“If you’re brave enough to throw fruit at a guard, maybe you need a reminder that we control Siúcra. Not the prisoners.”
That doesn’t sound good. Especially since, if Rys can pull off his plan, it’ll go to prove that us prisoners might have found a way to beat the system.
Can’t let him know that, though. I had one job and I have to make sure that I did it right.
“Where are you taking me?”
Saxon glances over his shoulder, a cruel smile tugging on his lush lips. “I think you know.”
When he makes a sharp turn and the smooth floor becomes a dirt path, I realize he’s right. I do know exactly where he’s bringing me.
Welp. Looks like I got what I wanted.
It’s brighter in this wing than it was last time—and the torches aren’t even lit yet. I figure it’s because it’s still early now and, before, when Dusk snuck into my cell, he did so under the cover of night.
Peeking up, I see the tiniest windows dotting the stone ceiling. It’s the first patch of natural sunlight I’ve seen since I was locked up. I take that as a good sign. Didn’t Rys say he was stronger during the day?
No wonder he told me to make my move as soon as I was awake...
The sunlight doesn’t make the wooden door with its iron handle any less foreboding. I start dragging my heels a little as we approach. Saxon yanks on my arm—I bite my lip to keep from grunting in pain—and he doesn’t let go until we’re right in front of the door.
Because of the glove, he can reach for the iron without being affected by it, just like how he can touch my bare skin without being burned. It’s gotta be heavy as hell, but he swings the door open as easily as the one to my cell before gesturing toward the open hole hidden behind the door.
“Get in, human. Jump.”
I slide my boots to the edge, gulping at the pitch-black depths that fill the space. I know from experience that it’s about ten feet down before I hit the circle directly below. The oubliette widens past that, and the thick straw covering the dirt floor will break some of my fall.
I was super fucking lucky to avoid breaking any bones the first time I was tossed inside. Will I get that lucky twice? I really hope so.
This is what I’m supposed to do, I remind myself. One last jump and, if this all works out, I’ll never have to deal with the prison or its guards or the terrifying pit ever again.
You can do this, Helen.
I have to do this.
A soft clink-ing sound makes me wince. I dare a peek behind me, noticing that Saxon has rested his palm against the hilt of his sword. The diamonds sewn into the glove hits the golden metal curve.
The warning is super obvious. Either I jump on my own or he’ll make me.
“I said go,” he orders again. “And hope I’ve forgotten the slight by the time I return to retrieve you.”
Yup. Another warning. With apple pulp still in his hair and a bite to his tone, I decide that I better do what he says. As mad as I’ve made him, I think I’m getting off easy here.
At least he’s letting me jump. The other Seelie guard shoved me and the unexpected free-fall into darkness was almost as terrifying as realizing that Dusk was going to force me to touch him. The landing? That was worse.
Oh, I don’t want to do this. I know I have to, but I really don’t want to—
“I will not ask again,” rumbles Saxon. “Go now, human. Every moment you hesitate is that much longer you stay in the shadows. You’ll regret wasting your meal then.”
What a dick. I know exactly what he’s threatening me with. Once I’m in the hole, he’s going to “forget” to feed me to get back at me for hitting him with the apple. And it’s not just about hunger. Considering I need faerie food to keep from starving, that’s like rubbing salt into an open wound. I’ll suffer, and he knows it.
It’s a good thing that I’m on my way to escaping this place…
Okay. Step one: meet Rys down below.
Here we go.
I take a deep breath and, hoping that I don’t break anything when I land, I jump into the dark hole.
15
Rys is waiting for me.
Right before I hit the ground, a pair of strong hands grab onto me. It’s a secure grip around my waist, and my strangled scream turns into a grunt. I expected to hit the ground hard. I remember the fall from last time. Better prepared this go-round, I bent my knees to take the brunt of the impact.
Turns out that was unnecessary.
“I’ve got you, Leannán.”
Yeah. He does.
I’m so damn grateful, too. I was terrified that I’d land wrong or something when Saxon forced me to jump. Spraining my ankle or buckling my legs wouldn’t help me get too far if we’re really about to put our escape plan into motion.
It takes me a second for my heart to stop pounding inside my chest. It feels like it’s thumping against my ribcage, beating like a drum, and now that I’m safe in his hold, I exhale.
Because I’m in his hold, Rys picks up on just how shaky I am. Once he can tell that I’ve steadied myself a little bit, he sets me down. There’s a crackle and a spark and, suddenly, he’s holding a palmful of faerie fire to brighten up the darkness.
He looks concerned as he asks me, “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Do what? You mean, escape?”
Rys nods.
“I’m positive.”
“The danger for one of your kind grows as soon as we make it through the gates. And that’s if Siúcra accepts our sacrifices… you’d be safer inside.”
I’m sure I would. I haven’t forgotten what Saxon and Coal were talking about. Some of the fae think it’s a good idea to kill someone like me on sight for no other reason than because they can.
But, if that’s the case, I really would be a sitting duck if I stayed inside my cell.
“I don’t care. I’m going with you.”
Rys lifts his free hand. In four broad strokes, he creates the image of a rectangle. The fire seems to leap from his palm as he does. It lingers in the dark space, forming a doorway.
No.
A portal.
“If you’re sure, then there’s no time to waste. Are you ready?”
As ready as I’ll ever be.
Step one? Done. We’re in the oubliette together. Rys has obviously recharged enough of his magic otherwise he never would’ve been able to conjure the faerie fire or the portal.
Now it’s time for step two.
He goes first. Just in case his plan fails and this all goes south, Rys insists that he take the portal first. He doesn’t get any argument out of me. I watch him disappear into the portal, count to ten, then walk through it after him.
Step two? We pulled that one off, too.
I’m honestly kind of surprised. When Rys told me our escape hinged on us waltzing right out of the oubliette, then strolling through the prison’s back halls to make it to Siúcra’s gates, I never thought it would work.
And here we are. No cells, but from the narrow straits, the same stony floor, the wooden doors, and the dim fairy lights hanging high over our heads, we’re definitely still inside of the prison.
“What do we do now?” I whisper.
Rys peers down the hall we’re in. It’s kind of dark—since these are the back halls—but only for a moment longer. His faerie fire might not have followed us through the portal. Now that we’ve gone from the oubliette to the back halls, he creates another, even brighter fireball in the palm of his hand.
He points. “We go that way. It’ll take us to the gate and then there’s only one thing left for us to do. Come on, Leannán.”
Rys starts to head in that direction. I go because, well, what else am I going to do?
That doesn’t stop me from having seconds thoughts. And this might be the worst possible time to ask this, but… “How can you be so sure that this is going to work?”
“Remember how I told you that I had an agreement with one of the guards?”
> “To put you in the oubliette?” I still think he’s crazy for it, though there’s no denying there was a kind of method to his madness. “Yes.”
“This particular hall won’t be checked unless the guards have a reason to come this way. For the moment, they don’t. Our path is clear. He’s made sure of it, Leannán. Let’s not waste his effort.”
“This guard… he’s helping you escape?”
Rys thinks about it for a second, then nods. “You can put it that way, yes.”
“So… he’s like your friend.”
The flickering flames dancing across his face do little to hide his startled expression. “My what?”
“Your friend. You know. Like your buddy. A pal.”
Understanding dawns. “Ah, I see. No. He owes me a favor. Since I’ve gone from guard to prisoner, I’ve called it in.”
Ah, jeez. I know this is Faerie and all, but I really hope that his faith in the other guard isn’t based on something so flimsy as he owes Rys a favor.
“Um… you can trust him because of that?”
Rys lifts up his palm, the fire throwing his face in sharp relief. “If there’s one thing you learn from me, it’s this: in Faerie, trust no one.”
There’s such a note of finality to his tone, it stops me dead in my tracks. I’m suddenly reminded of the other day right before he began to dance with me.
With this, I can trust you...
He didn’t say that he trusted me. And if he doesn’t trust me, and I’m not supposed to trust anyone, then—
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“You said not to trust anyone. What about you?”
Rys firms his jaw. His scar tightens. “I give you my word. I will never hurt you.”
“That’s not the same as saying that I can trust you.”
“It’s not, is it?”
“Rys—”
“Leannán, there’s no time for this. We can discuss this later if you must. We have to go.”
Damn it. He’s right.
“Later then.”
He nods, then starts to move again. It’s not quite a jog, though it’s easy to see that his long strides are just itching to turn into a run. “Stay right behind me,” he tells me. I immediately pick up my pace. “The back halls should be clear, but we have to be fast. I’ll open the doors. Do whatever you can to make it through them.”
“Gotcha.”
“Let’s go.”
I was right. As soon as he gets the chance, Rys basically flies down the halls. It takes everything I have to keep up but I do because the alternative is unthinkable. When we hit the first shuttered doorway, Rys throws up his other hand and snaps out a word.
“Díreach.”
The door vanishes in a shower of golden sparks.
I dash through it seconds before it reforms.
I lose track of how many we run through. My eyes are glued to Rys in front of me. His strides are big, his long legs eating up the ground as he races ahead of me. Well, no. Races isn’t exactly the right word for it. I know from experience that he can move way faster than this, only he’s being careful not to so that he doesn’t actually leave me behind.
He keeps tossing worried glances over his shoulder, checking to see that I’m right on his ass. I’m as excited as I am scared shitless and it’s all I can do to shoot him a thumb’s up so that he knows that I’m with him.
Rys has to be in the lead. He’s taking us through a part of the prison that I’m not familiar with. I know instinctively that it’s toward the entrance. I mean, that’s the plan, but there’s also this sense of anticipation that grows as we run through another door.
Siúcra is waiting to see if we can break out, too.
Just as I have that thought, Rys opens the next door with the same command. He bursts through, then pauses. I have to squeeze past him, making it out just in the nick of time. I’m more than a little on edge and I want to snap at him, ask him what made him stop short, when I look up and realize that we did it.
We’re outside.
Outside of the main building, I quickly correct, but not outside of the prison.
Siúcra is surrounded by a gate. I already knew that. Weeks ago, Bram drove his locked caravan through the other side of the prison so that he could leave me inside. I managed a peek at it through a slit in the canvas and I remember the high points on the gate.
What I don’t remember?
The wide gap standing between two sides of the open gate. It’s like a portal, but not. The space is wavy, shimmery, like how the air seems to move when it gets super hot out. I can see the trees through the space in the fence’s rails. Peeking through the gap? Nothing.
It’s a big blank, and it glows.
Oh, boy.
I really don’t want to go through there.
“Is there any way to go over the rails? I think I can climb it.” I gauge the distance from the stony road to the tops of the crystalline bars that make up the fence. No chance, unless… “You can give me a boost,” I suggest. With Rys giving me a leg up, I’m betting he could just pop me up and I could make it the rest of the way over. “Do you think you’d be able to follow behind me?”
If he can’t, I’ll have to come up with another plan. We either go together or we don’t go at all. It’s as simple as that.
“We’d never make it.”
“We can try—”
Rys shakes his head. “It’s warded. In the human world, you have barbed wire. In Faerie, the magic keeps us from breaking out. You can’t see it, but there’s a block that extends the length of the gate. There’s only one way out.”
Right. The strange, glowing portal that has me shaking in my boots.
He knows it, too.
Rys closes his fist, extinguishing his faerie fire. Now that we’ve left the dark back halls of the prison, we don’t need it. The brilliant gold sun hanging high in the magenta sky gives us more than enough light to see the threat in front of us.
He moves, standing in front of me so that I can’t see the gate.
Good call.
“You don’t have to do this, Leannán.” His back is to me as he speaks. “Tell the guards that I compelled you to join me on the escape and that I dropped the spell before I left through the gates. You’re a human. They won’t punish you for falling under my sway.”
So entranced by the promise of freedom beyond the gate—if I can work up the nerve to walk through it—it takes me a second to process what Rys just said to me. Hang on… he wants me to go back into the prison?
...before I left through the gate…
Wait—without him?
“But… you’ll be gone. And I’ll be here.”
I knew the fae were quick. They’re an ethereal race whose every movement looks like it belongs in a fancy ballet. They glide and they swish, but it’s also super deceptive. In less than a heartbeat, Rys has whirled on me, wrapping me up in his arms, pressing me close to his hard chest.
His hand pats the top of my head, running through my hair until he snags his fingertips on my ponytail holder. He starts at the crown again.
“It won’t be for long,” he promises. “If you don’t want to make your sacrifice, I won’t force you to do it. Once I’m out, if you still choose me, I won’t stop until you’ve been freed as well. The Summer King needs to be warned. So does the Shadow. You’ll be safer in here anyway.” Rys pauses, pulling back and lowering his chin so that he can peer right in my eyes. “Maybe I was right before. Maybe you should stay.”
It would be so easy to agree. Ever since I landed in Faerie, I’ve hopped from one shitty situation to the next. As weird as it is to believe, I’ve had the easiest go of it once I got thrown into Siúcra and I gave into my attraction to Rys. When I did, I told myself it was because I was willing to do anything to get out of the prison. Just because there’s something real between us now, that doesn’t change that. I threw my lot in with my scarred Seelie the second I initiated our first touch.
>
He’s the only one I’ve been able to trust since I accidentally—or on purpose, I don’t even remember anymore—stepped into the fairy circle. Everyone always seemed to want something from me. Either to trick me or make a profit off of me or to touch me and own me and make me into some kind of pet. Rys is the only one that hasn’t. I pursued him.
And I might’ve done it in the beginning because I looked at him and saw my way out. I saw a shield. My protector. And now that I’ve gotten used to his brand on my skin, I see my future. I can’t go back home. I don’t even know if that’s possible. I’m trying to take things one step at a time—and my first step needs to take me through Siúcra’s gate.
All along, Rys told me that there was only one way out of here.
It’s right in front of us.
“Okay.” I nod, stepping into him again. I let my forehead lean against his chest as I realize that there’s nothing else I can do. “Okay. Let’s go.”
Rys pulls back again, his hands lowering so that he’s cupping my elbows as he keeps me at arm’s length. He’s not about to let me close the gap between us a second time.
“You’re leaving me?”
“No. We’re leaving the prison. Together.”
He doesn’t argue. I mean, he doesn’t look really relieved that I’ve changed my mind about going through the gate, but he doesn’t try to convince me to turn around. Instead, tightening his grip on my elbow, he leads me toward the gaping, glimmering portal.
I gulp.
“You go first.”
“You sure?”
Rys cocks his head, his pointed ear twitching as he turns to look behind him. “I hear footsteps growing closer. Someone must have checked the shadows and found them empty. They’ll have suspected we headed this way.”
And now they’re coming after us.
I suck in a breath, doing everything I can to try and stay calm. Freaking out is only going to slow us down and, if he’s right, if the guards are already on our ass, at least I’m not alone. I have Rys. We’re in this together. We’re a team.
I have to remember that.
“Let’s go together.”
I hold out my hand to him.
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