped sixteen-year-old. At home, she’s expecting Des, but Eli shows up instead. It’s only one day past the full moon and shifters are barely in control this close to the full moon, it’s not safe for them to be around people who don’t shift. But Eli came because he refuses to break up (red flag) and he wants Callie to be his mate. She doesn’t want any of that, but he doesn’t hear her and starts to advance on her. She stops him with her glamour, a big no to an alpha shifter. Then Des comes in, which really does not help the situation. Des and Eli are at each other’s throats, Eli barely able to stay in control, when he suddenly lunges at Des. For the second time, Callie uses her glamour on him, this time to protect Des. That does it for Eli, he chases them into the backyard, shifting as he goes, and Des launches them into the air just in time. Seven years ago, after being friends for a few months (friends in loose terms as she’s racking up beads) Callie goes with Des to make a bargain. A man in Venice wants his daughter to get into the supernatural performing arts school, which is very in demand. In return, he will make sure legislation that the supernatural ruling government (the House of Keys) wants to pass that will destroy some ley line entrances will be stalled. Indefinitely. After business is done, Callie convinces Des to go on a gondola ride. She’s always wanted to visit Venice. When Callie and Des land at his house, Des is a bit of a mess. He was worried that he wouldn’t get to her in time, that Eli would hurt her. Just then, Callie realizes that they left an angry werewolf in a residential area, but Des already has that covered. He’s kept Eli contained on her property until daybreak, which means that Callie can’t go home tonight (and there may not even be a house to go home to once the wolf Eli is done with it). Callie is very worried about Eli seeking vengeance on her for glamouring and spurning him, Des tells her that she can stay with him for as long as necessary. She turns on him then, angry that he brought this about and he points out to her that he is not running, that the only thing that is real is what is between the two of them. When they stop fighting, they decide to delay going to the Otherworld another night and swim in the ocean instead. In the morning, it turns out Callie was right to think that Eli would be vindictive. She’s number eighty-six on the most wanted list. She and Des go to the Otherworld. Seven years ago, Callie calls for the Bargainer, calls for her friend. Her instructor trapped her and tried to rape her, she only got away because she compelled him to stop. She isn’t in full control of her gift, but her fear made it come out. After holding her as she cried herself to sleep, Des leaves. The next morning, Callie finds out that the instructor is missing. When he’s found, he’s in bad shape and holding the Bargainer’s business card. He promptly confesses about the many girls that he assaulted while working as their teacher. They get to Des’ palace in fairy and he explains that the Kingdom of Night does not have changeling slaves. Although Day has considered getting rid of slaves, the only Kingdom to currently not have slaves is Night. Callie will be interviewing an off-duty nursemaid. The nursemaid is human but was born in fairy, she works in the royal nursery. Some of those children were born to the soldiers who returned in caskets. Those children are strange: they don’t sleep, are listless, almost catatonic, the only time they do anything is when they feed. Callie sees bruising on the woman’s chest and arms, from the children. The nursemaid says when the children feed, they prophesize. Even the youngest one, who is only a few months old. In fact, the three-month-old warned the nursemaid that she would be interviewed and told her to relinquish nothing, or death would be the least of her problems. She tells Callie that the children show them horrific things. That “he” is afraid of Des, but not of the other Kingdoms. “He” is making plans and does not want to be found, “he’s” not unstoppable yet. The nursemaid believes the children because she and the other nursemaids have seen someone, they don’t know who, leaning over their beds at night. They call him the Thief of Souls and he is everywhere. And he wants everything. Callie asks Des if she can interview the children. He agrees, although he has tried to speak to them many times and never been successful. She asks who is in the Royal nursery, the children of fallen soldiers, any nobility that works in the palace, and the Royal family. Although Des does not have any children himself. He tells Callie the disappearances and the sleeping soldiers started a decade ago. When they get to the nursery, Callie finds out that the casket children have been separated from the rest of the kids because they were feeding on the other children. When the casket children see Des, they all start screaming. Callie is able to calm them with her siren singing and glowing skin, although she can’t glamour them since they’re fairies. They agree to speak to her. The children tell her that their mothers are sleeping below because their father wants them to continue sleeping. Their father is the Thief of Souls. Callie could meet him, he’d like her, but she can’t bring Desmond with her. In fact, their father already likes her. He sees all, he hears all, he’s already here. He likes to break pretty things. He’s already started searching for Callie, he will find her eventually. When Callie asks to leave the children start to surround her, asking her to stay with them forever. When they grab her arm, she is transported back to the night she killed her stepfather, except in this vision, her stepfather rises from the floor and turns into a tan man with brown hair, eyes, and antlers. Seven years ago, Callie has a bad depressive episode and can barely get out of bed. Des comes and coaxes her out. He tells her that she won’t do this again. He’s not asking her not to be sad, but to get help. Or if she can’t do that, to get him and he will get her help. He’s asking her to fight. Don’t give up on life because of the bad things that have happened to her. She wakes up in Des’ room in California after the children touched her. He tells her they were ready to feed on her. Callie tells him what she saw, the antlered man and cages of women. Fortunately, or unfortunately according to Des, that description is helpful. Callie is scared to stay where there’s a portal to fairy down the hall and prepares to leave to go to her own house. Des asks her several times to stay, finally she asks him WHY he wants her to stay. When it’s clear he won’t answer her question, he agrees to take her home. When they get there, the place is destroyed. Thanks Eli. Des repairs most of the damage as he walks through and tells her he will be back the next night. Unless she calls for him early. Seven years ago, Des asks Callie about her parents. She never knew who her father was, there’s no one listed on her birth certificate. Her mom may not have even known who he was. And her mother was killed when she was eight. Shot while on vacation with her stepdad, they were aiming for the stepdad but missed. Callie was at home with the nanny at the time. He was a seer but her stepdad either didn’t know it would happen, or did nothing to stop it, and that haunted him until she killed him. It was the reason he drank. The first thing Callie does when she is alone is tidy up a bit, then she calls Temper and asks her to come over. She fills Temper in on everything, starting with meeting the Bargainer. When Temper leaves, Callie tries to sleep but has several nightmares and a fitful night. Yet when she wakes up, she realizes someone had come into her room and ripped the mattress up while she lay on it, laying the feathers out like wings on either side of the bed. She calls Des and he is furious. She has been under his protection for a long time, and NO ONE touches the people under his protection. He takes her home with him. She calls Temper to let her know what’s happening and that she’ll be staying with the Bargainer. Then she and Des have a bit of an argument. He tells Callie that she never asked how he felt leaving her, only why he left. Leaving tore him in two and the last seven years have been a nightmare. Seven years ago, Des has started staying with Callie until she falls asleep, to help her fight her nightmares. Des takes her to call in another favor. This time from Stan, who is hiding from the Bargainer and makes him kick the door down. Des is looking for a name and Stan does not want to give it, says that the person the name belongs to will do worse than kill him. Des makes Stan get in his own car and they’re going to take it to the Otherworld so Des can feed Stan to the worst kinds of creatures, they’ll drop Callie off on the way. But Callie takes matters into her own hands and glamours Stan, who tells him the man Des is looking for is the Thief of Souls. Des is furious, gets rid of Stan in the woods, and then turns to Callie. Not many girls can glamour, and she just put a very large, very dangerous target on her own back. If the Thief goes to Stan, Stan will turn on Callie without a thought. Des blames himself, he shouldn’t have brought her at all. The next day, Desmond and Callie go back to the Otherworld. Des tells Callie that the Kingdom of the Night is the strongest fairy kingdom, although the others will deny it. They forget they are surrounded by darkness just because they can’t always see it. He takes her deep in the city to the industrial district. They started placing the coffins in a building here when they were too plentiful and running out of room. When she walks in, Callie understands why. There are hundreds, maybe a thousand coffins, each with a warrior woman sleeping inside with her weapon. Twice as many women are still missing. All the women returned came with a baby. Only about two dozen are in the nursery, the rest are fostered with the families of their mother, but that is not going well. Some of the fairies that foster the children also fall asleep and don’t wake up. Callie starts to sing to the sleeping soldiers, asking them to wake up and tell her their secrets, but instead of waking they sing back. He’s coming for Callie, she’ll be sleeping soon. Seven years ago, Des asks her again what happened the night she killed her father. She explains that he had raped her for years, starting well before she could summon her siren and compel him to stop. If he was drinking, it was almost guaranteed to happen. That night, he approached her in the kitchen after setting a bottle on the counter. She grabbed the bottle and brandished it as a weapon after breaking it. He wasn’t scared at all, just angry at being threatened, and she must’ve nicked an artery when she swung at him as he came towards her. Des is worried. But he is the scariest thing out there and no one messes with what he cares about and that includes Callie. He spends a few days dealing with things in the Otherworld, but Callie has had enough for now. She spends her days alone in Desmond’s California house, discovering more about the island Des lives on and his home. Until someone pays her a visit. Seven years ago, it’s the May Day ball but Callie isn’t going, since no one asked her. She lives her life apart, never becoming too close to the other kids. Partly because of them, partly because of her. What she is, what she’s done. She won’t admit it, but Des can tell she wishes she could go, so he asks her to go with him. Callie opens the door before she realizes that Des wouldn’t be expecting any visitors, only to find Eli. He just wants to talk and apologizes for what he did when he came to her house. A big move for an alpha shifter. She tells him about her stepfather and who Des is to her. That Eli deserves someone that can be everything he wants, and she is not that person. As they’re patching things up, Des blows in, wings out (revealing that he is a fairy, which Eli didn’t know). Eli thanks him, and leaves. Callie calls Temper, feeling like she’s missing something. Male fairies only flaunt their wings around their betrotheds. And Des has definitely been flaunting them. She goes out to confront Des. He tells her that he doesn’t know how to handle any of this, the two of them. He just knows that he needs her. Temper was wrong, a fairy shows his wings to his soul mate. Seven years ago, Des gets Callie a dress and they go to the dance. He starts to get weird when they actually dance together, telling her that nothing is alright, but in a charming, not scary way. He takes her back to her room and Callie kisses him; his wings come out for the first time. He tells her that he’s sorry, this never should have happened, he had meant to give her more time, but he couldn’t stay away. Her debts don’t matter, just forget about them, and he’s leaving. For long enough to figure out what she deserves and what he wants. Before he manages to leave, she says the words to an old binding verse that she found in a book. Then he disappears. Des explains to her that he felt that she was his soul mate the first night they met, but he didn’t believe it. Until he just couldn’t stay away from her. Not when she was so young and had been abused. So, he didn’t tell her and became her friend. He let her rack up debts like a game, but his magic sometimes has a mind of its own, like her siren. He did not want to push anything on her. When she cast the binding spell, he agreed to it, to be hers forever. But his magic required years of heartbreak before they could be together, seven years of heartbreak. His magic wouldn’t allow him to get anywhere near her until the seven years were up. He loves her. He’s loved her since the beginning, and he will love her until the last star dies in the sky and the darkness itself ends. If she will have him. She agrees and he makes a vow to her. A vow from the Kingdom of Night. He tells her more secrets that night. Like how he got his tattoos when he was in a gang, back when the Kingdom of Night was led by someone else. As Des sleeps the next morning, Callie gets some coffee and sits looking at the ocean. Supernaturals on Earth know deep down whether they have soul mates, it awakens with their powers when they’re teenagers. Callie is curious about this, because she never felt anything like that awaken in her. Maybe it’s different in the Otherworld, she will have to ask Des. Maybe their soul mates are not predestined or the bonds form differently. As she ponders this, a blonde, blue eyed stranger appears behind her, saying her name and that he’s been looking for her. The very expensive client that has been calling for her. Another fairy, since her glamour isn’t doing a dang thing. She calls for Des, but the fairy grabs her, and they disappear. She wakes up in a fancy fairy dress, in a jail cell. Looking through the front of her cell she sees row upon row of jail cells, all containing silent women dressed like her. She calls to the Bargainer, but he doesn’t answer. Looks like she needs to get herself out of this. Some sort of powerful magic is keeping the King of Night away from her. Hourly, guards who are part animal patrol the halls. Occasionally, they carry one of the other women past Callie’s cell. The women don’t fight back, already catatonic. At some point the guards come for her and take her to see the man she saw in her dreams with the antlers. He introduces himself as Karnon, King of Fauna. Karnon calls Callie the King of Night’s only weakness. He stands her up and puts his mouth to hers, breathing into her until she is able to head butt him. But by then it’s too late, by the time she gets back to her cell, whatever he breathed into her makes her fall asleep. When Callie wakes up, she vomits a bunch until she feels purged from the feeling of cold deep in her bones. She taunts the guards, knowing they won’t touch her since she’s a prize for Karnon, and the warrior in the cell next door speaks to her. Aetherial, from the Day Kingdom, thinks she’s brave and maybe a bit stupid too. Aetherial agrees to let Callie know if she sees any humans around. The guards take Callie back to Karnon but this time he is different. Eccentric, but not mean. Until Callie knees him in the groin and tries to run, he shifts into the Thief of Souls. They are not the same. The Thief realizes that Callie is wearing Desmond’s bracelet, and it cannot be removed. He’s furious, it can be tracked. He kills some guards in his rage and breathes into Callie again. When she wakes up, Aetherial checks up on her. The legs and arms will be the first to stop working. Aetherial is slurring her words, so hers is advanced. She tells Callie that she’s married to a human woman who will probably try to care for the coffin kid Aetherial will end up with. A few days later, Callie is weak from vomiting and not eating, but she has had two more sessions with Karnon and she’s still able to move. Something isn’t working right. But Aetherial has stopped talking. Karnon calls Callie again, to a different room this time. He pushes magic into her body and she changes, talons instead of nails, scales covering her arms, and now she has wings. Suddenly the doors start shaking, Des has found her. Karnon doesn’t stand a chance. Des destroys Karnon, even though to attack a king in his own castle breaks the most sacred law of hospitality. Des collects Callie and takes her to his room at the palace. She sleeps and wakes up, forgetting the changes that happened for a moment. But Des shows her that she’s not that changed and she begins to not hate her new body. They find hundreds of pregnant sleeping women beneath Karnon’s palace, which they send to their respective kingdoms. Some of the women even came from Fauna. None of the sleeping women have woken. Aetherial, who is recovering, tells them she can feel something dark inside of her. The other women who had not yet fallen asleep agree. This fight is not over yet. That night Callie dreams, and the Thief of Souls speaks to her again. He’s only just begun.
Prepare yourself, then click to reveal. Callie is having a hard time adjusting to her new body and she can’t go back to the human world because of it, she doesn’t really blend in now that she has wings. Des starts to train her, ow to fight with a sword but also how to move in her new body. He doesn’t want her defenseless if she must stay in the Otherworld, especially since her glamour doesn’t work on fairies. During their training, Callie meets Malaki, the Lord of Dreams and Des’ oldest friend. He tells them that Des is needed in the throne room, urgently. Des announces that the time for hiding is over, Callie will be joining them. The urgent business is a messenger from the Fauna kingdom, who brings them a bag of severed heads, the last remaining Night diplomats in Fauna. Because he killed their king and destroyed their palace, killing many fae inside, Fauna is demanding that Night kingdom pay for a new palace and that Desmond step down as king. If he doesn’t, they will hunt down every Night fairy still in their kingdom. Des politely declines, then he explains that his kingdom is made of nightmares, nightmares that respect and serve him. He calls in one of the nightmares, the bog, and allows him to have the messenger. That night Des asks about how Callie met Temper: Temper sat next to her in a class they had together their senior year and just started talking. Neither of them had friends at that point, but they’ve had each other ever since. She asks the same about Malaki: they met when Des was a teenager and broke, around the time he joined the gang Angels of the Small Death. Malaki was also a member of the “brotherhood”. They’ve saved each other’s lives and are now more like brothers. That night, Callie dreams of the Thief of Souls. He says he’s coming for her. She needs to see the casket children again. There’s even more of them now. They confirm her worst fear, that this ordeal did not end with Karnon’s death. As she leaves, Callie realizes that none of the children have any animal features, as most of the Fauna fae do. As Karnon did. Karnon is not their father. Des takes Callie to the library where they keep the state documents to show her the testimonies of the women rescued from Karnon’s prison. Nine rescued women that recovered, each kidnapped while asleep, none had been there for more than eight days. Seven of the women say they were sexually assaulted by Karnon, two had not been assaulted at all since they’d only just arrived. Of the seven, all confirm that they are pregnant. So Karnon is the father after all? After they’re done in the library, Desmond goes off to rule the kingdom and Callie goes to the other library. The more fun library. She meets Jerome the librarian, who finds her several biographies of Desmond. She learns that he was a decorated soldier before king, and he’s ushered the Kingdom of Night into a more progressive and profitable era. She also learns he was born from the royal harem. She asks him if he has a harem (he doesn’t, he never has). Then they leave to see a tour of his kingdom, during which she will learn to fly. She starts out rough, evens out in the middle, and the landing isn’t smooth, but she flies all by herself. They fly from Somnia, land of Sleep and Small Death, to Phyllia, land of Dreams. He shows her a sculpture of “The Lovers” Fierion (God of Light) and Nyxos (Goddess of Darkness). Fierion was married to another but loved Nyxos, their love is what causes the day to chase the night. In the land of dreams the two can finally be together. In the distance Callie and Des can see the island of Memnos, land of Nightmares. They don’t visit. The next day they go to Barbos, City of Thieves, where Des met Malaki. She’s introduced to Phaedron, another of Desmond’s old friends who keeps calling him the Bastard. Turns out, Desmond didn’t know who his father was until he was a teenager and that was what they called him, Des says they mean it with love. Phaedron led the Angels of the Small Death when Desmond joined. After visiting with friends, Des takes Callie to a weapons shop, where a dagger calls to her. They buy the dagger and its mate, and a belt to carry them. Next, the two of them go to the Night Kingdom’s smallest island, Arestys, where Des spent most of his childhood. His mother was a scribe, so poor they lived in one of the caves. He shows her where his mother died but doesn’t say how. When they leave, they go to Lephys, City of Lovers, before returning to Somnia. Callie has learned to love flying and the body that allows her to do it. When they return, Desmond shows Callie a list of all the fairies that have disappeared in the last three months. Since Karnon died, no women have gone missing, but five men have, four of them soldiers. After Malaki comes in to discuss whether Des and Callie should attend the Solstice they’ve been invited to, there’s a wave of magic that washes over them. Something has entered the Otherworld through a portal and then destroyed said portal. When Des calls his forces and they go to face this force, Callie recognizes it. Temper. Standing inside a fire, lightning crackling from her body, she’s more than a witch. A sorceress with almost limitless power. Callie is able to approach Temper and talk her out of her frenzy, but just barely. The portal that Temper destroyed was one of Fauna’s, plus she held a Fauna fairy prisoner for a while, so Fauna wants her arrested (I think that’s reasonable). Des refuses, saying she is an honored guest and that he will personally pay for any damage she caused, which is not improving relations. Now he HAS to go to Solstice. Otherwise, this could start a war. He decides all four of them, including Temper, will attend. And so, they prepare. Jerome pulls a few books for Callie that explain about the Solstice festival, which takes place in Flora, celebrates life, unites the four fairy kingdoms, and lasts a week. A good faith gathering where the realms can discuss any issues and also celebrate. She also learns about the other leaders. Janus, the Day King, whose father had a harem of men so him siring twins was completely unexpected, but Janus’ twin Julios is now dead. Thalia was heir apparent to Flora until she fell in love with an enchanter who tricked her into giving him most of her power. The kingdom barely made it through intact, although the enchanter was caught and killed, and Thalia killed herself, leaving her younger sister Mara Verdana to inherit. And Karnon, who had been a softhearted child but grew to be strong as well. Who is not the Karnon that Callie met. She starts to wonder if two entities inhabited his body. She wonders if the soft Karnon had been trying to save her the day he gave her wings, to give her the strength of her siren until Des could arrive. Maybe he baited Des because he wanted to die. They prepare to leave for the Solstice festival. Just before they get on their horses, Des asks Callie to keep her siren visible until after she’s met Mara, he wants her looking her strongest when they meet. Callie agrees. While they ride through Somnia, someone tries to shoot Callie with an arrow but Des catches it in the air. He quickly locates and kills the Fauna assassin before they continue on their way. They go through a portal to Flora and meet the Queen and her Consort-King, the Green Man. He is docile, she is radiant with something more dangerous lying just below the surface. There’s a party that evening where the Green Man asks Callie to dance. She thinks for a moment that she may have found kindred spirit until he tells Callie that there’s more to her than ordinary slaves, which upsets her. The Flora Kingdom brand their slaves like cattle and Callie is not a fan. The next morning Des tells Callie more about his mom, Larissa. She was his closest friend and his teacher since even on Arestys, Night’s poorest island, they were poorer than most. They had to hide their magic, pretend to be weak, and that made them targets. Later that day Des and Callie train again, this time Des asking Callie to fight with her siren out. She does much better than normal and the sparring takes them to Mara’s sacred oak grove, one of the only places Mara wants to protect. As Callie stands under one of the trees, blood drips onto her. It’s coming from the tree itself, which doesn’t seem great. Then a soldier arrives to tell Des that two of their men are missing, they never made it back from the party the night before. When Callie finds Malaki later in the day, she asks him to see if she can see the sleeping women of Flora. She takes Temper with her, and the Green Man crashes their party. There are just as many women here as in Night Kingdom, but no children, Mara has them all killed. The Green Man comments that some say this building is haunted, a shadow man comes to see the sleeping women. When Callie asks why the oaks are bleeding and if Mara will get rid of them like she did the children, the Green Man says that she’s mistaken, the oaks are just fine. At the ball that night, Callie realizes that Mara has a male harem even though she has a mate, and Des says the Green Man probably doesn’t like sharing his mate but he’s a coward. The King of Day Kingdom makes his entrance for the first time and Callie recognizes him as the man who kidnapped her from Des’ house in California and took her to Karnon. What a twist. That does not go over well and Des attacks the king, Janus, who he already doesn’t like. The room erupts in mayhem, fairies fighting all over, members of Fauna trying to get to Callie, Malaki and other soldiers trying to get to her first to protect her. Mara calls on the ancient rule that Desmond is required to abide by the laws of Flora while he’s in it, and he stops beating on Janus. Mara announces to everyone that it was a mate challenge, in which a rival fairy challenges a mate to a duel, so really no big deal at all, before leading the two kings into a different room. From behind her, Callie hears a familiar voice. It’s Aetherial, who had been in the prison cell next to her and was rescued just before becoming a sleeping woman. She also happens to be a soldier for Day Kingdom and a part of Janus’ retinue. Pretty soon, Mara and the kings return to the party, not fighting but clearly still angry. That night, Callie asks Des about his father and learns that he also had a temper, it’s where Des gets it from. He tells her that when his mother became pregnant, she fled and went into hiding in Arestys because his father was killing all of his children. He had heard a prophecy that one of his children would lead to his demise and decided to make sure that didn’t happen. That’s why it was so important that Des hid his magic and his temper while in Arestys, he could not attract notice. The next day, the diplomatic talks start, a key part of the Solstice festival. All the current leaders are in the meeting, meaning the Fauna Kingdom is not represented, plus Callie and the Green Man. Janus denies taking Callie, he denies ever having seen her before. Tempers are high but Janus has an alibi, so they decide to continue on. They all agree that Karnon wasn’t working alone since the women still haven’t woken. The Green Man points out that the children drink blood and are prophetic, both traits tied to the Night Kingdom, implying that Des is the father or at least somehow involved. When they’re alone, Callie asks Des why it took him a week to find her in Karnon’s prison. She’s been swayed by the Green Man’s speech. He tells her that at first, he thought she’d left. He should’ve been able to use his magic but the voices he uses to hear secrets were silent, he cashed in years of favors but still it took days to find her because he couldn’t use their bond. There’s something wrong with it. Their magic is incompatible. They come from two different worlds, which is why she can’t glamour fairies and Karnon couldn’t put her to sleep. They’re still soul mates, just not as tethered as they should be. He could feel her fear through their bond, but it wasn’t until Karnon made her transform and he felt the fear and pain come through so strongly that he could find her. Another Night soldier goes missing, which makes a grand total of ten soldiers while they’ve been at Solstice. Including the two already missing from Night, four from Fauna, one from Day, and two from Flora. Unprecedented numbers in such a short amount of time. At the ball that night, everyone is pretty subdued except Mara and her harem. The Green Man brings up children for Des and Callie, which sends Callie into a tailspin since they haven’t been using protection. When she tries to leave in her panic, Mara calls her over and makes a few underhanded jabs like the mean girl she is before offering Callie a gift, a glass on lilac wine. Before Callie drinks it, Des arrives and dumps it out. Drinking it would have made her immortal. Although he thought about giving it to her and even had some made at his palace, he’s never offered it to Callie. But if she were to drink it, their bond would be complete. She and Des talk about children that night. They both want them, Des would be happy to have one now, but Callie wants to wait. Which is fine, and Des doesn’t think she’s pregnant right now, so the panic subsides. Mara calls Callie in for a meeting and Des accompanies her. Mara asks if it’s true she’s been investigating the Thief of Souls and Callie confirms that she is. Mara wants to discuss the last sightings of the men who’ve gone missing during Solstice. They were all seen, alone, with one other person. Desmond. At this point I’m thinking Callie is a real idiot because she immediately thinks “this can’t be true, is Des the Thief of Souls?” and I am thinking “the Thief of Souls can impersonate others”. Mara asks for Des’ oath that he is not behind the disappearances, and he agrees to give it if she vows to be an ally to the Night Kingdom for fifty years, which she agrees to. They take their oaths. Meanwhile, Callie’s dreams still haven’t stopped, and Des can’t wake her from them. He should be able to, but he suspects someone is keeping her in the dream, another Night Kingdom talent. There are no other fairies that are strong enough to keep Des from waking her. Maybe if he had any siblings they would be strong enough, but his father had them all killed before being killed himself. Everyone has to listen to Mara hear petitions from her people. At one point, Des steps out because another Night soldier has gone missing, and while he’s gone the court brings in an enslaved human woman whose charge is sleeping with a fairy. She says she was raped. Mara orders her to be given twenty lashes but Callie steps in and refuses to allow the woman to be hurt, getting two lashes herself while protecting the woman, lashes that break the bones in her wings before Des comes in. He is not happy, he breaks the limbs of the man giving the lashes and when the court brings in the woman’s fairy rapist, he forces him to take the rest of the lashes. He tells Mara that she’d be dead if not for their oath. Des carries Callie to their suite and calls for a healer, but fairy magic is not conducive to healing humans, so they get Temper instead. She’s just as mad as Des and ready to blow stuff up, figuratively and literally. Before she and Des can start wreaking destruction, a human enslaved man from Flora comes with flowers for Callie, in appreciation for saving one of their own. She decides she isn’t going to run from Flora, it’s time the fairies see just how strong she is. Des decides to skip the next event to give him and Callie some time together. While she was being healed, he had told her that his mother had been a spy before meeting his father. She saved his father’s life by stopping a plot against him. That’s how she caught his eye, and she was forced to become a member of his harem. Des continues the story now, saying that his mother went into hiding when she discovered she was pregnant because his father was already killing his offspring. She had been a spy and knew how to stay hidden, but Des got them caught. When he was fifteen, his father showed up and killed his mother. Des later killed his father, fulfilling the prophecy. When Callie wakes the next morning, Des is already gone. She has breakfast with Temper, who tells her the latest gossip. The fairy rapist went missing, only a very specific member of his body was found (although it could be a finger). But he’s not the only one, the queen’s entire harem was also taken during the night. When they get to the Solstice Ball that night, it’s clear that Mara thinks that Des took them (so does everybody else) and she makes a scene. When the Green Man comes up to Mara and places his hand on her shoulder, urging for them to go somewhere private, she shudders even though they’re supposed to be mates. Mara tells Des that his mother was a whore and that he’s a bastard and a disgrace. This doesn’t go over well, and the entire hall is plunged into pitch black. In the darkness, where all of her court can hear, Des tells Mara’s secrets: she hates her mate’s touch but desires Des’ and Callie’s, until Janus shows up and takes the rulers somewhere private. While the rulers talk, Callie speaks to Aetherial. Aetherial doesn’t think Janus took the men and Callie doesn’t think it was Des. Aetherial mentions that most of the Day soldiers taken during Solstice were last seen just outside the royal gardens. Callie has heard the same thing. The only thing outside the gardens is the Queen’s sacred oak forest, which Callie has also been dreaming of. Suddenly, she knows where the Thief of Souls is. She can’t shake her Night soldiers, so they all go to the oak forest, but when someone says Callie’s name, the soldiers double their efforts to take her back to the ball. Callie agrees to leave but before they make much headway, she sees someone in the trees with white hair like Des. And just like that, one of her soldiers is gone. The rest of the party run but don’t get far before a second soldier is grabbed by some vines and taken into the tree canopy. Callie decides to follow him. She and the trapped soldier are trying to cut the vines away, but the vines are fighting back, regrowing and even breaking the soldier’s wrist before twining around Callie and throwing her to the ground. She watches as the tree the soldier is tied to sucks him inside its trunk. Callie orders the remaining men to go find Des, but they refuse, and the group of them proceed to cut the tree down. The other trees try to hit them with their branches and the one they’re cutting starts to scream, but they’re able to save the soldier. Callie turns and starts hacking at another tree, this time finding a Fauna soldier sleeping within it, vines curled around him. Des arrives and is shocked, he really didn’t think it would be Mara that was taking the soldiers. Mara arrives soon after Des and attacks them, furious that they’ve destroyed her tree. As she and Des fight, they retreat away from Callie until she can’t see them. Then Des reappears and beckons her forward, she follows him into the trees, like an absolute idiot. When she gets close, she realizes it isn’t Des but someone who looks remarkably like him. The strange man attempts to kill Callie, but she fights back, and thanks to the training she’s been doing with Des, she is able to wound him which makes him step back. The real Des appears, looking for Callie, and recognizes the man. It’s his father, who’s supposed to be dead. The father, Galleghar, grabs Callie and flies her high into the sky before releasing her. She’s unable to get her bearings and free falls to the ground. Des is able to save her but as he grabs onto her, Galleghar appears behind him and breaks his wings so he and Callie both fall. Galleghar and Des start to fight in earnest, moving away from Callie but where she can still see them. She’s watching them, worrying, when the Green Man steps out from the woods. He has become enthralled with Callie and then reveals that the two of them have spoken before. Before they met at Solstice, while Callie was in Fauna. He tells her that the Green Man actually died long ago. He and the Green Man met when the Green Man doppelganger trying to pick some special fruit and the Green Man fought him and lost, and this stranger still got his fruit (which I believe is what allows the oaks to consume the soldiers). Mara thought her sacred trees were dying from rot because she was too weak to rule, but really it was because this guy was using them to hide the men. Karnon was the first person this stranger embodied while they were still alive and the two of them fought for control. It’s no surprise, but this is the Thief of Souls. The Thief tells Callie there is a prophecy that she must die in order for him to get what he wants. But what is it that he wants? And what does Galleghar have to do with it? Callie and the Thief fight, the Thief able to use the Green Man’s power as well as a dagger he takes from Callie, until Mara comes in and helps the Thief, not knowing what’s really happening and still enraged about the oaks. They trap Callie in some vines and the Thief tells her he wants to use the lilac wine on her so that he can take her soul. It would make her a fairy, immortal, and heal all of her wounds, so he decides to deal some real damage to her before he forces the wine down her throat. He stabs her in the stomach and Mara seems shocked and upset by this turn of events, but the Thief is not done, dragging the knife upward before letting go, leaving the knife in Callie’s abdomen. Des feels this while he fights his dad and shows up instantly. Galleghar, for whatever reason, does not follow. Des is going to destroy the Green Man, but Callie wants that honor instead. She stumbles over, ripping the dagger from her own body and stabs the Thief in the heart. He laughs at her, she can’t kill him, before changing his appearance to the man with black hair that she sees in her dreams. Before he disappears, he tells Callie that who she thought was Janus kidnapping her was actually him, impersonating Janus’ dead twin brother. He leaves her with two chilling statements: do the dead ever really die? And their story isn’t over yet. Then he disappears, leaving the Green Man’s dead body behind. Mara grieves for her mate as Des watches his die. He disappears to Mara’s cellars and gets the lilac wine, appearing next to Callie’s side and giving it to her, exactly as the Thief wanted. But for a moment he thinks she’s going to die anyway, until their bond solidifies completely. She’s alive, her debt to him is paid, and now she’s immortal. In the following days, they rescue the sleeping men by chopping down the oaks. Mara stays in her palace, grieving everything she’s lost, as the other kingdoms take carts of sleeping soldiers back with them. Suddenly, all of the sleeping soldiers, men and women, open their eyes.
