Niall went back to pounding. After a time he asked, "So what happened to this human male so worthy of the love of a Fae woman?"
"My brother killed him."
Niall stopped. "The very brother who sent you here? Why?"
"Because Dubhan dared to touch me."
"The man was your slave, love. He wouldn’t have had a choice."
Alanna’s face grew cold again. "You see everything through Shifter eyes. Dubhan was my brother’s slave, so of course you believe I forced him to service me. I told you, I loved him. I freed him, I fled with him to the human world, and we became lovers. Until my brother found us."
"You sneaked out of the Faerie realms to become lover to a human?" Niall’s astonishment and respect for her rose. "You are an amazing and brave lass."
"I was foolish, as it turned out. I should have sent him off and not tried to stay with him. Kieran would have forgotten about one slave in time, but he never forgave me for letting a lesser being touch me."
"Which is why he sent you here to become hostage to a Shifter."
"I am my brother’s prisoner and in disgrace. I am forced to do his bidding."
"Does he not fear that while you’re in the human world you’ll break away and flee him?"
Alanna shrugged. "I have nowhere to go, and unlike Shifters, I cannot pass for a human. The spell that lets me resist iron will wear off." She shivered. "And it is so cold here."
Niall rose, fetched the woolen cloak he’d thrown aside when he’d started to work, and draped it over her shoulders. She looked up in surprise, jerking her hand away when his brushed hers.
He’d thought her overly slender when she first walked in, but now he saw that this was a trick of the loose-flowing garments. Her bosom was round and full, her waist nipped in above strong hips. Her face was delicate, a little too pointed for Niall’s taste, but her dark eyes drew him in. Her braids outlined her pointed ears, but the ears didn’t look as strange and unnatural close up. She was flesh, not cold marble, her skin flushing as she warmed from the fire and the cloak.
"You could pass for human," Niall said as he went back to the forge.
"Unlikely. Look at me."
"I just did." Niall took up the heated bar with his tongs and tapped the rapidly cooling metal. "If you wore your hair loose to hide your ears and dressed in human clothes instead of fancy frippery, no one would look twice." He considered as he flipped the bar. "No, they’d look twice, because you’re a beautiful woman, but unless you shouted it, I don’t believe they’d realize you were Fae. Most humans don’t believe in the Fae any longer, anyway. They pretend to--they avoid the stone circles at night and put out milk to appease the sprites, but deep down, they believe only in hard work, exhaustion, and God. Bless them."
"You care for them," Alanna said, sounding surprised. "But you’re Shifter."
"If you lived in the human world before, you might have noticed that Shifters are not all that thick on the ground. We might be stronger and more cunning than humans, we might be able to change into ferocious beasts when we wish to, but we need humans in order to survive."
"Do the humans in this village know you’re Shifter?"
Niall shrugged. "They know I’m different, but as I said, they don’t much believe in the other anymore. But they know I’m a good smith and that the villages round about get left in peace now that I live here."
"You’re good to them."
"It’s survival, love. We each have what the other needs. ’Tis the only way Shifters are going to last."
"The Fae chose to retreat." Alanna said it almost to herself, as though she didn’t expect an answer. "We sought the mists of Faerie."
"Aye, that you did."
She fell silent, but Alanna was difficult to ignore as he continued work, and not just because of the distinct Fae smell, which didn’t seem so terrible now. Perhaps he was growing used to it.
Niall sensed her presence like a bright light--her beauty, her sorrow, her courage in coming here when she knew she’d likely lose her life. Fae princes could be mean bastards, and the fact that she’d defied this Kieran about the human slave spoke much of her.
Once Niall had the metal thin enough, he heated it again, ready to shape it. As he set the blade on the anvil and took up his hammer, he felt her breath on his shoulder.
"Wait."
"Metal’s hot, lass. It won’t wait."
"I need to layer in some spells."
His eyes narrowed. "What is this sword for? For ceremony, I know, not fighting, but what sort of ceremony, exactly?"
"I’m not certain myself."
Niall’s grip tightened on his hammer. "Don’t lie to me, lass. If you’re putting in the spells, you know what they do."
"I cannot tell you. Please, if you know, then your sons will die."
"I think they’ll die anyway, and I think you know that too. Tell me this much--is the sword meant to hurt Shifters?"
Alanna said nothing, but the look in her eyes spoke volumes. He read guilt there, anguish, grief, anger.
Niall shoved the bar from the anvil with a clatter. He sat down on the floor, his hammer falling to his side. "You’re asking me to save my sons by forging a weapon against Shifters? What kind of monster are you?"
Alanna sank to her knees beside him, her silks whispering across his skin. "Niall of Baile Icin, I ask you to please trust me. Make the sword. All will be well."
Niall growled. "Your bastard brother will slaughter my boys the minute he gets this piece of metal in his hands. He knows I’ll kill you in retaliation, and then he’ll kill me, and laugh about it. That is how things will play out."
Alanna shook her head, her braids touching his bare shoulders. "Not if you trust me. I cannot tell you everything, but you must make the sword the way I have instructed." She put her hand on his shoulder--Fae, who didn’t like to touch. "Please, Niall."
"And why should I trust you? Because you once bedded a human? Should I believe you have compassion for the whole world then?"
"Because of a vow I once made. I will never let your children come to harm. I promise."
Fae had a way of enchanting, of charming. Niall knew that, had experienced it firsthand. But Alanna’s pleading look was different somehow from the Fae who’d once spelled Shifters to be slaves to them. Fae charmed by being too brightly beautiful, too desirable, stirring a person into a frenzy before they knew what happened. Alanna didn’t make Niall feel frenzied or dazzled. He was angry and sick, tired and sad.