The Iron Seer

(Bonus) Chapter 24 - Beyond the Broken Mirror

Rowan used a wickedly sharp dagger to slice through the gossamer strands encasing my body in a sticky cocoon. He'd all but carried me back out of the shop and into the street, dismissing the seething spider, who was bound to follow his order that I be allowed to leave the shop unharmed. I wasn't sure whether to feel gratitude and relief at being rescued, or annoyance because it had been him who'd saved my life.

"What, no kiss?" he asked sardonically, still busying himself with the knife, dark head bent over my feet as he released my legs from their binding. "The least you can do is show a little gratitude."

Giving the top of his head a sour look, I said stiffly, "I appreciate it." I did owe him something now. His flippant manner concealed it - he was no doubt calculating how he could use my debt to him to his advantage. I wouldn't be surprised if he'd planned this.

Rowan glanced up, gazing thoughtfully at me. "Hostility doesn't suit you, you know," he said, before standing and stowing away the dagger. He offered me his hand, palm up, to help me to my feet. "Think about it this way. Given the choice between being eaten and being rescued by me - come on, it's fairly easy."

"Well..." I began darkly, disregarding his hand and standing on my own. He was about the same height as Ash, and I had to tip my head back slightly to look at him, despite my own significant height.

He laughed, looking down at me. His face was shadowed in the twilight of the Tir Na Nog night, his eyes a dark and shining blue like faery fire. "In any case, I'll escort you back to the castle. Your friends are worried about you."

"You've seen Ti and Briskie?"

"Your phouka friend came to me for help when you didn't come back to the palace by nightfall. What did you do to get Mistress Spinner's webs all in a wad, anyway?"

I grimaced. "I refused to pay for a dress that I didn't need. Snowberry tricked me into going inside that shop by myself, and then I was locked inside for hours."

Rowan's eyes glinted. "Interesting. She must really have it out for you."

"What do you mean?"

As Rowan began strolling back toward the palace, hands casually tucked into his pockets, I listened to him talk, following alongside him. "The Spinner comes from an ancient line of Jorōgumo, a rare species of fey beginning with the first Queen of Spiders herself, Arachne. You know the story of Arachne - a weaving contest gone wrong, and she was turned into a spider. Well, every four-hundred years, a new Queen of Spiders is born, and the old one dies. Turns out Mistress Spinner only has a little bit of time left, so she's gorging herself on as many hapless victims as come her way to give sustenance to her offspring. Of course, longtime customers of hers, like Snowberry, know this and know to avoid her. That she set you up with Mistress Spinner in itself shows that she was exploiting your ignorance of the city and its inhabitants in the hopes that you would be killed." He glanced sidelong at me, waiting for my reaction.

I absorbed this in silence. Snowberry would go as far as to have me killed - out of her jealousy for Ash, perhaps hoping that without me around she would be able to gain his attention again. She would do anything to get what she wanted.

"You surprise me, Ariella." Rowan's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "I'd thought you were smarter than to let Snowberry trick you."

"She said she had information about Ash." Information that I would not be getting from her, but there was one person - the person walking beside me - who could still offer it. I couldn't believe I was thinking it: I was in debt to Rowan, he had saved me, knew what I wanted to know, and at this point my only choice was to rely on him, as desperate as I was.