“I never forgot you.” It was true. If I no longer played pretend, then the memory of Der Erlkönig remained lodged in my soul. I could no more remove him from my life than I could remove my heart and live.
“No?” He lifted a hand to brush an errant curl from my face, but hesitated. He curled his hand into a fist and dropped it back to his side. “Then you denied me, and that is an even greater betrayal than forgetting.”
I turned my head away, unable to look at him.
“First your father, then you, and now your brother,” he said. “Only Constanze keeps faith with me now. The days of the Wild Hunt draw to a close, and no one heeds its call anymore.”
“I heed it,” I said. “What do you want from me?”
“Nothing.” His voice was almost sad. “It’s too late now, Elisabeth. The game was played, and you are forfeit.”
Käthe.
“Where is my sister?” I quavered.
The Goblin King did not respond, but I sensed, rather than saw, the knife-edged smile on his lips.
There was only one place Käthe could be. Far beneath the earth, in the realm of Der Erlkönig and his goblins.
The Underground.
“The game isn’t over,” I said. “You’ve but made the opening gambit.”
This time, I made myself look him directly in the eyes. In the bright moonlight, they were two different colors: one as gray as a winter sky, the other a hazel-green, the color of moss peeking through dead loam. Wolf’s eyes. The Devil’s eyes. He could see into the darkness. He could see into me.
“I chose the wrong hand the first time.” The salt. The audition. Guilt gripped me in a vise; I had chosen Josef over Käthe. Again.
His smile grew wider. “Very good.”
“Fine,” I said. “I’ll play.” I tilted my head back. “I’ll play your game. If I find Käthe, you will let my sister go.”
“Is that all?” he said petulantly. “Not much of a game if there’s nothing interesting you’re willing to sacrifice.”
“The rules were simple, so you said. Finders, keepers. You take, I lose. You hide, I find. Whoever fails is the loser. Let’s say … best of three.”
“Very well then.” He huffed his shoulders. “But remember, Elisabeth, our childish games are behind us now.” Those wolf’s eyes glittered. “When I play, I play for keeps. Should you fail to bring your sister back to the world above by the next full moon, she will be lost to you forever.”
I nodded.
“You lost the first round,” the Goblin King said. “You must win the next two in order to win.”
I gave another nod. From Constanze’s stories, I knew how it would go. I had failed to protect my sister from the goblin men. I must not fail to find my way to her in the Underground.
“No tricks,” I said. “No cheating. No taking away my memories. No playing with time.”
The Goblin King tutted. “I make no such promises. You knew the stakes when you chose to engage with me.”
I shuddered.
“However,” he said. “I am generous, after all. I shall promise you one thing, and one thing only. Your eyes will remain open. But you cannot deny me the power to cloud the minds of others as it suits my purposes.”
I nodded again.
“Oh, Elisabeth,” he said. “You foolish, foolish girl. How easily you give me your trust.”
“I play the hand I am dealt.”
“Yes, and by my rules.” The tips of his teeth glinted. “Beware, Elisabeth. You may prefer the pretty lie to the ugly truth.”
“I am not afraid of ugliness.”
He watched me and I steeled myself against his scrutiny. “No,” he said softly. “You’re not.” He straightened his shoulders. “Until the next full moon.” He pointed to the moon in the sky, and for a moment, I thought I saw the hands of a clock pass over its face. “Or your sister is lost forever.”
“The next full moon,” I repeated.
The Goblin King moved closer. His hand cupped my chin, and I raised my eyes to his multicolored gaze. “I shall enjoy playing with you,” he said in a low voice. He bent down, and the touch of his breath against my lips was cold.
Viel Glück, Elisabeth.
Then he was gone.
* * *
“Liesl!”
The voice was muffled, as though heard through ice or water.
“Liesl! Liesl!”
I tried to open my eyes, but they were frozen shut. After a few moments, I managed to crack one open, and through the ice and tangled lashes, I could see a blurred shape running toward me.
“Hans?” I croaked.
“You’re alive!” He pressed his hand to my cheek, but I felt nothing: no warmth, no sensation of touch, nothing but light pressure. “By God, Liesl, what happened to you?”
I could not answer. Even if I could, I did not want to answer. Hans scooped me up in his arms and carried me back to the inn.
I felt nothing but cold, nothing of life, of warmth, or of Hans’s arms around my legs, beneath my back, his hands curled around my chest. It was as though I were dead. I might as well be dead. I had sacrificed my sister for my brother. Again. I deserved to die.
Käthe, I said. But Hans did not hear me.
“We must get you inside and warm immediately,” he said. “God, Liesl, what were you thinking? Your mother and Josef have been frantic with worry; Josef even threatened he would not join with Master Antonius until you were found.”