“I’m sorry, Sixx. That asshole king did something strange with my magic.”
“Don’t worry about it. Ana, I need to tell you… well, everything.”
Ana grabbed my chains and held the slack up for me as I scooted further onto the bed. We sat against the headrest and leaned our heads against the cushiony surface. Tears welled in my eyes.
This is the moment Ana realizes I’m nothing but a liability.
I took a deep breath and began by telling her about Key. “You know that Dark fae out there?” When Ana nodded, I continued, “Well, he’s worse than anything you could imagine.”
Ana grabbed my hand as I poured out everything I knew and had recently remembered. That he was at Nova, working alongside the two humans who were arrested, and that at Key’s direction, they drugged me, and then he wiped my memories.
My friend looked completely pissed off on my behalf, but that was just the beginning.
“The night Olezka and I were attacked in the gardens, Olezka took me to a meeting with Erebus and Timur. I was tired, so I left, intending to find my way back to our room and go to bed. Walking down one of the hallways, I overheard Key talking with someone about you and me. He heard me outside the door, and the next thing I knew, he grabbed me and pulled me into his room. Ana, he was saying some crazy things about you. He’s convinced that you’re the thought-to-be dead daughter of the Light fae King. He thinks that if he can pass you off to the King, he can win his favor and stay in exile here in the Light Kingdom.”
My stomach twisted as I remembered everything from the night of the attack. “He wants to take down Erebus. I don’t know why, but I’m terrified for you. I think the moment he laid eyes on you, the Light fae King was positive you were his daughter. But I can’t help but feel like Key is keeping things from the King – from both the Light fae King and from Erebus. He kept calling Erebus the false King. He wants to use you as a bargaining chip, Ana.”
“What?” she asked in a clipped tone.
I told her how Key questioned me and used his Lure to force me to answer his questions; then how he wiped my mind so I wouldn’t remember anything about it afterward, planting a memory in my head that I’d gone straight to my room after being escorted by Timur. “He can control people and force them to answer questions and tell him anything he wants to learn. Plus, because he’s Erebus’s cousin, he’s privy to a lot of sensitive information. Ana, you have to be careful. Key and the Light King truly think you’re the Light fae King’s daughter.”
“This is more bananas than I originally thought,” Ana muttered, getting up from the bed and pacing the room.
“Ana… I’m so sorry.”
She twisted around with her brows pinched in confusion. “Why the fuck are you sorry?”
I hung my head, too ashamed to meet her eyes. “Because I gave Key information on you, me, and Olezka. He asked for information about Erebus, but luckily, I didn’t have any. I’m the reason we’re in this situation. I’m the weak link.”
“Sixx, none of this is your fault. You know me too well, and you know I jumped without thinking because I was consumed with getting you back. Besides that, I didn’t even tell Erebus what I was up to, so I don’t know how long it will be before he realizes I’m gone.” She shook her head, her humor washed away. “I can’t even reach my magic.”
“What exactly happened?”
“You saw it, right? The King did something when I was attacking him, and it sucked out all my magic.”
“No, I don’t even remember how I got here. Everything is a haze. I remember talking to Cyril in our cell, and he was telling me about the secret passages spread throughout the palace. He escaped one time and made it pretty far, but he was too weak and got caught. But the path he took sounded doable.”
On a related note, when I asked him what he needed nutrition-wise, he said I’d know when the time was right.
“Cyril?”
“My cellmate. He’s from our world. He’s the one who helped me figure out the connection between Key and Nova. Key has so much more than Nova going on, Ana. We need to get back and take him down!”
“We need to get back for more reasons than that one,” Ana said, cocking her head toward me.
“What’s that look for?”
“Olezka. He’s lost without you. The minute he realized you were gone, he went full fiery beast. Erebus sent a couple of guards after him, but they didn’t have any luck finding him. I don’t know what happened to him, to be honest with you, Sixx. Erebus seemed worried that if, well – if the Light fae took you, he might cross borders when he shouldn’t.”
“That’s because Olezka used to be Erebus’s assassin, and the Light fae King thought his daughter was murdered by the Dark fae. According to Key, Erebus sent Olezka to do his dirty work,” I added.
“They think Z was sent to kill me? Well, not me-me but the person they think I am?” Ana said, sitting on the bed.
“He never would have killed a child. Or agreed to do such a thing. I know he wouldn’t,” I defended vehemently.
Ana grabbed my hand and squeezed it, offering her support. I nodded. “Okay, we’ll deal with one problem at a time. What was the plan you were working on with Cyril?”
“Cyril said if we could find a way to unlock his chain, he could use his magic on the guards. From there, we would escape by tunneling deeper inside the dungeon. He said there are pathways that travel underground that few know exist.”
Ana bit her lip. “Okay, so we need to get back down there to put that plan into motion.” She glanced at my chains as they clinked together. I leaned back, resting so I didn’t have to hold them up.
“From what I can tell, the easiest way to piss them off is if we try to escape from here. We need them to think this palace isn’t secure enough to keep us locked in,” I offered. Even in a high-stress situation, my eyelids felt heavy as I reclined on the feather-soft bed, the comfort of having my best friend beside me lulling me to a relaxed state.
Ana crawled over the bed and sat down next to me again. “I need to figure out what he did to my magic. We’re gonna need it to get out of here. I can’t make a portal yet, but maybe your cell buddy Cyril can?”
“He told me he’s not High fae; he’s from the human world. That said, I’m not sure if he can make portals. If we can find a way out of the palace, I’m confident we can figure things out from there.” I bit my lip and tried to think about what we needed for a successful escape. Supplies, for sure. We didn’t know how far away the Dark fae lands were situated from here, and if neither Ana nor Cyril could make a portal, we would need to travel through unknown lands.
As I thought through the possibilities, drowsiness swept over me, and my eyelids drooped.
“Pina Colada!” Ana suggested.
“Won’t work. They care less about humans here than the Dark fae did,” I mumbled, already half asleep.
“Damn.”
We were quiet again. Without meaning to, my eyelids fell, and I found it next to impossible to lift them again. “Just gonna rest my eyes,” I muttered.
****
Bam! Bam! Bam!
I jerked awake, feeling every stab of pain from the kink in my neck. Moving too quickly, I felt the heavy chains land on my chest, and I winced. Ana jumped up from the bed, looking alert and ready to kick ass.
“Shit. We both fell asleep,” Ana muttered in her I’m not awake or happy about it tone. I stood up as Ana rounded the bed. “Stay back, Sixx.”
I nodded. The pounding on the door didn’t stop until Ana walked over to it. I hadn’t realized she’d placed a chair in front of the door, tucking it underneath the knob. That was something we never felt the need to do even when we were with the Dark fae.
“Open this door, Regia Puella!” a voice commanded from the other side of the door.
Ana turned to me with a questioning look, and I shrugged my shoulders. I didn’t have a clue who it was or what they were calling her. Ana removed the chair and opened the door slowly. A
guard stood on the other side, looking annoyed.
“The King demands your presence.”
“Um, no, thanks. Bye!” Ana started to close the door, but the guard slapped his hand on the edge to stop her from slamming it shut in his face.
“The King demands your presence.”
“I heard, and I refused,” she answered with a steely glint in her eye. “This is where I close the door.”
The guard didn’t say a word. Instead, he gave a quick nod of his head, and a hole opened next to me. I stared dumbly at the rip in the fabric of reality and then squeaked when a hand whipped out and grabbed the slack of my chains. Giving a vicious yank, the hand pulled me toward the wavering portal.
My eyes darted to my friend in terror. “Ana!”
“Sixx!”
The guard at the door grabbed Ana and halted her from coming any closer. My stomach dropped as I approached the rip, the edges wavering with a silvery glint. I was so focused on Ana that I didn’t see where it led until it was too late.
“The King will see you now, Regia Puella,” the guard confirmed. Speaking in a more commanding tone, he called out, “Take the human.”
Ana jerked and struggled in the guard’s hold, but he refused to budge. With a final tug on my chains, I stumbled forward, and the portal closed behind me with a pop. The slow drip of water and change of lighting were the only indicators I had before being tossed into the same cell as before. I lifted myself from the ground as the guard walked away, unbothered by the fact that I still wore chains. I growled pitifully at him, annoyed.
“Hey, Seis,” Cyril said, standing against the wall with his ankles crossed nonchalantly. As soon as the guard slammed the dungeon doors, Cyril peered down the hall to make sure he was gone and then focused his attention on me. He stepped away from the wall, leaving the manacle around his neck to drop with a clang against the wall, falling to the ground. “Now, when exactly were you planning to tell me that your friend happened to be the lost princess of the Light fae King?” Cyril accused, his eyes flashing.
Chapter 26
“She isn’t, Cyril, and before you suggest it, we’re not using her as ‘part of the plan.’ You can forget that right now,” I chastised, still wide-eyed at the fact that he was free from his chains.
“Oh, but we must, Seis.”
“No,” I said, resigned. I lifted my hands to show off my new manacles. “Since you were able to get out of yours, can you unlock mine?”
Cyril scrutinized the heavy links. “Let me think about it. For now, we wait until they bring your halfling back down here.” Cyril wore a strange look on his face. On anyone else, I would almost call it giddiness.
****
Several hours passed, and I fell back asleep after straining to keep my eyes open. Every time I would ask about the plan, Cyril would wave me away, saying he had a plan in the works and to trust him that it would work as long as I played my part. I woke to the sound of footsteps and noticed Cyril crouched down with a hand on my shoulder. Fragments of my dream – a sweet reunion with Olezka – fluttered away, mingled with a flush of warmth from Cyril’s unearthly touch. I groaned and rolled away. My cuffs pinched at the skin around my wrists. I winced and opened my eyes as the heat left my system. What was that? I chose to ignore it and the flush that crept over my cheeks.
“Hmm, our only chance just arrived. A lot earlier than I expected, too. Get up, Seis. And, Sixx?” Cyril waited until my eyes met his. “Trust me.”
“Trust-?”
He held his hand up and returned to his usual spot, pressing his body against the wall and loosely hooking the cuff around his neck.
“Well, if I’m really his daughter, why the hell can’t I come down here by myself?” Ana griped.
I breathed a little easier with the sound of her voice, thankful she was okay. I stood up, my chains bruising my wrists and digging into my neck. I wanted to be free of them.
“You are allowed a quick visitation,” another voice said. Ana scoffed at the speaker and strolled over to my cell. I started to rush forward, but Cyril held his hand out, indicating that I should stay back. I followed his direction, confused, twisting my hands in the chains and wishing I could step forward.
What had happened since they separated us?
“Sixx!” Ana rushed to the cell door before her guard could stop her.
Cyril moved in a blink of an eye, wrapping one hand in her hair at the base of her skull and gripping a wickedly sharp knife against her throat with the other. I rushed forward to help my friend but stopped when his words came crashing back. He asked me to trust him, but could I trust him with Ana’s life?
“Stop right there, little guard. You’re going to open this gate,” Cyril said without a trace of emotion.
“Why would I do that?” the guard sneered.
“Oh, I’m sorry, did you want your lost princess to die?”
The guard’s face twisted with rage, knowing Cyril had the upper hand, and snapped his jaw shut. His eyes cut to Cyril’s hold, but Cyril reacted by inching the blade a little closer, drawing blood. Ana, for her part, remained perfectly still. Her hand tightened into a fist, but no crackles of electricity flickered down her arms. I wondered if it was because she hadn’t gotten her powers back yet.
The guard sneered but stomped over to the cell door and unlocked it with a flick of his wrist. It creaked open a crack, the heavy iron hinges groaning in the quiet cavern.
Cyril jerked his head toward me without removing his unflinching gaze from the guard. “Unchain my human.”
“A little snack for the road, eh? Are you sure you don’t want me to keep her locked up?” the guard mocked.
“Don’t need my women locked up.”
“No, just held by knifepoint,” Ana muttered.
The guard did as he was told, and I breathed a little easier when the chains dropped from me and tumbled to a pile at my feet. My wrists were ringed with purple bruises, and I was sure my neck wore a matching set.
“Step back carefully. Don’t do anything stupid,” Cyril warned the guard, who complied. “Seis, step out of the door.”
Swallowing, I stepped out carefully, keeping an eye on the guard, who ignored my every move, as focused as he was on Cyril and Ana. Probably for the best. Cyril evaluated the situation and looked directly at me, his eerily slitted eyes seeming to glow in the darkness.
“Don’t forget about the favor we agreed to.”
I nodded.
“You –” he nodded toward the guard, “enter the cell. Quickly, now.” Cyril drew the blade back a little more, and Ana hissed in pain. I had to force myself to keep from reaching out and knocking his hand away, but then I noticed the warning in Ana’s eyes, pleading for me to stay back. The guard did as he asked.
“Human, take the dagger from me and keep the lost princess in place until I’m out,” Cyril commanded, still never taking his eyes off the guard. I stepped forward and took the dagger from him. Ana was taller than me, which meant I had to stand on my toes to hold the knife against her throat without cutting any deeper. If anything, I moved it further away. Cyril released her hair and slipped out of the cell, slamming the door behind him with a clamor that rang through the dungeon.
“Give me the dagger, human.”
Cyril scared me now. Gone was the light humor he used with me before. I shook my head. The guard was already locked up. Why did we need to keep up the charade? Apparently, I took too long to ponder his reasons because he gripped my wrist, putting pressure in just the right place to make the knife clatter from my grip.
“Ah!” I cried out, rubbing the tingling place on my wrist.
Cyril snatched the dagger and pushed me out of the way in a heartbeat.
“Let’s go,” he commanded gruffly.
I cradled my wrist and followed meekly after Cyril, if for no other reason than to find an opening to attack him. As we tunneled deeper into the dungeon, the other occupants watched us go. One snarled in our direction, spitting foul words as we pas
sed. Cyril never released his hold on Ana. I wanted to speak up, but I figured if I stayed behind him, I would eventually find an opportunity to jump him. If he hurt her again, I would lose my mind.
The darkness became all-consuming; not even a flicker of light penetrated this deep within the bowels of the caverns. My heart pounded in my chest, and I struggled to tamp down the hysteria that threatened to bubble to the surface.
“Sixx won’t be able to see,” Ana muttered.
“Seis, grab my waistband.”
“Don’t you Seis me. I don’t like you right now.”
His throaty chuckle echoed before he grabbed my wrist gently and brought it to the back of his pants. My hand skimmed across his bare back before I finally found a belt loop.
“Don’t worry, Seis. By the end of this, you won’t like me at all.”
I tripped and stumbled over the uneven floor but kept my death grip on the back of his pants as he led us through the tunnels of the labyrinthian dungeon. It seemed to take forever, and just when I thought it would never end, I blinked, and the world around us started to brighten and change. My vision was still slightly blurry, but the more I blinked, the more it came into view. Thin trees reached weeping branches high into the sky, taller than anything I’d ever seen before.
“Wow… This certainly came out of nowhere,” I muttered, peering behind us, amazed to see the tunnel was gone.
“Nothing but a prop of fae glamour, Seis, though it was stronger than anything the halfling could expose you to,” Cyril said, pulling the dagger away from Ana’s neck and tucking it into the waistband of his pants once more.
“Where are we?” Ana spun in a circle and looked around at the unfamiliar space.
“The Forest of the Lost,” he answered grimly. “This is as far as I got the last time I tried to escape. I’m hoping since you’re Light fae, you can find us a way out of here.” Cyril turned to look at me. “You okay?”
The Sidekick Chronicles: Sixx and the Fae Page 18