Even his kind could make dire mistakes.
“Oh, my dear,” Claudia said. She sat beside Eden, pitying her, yet knowing she must be ruthless. “I swore to your father than I would never reveal what I am about to tell you. My brother did a terrible thing when he promised you to that creature, and perhaps it is not too late to undo the damage he caused.”
“Papa,” Eden whispered. “What are you saying?”
Claudia sighed. “It will not be easy for you to hear. You must be very strong, dearest Niece.” She glanced up the fell. “The man you knew as Hartley Shaw has worn many faces. Six years ago, he was Cornelius Fleming. But I did not recognize what he was. It was only much later, when your father told me all, that I understood. And it has taken me years to discover the handful of facts and legends that have enabled me to uncover his nature and his purpose here.”
Eden put on a brave face. “He told me he was… Cornelius. He admitted—”
“That he had lied to you, again and again?” She took Eden’s cold hand between her own. “Did he also tell you that he is the last of what were once called the Fair Folk, Faeries, Fee, Fane—immortal, soulless creatures incapable of love or human virtue? That he left his forest only to obtain a son from a mortal woman, by any means necessary—and that he intends to take Donal from you?”
Eden’s eyes stared at nothing, as if the pictures within her own mind blotted out reality. “Faeries?”
“They are not like the fairies in the childish stories you have heard. Not mischievous and tiny and easily frightened away. They were a powerful, sorcerous race mat once inhabited the earth, but fled when men came. Only a few remained. The one who now calls himself Hartley had many names over many centuries. He has been called Kernunnos, and Cocidius, and Hern—pagan words from savage times, when men were little more than beasts themselves.” She stroked Eden’s lifeless hand. “Did you not wonder why your father, so avid a sportsman, never hunted at Hartsmere until just before Cornelius appeared? This Hern protected the forest at Hartsmere. He hated men, Eden—he still does. He is like the beasts he guards.” She closed her eyes. “God help the man who enters that forest uninvited.”
Eden tried to stand, but Claudia was afraid she would fall. She kept a hard grip on Eden’s arm.
“You must listen, Eden. These Fair Folk have been known since time began for stealing human children. They have few weaknesses, but one is an attraction to mortal emotion. They long to experience what they do not possess, but they discard that which they desired when it is no longer new and fascinating.”
“He… wants to take my son?”
“The Faerie race have very few offspring of their own, and so they seek mortal men and women as mates to produce half-breed children. For centuries this Hern avoided men and remained in his forest. But something happened that caused him to seek a mate so that he could sire a child. His motives I do not pretend to understand. But I do know how he found you, Eden.”
“Papa.”
“Yes. Your father was a weak man, Eden. One day, he made the foolish mistake of hunting near the wood at Hartsmere, even though the Flemings had not done so in memory. He had been told, like all the heirs of Hartsmere, that hunting in the dale was forbidden, and that the prosperity of the family and the dale depended upon keeping this pact.”
“The legends,” Eden said dully. “The ones the dalesmen spoke of.”
“Indeed.” Claudia shuddered with her own dark memories. “But your father scoffed at the stories. I had not heard them myself, since the secret was kept strictly among the lords and their heirs, but I had… other reasons for avoiding Hartsmere. I remained with you there after Cornelius arrived because I sensed that something was wrong and desired to protect you. In that I failed.”
“But Papa—”
“He pursued a hare to the edge of the forest, and then saw a great stag. He could not resist the chance to hunt such a rare creature. But when he followed it into the wood, he was met by a man—a man who commanded the beasts and bore a set of antlers upon his head. This creature, Hern, told him that he must sacrifice his own daughter to bear Hern a son, or suffer the loss of everything he owned, and worse. And he revealed his inhuman powers so that your father could not doubt him capable of carrying out his threats.