Lauki's Arc

Chapter 13 of 18

Torra came to the hall, and Conrad asked her plainly. She said her heart was her own. Conrad set down his cane. He would allow the betrothal, he said, but Lauki must appear before his court like a proper suitor. A suitor came with a gift. "Arrive empty-handed," Conrad warned, "and you shame my daughter and my house. My court will never accept you." Lauki had a sword, an oath, and a proven name. He had no ring, no jewel, nothing worthy of a formal betrothal. He had no gold to buy one. He rode instead to the old obsidian temple, where his mother once told him the fey kept their oldest treasures. Green fire burned in braziers along the black walls. Carved skulls watched from above a door marked with fey runes. Inside, the air smelled of cold stone and roses. An altar of dragon bone sat at the far end. A druid waited beside it, cloaked in dark green stitched with black and red roses. His staff was a gnarled oak branch topped by a blue crystal shaped like a dragon. His golden eyes fixed on Lauki. When he spoke, his whisper carried to every corner of the temple. "Fey'ri," he said. "You come with nothing in your hands. Yet you carry more than most who kneel here." "I need a gift," Lauki said. "A token worthy of a betrothal. I have no coin to pay." The druid, Thandrel Thornweave, tilted his head. "Coin buys nothing here." He struck his staff on the stone. The crystal glowed purple. "I have watched you a long while, half-demon. You burned a maze to keep your own name clean. You swore true at the Oath Stone when a lie would have been easier. The fey remember such things." He opened his hand. On his palm lay a ring of black gold. A heart-shaped ruby crowned it, red as a flame. Tiny roses wound around the band. "This is a gift the fey give to lovers who prove their hearts," Thandrel said. "It cannot be bought or stolen. It only stays on the hand of one who loves true. Give it to the one you swore for." Lauki took the ring. It was warm against his skin, as if it knew his fire. "Why give this to me?" "Because you asked for a gift to prove your love," the druid said. "A false heart could never carry it. Yours can." His golden eyes narrowed. "But mark me. The fey do not give without a price you will learn later. Wear that knowing it binds you deeper than any vow." Lauki closed his fist around the ring. He had walked in empty-handed. He would ride to Conrad's court with a token no lord could match. The betrothal was within reach now. But the druid's warning sat in his chest like a coal, and he did not know what the fey would come to collect.