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It was raining. The streets of the human city he was in wafting stink around him. Jude had lived here during her exile and she had adapted to it but this was still so different from what he was used to that it made him hesitate each time he came to visit.
He and Jude had come here together when Vivienne had informed them that Oak was sick and she didn’t know what to do. She didn’t want to bring him to Elfhame because it would be a threat to him. For someone to learn that their sole heir was vulnerable and within range of access, it was a risk they weren’t willing to take. She couldn’t take him to a doctor for mortals either, horns and hooves tended to frighten them away.
It left him and Jude making the trip to see them instead. Vivienne had taken the chance to see Heather and spend time just the two of them at Jude’s insistence. Taryn, for the sake of her unborn child, was staying away until they knew what sickness was ailing young Oak.
Jude had sent him out an hour ago for medicine. Down the street, three turns, and down another five blocks. A pharmacy and a note with what medication to get for him. She said it should only take him 30 minutes. It might have, had he not gotten himself lost and needed to find a map.
As it was, Cardan was bag in hand and headed back to where his wife and nephew were waiting. He was sure Jude would be lecturing him for his timeliness the moment he stepped in through the door. His wife, ever with something to say. Not that he would ever change that fact about her. He loved it. He loved everything she had to say even when it was an insult to him.
He noticed one turn from their temporary home that he was being followed.
Cardan intentionally turned the wrong direction. Letting the person following him make the bend as well. Cardan held himself hidden as the man walked past. Giving an extra moment before he removed himself from the wall he’d tucked himself against. The lessons he’d taken from Jude’s shadows were paying off for him now. At least, he hoped.
The man didn’t turn to look for him. He was in the clear.
He’d turned to head back to his family only to come nearly running directly into another person. Dark rain jacket soaked through while his own hoodie was sodden with the downpour.
“Sorry, friend.”
Cardan nodded to the man. Giving what he hoped would pass for a polite human interaction before sidestepping the man.
Only to be blocked off.
“Hey, you lost?”
He tilted his head a bit at the man.
“Why would you assume that?”
The man had a cap on his head that hid his eyes in shadow but still Cardan could feel the way he was looking at him. An expression that humans would say was an “are you serious?” one.
“You look like a drowned cat out here.”
Ah. The cat comparison. How Jude loved to comment upon it.
“My wife would agree with you. I should be getting home to her.”
He held the bag up as a gesture to show his urgency. He didn’t want to waste more time out here when he had places to be. Jude was going to be more upset with him by the moment but she had also given him express orders to be nice while he was out and pretending to be human.
“I should be going now.”
A hand came down on his shoulder.
“I’m sure Jude is just fine without you.”
Cardan stilled. Turning back to the man and trying again to see his face.
“What did you just say?”
“Kidnapping a girl and making her your wife? What kind of sick slavery is that.”
He balked at the notion the man was giving.
“Your pardon? I have not forced her to marry me. She chose—”
“That’s not what her father says.”
Father.
Jude’s father.
Who hated the crown.
“Madoc.”
He tried to pull away again but the grip was stronger. He was foolish when he tried to move around. He’d put himself between the man and the wall. He was trapped.
“My girls were stolen by Faeries eighteen years ago. They should be here, graduating highschool and living their lives. Instead they’re dead with your kind.”
There was a tree on the other side of the street. He wasn’t sure he could get its branches to reach him.
“I’ve been waiting for years to get my hands on one of the Folk. Listening to stories about people goin’ missing. Gold showin’ up. And then I’m at a bar one night, drinking my sorrow into a glass because it should have been my youngest’s birthday.”
“Tell me their names and if they are alive I can offer them returned to you.”
He could figure out a way to make it happen. Of that, he had no doubt.
“I meet another father who lost his little girls. He tells me one of ‘em got forced to marry the Wicked King of Elfhame. How he knew what you looked like, I don’t know. How he even knew you’d be here is beyond me. But he was right.”
Madoc knew. Madoc planned this.
The only way—
“Madoc poisoned Oak.”
To make Oak sick. To know who Vivienne would call. To know that Jude would stay with her brother. That it would be him who was sent to get medicine.
“You can’t lie your way out of this.”
This man was a fool. He didn’t see he was being manipulated.
“Faeries can’t lie.”
Which meant Madoc either genuinely believed that he’d stolen Jude against her will or that this man had grievously misunderstood what was said.
“Shut up.”
Cardan felt something press against his stomach. The man’s hand was in his pocket. He recognized the motion and appearance from the movies Jude and her sisters had made him watch. From the action films Oak had insisted on seeing.
Cardan knew, now, how to recognize a gun.
“See this other father, he told me something else.”
Cardan felt the smile of his nerves. The grin of false confidence he did not feel. He couldn’t kill this man. A grieving human who was trying to get revenge for his daughters. He could honor that. He could respect that.
He did not want to die.
“And what was that?”
“He told me how to kill you.”
The gun pressed against him more. He tried to keep his breathing steady. He could find a way to talk himself out of this.
“I can heal myself. Off the land. You won’t kill me with that. It’s useless against me and my magic.”
The man only grinned.
“Unless the bullet is made of iron.”
In seconds Cardan felt the world turn white around him. Blinding pain tearing through his abdomen and a ringing in his ears. The air driven out of his lungs and in moments the hand holding him in place and presence in front of him was gone. He was on his knees between one blink and another. Chocking on lungs that refused to work and forcing his body to listen to him.
He knew the human world. He knew what a gunshot would attract.
Attention he did not need. Attention he could not afford.
With his heart beating wildly in his chest, Cardan gripped his middle. Feeling his blood surging past his fingers and pulsing heat against his skin. He had to stop the blood. He needed the land to help him but his magic felt too far away. His focus was shattered. His magic was dulled by the metal in his body.
It burned inside of him. Not enough to stop the blood.
Cardan stumbled forward. Using the wall as a crutch and forcing his body to obey him. He needed to get to Jude before he could collapse. Before the pain that felt as if it was eating him from the inside out got the better of him.
He forced his vision to straighten. To allow him to walk the street that was now familiar. To make it to where his wife was waiting. The bag was still clutched in his hand even though he could barely feel his fingers. His body was unwilling to let it go.
He wasn’t supposed to take long. The door was left unlocked for him.
Cardan climbed the steps on shaking legs. His hoodie was black. He wasn’t even sure if the blood could be seen. His head was turning light. His hand fumbling for the doorknob before he finally managed to grip it enough to turn.
“Finally!”
Her voice was muffled. He thought he saw her standing up from the couch.
“I was beginning to believe you got lost.”
She sounded too far away. He couldn’t convince his body to move.
“You are soaked like a drowned cat, wait there, I’ll get you a towel so you don’t drip all over everything.”
She wanted him to wait.
His heart was hammering against his ribs. The world tipping around him. The doorway no longer felt strong enough to hold him.
He didn’t know why everything looked so dark.
His knees hitting the cold tiel of the entrance shocked some awareness back into him. Hearing Jude shout his name brought more. Her hands were on him in moments. Feeling like a burning heat against the too cool of his face.
“Cardan? Look at me. What’s wrong?”
The air felt too thin to breathe let alone speak. The most he could do was pull away the hand that had been wrapped against his middle. Showing her the red that slicked over all of it.
“Oh my god. The gunshot.”
She’d heard it. He tried to nod.
“Use the land. Do you feel it? Cardan?” Use the land. It will still answer you here.”
He shook his head to her. Letting Jude guide his body and shift him so that he was laying down on the ground. So that she was hovering above him.
“What do you mean no?”
He had to tell her. She needed to know.
“Iron.” The word barely choked from his throat. “Trap. Madoc. He poisoned Oak to…to…”
He could feel his heart slowing down. Jude’s hands were back at his face.
“Cardan. Cardan, no. Look at me. Stay with me.”
He was scaring her.
He did not want to scare her.
“Help me?”
He didn’t mean to sound so pathetic. He could feel her putting pressure on his stomach. He could see her fumbling for her phone.
“Just hold on. I’m going to get you help. You’re going to be okay.”
He tried to laugh. He felt tears in his eyes.
“How I wish you couldn’t lie.”
“Cardan?” She looked terrified. “I love you.”
He was dying.
He tried to say it back. The words catching in his throat. Clotting against the heat of blood. He tried to cough. He felt it splatter on his chin. The pain burned worse. He felt tremors through his limbs. He was too cold. He was sweating.
“Just hold on. Stay with me. Help is coming. I’m right here.”
His eyes wouldn’t focus. He couldn’t see her. She was there but he couldn’t see her.
“I love you.”
If he could only say one more truth, let it be that.
“I love you too. So stay with me. Okay? Cardan? Do you hear me?
Please let it be that.
“I’m sorry…”
Please.
“I love—"
Just let it be that.