by May Dawson
And when I woke, I wasn’t alone.
I rubbed my hand over my bleary eyes, trying to decide if this was one of my dreams or if it were really Alisa, standing on the other side of the bars, watching over me. I’d kept thinking I saw her, all night long, just as I’d imagined Faer was her for a moment.
Then she shifted, and I realized it was Calina, one of the Fae knights. The pale half-moon of her face emerged from the shadows, and her light green hair shone even in the dim of the dungeon. I rolled over onto my back, squinting to get a better look at her; agony lanced through my body. Not a dream.
She shouldn’t be here; Faer already didn’t trust her, just like he didn’t trust Az or Tiron, or Cora, Dere, or Luca, other Fae knights that Faer kept in his court but didn’t trust like he did his personal guard.
We trained together, and we drank together, and we fought the monsters at the Rift; whoever led the four kingdoms, someone still had to face down the monsters. We tried to focus on that mission—and on our bonds of friendship and comradery with each other.
But those weren’t our only bonds. We’d all sworn allegiance to him, vows of blood and magic. Alisa had tricked Faer into surrendering Az and Tiron and I to her, but all the others were still bound. If Faer didn’t punish them for any defiance, the magic itself would.
“What do you want, Calina?” My voice came out in a croak, and I eased my way to sit up carefully before I spat out a mouthful of blood.
“I came to make sure you were still alive,” she said.
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. “Yes. Which is overrated, as it turns out.”
“How do I help you?” she asked.
She couldn’t; Faer would kill her. She was low royalty and a summer Fae beside; he wouldn’t hesitate.
“You can leave me alone,” I growled.
But she still hesitated. “Is he going to kill you?”
“No,” I said. Not as long as he could use me to lure Az or Alisa back in. It was touching that she wanted to help; I mocked Az because she clearly had a hopeless crush on him, but she was also trying to be a friend—a better one that I probably deserved.
“But this conversation is going to make me wish he did,” I added. “Go away, Calina. There’s no point in me putting in a good word with Az—he’s lost his mind anyway.”
“That’s not what I came here for,” she snapped.
I knew that.
“Run along,” I said. “I don’t have time, Calina.”
She stared at me for a long second, but she finally turned and went.
And I was left in the deep silence of the dungeon, with only my memories to entertain me—and they just left me feeling even more alone.
Chapter Forty-Six
Alisa
Once I’d stripped off the gown and changed into something more appropriate for fighting, I tried to read as much of my diary as I could while I waited for my chance to escape. I flipped through the pages for the most important parts, even though it was hard to skip over any part of my story; there was so much I didn’t understand. I decided to start near the back, because that was the time that mattered most. The entries before I ran away.
Almost randomly, I flipped past a hurriedly scrawled note, my handwriting frantic. I stopped and frowned.
Herrick poisoned Duncan and me—Nikia served us the wine. Need to determine if she knew something was odd and should have told me; I think she’s Herrick’s spy.
The price to save us both was his heart.
The words chilled me. I closed the book and slipped it into a bag I found in the closet. I had to get to Duncan; I had to fix what was broken between us. I’d planned to wait until the castle was quiet, but maybe I could leave while the sounds of revelry still floated through the halls. I wondered if Raile had gone back to his party, where he was surrounded by creatures who adored him; why did he need me?
I avoided the party, took the back stairs, and slipped down the empty halls. I kept looking over my shoulder, expecting Raile to catch me, but I was on my own.
When I reached the door to the lock, my spear and Raile’s were still leaning against the wall next to the door. Apparently he’d felt confident that I wouldn’t knife him in his sleep, since he’d been quite cautious back on his boat to make sure I didn’t have access to anything stabby. I picked up one of the javelins, hefted it to get used to the weight and swung open the door.
It was terrifying to step into that narrow watery chamber. I looked down at the dry marble beneath my feet, almost expecting it to flood with water before I was ready. But the room was silent except for my own quick breathing.
No more panic, I told myself. The ghosts are in your past.
The ghosts weren’t staying where I’d tried to leave them. Ghosts are wily that way.
I worked the breathing spell using the magic that Raile had lent me. The memory of him gifting some of his power to me, the way he’d cupped my hands, his eyes bright, made something unfurl in my chest. I pushed away the feeling that flickered awake.
Yes, we’d shared some tender moments, but that didn’t change what he had done. The two of us couldn’t just drift into a relationship when we’d never found a way to put the past to rights, make peace with it, and get to know each other in the aftermath.
Now that would never happen. I wasn’t sure either of us were capable of it anyway, but the thought made me feel a little sad.
Duncan needed me. That was the important thing. Azrael and Tiron were no doubt coming back to our world or they were already here, but they couldn’t find me under the sea. Soon we’d all be reunited.
They tried to be bossy and protective, but the truth was, those males of mine needed to be rescued and protected just as much as I ever did. I intended to watch over all of them.
I snapped my fingers, and the water began to flood in.
I kept my feet planted on the ground even when the water began to press me up, encouraging me to float. When the water lapped around my chin, I couldn’t resist taking a deep breath, but then it rose to cover my face and I was still breathing.
I swam forward and waited with my hand on the door until the water reached the ceiling. Then I pushed it open and swam out into the deep blue world. The moon shone high above, barely filtering into this dusky world; the bioluminescent flowers and coral and floating creatures cast enough light to see.
I couldn’t stop for fear, though. The more confident I looked, the less likely anyone was to notice that Raile’s would-be queen was swimming away from him as fast as she could.
The tug of the summer court felt like a pull in my chest, and I tried to trust the impulse that was supposed to guide me home. I was keenly aware that getting lost would mean I’d probably die in the open sea—if Raile didn’t come to find me first, smug-faced and smirking. I told myself I’d rather die than give him another reason to be such a condescending bastard, but the truth was there was something comforting in thinking he would come to find me.
If he hadn’t given up, after that last fight. I darted around a coral castle that rose from the jagged sea floor, putting more objects between myself and the castle I’d left behind. Maybe he knew I was running away and he didn’t care anymore. Maybe he’d finally accepted that I would never love him.
Why the hell did that thought make something feel empty in my chest?
I had too much time to think as I swam through the sea. My arms grew tired and heavy, and I stopped and treaded water, watching the fishes darting around me as I ran my palm over the side of the bag. Part of me was terrified that the diary would slip out and be lost somewhere; I was desperate to read the rest of my own secrets.
The bag was flat.
Frantically, I ran my palm across the leather again, pressing through the bag into my thigh. Then I jerked it open.
The outline of the book shimmered with magic, and then the last of it faded away.
I stared down at it. Had my past self worked yet another enchantment on my diary, to make sure it couldn�
��t leave Raile’s palace without being destroyed?
The old version of Alisa was really starting to piss me off. She seemed to think of everything—everything that would make my life impossible. Wicked, clever girl, Raile had said, and it seemed true enough at the moment. If only I was a match for that girl.
A dark shape overhead seemed to block what light there was, and a prickle of warning ran up my spine. I backed up toward a rocky outcrop, looking for something to get my back against. There were no more fish. The shadowy figure was still circling overhead.
Shark. Or at least, the Fae version, something close enough to remind me that I was very much not at the top of the food chain anymore.
It looped slowly overhead, an enormous body that was all dangerous grace as every lazy flick of its tail propelled it smoothly through the water. I was watching it when something suddenly rose out of the water at my right.
Shark number two.
Adrenaline flooded my body, my vision narrowing; my impulses already had me moving. I twisted to one side, avoiding its open mouth; instead I bounced off its side as the shark and I collided. I whirled as best I could in the water, lining up the javelin; the shark shot past me and then returned, swimming fast, its mouth of white double-rows of teeth glinting in the dim light.
I threw the javelin. It hit the shark’s side, then fell; I didn’t get a good look at how much of a wound there was, because the shark whirled, and its tail slammed into my head and shoulders. I tumbled backwards. The underwater world was a blur.
Fuck. I was already scrambling to get a grip on the javelin again, knowing that I was clumsy and slow in the water. Now I really did wish for Raile—he did have his useful moments—but I was on my own, just as I’d wanted to be.
I caught the javelin as it sank and immediately changed direction, propelling myself into the water, searching for the shark.
But the ocean seemed suddenly empty. I looked up, but the circling shark that had distracted me was gone too. Did Fae sharks hunt in packs? That sounded about right for the Fae world.
Beside me, a long glowing sea snake unwound itself from the rock wall and undulated through the water; a few fish poked their heads from the waving seaweed that seemed to reach up toward the moonlight.
Did I just scare off a shark?
I took one last glance around. I couldn’t shake the feeling that Raile was following me, that he was about to catch me, but there was no sign of him. I swam on, and on, and on.
I finally reached shore and stumbled across the sand on weary legs. I was bone tired, and I needed to find a safe place to rest for a few minutes.
In the distance, I heard the sound of horses breaking through the woods and glimpsed black tunics. Faer’s knights and his guards.
I darted for the trees on the opposite side.
Chapter Forty-Seven
I almost managed to escape the horsemen that rode out of the forest. As exhausted as I was, I forced my aching legs into a run, stumbling through the trees that seemed to flash around me. They’d see me if I flew; I had to find a place to hide and hope they passed me by.
Then suddenly, a Fae knight on a horse trampled a bush and was in front of me. As I skidded to reverse directions, my wings popped out. He reined in his horse, the look on his face as startled as I felt, as my wings jerked me to an abrupt halt. Then I was soaring up toward the sky, my wings slamming into the branches of the trees around me as I flew desperately.
“It’s the traitor princess!” One of them shouted.
Well, Tiron had worked fast on my branding.
An arrow whistled through the air and I jerked to one side; it sailed past me, close enough to make my heart pound.
I flew straight up as hard as I could, trying to get out of range; below, archers on horseback turned their bows up, tracking me as they launched arrows.
I focused on the starry night above and my desperate race upwards.
So I didn’t see the arrow that suddenly punched through my thigh.
Pain spiked through my leg, so intense that my stomach clenched as if I’d be sick. But I kept flying, moving to the side now, trying to get away from them. I could hear horses running beneath me, tracking me, and then there was a flutter of wings and the crack of breaking branches. Some of the Fae were taking to the skies after me.
I turned to my right and dove. I’d have to try to hide again, before any of them reached the sky and could see my course through the trees. I was going too fast when I broke through the forest canopy; branches whipped past me, some of them lashing my face.
I tried to pull up, but landed clumsily, hitting the lush green carpet of grass hard enough to hurt. It didn’t matter how soft the grass was, I’d built up some serious velocity along the way.
I rolled over and over, then scrambled up to my feet. As soon as I did, my knee buckled. I looked down at the arrow still sticking out of my thigh; blood soaked the silky material of my pants to my leg, but the arrow was keeping the wound from pumping faster. The sight of it made bile rise into my throat as I looked back, wondering if I had time to heal myself.
There was no one moving through the trees that circled me, but soon the flying Fae would notice the broken branches above me; the sun was shining on me far more clearly than it should through the canopy right now. Every slight contraction of my leg muscle sent fresh waves of pain shooting through my body, so intense that my head swam.
I couldn’t move fast enough like this. I had to take my chances. I gripped the blood-slick arrow and yanked at it. I couldn’t help a bark of agony, and then my hand slipped off, but I’d pulled the arrowhead partly through the ripped muscle. Blood was flowing faster around the wound, dripping down my leg.
“Princess.” The two Fae who melted out of the shadows moved toward me quickly. I was weaponless; I’d dropped the javelin somewhere in the woods as I ran, when it tangled in the trees.
“We’re here to help.” One of them was male, the other female; their faces were a blur beneath silver-white hair and long, pointed ears, capped with feathers. Without hesitating, the female grabbed the arrow and wrenched it out.
I bit back a scream, my knees buckling, but the male was already there, helping me stand. I grabbed the wound and let my magic flow into it, feeling the healing tingle of my summer magic.
There were raised voices in the woods nearby.
“Come on,” she said. “You can hide at our house.”
I shook my head. “Faer will have you killed. You have to go. Thank you for the help, but pretend you never saw me.”
“Princess, you don’t understand,” the male said. “We need you alive.”
“I don’t plan to die today,” I promised. “But I also don’t intend to let any of you suffer for me. Go!”
The horses were almost on top of us. They looked at me as if they wanted to knock me over the head and pull me in the woods, but they finally turned and fled.
I turned, raising my fists to fight, only to see that the first of the Fae knights were already there. A green-haired female knight stood in the shadows, watching me with an expression I couldn’t read—and more importantly, a sword in her hand.
“Don’t fight,” she said, taking a step toward me. Her shimmering, translucent wings folded in with a snap. “Faer’s guard are looking for an excuse.”
“I think they’ll find one anyway, don’t you?” I asked.
She tilted her head to one side. “Maybe I understand what Az sees in you.”
I stared at her, completely perplexed. Then I launched myself up. My knee buckled at the pain of jumping, even though the wound itself was mostly healed. A second later, she shot after me.
The two of us zoomed upward through the canopy. She rocketed toward me, but I already had the jump on her. I flew wildly, trying to escape her, even as I heard other Fae take the air.
The first arrow slashed through the air near me.
I juked to one side as more arrows whistled past me.
The green haired Fae girl was stil
l shooting toward me, her face determined and her wings outstretched and flying wildly. She careened toward me in the hail of arrows when common sense would dictate she fell back and let the archers take me down. Why? She was going to get hit.
None of them would be able to heal me—or her—as easily as I could heal myself if I were wounded enough to be knocked unconscious.
Fight another day.
I let her slam into me. The two of us windmilled through the air, hung for a second, then fell down to earth.
But the hail of arrows had stopped.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Duncan
When they dragged Alisa into my cell, I scrambled up in horror. She’d been caught.
Then I caught a better glimpse of her face, of a wicked swollen bruise under one eye. It had opened a bit at the corner, revealing a bit of red flesh, and rage swallowed me fast.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” she said, as if she’d seen the fury on my face. The guards shoved her and scrambled back, leaving the two of us loose in the cell.
I stopped dead. “Is this some kind of trick?”
“What?” She had looked as if she were about to fly into my arms, but she stopped dead and stared at me. I felt a lurch of regret even as she repeated, “A trick?”
She looked genuinely perplexed.
“A trick,” I said slowly, as if she needed the definition. “A prank. A bit of mischief. A parcel of cruelty. An Alisa-Princess-of-Summer specialty.”
The confusion on her face transformed into fury. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Well, you come in here all busted up when last I saw you, you were free with Raile and safe,” I began. “Then they put you in my cell. There has to be a reason for that.”
“Already getting possessive of your turf, hm?” She’d looked hurt for a second, but now she was back to being droll and amused by herself. “Don’t get too comfortable, Duncan. You don’t get to stay here long. Vacation’s almost over.”