Birthright

by E.J. Stevens

  “So,” I said, changing the subject. “Where should we start?”

  I stepped to the side, revealing a huge fireplace, and Skillywidden’s eyes widened. The thing was so large that three men could stand inside it without bumping their heads.

  “I figured you’d call dibs on the hearth,” I said.

  “Aye,” he said, eyes gleaming.

  Skilly made a beeline for the hearth, and I went to a wall of books. I’d leafed through the books in the court’s treasure room, but they’d been disappointingly boring. Maybe my uncle kept the good stuff here on his own personal bookshelves.

  I reached toward one of the shelves when the entire room began to vibrate. A scraping sound came from behind me, and I spun on my heel in time to see the rear wall of the hearth slide away into a recess in the wall.

  “Skilly?” I asked, eyes wide.

  The brownie’s head popped up from the opening, and I let out the breath I’d been holding.

  “Look at this,” he said, grinning from ear to ear.

  I inched forward, arms loose at my side, weight shifted to the balls of my feet. When I reached the fireplace, I gasped. The rear wall had slid away to reveal a staircase lit sparingly with fey lanterns.

  “The hearth’s a fake,” I said, gaping at the staircase.

  Skillywidden nodded.

  “Aye, no chimney,” he said, knocking his knuckles on the stone above our heads.

  “I guess we should see what’s down there,” I said, eyes darting to the dimly lit stairs.

  Skilly rubbed his hands together, and nodded.

  “Aye, lass, we should.”

  Chapter 48

  I imagined a treasure hoard, or maybe a stash of faerie pornography. Instead, we’d found a dungeon.

  “Is anyone down here?” I asked, my voice echoing down the hall.

  “Ye think that’s a good idea, lass?” Skillywidden asked. “Not sure we want to wake whatever needs cagin’ in iron.”

  He was right about the iron. The place was full of it. Every cell had iron bars set into the stone floor and ceiling, broken only by support pillars and a gate made of more iron bars.

  Skilly kept to the center of the tunnel, as far from the iron bars as he could manage. He already looked pale. Even with my human blood, I was already getting a headache. We’d have to speed up our search before Skilly passed out. Not that I wanted to linger. This place gave me the creeps.

  A raspy, disembodied whisper floated down the tunnel, and I paused. I cocked my head to the side, and listened.

  “Do you hear that?” I asked.

  “Aye,” Skillywidden said. “Though it be hard to believe any faerie could be down here for long.”

  “You stand watch,” I said. “If anyone comes down those stairs, give me a signal, then hide.”

  It would be safer for Skillywidden if he stayed where he was. Plus, he could holler if he heard my uncle or any of his guards returning.

  I hurried forward, but kept my eyes peeled. I’d met wisps with iron sickness in Jinx’s father’s junkyard, and it wasn’t pretty. It was like the iron made them go feral. I reached for one of my blades. If there were fae down here, they might be violent.

  I turned a corner, weapon raised in guard position, and stopped dead in my tracks. There were two men chained together in the cell to my left. I blinked, but it wasn’t an illusion.

  “Princess?” Torn asked, voice ragged.

  His voice must have been the whisper we’d heard before.

  “I…but…” I started, and then I was reaching for my lock picks.

  “Took you long enough, Princess,” Torn said.

  My hands shook. I couldn’t believe that Ceff and Torn were here within reach. What were they doing in my uncle’s dungeon?

  As soon as I picked the lock, I pulled open the metal grate and tore at the chains that bound my friends to the wall of their cell. I noted absently that the iron chains burned my hands, even through my gloves. I’d remarked recently to my uncle on how my blades, with a much lesser iron content than these chains apparently, had begun to make my wrists and hands ache. I still wore them, but I wondered how much longer I could keep that up. Faerie had changed me, and not all of those changes were for the best.

  I hadn’t used my blades much in recent weeks—or had it been months?—but I couldn’t bring myself to discard them, not yet. As my wisp powers had grown, the cold iron of the blades had begun to make my wrists and forearms ache. I would have to dispose of them soon, but for now, they were a powerful weapon against the pureblood fae. Not that I needed mere weapons, not any longer. I was a walking weapon—my uncle had made sure of that.

  Torn cleared his throat, put a stop to my rambling thoughts.

  “The lock, Princess,” Torn said, pointing to where their chains were padlocked to a ring that was bolted to the wall above their heads. “Pick the lock.”

  I nodded, and fumbled with the lock, finally managing to open the padlock, and pulled the chains away. Ceff didn’t move.

  “Please tell me he’s alive,” I said. I grabbed Ceff by the shoulder, and shook him gently. “Ceff? Ceff? Can you hear me? It’s me, Ivy.” I turned wild eyes on Torn, my heart trying to beat its way out of my chest. “Is he alive?”

  “Yes, he was alive last I checked,” he said. “But he wouldn’t have made it much longer. He’s more sensitive to iron. Probably from being bound in iron chains by the each uisge.”

  Torn was right. Ceff was strong, but he’d become more sensitive to iron after his torture at the hands of the each uisge. It was amazing that he’d survived this long.

  “Help me get him up,” I said, putting an arm under Ceff, and pulling him to his feet.

  He was a dead weight, but I widened my stance and kept him upright. With the adrenaline coursing through me, I could probably carry both him and Torn out of here.

  “Is there anythin’ I can do to help?” Skillywidden said from the corridor.

  I left him standing watch, but he’d peeked inside the tunnel to see what all the fuss was about. Now he was standing wide eyed, and wringing his hands.

  “Is that the brownie?” Torn asked.

  “Yes, he’s a friend,” I said.

  “Probably the only one in this place,” he said with a hiss.

  I ignored Torn’s grumbling. I’d need answers eventually, but I wasn’t ready to start answering the tough questions. And Ceff was still out cold.

  “Skilly, can you bring me that blanket?” I asked.

  We wrapped the threadbare blanket around Ceff’s naked torso, covering the worst of his wounds. Iron prevented healing, but I hoped that Ceff would recover once we got him out of this cell.

  “Don’t let it touch your skin,” Torn said, gesturing toward the blanket.

  “Why, visions?” I asked.

  “It’s made of horse hair,” he said, nose wrinkling.

  “They made him sleep with a horse hair blanket?” I asked.

  “Better than my canteen,” he said.

  I glanced at the canteen, and swallowed bile.

  “Is that cat skin?” I asked.

  “Yes,” he said.

  “Why would anyone skin a cat?” I asked.

  “To be cruel?” he asked. “Honestly, I don’t care, so long as I get to return the favor.”

  There was a steely darkness in Torn’s eyes, and I shivered. Ceff moaned, and I shifted his weight.

  “Come on, let’s get away from all this iron,” I said.

  We made it up the tunnel, but it was slow work. When we reached my uncle’s room, I set Ceff on the edge of the bed. I started to pace the room, noticing for the first time how much it resembled a forest glade. Where my quarters appeared to capture ice and stars, Kade’s room was made up of moss and wood.

  My mind reeled, darting from object to object while trying to make sense of what had just happened. I’d been searching for Ceff and Torn for over two years. Had Flavio and the guards only just discovered them, and locked them in the dungeon. Or had
they been imprisoned here all along?

  The latter was too painful to accept.

  “Did you steal the adder stone?” I asked, my skin awash in a spectral light.

  “Don’t be daft, lass,” Skillywidden said, shaking his fist at me from a safe distance.

  The brownie was brazen, but not a fool.

  “We need to get out of here, Princess,” Torn said.

  “I’m not leaving, not until I get answers,” I said. “Why were you in the dungeon? What have you done?”

  “We haven’t done anything wrong,” Ceff croaked.

  “Personally, I don’t care if we take you out of here kicking and screaming,” Torn said. “But His Horsiness over there might have a stroke if I toss you over my shoulder.”

  “You can try,” I said, power flaring.

  Magic rushed through my veins, coming to my aid. It rose faster now, my abilities growing with every cast spell, every use of my wisp heritage. I would burn my enemies from the world, leaving nothing but ash in my wake.

  Wisps rushed into the room and gathered in the branches of the bedposts designed to resemble trees, like a deadly swarm of twinkle lights. I nodded, and gave my brethren a warm smile before turning cold eyes on the three men before me. No one was forcing me to go anywhere, not until I had some answers. Here, surrounded by my people, I was unstoppable.

  “Ivy Granger, Princess of the Wisp Court, Consort and Betrothed to Ceffyl Dwr, King of the Kelpies,” Ceff said. “You are pledged to me, as I to you, and you will grant me audience. Look at me and listen to my words.”

  His voice rang through the room, jerking my muscles to attention. There is power in a name, and Ceff had infused his voice with the melodic power of pureblood royalty. He also used the full strength of his claim on me, and of his rank as king, to make his demand.

  I frowned, but nodded.

  “Betrothed?” Torn mouthed, but I ignored him, my focus on Ceff.

  “Fine,” I said, showing small, white teeth. I didn’t need fangs to subdue my prey. “I hear you Ceffyl Dwr, but you will also hear me. “If I find out that this was some half ass scheme to steal my uncle’s treasure, I will kill you.”

  “Agreed,” he said, stepping forward.

  “I want the truth,” I said, a tear slipping down my cheek.

  I was shaking. When had I started shaking? I wasn’t even cold.

  “I love you,” he said.

  “You abandoned me,” I said.

  “No, I would never leave you of my free will,” he said.

  “Did you leave me for treasure?” I asked.

  “Is that what your uncle claimed?” he asked. “Think, Ivy. He is pureblood fae. He cannot tell a direct lie, but he can twist the truth.”

  “He said you would hurt me, that loving you made me weak,” I said. “Kade and Flavio and the rest of the guards claimed that you ran off with the adder stone. I didn’t believe them. But I couldn’t find you. I searched everywhere, and I couldn’t find you. I thought you’d either left me, or that you were dead. You broke my heart.”

  “I did not steal anything, and I did not leave you—not by my own will,” he said. “Your uncle set a trap, and imprisoned us in his dungeons.”

  “You…you didn’t come back for so long…” I said. “I searched, and searched, and I couldn’t find you.”

  “He drugged us and bound us with cold iron, Princess,” Torn said. “Your uncle is a selfish prick, and a coward.”

  “I am sorry that we could not escape,” Ceff said. “I am sorry that you were left alone.”

  Oberon’s eyes, was he telling the truth? While I searched all of Nithsdale, had Ceff and Torn been languishing in the dungeons? My body tensed, muscles quivering. Two years bound by iron. If what Ceff said was true, it was a miracle that he survived.

  I took a step toward Ceff, wanting so badly to believe what he was saying.

  “He…he said that I was a fool to have loved you, to believe that I’d ever see you again,” I said.

  “He was wrong.”

  I ran into Ceff’s arms, his body rushing up to meet my own. His lips were on mine, and then I was drowning in visions. I lived through all of the happiest and most painful moments of his life, and I knew firsthand that his love for me had never wavered.

  I gasped as the visions ended, and then I was running my hands over his body, his face. His lips left a scorching trail up my neck and along my chin as he peppered me with kisses.

  “You’re really here,” I whispered.

  “Yes,” he said, the words vibrating against my skin.

  “You never stopped loving me,” I said.

  “Do the tides ever stop changing?” he asked. “I gave you my heart. It is yours for eternity.”

  “I love you,” I said. “I never stopped loving you. B-b-but I searched and I searched and I couldn’t find you and…”

  My words were cut off as his mouth pressed against mine. I moaned as his tongue slid inside my mouth, and I might have taken him there on Kade’s bed if Torn hadn’t interrupted.

  “Not that I mind the free show, but this might be a good time to get our asses out of here,” he said.

  Ceff groaned, but Torn was right. We weren’t free, not yet. I ran a hand through my hair, and took a shaky breath.

  “You’re right,” I said. “But before we leave, my uncle and I have some unfinished business.”

  Chapter 49

  “So, betrothed eh?” Torn asked, shaking his head. “When were you two lovebirds going to fill me in?”

  We hurried down the tunnel, heading steadily toward the Great Hall where my uncle was holding court. The wisps that I’d somehow drawn to me in my anger and confusion had confirmed that Kade had been busy flexing his political might by making examples of any other perceived traitors to the throne (ie, bread thieves). My little stunt yesterday had cost him. Considering that he may have taken part in Ceff and Torn’s abduction, he had only begun to pay what he owed me.

  “It’s not like we’ve had time for an engagement party,” I said. “I haven’t even told Jinx.”

  “I want an invite,” Torn said.

  “What?” I asked.

  I was only half listening, my mind trying to sort through every conversation I’d had with my uncle since arriving in Faerie.

  “To your engagement party,” Torn said. “I want an invitation, Princess. After this little excursion of yours, I think I’ve earned it.”

  My chest tightened. I owed Torn a heck of a lot more than an invitation to a party.

  “You got it,” I said.

  “How are we going to handle this?” Ceff asked.

  I’d been mulling that over, but I wasn’t sure what my friends would think of my plan.

  “I want answers, and then we’re blowing this taco stand,” I said.

  “And if there’s a fight?” Ceff asked.

  “There will be a fight, Princess,” Torn said, flexing his claws.

  “I don’t trust Flavio, the captain of the guard, and his lackey Marcus, but we don’t know yet who is involved in this,” I said.

  “And if your uncle is behind our abduction?” Ceff asked.

  “No one is punishing my uncle but me,” I said.

  Anger and grief waged a war in my chest. It was like someone had carved a hole through my body, and I was spilling my guts on the floor. My uncle was my family. He’d taught me how to control my wisp magic, helped me to survive. But if I found out that he had imprisoned my friends, I might just kill him myself.

  He’d seen me suffer with their loss every day. Could my uncle truly be that cold? And if so, what was his motivation? Why hurt my friends?

  Flavio stepped around the corner, eyes going wide. Damn, we’d almost made it to the Great Hall without a fight.

  “You!” Torn hissed.

  “I take it you two have already met,” I said, widening my stance.

  Flavio drew his sword, and sneered.

  “I told him we should have killed you,” Flavio said, aiming h
is sword at me.

  He’d dismissed my iron sick friends, and decided that I was the biggest threat. That was his second mistake. His first was torturing the king of the kelpies and the lord of cats for two years.

  Torn and Ceff recognized Flavio all right, and they weren’t in a forgiving mood. I can’t say that I could blame them.

  “You chained us in cold iron,” Ceff said, eyes shifting to black.

  “I could almost forgive the iron, but no one skins a cat and lives to tell about it,” Torn said. “Not on my watch.”

  Oh yeah, Flavio had been a naughty boy and he deserved what was coming to him.

  “Is it true that you chained my friends in the dungeon?” I asked, keeping Flavio busy.

  I sent a fire ball whizzing over his shoulder, and he smirked. He thought that was all I had. Flavio hadn’t shared in my uncle’s enthusiasm over my magic training. He had no idea how strong I’d become.

  “I did, and I would do it again,” he said, raising his sword.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Because you are nothing, all of you are nothing,” he said. “I am his captain. I am wisp. I am everything.”

  He ran at me, sword raised overhead, but he never stood a chance. Torn raked his claws across the backs of Flavio’s calves, tearing through his boots. Hamstrung, he staggered one more step before taking Ceff’s trident through the heart. I’d had my blades and my magic ready, but I wasn’t in danger from Flavio. No one ever would be again.

  I frowned, hands tightening on my blades. I should have been saddened by this man’s death, or perhaps a little relieved, but my heart hadn’t caught up with events of the past hour. I was still processing the fact that Ceff and Torn were here with me, alive. I would do anything to keep it that way. I just wish I knew who my enemies were.

  I shook my head, and started down the corridor.

  “Come on,” I said. “That’s not going to go unnoticed. We need to reach my uncle before word of Flavio’s death reaches the other guards.”

  I strode in the direction of the Great Hall, heart pounding in my chest.

  “Your uncle wants us dead,” Torn said.