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.
Check out everything by Laura Thalassa at https://laurathalassa.com/
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 a little...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 on occasion as a bounty hunter. Eight years ago, the Bargainer shows up to the girl’s house. He mentions to the girl that he 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. He asks her what exactly she is but he already knows: she’s a siren. After some thought he says he will help her at no cost, only asking if her stepfather deserved his death, which she confirms that he did. The Bargainer magically sets the scene right: no blood, no mess, no fight. Then, he notices who it 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, but 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 could 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 but 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 again 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 they need to break up since 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. But really, she wasn’t happy in their relationship anyway. Eli tells Callie not to worry, he thinks the King of the Night (the Bargainer) has something else in store for her, something other than illegal doings. 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 agrees to it, but now she has a wrist full of promises to the Bargainer. Although Callie is considered an adult in the supernatural world, their relationship is 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 that she’s right, but he’s waited seven years, and he won’t be leaving her 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 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 tells Temper that she broke up with Eli and that her past has finally caught up with 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 Callie 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 he 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 in the world. She’s his first visitor! He asks her what she’s been up to for 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 they’re not overly worried. 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 have Callie do this for him willingly, 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, that 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, while Karnon rules 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 Des’ 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 listen to her and starts to advance on her. She stops him with her glamour, a big no for an alpha shifter like Eli. 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 grabs Callie and 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 high 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 (if there is even 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 the one running away, 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, the instructor is 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 the children in the nursery 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. The nursemaid 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 since “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 the children’s 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 warns that he has tried to speak to them many times and never been successful. She asks who lives in the royal nursery, the children of fallen soldiers, children of any nobility that works in the palace, and the children of 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, pretty things like Callie. 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. Callie wakes up in Des’ room in California after the children touched her. Des tells her they were ready to feed on her. Callie tells him what she saw in her vision, 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, the killers were aiming for her stepdad but missed. Callie was at home with the nanny at the time. Her stepdad was a seer but he either didn’t know it would happen, or did nothing to stop it, and that haunted him until Callie 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 for him. 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; he says that the person the name belongs to will do worse than kill him. Des makes Stan get in his own car, the two of them are 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 other rulers will deny it. They forget they are surrounded by darkness just because they can’t always see it. He takes her deep into the city to the industrial district. He started having the coffins placed in a building here when they were too plentiful and ran out of room in the palace. 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 to the dance, 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 apologize 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 without any argument. Callie calls Temper who is a bit of a fairy expert, and Callie feels like she’s missing something. Male fairies only flaunt their wings around their betrotheds. And Des has definitely been flaunting them. Callie goes out to confront Des. He tells her that he doesn’t know how to handle any of this, how to handle the two of them. He just knows that he needs her. Temper was wrong, Des explains that 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, he’s leaving. He’s leaving for long enough for Callie to figure out what she deserves and Des to figure out what he wants. Before he manages to leave, Callie 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. But she was so young and had been abused. So, he didn’t tell her and became her friend instead. He let her rack up debts like a game, but his magic sometimes has a mind of its own, like her siren does. 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 to be exact. His magic wouldn’t allow him to get anywhere near her until the seven years were up. But 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 soul mates there 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. It’s the very expensive client that has been calling for her. Another fairy, since her glamour isn’t doing a dang thing to him. She calls for Des, but the fairy grabs her and they disappear before he arrives. She wakes up in a fancy fairy dress, in a jail cell. Looking through the front of her cell Callie 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 later, the warrior in the cell next door speaks to her. Aetherial, from the Day Kingdom, thinks that Callie is brave and maybe a bit stupid too. Aetherial agrees to let Callie know if she sees any humans around that Callie could glamour. 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, then he shifts into the Thief of Souls. The Thief of Souls and Karnon are not the same. The Thief realizes that Callie is wearing Desmond’s bracelet, and that it cannot be removed. He’s furious, the bracelet can be tracked. He kills some guards in his rage and breathes into Callie again. When she wakes up, Aetherial checks up on her. She tells Callie that her legs and arms will be the first to stop working. Aetherial is slurring her words, so her paralysis 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 in Callie’s case, but Aetherial has stopped talking completely. Karnon calls Callie again, to a different room this time. He pushes magic into her body, and she changes, growing talons instead of nails, scales covering her arms, and now she has wings. Suddenly the doors to the room 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 in his palace. She sleeps and wakes up, forgetting the changes that happened to her for just 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 are sent to their respective kingdoms. Some of the women even came from Fauna. None of the sleeping women have woken. Aetherial, who had not quite fallen asleep and is now 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 the fact that 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 in how 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. Malaki 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 in the throne room. 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 Des 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 its 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 how Callie met Temper: Temper sat next to her in a class they had together their senior year and they 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 decides that she needs to see the casket children again. There’s even more of them now and they confirm her worst fear, that this ordeal did not end with Karnon’s death. After she sees the casket children, Callie realizes that none of the children have any animal features, as most of the Fauna fae do. As Karnon did. She realizes that 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 who were 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 who were assaulted, 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, more fun library. She meets Jerome, the librarian there, who finds several biographies of Desmond for her. She learns that he was a decorated soldier before becoming king, and he has ushered the Kingdom of Night into a more progressive and profitable era. She also learns that his mother was part of 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 manages to fly 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. Callie is 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 he doesn’t say how she died. 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 he and Callie go to face this force, Callie recognizes it. Temper. Standing inside a fire, lightning crackling from her body, Des realizes that Temper is 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 between the two kingdoms. Now he HAS to go to Solstice. Otherwise, this could start a war. He decides all four of them, including Temper and Malaki, 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 together. 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 later caught and killed. 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. The Green Man is docile, Mara Verdana is radiant but 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 a kindred spirit until he tells Callie that there’s more to her than there is to 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 and 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 to see the sleeping women 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 Callie is 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 and won’t do anything about it. 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 information 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 Night 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 Flora, and he stops beating on Janus. To diffuse the situation and answer the rest of the confused crowd’s unasked questions, 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 in Karnon’s palace 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, so he would 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 also attend. 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 to locate her 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 because 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 of lilac wine. Before Callie drinks it, Des arrives and dumps it out. Drinking it would have made her immortal. Although he has 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 Callie’s 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 except for 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 no longer wake her from them. He should be able to, but he suspects someone is keeping her in the dream, another Night Kingdom talent. But 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. The human 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 it weren’t 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 is about what happened to Callie and ready to blow stuff up, figuratively and literally. But before Temper 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. Callie 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 missing, 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 her harem (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 at his touch - 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 together, but when someone says Callie’s name, the soldiers double their efforts to convince Callie to return 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, just vanished. 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 the kidnapped soldier. She and the trapped soldier are trying to cut the vines away, but the vines are fighting back, quickly 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 (they don’t want to leave her), and the group of them proceed to cut the tree down instead. The other trees try to hit them with their branches and the tree 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 move away from Callie until Callie 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. This 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 the man step back. The real Des appears, looking for Callie, and recognizes the man. It’s his father, who is supposed to be dead. Desmond’s 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 that 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 tells Callie that he has become enthralled with her and then reveals that the two of them have actually spoken before. Before they met at Solstice, back when Callie was in Fauna. He tells her that the Green Man actually died long ago. He tells her a bunch of his secrets. That he and the Green Man met when this 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 that he takes from Callie, until Mara comes in and helps the Thief, believing that he is the Green Man (and still enraged about the oaks). They trap Callie in some vines and the Thief tells Callie 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 too, 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. He drags 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 him. 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 with it. The Thief 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, the Thief tells Callie that when she thought Janus kidnapped her it was actually him, impersonating Janus’ dead twin brother. The Thief leaves Callie 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. Callie is 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.
Hit reveal to see all the spoilers! Larissa needs to escape her husband. She drinks something from a vial - a liquid that makes her body completely incorporeal. Not just invisible, but insubstantial, she floats on the wind until her body starts to substantiate again. She knows her husband will be looking for her and if he catches her, he will kill her, so she will continue to run until she finds a place to hide. She has more than herself to protect now. She’s pregnant with the king’s child and he will kill the baby, too. Thirteen years later, Larissa’s son Desmond is fighting for any respect he can get, and he’s losing. He’s been instructed not to use his magic, so most people think he has none, but he is actually quite powerful and becoming even more so as he gets older. He makes deals with others to keep his mother and himself fed and clothed, making sure they have the necessities. But one day it becomes too much for him to deal with, and he reveals to his mother that the other fairies call him a bastard and they call her a whore. Larissa tells him quietly that he is not a bastard. In fact, his father is still alive, but she won’t tell Desmond who his father is only that she had to leave him. Desmond gets angrier and angrier, his magic consuming him. He sprouts his wings for the first time, (they look like his father’s) and demands to know his father’s name. He compels his mother to answer his question: his father is Galleghar Nyx, King of Night Kingdom. Three years later, his mother rushes into their home to tell Desmond that the king’s men are coming, someone saw his wings and figured out he was the king’s son. She gives him what she calls his inheritance, a lot of money and her own secrets. She tells him she was once a spy named Eurielle D’Asteria. When she stopped an attempt on his life, Galleghar invited her to his palace to give her an award personally. For whatever reason, he decided to keep her as her concubine, and she was not allowed to leave again. Now she wants Desmond to take the money and ask the King of Day for protection (he owes her a favor) while her past catches up to her. She gives him the following instructions: hide your wings, control your temper, learn everything you can about your enemies and the world in general, trust no one, and keep your own secrets. But before she can convince Desmond to leave, the king’s men are there and Desmond is going to confront them, locking his mother in a room so she can’t follow him…or try to stop him. He knocks the guards unconscious and goes to collect his mother and the money so they can escape but the king is already there, and he has found Larissa. When the king hits Desmond’s mother and threatens to take her back to his palace and make her pay for leaving him, Desmond loses his temper and attacks the king. But he doesn’t know what the king is capable of, how strong he is. Galleghar disappears from in front of Desmond and reappears behind Desmon’s mother, slitting Larissa’s throat. Just as Desmond’s rage is about to explode, the king disappears again and this time he does not reappear. Desmond’s power builds in him until he can’t contain it and when it explodes, it destroys the cave system he and his mom lived in as well as everything they had. It destroys everything except his mom’s dead body, which he cradles as the townsfolk come to see what’s happening. He promises to make them pay, whoever exposed him to the king. But first, he is going to deal with his father. He buries his mother in the Flora Kingdom in an unmarked grave and begins to wonder what to do next. He can’t go to the Day Kingdom anymore, now that his money is gone, and he realizes his only real option is Barbos, the City of Thieves. When Desmond gets there, he is approached by someone named Vale. Vale knows just by looking at him that Desmond is out of options and offers him a highly dangerous and very illegal job that is well compensated. He’d get money AND get to break the Night King’s laws? Say more. They’re called the brotherhood, which is short for the Angels of Small Death, and they provide illicit contraband for fairies of the Night Kingdom. Vale takes Desmond to their leader and Desmond sees that the leader keeps a lot of mortal slaves, he abducts them and has become rich by selling them. Desmond decides he wants no part of this. He is told he only has two options for leaving: as a member of the Brotherhood or in a body bag, but Desmond decides to turn his back on them and leave anyway. When he is attacked, his magic kills everyone in the room - except for the slaves. His magic kicks open the door, and he can hardly reel it back in, but he finally manages it. Fairies come in from the other room and bend their knees to him, and to the power he wields. He starts to go by the name Eurion Nova. But instead of leading them himself, he steps down and gives Phaedron command. He becomes friends with Malaki, a fellow member of the brotherhood. On the anniversary of his mom’s death, Desmond and Malaki do a job together and stop at Somnia on the way back. While there, a prophetess approaches Desmond. She knows who he is and knows that he will have a soul mate, a mortal soul mate. She tells him that he will never kill Gallagher doing what he is currently doing, that he needs to join the royal guard. She reveals to Malaki that Desmond is Galleghar’s son. Malaki makes an oath to keep Desmond’s secret… but he wants to help kill the king when the time comes. Malaki and Desmond leave the brotherhood and join the royal guard. For twenty years they and other Night soldiers have fought Day soldiers for ownership of Dusk and Dawn, called the Borderlands, and Desmond has even received a medal for his service - but he is no closer to his goal. One night before they are to go on leave, the king sends in a bunch of fairies and mortal slaves to his soldiers for company. Desmond starts talking to a mortal slave and realizes that she’s quite clever, but their conversation is interrupted when Day soldiers ambush their camp. Desmond rushes out to fight but is taken by surprise and is nearly killed, but Malaki takes the hit for him. Desmond hides Malaki, who is still alive but for who knows for how long and goes after the soldiers. In order for Malaki to be healed, they need to drive the Day soldiers out. Desmond finds the leader and engages him. He believes this soldier is one of the Day King’s twin sons and he’s a good fighter, but he’s also cocky and Desmond uses that against him. He cuts him through the stomach and the soldier falls, but Desmond does not go in for the killing blow. Luckily, the other Day soldiers take their wounded and leave so Desmond can finally get Malaki to the healers (who were out fighting for their lives when the Day soldiers were still there). Malaki will live but he will have a scar as well as lose one eye, which is a terrible fate for a fairy since fairies value beauty most. Desmond is astounded that his friend saved his life. One of their generals stops Desmond to confirm that the Day soldier he injured was one of the princes, Julios. Injuring the Prince will likely get Desmond another medal presented by the king himself (and another chance to kill his father). Desmond leaves the healers tent and sees that the mortal woman he was speaking with has been killed and he comes to a huge realization. The mortals are full of life and passion, the fairies have been wrong about them this whole time. That includes Desmond, who didn’t like the fact that they were slaves but did not care about them past that, and he disliked the prophecy of a mortal being his soul mate. In that moment he decides that as soon as he can, he will put hate and darkness behind him, he will find his mate and he will cherish and love her for as long as possible, as long as they’re alive, regardless of what anyone else thinks. This time when Desmond receives his award, they are presented by the king himself. As Desmond raises his head, the king recognizes him and knows exactly why he’s there. He’s been avoiding this day for centuries. The king turns into the darkness itself and runs, Desmond pursues him. They fight until they both realize they cannot kill each other with magic alone, it will have to be with their blades. The king taunts Desmond, he knows that Desmond fated for a mortal woman, and Desmond realizes that the king has also consulted a fortune teller to read the future. And he’s scared because he knows Desmond is going to beat him. But it’s a close fight, for a moment it looks like Galleghar will win, but he finally makes a grievous error and leaves his chest open while trying to strike at Desmond. Desmond takes the opportunity and plunges his sword into Galleghar’s chest. Galleghar’s last words wonder about what more a soul can be before the King of Night Kingdom dies. Desmond becomes the new Night King, not really wanting to rule but unwilling to let one of his father’s cronies step into the role. After weeks of his being dead, Desmond is still unable to dispose of Galleghar’s body. Fire won’t burn him, the land and sea refuse to keep him, he’s being rejected by the world itself. So, Desmond takes him to the Barren Lands, and area which no longer contains magic, trained dry during the war between the gods. Desmond lays Galleghar in a stone casket and seals it with a boulder. Thirty years later Desmond goes back to Memnos, searching for the prophetess that first told him of his mate. He wants more information but all he gets from the prophetess is that his mate will drive Desmond half mad before he finds her and even more mad afterwards. He searches all of the changelings in the Otherworld but cannot find her. He realizes he needs to look elsewhere - on Earth. On Earth he doesn’t need to have honor. There he can be the Bargainer. After more than a century of looking for his mate, someone asks to make a bargain. His magic pulls him toward the request, could it be his mate? He finds the girl in the kitchen with her stepfather’s dead body, and she asks for his help. Normally Desmond doesn’t work with minors, and he’s not sure this isn’t a setup to trap him (she is a siren after all) but he can’t not help her. He puts a plan in place. He enrolls her in a boarding school and leaves her, but he’s not done with her stepdad, not when he’s abused her for years. Desmond has him resurrected by a necromancer and drops him off in Memnos, where nightmares live. He lets the monsters play with the stepdad, telling the nightmares that he will be back the next day and he needs the stepdad alive (it needs to look like he died of a heart attack) but anything else goes. He can’t stop seeing the girl’s face. The longer he’s away from her the less he thinks it was a trap and the more he believes he just found his mate. Who is just a teenager. He decides to give her some space and to revisit her when she’s older. Callie continues to call on him, Desmond continues to make bargains with her if only to make sure she stays in his life. She calls him once while she’s sick and he takes care of her, even when she doesn’t know he’s there. He realizes that he loves her, and not just because of the bond, that he will never stop loving her. Callie calls for Desmond one day and when he gets there, she is distraught. Her teacher trapped her and tried to assault her, she only got away by using her siren glamour. After comforting her and putting her to bed, Desmond goes to find the teacher. He takes him to an abandoned place in Moldova where they won’t be interrupted, and the teacher admits that he has done this to seven other girls as well. A serial rapist working in a school. Desmond makes him pay for every girl separately and then gives the teacher a choice: turn himself in to the police or let Desmond choose the rest of his punishment. The teacher chooses the police. On the night of Callie’s school dance, Desmond is desperate to keep his control and show her what it means for a man to be honorable - since it seems she’s never met who didn’t try to take advantage of her. He loses his control for just a moment and decides to leave before things go too far, but Callie makes a wish before he gets out of the room. She recites an ancient binding oath. His magic accepts the oath, but Desmond is forced away from Callie. He’s unable to go near her, and who knows how long until the payment his magic requires will be complete. It’s torture but he manages, keeping tabs on her from afar, watching as she becomes a private investigator. Until she gets a boyfriend. The thought of his mate with someone else is too much and he goes on a destructive streak, imagining that every person he fights is the man that Callie is dating. Every day, Desmond tries to get to Callie. But he is always stopped by some unseen force. Until one day, that force is broken. He flies to Callie’s house immediately but she’s not home. He waits for her but when she finally arrives, it’s clear that she thinks Desmond abandoned her seven years ago, not realizing that the oath she made is what kept them apart. He’s going to have to win her affection all over again. Thankfully, she still has her bracelet of all the bargains she made with him. Let the games begin. He slowly wins Callie’s heart but the day after he tells her he loves her and reveals that she is his soul mate, she is kidnapped by the Thief of Souls. Desmond believes she may be in the Fauna Kingdom, and he breaks every rule to get to her - essentially declaring war and literally breaking his way into the Fauna palace. He is shrouded with shadows and fighting his way through regardless of the wounds he is receiving. He makes his way to the room that Callie is in, able to feel her through a bond that he shouldn’t be able to feel since their magic is incompatible. When he breaks into the room, he sees her body mangled on the floor, with freshly sprouting wings. Desmond fights Karnon, and eventually wins, sending out his darkness and killing everyone in the palace except for himself, Callie, and other women that have been taken captive. It’s the present day and Desmond just almost lost Callie, stabbed by the Thief of Souls, he had to give her lilac wine to keep her alive. Lilac wine that has made her immortal and made their mating bond complete, their magic is now fully compatible. He knows now that his father has been tied to the Thief of Souls since before his supposed death, when he was really just in a suspended state like the casket women. He goes to the balcony for a moment after hearing a suspicious sound, but Desmond sees nothing out of the ordinary. When he comes back into their room, someone is standing over Callie as she sleeps. Someone that Desmond’s magic does not hurt. Just then, Desmond hears the screaming of all the sleeping women as they wake up.
See all the spoilers here! Callie is upset that she wasn’t asked if she wanted to ever drink the lilac wine before it was given to her, but she knows Des gave it to her because she was dying, and between that and the full bond she can now feel between them, she forgives him. Plus, now that she’s a fairy, she can hide her wings and talons if she wants to, so that’s a plus. But the Thief will be coming for her even more urgently now that her magic is compatible with his. She has a dream of being in the sacred oak forest in the Flora Kingdom as the Thief speaks to her, taunts her. They trade blows quickly but then Callie hears screaming start. Callie wakes up and still hears the screaming. The sleeping women are awake! Each woman was in a casket with a weapon, each woman was a trained warrior who had defended the Night Kingdom, and now each woman has that weapon and is here to overthrow Des for the Thief of Souls. Callie and Des go to meet the soldiers head on. Des tells Callie not to hesitate, to go for the kill shot every time, and when Callie sees the first soldier, she can tell that there’s no emotion behind the soldier’s eyes. When Callie hits her first target in the throat with a dagger, the soldier pulls it out and Callie sees it begin to heal, although it does stop healing again before Des kills her. They fight their way to the lower part of the castle where the rest of Des’ soldiers are fighting the horde of sleeping women. Callie sees Temper and Malaki fighting as well, then she sees that the casket children have joined their mothers and are butchering the fairies. Callie releases her siren, and they fight, until there is a disturbance that Des leaves to investigate. Callie follows him to see the sleeping men who have been missing all this time portaling into the kingdom. There’s no way they can fight this many soldiers at once. Callie screams stop, overwhelmed by the fighting, by the knowledge that she is going to die and lose Des again after such a short period of time together. Suddenly, all the fairies stop. She realizes that with the lilac wine she can now glamour fairies. That includes Des. Callie releases Des from her glamour and they manage to round up and disarm the sleeping soldiers and their children, then lock them in the dungeons. They separate one redheaded soldier for Callie to question. When she releases the soldier from the glamour, Callie asks the soldier what her name is (she doesn’t know), what her name used to be (Mirielle), what her master’s plans are (she doesn’t know), who kidnapped her (her brother, who has been dead for over a century), how her brother took her if he’s dead (she doesn’t know), and where her master is (Callie will never find him!). Mirielle reveals that that are not allowed to kill Callie, only to hurt her - since the Thief wants her. As Des pulls Callie out of the cell with Mirielle, Callie asks what the soldiers would do if they were free. Mirielle gives her a one-word answer: conquer. They go to a meeting with Des’ generals including Malaki (and Temper) to discuss what they know of the attack and to prepare for subsequent attacks that are sure to come. There’s not much new information except that all the other kingdoms were also attacked… and Flora fell. That leaves only Night and Day left since Des killed Karnon of the Fauna Kingdom. That Night, as Des helps Callie bathe, she cries for everyone that was lost and Des sings her a lullaby his mother used to sing to him to soothe her. The next day, Des and Callie visit Galleghar’s tomb and find it empty. They stay late, the area where the tomb is lays within a desert void of any magic, and the fairies within it are desperate for any magical touch. Des thinks someone must’ve seen what happened to Galleghar’s body so he sets a trap with a magical fire, designed to lure the fairies out so Callie can entrance them. In the meantime, they discuss the timeline of events. They know that Galleghar had a harem and many children before he heard the prophecy and killed them all. The prophecy has been lost to time, Des is not sure exactly what it said. Then Des killed Galleghar and entombed him here, checking on his body every once in a while, which was still present about a decade ago. A decade ago, the Thief started stealing soldiers at the same time Galleghar’s body may have gone missing. Des tells Callie that his mother must’ve told his father at some point that “secrets are for one soul”, because now the sleeping say it as if Galleghar is taunting him. Des tells her about Galleghar’s harem. Some of the women killed themselves, some tried to kill themselves and were terribly punished, as were the ones who tried to escape. Anyone who mourned their children or spoke up about their deaths met with untimely deaths of their own. Galleghar had hundreds of women in his harem, and a lot of children. So many that when he started to kill them, it was given a name in the annals of their history: the Royal Purge. Callie dreams and the Thief visits her again. He tells her he used the Green Man’s power to put the men in the trees, but he left the women on display, imprisoned like he had been for so long. The thief entreats Callie to come find him. Des wakes her because someone is approaching, someone who is quickly caught and “questioned”. It takes a while, but the fairy eventually tells Des that if Des hurts him, “the king” will come for him. Des tells the fairy that if he can find someone who can say what happened to the tomb, Des will allow him to live. The fairy leads them to Maltira, the City of the Banished, where guards take them to King Henbane. A fairy who is living out some sort of punishment in the barren land and has been “willingly gifted” the magic of the fairies in his “court” in exchange for his protection. Let’s just say that the exchange doesn’t go well: he tries to have Desmond, then Callie, put in shackles, and Callie ends up glamouring him and everyone else in the room. Henbane tells her that Galleghar’s tomb was only opened a few weeks ago, and it wasn’t a who that released him, but a what. A shadow. Like the shadow that Des and Callie have heard watched over the casket children and visited the sleeping women. There’s not much more he can tell her about the tomb, so instead she has him explain how he was given the magic of the other fairies. After forcing Henbane to tell all the fairies in the room about all the crimes he’s committed, all the ways he’s tried to trick them, and making him apologize, Callie then gives him two days to return all of the magic that he was given. If he can’t figure out a way to give it back, the others can always kill him to get it back. She commands him never to take magic for his own betterment again and leaves him to his people. Des and Callie return to the Night Kingdom where Des fills Malaki in. There’s no sign of forced entry and the tomb’s enchantments are intact, yet Galleghar is gone. He asks Malaki to go to Barbos and talk to their old contacts, try to shake some information loose. In the meantime, he and Callie are going to visit the Day Kingdom. They are taken to Janus’ palace and when Callie sees Janus, she remembers that the Thief wore his dead brother’s face when he kidnapped her. And (apparently for the first time) she realizes that the Thief can wear the face of any dead person. The three of them retreat to a secluded room to talk - even though the palace seems deserted - and Callie demonstrates her powers to Janus by glamouring him and making him display his wings. She sees a huge painting depicting the banishment of Euribios (God of Darkness and Chaos) by Brennus (God of Light and Order). Gods who made all of creation, existing even before the Otherworld did. Before Fierion and Nyxos. Des and Janus rehash the battles held in all of the courts when the soldiers woke while Callie gets drunk. When they’re alone again, Callie asks Des why he doesn’t know more about the Thief. Des explains that he knows a lot of secrets because the shadows speak to him, tell him what he wants to know (or what they want to tell), but they refuse to speak about the Thief. Either from fear or from loyalty. That night, Callie has another dream about the Thief. In this one, they’re in a strange place that Callie doesn’t recognize. He asks Callie if the term “small death” means anything to her, and while it sounds familiar, she can’t think of why. The Thief admits that he was the enchanter that lead Mara’s sister Thalia astray, causing her death (and his own) and leading to Mara being Queen of the Flora Kingdom. Callie insists that nothing about this dream is real and then she hears voices coming from a strange pool in the room. So many voices. The Thief tells her not to worry about it, it’s not real anyway - according to her. The next morning, Des and Janus have another meeting. Des and Callie plan to leave right afte0 the meeting, but Callie has something to say first. She apologizes to Janus for getting drunk the day before, for glamouring him, and for accusing him of kidnapping her. He accepts her apology and goes so far as to swear that he will come if she ever needs help. Des and Callie return to the Night Kingdom, where a soldier approaches them. The imprisoned soldiers have been asking nonstop to talk to Callypso Lillis. When Callie appears before them, one of the prisoners approaches to talk. The soldiers tell Callie a riddle sent by the Thief, one where he seems to confirm that the dream wasn’t real, but he knows what happened during it, so it was real enough. Callie injures her hands on the iron bars of the cell as she sends the Thief a riddle of her own (not nearly as poetic) before she leaves with Des. Des teaches Callie how to heal her hands with magic and then they get a message, delivered via Des’ messengers and spies: the pixies - Malaki and Temper have found Galleghar. Malaki asks that Des meets him and Temper in Barbos. Des wants Callie to rest first, she’s exhausted from healing herself, but Callie won’t wait if there’s a chance of finding Galleghar or the Thief. They fly to Barbos and are ambushed en route by Galleghar, who tries to kill Callie. She can’t fight him with her magic since it’s so depleted, but she stabs him in the side with her dagger. Then Des comes up from behind and breaks his wings. The fight ends with Galleghar disappearing again and Des taking Callie back to the palace, but not before Galleghar sustains several punches to the head, several broken bones, and at least two stab wounds to the abdomen. Des explains to Callie that Galleghar thinks she’s the weaker mate and if he kills her, Des will likely die as well. Most mates do not live through their mate dying and Des has no desire to even try to continue living without Callie. Des takes Callie back to the human world, to her old house, where they spend the night binge watching a show and decorating, then Des proposes with a ring made of starlight. Callie says yes. The next day, they bring down Callie’s box of trophies from the people she’d glamoured over the years, bad people who she made pay in various ways. They go through the trophies one by one, Callie explaining the circumstances of each. That night Callie has another dream of the Thief. He knows she’s in California and he knows she’s now engaged. When she tries to walk away, he makes the ground roll and knocks her to the ground, explaining that the small death is his kingdom. They play by his rules there. The next day, Des takes an unwilling Callie to a seer who owes him two favors, Collin. Collin reads Callie’s future and tells her that a shadow stalks her, then Collin is taken over by the Thief, who taunts Callie again. After Collin is himself again, he reveals that if no one stops him, the Thief will get Callie and then she will wish she were dead. When they get ready to leave, Collin only owing one debt now, he grabs Des’ hand and reads him without permission. As they walk out, he yells that the darkness will betray Des. Des and Callie spend the night at a club, disassociating, but in the morning they’re back to business. The night before, Callie had another Thief dream but decided she’s done being hunted and is going to meet him head on. She cannot avoid a confrontation with him, so she will not go like prey to the slaughter, but as an adversary. When she wakes up, she writes down everything they know about the Thief which includes a lot of powers around death: he can control dreams, wear the faces/bodies of the dead, wiped dark magic, enthrall fairies, and father prophetic blood sucking casket children. Des gives her news from the Otherworld, that Fauna and Flora are still dealing with soldiers and have faced massive amounts of casualties but are fighting back as well as they can. Also, Henbane, the “king” of the banished land who forced fairies to share their magic with him, is dead. Callie has an epiphany thinking of Henbane, the Thief and Galleghar are sharing magic. It explains why none of Des’ powers work on the ensorcelled fairies (sleeping or otherwise) or on the dreams that he can’t wake Callie from. They need to return to the Otherworld but first, Callie asks for an hour alone in Venice. There she finds a wedding band made of mother of pearl, a piece of the sea for Des as he’s gifted her a bit of the night sky. She has it engraved and when she calls him back, she asks him to marry her that night. Her only request is that they marry in a spot important to him. They gather Malaki and Temper in the Otherworld and Des takes them to a Temple of Lyra ruin, Goddess of New Life, where he buried his mother. Temper officiates while Malaki acts as witness and they marry in a field of Lyra’s undying flowers. The Thief visits Callie again that night, congratulating her. He knows that she has figured out that he and Galleghar are co-bound but says that Des has discovered much more than that. She asks him where they are, they’re back in the pale room with the blood red climbing flowers and the weird pool. He gives her nonanswers but then suddenly, Malaki is trying to come into the dream. The Thief calls Malaki Dreamweaver and berates his skill, he’s nowhere near as powerful as those that came before him. Callie protects Malaki and even manages to scratch the Thief with her talon, he bleeds black, but the wound quickly heals. The Thief makes Malaki disappear from the dream and tells Callie all he wants to do is live, so far, he’s only been surviving. When Callie wakes up, Des is gone, and Malaki wants to talk to her. He asks how long the dreams have been happening (since solstice) and he’s angry that Des didn’t tell him. He’s known as the Lord of Dreams because he is the best at creating dreams and using them to get the information he wants. Galleghar never had power of dreams or sleep, meaning that the Thief is far more powerful than Galleghar ever was. And now that Malaki knows how obsessed the Thief is with Callie, he’s very worried. They’re interrupted by a guard who tells them that Des is not on the palace grounds and more of the sleeping soldiers have just arrived. Malaki thinks it’s a trap and doesn’t want Callie to go, but she’s queen now and she’s going to protect her kingdom. She meets the soldiers, who are not attacking. It seems they’re just here to taunt and provoke, which Des arrives in the middle of, wearing full kingly attire - crown included. Nothing much happens except that Callie glamours the soldiers to leave and never to hurt another fairy ever again. Once the soldiers leave, Des shows Callie to their new rooms. They’re his wedding gift to her: a set of rooms with an infinity pool for her siren that melds both of their backgrounds seamlessly. He also shows her his new tattoo, an homage to her, which he was getting when the soldiers arrived this morning. That evening as Des sleeps, Callie has another epiphany. There are not four fairy kingdoms, but six, although the other two stand apart. The Kingdom of Mar and the Kingdom of Death and Deep Earth. The Thief is the King of Death and Deep Earth. When Callie finally falls sleep after telling Des of her realization, the Thief congratulates her on her discovery. He tells her a story of how Galleghar heard he’d die one day and decided to take matters into his own hands, waking the Thief as he slumbered and bringing him to life so that he could one day return the favor for Galleghar. A short time later, Malaki knocks on the door to tell them that an informant has located Galleghar. They question the fairy, who explains that Galleghar is in the tunnels on Barbos and there are many there that will protect him, their loyalty being to the Thief of Souls. They decide to go get Galleghar and have fairies glamour them to be invisible, as well as Malaki and Temper. The four of them go to Barbos, to the tunnels that were once used to hide illicit items, and they find Galleghar there inside a huge room that the tunnels lead to. As soon as they step inside, their glamours unexpectedly melt away and Galleghar sees them. He and Des fight but Des quickly gets the upper hand, until the casket children enter the room, followed by a bunch of sleeping soldiers. Luckily, Janus has also arrived to help Callie. Before anything else can happen, the Thief inhabits the body of one of the soldiers and gives a little speech. He announces that Des has been hiding information. Des admits that he has read Galleghar’s prophecy, he knows why Galleghar sought out the Thief and how he can be stopped. Everyone is dismayed at his hiding this information away, but Callie knows that Des is loyal. She tells him that she trusts him still. Des tells Callie that he loves her before backing away from her and attacking his father. The fight starts in earnest and Callie quickly realizes that the sleeping soldiers are warded against her glamour. She’s surrounded and injured as Des fights his way back to her. Galleghar takes this chance to appear in front of Callie and nearly kills her, but Des yells out to the Thief – Des has made a deal with him. One that will keep Callie safe even as the others fight. The Thief directs Callie’s attention toward the ceiling where Des fights his father. Galleghar taunts Des, telling him that the Thief has been using his mother as a spy, but once he has Des’ wife, the Thief may be too distracted to use Des’ mother. He tells of how the tunnel shares an edge with the Kingdom of Death, Galleghar just marched in and took the Kingdom of Death for the Thief. Des feels something darker than Galleghar and knows that he is feeling the decaying, rotting magic of the Thief. The darkness surrounding him apologizes just as it closes over Des and Callie watches him disappear within it. The second she sees Des disappear, feels his magic within her fade, Callie believes that she is in a dream. But no, this is real life. Janus and Malaki are lying on the ground, taken by the Thief’s magic, but Temper is still fighting. Galleghar appears behind Callie with a knife, but Temper hits him in the head with her magic and knocks him out. Temper then really releases her magic and burns every other being within the tunnels but the five of them. Callie locks Galleghar in iron cuffs and finally fully releases the siren that she has been fighting against her whole life. She doesn’t just glamour Galleghar, she binds him to her completely. His will is now hers. She returns to the palace and breaks apart, glamouring Temper to leave her alone and allow her mourn Des in private. To mourn Des, who is dead, and to mourn Malaki and Janus as well, in their unnatural sleep. Temper calls a guard, who comes in and finds Callie at the bottom of the pool in her room. He pulls her out and tells her that the kingdom needs her! She goes to the bed and sees a note that Des left her, telling her how powerful she is and signed “your Bargainer” along with Galleghar’s full prophecy written out. It tells how his child will kill him, but the earth will not take him, and he will return. But it tells Galleghar to fear the mortal that will watch him die the second time. Callie is just deciding that she will kill the Thief and Galleghar both when there’s an interruption. Mara Verdana is alive and asking for sanctuary. Callie meets with her and Mara tells her story in full. Her sister Thalia was supposed to be queen and was much more powerful than Mara, but then a fairy minstrel came to the court. Her sister fell in love with the minstrel, even giving him her power, much to her parents’ consternation (her power was for the kingdom)! They were the only people who saw the minstrel for what he really was… a thief. They had him executed and her sister’s magic was returned but she never got over the loss of the minstrel and killed herself. Mara became queen instead and although she was not as powerful, the kingdom gave her a mate to help her. A kind, thoughtful mate, the Green Man. A decade ago, the Green Man started acting differently and Mara no longer wanted to be near him. In fact, sometimes she was repulsed by him. He started spending more time in the sacred oak grove and would often visit the sleeping women. She thought it was out of concern, but she knows the truth now. She can’t do anything about the Thief, she’s dying (she’s very weak and looks terrible) but she has faith that Callie can defeat him. That night, Temper and Callie mourn together. Callie dreams of the Thief, who imprisons her in an iron cage and conjures images of Des just to let them disappear in front of her. He tells her if she wants Des back, she’ll have to come get him “where oblivion lies”. When Callie wakes up, she thinks about this and decides there must be more than one way to the Kingdom of Death. Sure, dying would be the fastest way. But if there’s another way in, she’s going to find it. Callie calls for Galleghar to be brought before her, addressing him in front of her court. She asks him what other way there is to enter the Kingdom of Death, and he reveals that on Memnos, the island of nightmares, there is a forest. Within the forest is a pit. At the bottom of the pit is the Kingdom of Death… and the Thief. Callie asks him how many of his children he killed, Galleghar doesn’t know the number. She asks how one would punish someone who had an infinite harem of women he raped, who killed every one of his own children, who made a deal with the Thief that allowed thousands of Night soldiers to be captured and ensorcelled. She calls the bog forth and commands it to devour Galleghar. Of course, Galleghar can’t actually die yet, but Callie will let the bog have him until she needs him again. She and Temper arm themselves, donning leathers and as many weapons as they can carry. They return to Galleghar, announcing that he will lead them to the pit. He does, carrying Temper who is unable to fly on her own, and at the edge of the pit, Callie leaves her. This is a fight Callie must face alone; Temper is her backup plan and will come down if Callie doesn’t reappear in two days. Galleghar leads Callie down, down, down the pit until they reach the bottom. She sees the bodies of Night soldiers at the entrance, Galleghar confesses that he brought soldiers with him to conquer this kingdom for the Thief. As they walk through the Kingdom of Death, Callie is surprised it looks so similar to the other kingdoms, full of gardens and it even has an ocean. As she walks, she feels her connection to Des again, though it is weak. He’s not dead after all! She follows it to his body, asleep and waiting for her - as is the Thief, who is not affected by her glamour. Galleghar comes in after Callie to yell at the Thief, asking him why he doesn’t kill Callie and to fulfill his oath. Galleghar is maybe the only person surprised to find out that the Thief doesn’t care about fulfilling his end of their deal and instead, beats Galleghar violently. Callie turns away as he repeatedly cuts Galleghar, cuts that Galleghar cannot heal. The Thief reveals that Des made a bargain with him, he would become the Thief’s prisoner willingly if the Thief promised not to kill Callie or Des. Something about this strikes Callie, Des must have had a plan, and she is missing something. She tries to figure out what it is as the Thief forces her to touch him, to kiss him, and to follow him away from Des. The Thief gives Callie a tour of the palace, explaining things as he goes. She sees Kharion, the ferryman who escorts the souls of the dead to the Kingdom of Death, who is now covered in iron chains because he fought against the Thief and is now being forced to take the souls to somewhere they don’t belong. Callie sees a pier jutting into the ocean with a ship that is slowly succumbing to the elements. The Thief shows her “their” room, full of iron torture devices, but they don’t stay there. He explains that fairy kings loved to capture their queens, kidnap them and bring them to their domains, but the Kings of Death have no other choice to find a wife. They lure their queens to the Kingdom of Death by wearing the skin of the women’s loved ones and put the women into the Well of Resurrection to bind the kings and the women together. The Thief used that strategy to lure away all of his sleeping soldiers and breathed his magic into them, building an army until the shadows told him about Callie. She realizes that he’s led her to a room that she’s already seen in her dreams, the one with the weird pool inside. He finally introduces himself properly, as Euribios. Before anything else existed, it was all just darkness, and Euribios reigned over everything. He will take each kingdom over one by one until it is so again. But first, he wants Callie to be baptized in the well. He pushes her into the pool, where she sees the souls of the dead floating about in the waters. Once she is submerged, she can hear the souls. They’ve been held captive by the Thief, this pool is not supposed to be their final resting place. They want their vengeance; they want the Thief for themselves. When Callie resurfaces, the Thief lowers his wards. He wants to feel her glamour, wants to feel the pull of the siren that so many others cannot resist. So, he is susceptible to her glamour if he is not warded. She calls him into the pool with her and orders him to drown, but he has other safeguards in place in case she gave him such an order. What he doesn’t know is that Callie can feel her bond with Des growing even stronger. That the shadows told her when they came into this room that there was a trick being played, but not to tell the Thief about it. Euribios vanishes and reappears at the edge of the well, but the dead still try to pull him down deeper. And Callie’s glamour is still trying to work on him. The Thief notices the shadows acting strange and appears puzzled. Des, sitting on the Thief’s throne looking completely unfazed, announces that the shadows have betrayed the Thief! The shadows whispered secrets to Des, including the secret that even gods can die. Des leaves Callie to her work and Callie continues to call to the Thief, beckoning him deeper into the water, encouraging him to drown. He fights the enthrallment but it’s too strong. He follows her, trying to raise his wards against her as he follows but not able to do so in time. When he swallows the water of the pool, the souls in the water converge on him and rip him to pieces. Soon enough, there is a blast as the power the Thief held is released and the souls that attacked him disperse. The Thief is no longer there, dead - torn to shreds without even bones to mark his death. Des meets Callie when she leaves the pool. He explains that he figured out that the Thief wanted her on the Solstice. Once he knew the Thief’s true identity, Des also knew he wouldn’t be able to hurt him since Des’ power came from Euribios. It would have to be Callie who killed him, but Des couldn’t tell Callie since the Thief used the shadows to spy on them and would know their plans. Instead, Des made a deal with the shadows, speaking to them when he knew the Thief was otherwise occupied: when he visited Callie’s dreams. The shadows had been forced to do the Thief’s bidding before Euribios had been banished by Brennus, but when Des came along, they learned what it meant to have a friend. To be treated well. Des promised to free the shadows of the Thief in exchange for their help. He apologizes to Callie for keeping her in the dark, and that she had to face the Thief alone. They free Kharion, who starts evacuating the souls from the well and taking them to where they’re supposed to go. They free the remaining member of the previous royal household from the dungeons, it will be a long road, but the royals are already making plans to fix the damage caused by the Thief. And they see Galleghar’s dead body, no longer kept living by his deal with the Thief now that the Thief is also dead. Des and Callie leave the Kingdom of Death (not an easy task, the magic tries to keep them there) and they find a bunch of Night fairies and Callie waiting for them at the entrance of the pit. Des announces to the crowd that they have been freed of the Thief, actually Euribios, who was vanquished by their queen. They free the soldiers - including Janus and Malaki - from the prisons, they’re no longer enthralled but very confused about what has happened. When Malaki sees Temper, his wings come out. Seven years later, Des is still working as the Bargainer but also ruling the Kingdom of the Night with Callie by his side. Callie has also gone back to her day job, working with Temper at their private investigation firm. They split their time between the Kingdom of Night and their two California properties. On this night, they stay at Callie’s bungalow and things are getting amorous when Des stops and puts an ear to Callie’s stomach. He kisses her belly and smiles at her, he was just told a secret.
