Ivy's Choice (The Fey Quartet Book 3) by Emily Larkin Page A

him was so intense that she curled her fingers into her palms.
    “Sacrifices?” Hazel said.
    “Human sacrifices.” Ironfist’s gravelly voice made the words sound even more terrible than they were. “Larkspur, please continue. What else did you learn from Aleyn?”
    “He hates Hugh and Tam for being the Dappleward heirs, and he hates you for your loyalty and your integrity. He enjoyed seeing Hugh’s suffering. It . . . delighted him.”
    Ivy glanced at Hugh. He looked as if he tasted bile in his mouth.
    “Does he know Hugh changes back into a man for a few hours each night?” Ironfist asked.
    Larkspur shook her head. “He seemed not to.” She looked at Hazel. “He’s afraid of you.”
    “Me? Why on earth?”
    “Because no one’s asked you the right question.”
    Tam leaned forward. “What’s the right question?”
    “Instead of asking where Hugh is, you should have asked where to find the man who harmed him.”
    Tam’s gaze fastened on Hazel. “Where, Hazel? Where is that man?”
    Hazel blinked. Her eyes widened. “Oh . . . Oh, it is Aleyn.”
    Tam settled back on his stool, grim satisfaction on his face.
    “How does Aleyn know about our Faerie gifts?” Ivy asked. “Your father said he’d only tell you and the Ironfists.”
    “Oh . . .” Tam grimaced, and rubbed his face. “It was when Hazel arrived. Aleyn was so desperate to help find Hugh and he begged to be allowed in on that meeting, and . . .” He blew out his breath. “We decided to tell him. He is family.”
    “Is Hazel in danger?” Ivy asked.
    Tam looked sharply at Larkspur.
    Larkspur hesitated. “Aleyn is worried she’ll expose him.”
    Ivy took that as a Yes . From the expression on Tam’s face, so did he. He reached for Hazel’s hand across the table. “Haze l— ”
    “I’m in no danger,” Hazel said. “Not with you and Cadoc here.”
    Tam didn’t look reassured. Nor did he release Hazel’s hand. “If Aleyn offers you anything to drin k— ”
    “Of course I shan’t drink it!”
    Ironfist leaned forward. “Larkspur, did you learn anything else about the spell that binds Hugh?”
    “The bargain isn’t complete yet. Aleyn sacrificed a roebuck on the altar and mixed its blood with water. Drinking that made Hugh change shape, but Hugh won’t be fully bound until a second sacrifice is performed. A human sacrifice.”
    “What’s Aleyn waiting for?” Tam asked. “Is it the human sacrifice? Can’t he bring himself to do it?”
    Larkspur shook her head. “He’s waiting because he wants to get you, too.”
    Tam flinched slightly. “Me?”
    “Tam . . .” Hazel said, and there was a note in her voice that Ivy had never heard before: fear.
    Tam lifted Hazel’s hand and turned it over and kissed her palm. “Don’t worry about me.”
    Ivy’s chest contracted in a moment of intense envy. To have a man look at her the way Tam was looking at Hazel.
    No, not any man: Hugh.
    She glanced at Hugh. He was staring at her, and the expression on his face, even shadowed as it was . . .
    Her lungs stopped working. The breath dried up in her throat.
    Ivy broke the glance hastily and stared down at the table. I am not the wife for Hugh Dappleward. He needs a stronger woman than I . The regret, at that moment, was excruciating.
    And then she remembered Larkspur, sitting alongside her. Ivy’s thoughts lurched to a frozen, horrified halt. Think of something else.
    “Can the spell be broken?” Ironfist asked.
    Ivy focused intently on the question— Yes, can it? —and shoved the regret to the very back of her brain.
    There was a brief pause before Larkspur answered Ironfist’s question. “Yes. By killing Aleyn, or . . . something to do with a dead Faerie prince and a barrow. I didn’t understand that.”
    From the men’s faces, Ivy thought they understood.
    “Killing Aleyn will do it?” Hazel said.
    Larkspur nodded. “Aleyn promised to sacrifice his first-born child to the dréor. He sealed the pact