Ergency alliance eting at 3 AM because apparently prophetic nightmares didn’t respect business hours, and when I explained what I’d seen everyone’s expressions ranged from grim to catastrophic.
"The Root is coming early." Morgana pulled up her research. "Your vision confirms what Cassia’s notes suggested. It doesn’t wait for optimal conditions. It cos when it senses opportunity."
Senses opportunity. Right. And destroying the demon had apparently sent up a giant flag that said hey ancient evil, there’s a hybrid here who can break bindings, co kill her.
Great. Very sustainable life choice.
"We’re out of ti." Marcus’s voice was flat. "The Fae gave us thirty days. We have sixteen left. If The Root is coming in weeks or days we need to decide now."
Decide now. Accept the Fae alliance and swear fealty forever or face ancient primordial darkness with one hundred seventeen fighters and hope.
Not really a choice. More like picking which way we wanted to die.
"We can’t swear fealty to the Fae." Kael’s voice was firm. "That’s—Selene, that ans you belong to them. Forever. They could command you to do anything. Leave the pack. Leave us. Kill for them. You’d have no choice."
No choice. Right. Fae fealty bonds were absolute. Once sworn they couldn’t be broken except by death.
"We also can’t fight The Root alone." I heard my voice go quiet. "You’ve seen Morgana’s research. Three civilizations. Two Fae courts. Countless thousands dead. And we think one hundred seventeen fighters can succeed where they failed?"
Silence because we all knew the answer.
"There has to be another option." Riven’s voice stayed calm but I caught his desperation through the bond. "So middle ground. So negotiation."
Middle ground. Right. Except we’d spent two weeks trying to find one and we were out of ti and ideas.
"I’ll do it." The words ca out before I could stop them. "I’ll swear fealty to the Fae. We get their help. We fight The Root. We win."
"No." Four voices through the bonds, overwhelming in their united rejection.
"Do we have a better option?" The question ca out harsher than I ant. "Because I’m listening. Really. If there’s a way to fight ancient evil without Fae help I would love to hear it."
More silence.
"This isn’t your decision alone." Kael’s voice was controlled. Too controlled. "We’re bonded. All five of us. What affects you affects all of us."
"Which is exactly why I have to do it." I stood because sitting while arguing seed wrong. "The Root is coming for specifically. Because I destroyed the demon. Because I’m Hybrid Queen. If I don’t get strong enough to fight it, we all die anyway. At least this way we have a chance."
A chance. Right. A chance that involved belonging to the Fae forever but at least we’d be alive.
Through the bonds all four alphas were broadcasting variations of absolute fury wrapped in terror, and managing their emotions while also managing my own was like juggling fire except the fire was screaming.
"There has to be—" Draven started but I cut him off.
"There isn’t." My voice ca out flat. Final. "We’re out of ti. We’re out of options. The Root is coming and I’m not strong enough to fight it alone. So either I swear fealty and get Fae training or we all die and The Root consus North Arica. Those are our choices."
Those were our choices. Binary. Simple. Terrible.
"How do we know the Fae will even keep their word?" Thorne’s rough voice was skeptical. "They could take your oath and leave us to die anyway."
"We don’t." Honest answer. "But they want The Root defeated as much as we do. They’ve already lost two courts to it. This is—" I had to stop because the word stuck in my throat. "This is survival. For everyone."
Survival for everyone. Right. No pressure.
The alliance voted. One hundred seventeen fighters deciding whether their Hybrid Queen should sell herself to the Fae to save them all.
The vote was unanimous. Yes.
Which ant either they all believed this was necessary or they were all too terrified of The Root to care about the cost.
Probably both.
Eirlys appeared the next morning like they’d been waiting—which they probably had, Fae weren’t exactly known for respecting privacy—and when I told them my decision their smile was sharp enough to cut.
"Wise choice, Hybrid Queen." They pulled out the sa ancient scroll. "The oath is binding. Once sworn it cannot be broken. You will serve the Seelie Court until death. You will obey our commands. You will—"
"I get it." I cut them off because listening to the terms of my servitude seed counterproductive. "Let’s just do this before I change my mind."
Before I changed my mind. Right. Like I had that luxury.
The oath was in a language I didn’t recognize but sohow understood—Old Fae, probably, or sothing even older—and as Eirlys spoke each word I had to repeat it.
The first word tasted like starlight and iron.
The second burned going down my throat.
By the fifth word my skin was glowing with symbols I couldn’t read, and through the bonds all four alphas were screaming my na but I couldn’t stop, the magic had caught and wouldn’t let go until the oath completed.
"I, Selene Kane, Hybrid Queen—" The words ca out in my voice and sothing else layered beneath it. "Do swear fealty to the Seelie Court. My power is theirs. My will is theirs. My life is theirs until death claims or they release , whichever cos first."
The final word locked into place and I felt it—chains of pure magic wrapping around my consciousness, binding to the Fae Court with threads stronger than steel.
Not painful. Worse than painful. Absolute. Unbreakable. Forever.
I tried to move my hand without permission from the oath and couldn’t. Tried to speak against the binding and the words stuck in my throat. The oath had complete control.
"The binding is sealed." Eirlys’s voice held satisfaction. "You are ours now, Hybrid Queen. And we will make you into the weapon this world needs."
The weapon this world needs. Right. Because I was property now. A tool. Owned.
Through the bonds I felt Kael’s rage and Riven’s horror and Thorne’s feral need to rip the Fae apart and Draven’s clinical assessnt that we’d just made the worst mistake of our lives.
Yeah. Probably.
Through the bonds I felt all four alphas responding—Kael’s controlled fury, Riven’s strategic horror, Thorne’s feral rage, Draven’s clinical assessnt that we’d just made a deal with sothing potentially worse than The Root.
Yeah. Probably.
"Training begins imdiately." Eirlys’s voice carried weight now. Command. "The Root will erge within weeks. You must be ready."
Ready. Right. Ready to fight ancient primordial darkness that had destroyed civilizations.
No pressure.
Except that night when I tried to sleep, I felt it again. The Root. Closer now. Moving through the spaces between realities, hunting, searching.
And it was—
Aware of . Specifically . Could feel the oath I’d just sworn, the power I’d just gained access to.
Was coming faster because of it.
I’d made us a target. Again. By trying to get strong enough to fight it I’d drawn its attention.
Great. Fantastic. Why did every solution create worse problems?
Through the bonds Kael pulled closer. "We’ll figure it out. Sa as we’ve figured out everything else."
Sa as we’d figured out everything else. With chaos and casualties and sohow surviving.
Yeah. That was reassuring.
The Root was coming.
I was bound to the Fae.
And we had maybe weeks to prepare for the fight that would determine whether supernatural creatures survived or went extinct.
Starting tomorrow.
Tonight I just held onto my mates and tried not to think about the chains around my consciousness that would never break.
Forever was a really long ti.
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