by Karen Lynch
I flattened my hands against the cell door. “Then get Korrigan, please.”
The guard looked back at me with contempt. “Prisoners do not make requests. Korrigan will come here in his own time.”
“Tell him I want to confess,” I yelled desperately, but the guard stepped out and let the door close without another word.
* * *
I jerked awake and stared at the stone ceiling above me. It took a moment to remember where I was and why. I must have dozed off but how long ago? There was no way to tell down here.
A soft scraping sound came from the other room. I slid off the pallet and went to peer through the window, expecting to see the guard. The room was empty.
“Hello?” I called.
The answering silence sent a small shiver through me. Something didn’t feel right. I rubbed my arms through my coat. Where was Lukas? He should have come back by now.
The door to the hallway opened, and I instinctively took a step back. Two blond males entered the room, and my blood turned to ice when I saw their faces. They were Seelie royal guards, and they should not be here.
One of them was named Aibel. I knew this because he had been at Teg’s one night, and Orend Teg had pointed him out to me. I didn’t know the name of the second one, but I’d never forget him. I’d watched him create a portal to Seelie from inside Davian’s penthouse. And he had waylaid me outside a grocery store to warn me to stay away from Prince Rhys.
I backed up until I was against the wall. How did Seelie guards get in here? Where were Korrigan’s guards?
Aibel glanced dispassionately at me before he went to work on the cell door. I looked frantically around the room, but there was nothing I could use to defend myself. Not that I had any hope of fighting off two royal guards.
I groped for my goddess stone. If I could make myself invisible, maybe I could slip past them. I needed to calm down and focus before they –
The cell door opened. There was no time to react as Aibel crossed the cell in several quick strides and pinned me against the wall with one hand over my mouth. Terror-fueled adrenaline coursed through me, but it was no match for his strength.
He spun me around until I was facing the door with him behind me. I saw the other guard filling the doorway as Aibel’s arm came around my throat, cutting off my air.
I clawed at his arm, but it was no use. The edges of the room started to darken, and tiny pinpricks of light floated before my eyes. He was going to kill me.
A sob welled in my chest as the darkness closed in. Lukas’s face flashed through my mind, and it was the last thing I saw before the room disappeared for good.
Chapter 20
I rolled onto my side with a groan. My body felt stiff, and I had a killer headache. The last time I’d ached this much was after I’d been stupid enough to spar with Parisa.
Wincing, I cracked open my eyes. It took a moment for the room to come into focus and another few seconds for me to register I wasn’t in the cell anymore.
I jolted upright and groaned again at the sharp pain in my skull as it all came back to me. Two of Queen Anwyn’s guards had knocked me out and brought me here to this unfamiliar room. That could mean only one thing. I was in Seelie.
The room spun a little when I stood, and I had to steady myself before I could take in my surroundings. I was in a circular room with a wooden floor, white walls, and no furnishings except for the thin pallet I’d been lying on. The room was lit by the natural light from four narrow windows.
I went to one of the windows, which had no glass, and looked down at a wide river far below. On the other side of the river was a forest that went on for miles. Through the opposite window I saw spires, turrets, and the white stone walls of what had to be the Seelie palace. The position of the sun told me it was late morning, which meant I’d been here at least half a day.
The door opened behind me, and I spun to see Aibel enter with the other guard who had helped abduct me. Behind them came Queen Anwyn in a pale green dress and a jeweled diadem. She stopped a foot inside the door and smiled at me, but it wasn’t enough to melt the ice in her eyes.
“You are awake at last,” she said with a note of irritation, as if my lack of consciousness had been my fault. “Welcome to Seelie.”
I crossed my arms. “Why am I here?”
She smoothed an invisible wrinkle in her sleeve. “I have heard so much about you, Jesse James, and I thought it was time you and I talked face-to-face.”
Her guards had broken into a secured part of the Unseelie court and kidnapped me. What could be so urgent that she would have them take such a risk?
My stomach plummeted. She’d found out that my parents had their memories back.
No, that wasn’t possible. They’d been in hiding since before I came to Faerie, and Lukas had assured me no one knew about his island. Even if she suspected the truth, she couldn’t get to them.
I lifted my chin defiantly. “Prince Vaerik will know you took me, and he’ll come for me.”
Queen Anwyn laughed. “No one is coming for you. By now, the entire Unseelie court thinks you escaped and fled to the human realm.”
“Vaerik won’t believe that.” Lukas knew I’d never leave him that way, especially not when he’d gone to speak to his father on my behalf.
“Aibel and Conard are very good at what they do.” She cast a fond look at her two guards. “And they had a little inside help from someone. She was more than happy to have you out of the way.”
“Rashari.” I curled my hands into fists. I knew she was desperate to become consort, but to help Seelie kidnap me? She’d be lucky if Lukas didn’t kill her himself when he found out what she’d done.
Aibel nodded. “She was quite helpful. She even provided a witness who saw you create the portal.”
“I do hope you like your accommodations.” Queen Anwyn waved a hand at the room. “The view from up here is lovely, and you have the whole tower to yourself for the duration of your stay.”
I refrained from asking how long that stay would be. My gut churned at the thought of how this was going to end for me, and I hoped my face didn’t give away how scared I was.
“What will Rhys think of you kidnapping me and keeping me prisoner?” If the time I’d spent with him had told me anything, it was that he was a good person despite having been raised by her. He considered me a friend, and he’d be angry about what she’d done to me.
Her mouth tightened for a second. “Prince Rhys has gone to one of my retreats for an extended stay. I see no need to include him in this unpleasant business, and you will be long gone before he comes home. He will never know you were here.”
I shivered and hugged myself tighter at the words long gone. “Why exactly am I here?”
“Right to the point. I like that. Although, from everything I’ve heard about you, I thought you would have already guessed the reason for your visit.” Her disdainful gaze swept over the length of me. “I want to know why you were in the temple yesterday and what magic you used to cloak yourself.”
Something flickered in her eyes, an urgency not reflected in her voice. She hadn’t accused me of trying to steal the ke’tain. She was more interested in the why and when details of my visit to the temple.
Suddenly, it all made sense, and I understood Bauchan’s reaction when they caught me and the rush to kidnap me. He knew one of his men had been at the temple, which meant he also knew I had to have seen and overheard the plot to use drakkan hide to get past the temple wards. They couldn’t risk me sharing that information with Unseelie, so they’d taken me before I could talk.
Aibel stepped forward, and I noticed for the first time that he had something in his hands. I thought it was another dannakin until he held it up and revealed a circlet made of the same metal and embedded with bits of drakkan bone.
A fresh wave of fear shot through me, and I backed away. Conard caught me and dragged me backward. Cold metal clamped around my wrists, and he yanked my arms high above my head t
o fasten the shackles to a hook bolted into the stone wall. He gripped my head and forced me to be still while Aibel fitted the circlet snugly on me.
“A traditional dannakin did not work on you, so we must use a different technique.” Queen Anwyn walked over to stand two feet from me. “My people have experimented with creating a more effective version that I am told makes the old dannakin feel almost pleasant. One taste of it and you will beg to tell me what I want to know. Feel free to scream. No one will hear you up here.”
The two guards stepped away from me. “It is ready,” Aibel said to her.
She tapped her chin with one slender finger. “Bauchan is still in Unseelie, so I will pick up where he left off. Let us begin with the last question he asked you. How did you survive your conversion?”
I pressed my lips together and gripped the chain between my shackles. It’s only pain, I chanted over and over in my head as the metal band around my head grew warmer. You’re strong, Jesse. You can get through –
A scream tore from me when flames engulfed my head. I thrashed in agony as my skin blistered and my hair shriveled. The smell of burnt flesh and hair filled my nose and throat until I could no longer breathe.
Aedhna, please, I silently screamed because my charred lips were no longer capable of forming words.
Her cool hand touched my forehead, and the fire lessened like it had the last time. The pain was still there but bearable, and I could draw air into my lungs.
As suddenly as it had started, the fire was gone. I hung from the shackles with my chin resting on my chest and tears pouring down my cheeks. My arms hurt from the strain, but I couldn’t summon the strength to stand tall and take the weight off them.
A hand cupped my chin and lifted my head. I opened my eyes and met the queen’s icy gaze. She looked equal parts angry and curious as she studied my face before she let my head fall forward.
“Fascinating. That is quite impressive.” She tapped a foot on the floor. “I should tell you it only gets worse with each treatment. You may as well answer my questions now and save yourself the pain. Eventually, you will break, and I will get what I want. I always do.”
I knew in that moment I was not leaving here alive. Even if I gave her what she wanted, she couldn’t let me go after kidnapping and torturing me. Worse, she might figure out a way to use me and my goddess stone against the people I loved. I didn’t know what her endgame was, but I’d die before I gave her that kind of power.
It took a superhuman effort to lift my head and several tries before I was able to utter, “You can’t break me.”
I had the brief satisfaction of watching Queen Anwyn’s composure slip before she smiled and said, “Let’s try this again.”
Then I knew nothing but pain.
* * *
My shivering woke me. I opened my dry swollen eyes and stared into the darkness as I carefully unfurled my stiff body from its fetal position on the cold floor. Everything hurt, even my eyelashes, and my throat was so raw and parched I could barely swallow.
I groaned when I finally managed to roll onto my back. Panting, I rested while I took stock of my body. My clothes were soaked with sweat that made them stick to me, and the pungent odor of urine surrounded me. I grimaced at the realization that I had wet myself, and I was still wearing my soiled pants.
My teeth chattered. The room was so cold I was sure I’d see my own breath if there’d been any light to see by. I forced myself to my hands and knees and crawled around searching for the pallet I’d woken up on before. My fingers brushed against rough fabric, and I fell on top of the meager pallet. It didn’t protect me from the cold breezes coming through the windows, but at least it was a barrier between me and the icy floor.
I curled into a ball and distracted myself with thoughts of Lukas. I knew he was out there searching for me, but did he know where to look? Would he fall for the lies and believe I had fled on my own, or would he know Seelie was behind my disappearance? And even if he did suspect Seelie, what could he do about it without proof of their involvement? Hadn’t they gotten away with the ke’tain theft for that same reason?
My mind shifted to much less pleasant thoughts, and I let out an involuntary whimper at the memories that assailed me. I had no idea how long Queen Anwyn and her men had used the dannakin on me, only that it was Aedhna’s cool hand that had kept me from going insane from the pain. What I didn’t understand was why Aedhna had allowed this to happen to me when one appearance from her would have stopped it. Was it some kind of test to see if they would break me?
They hadn’t. I would never forget the look of rage on the queen’s face when she realized no amount of pain would make me give up my secrets. She had screamed at me and spittle had flown from her mouth as she ranted and threatened to destroy everything I cared about. Even her two guards had stared at her like she’d gone insane.
Despite my discomfort, I slept again. The next time I opened my eyes, the faint outline of the sky was visible through the windows. I stayed where I was, miserable and cold, while the day broke and the morning light slowly filled the room.
It wasn’t until I heard the scrape of the door that I rolled over to see who had entered my prison. I expected the queen and her guards, but it was a dark-haired female in a plain dress like the ones the female elves wore in Unseelie. She came up short when she saw me watching her, causing the guard that accompanied her to run into her back.
“I have brought fresh clothes for you.” She held up the bundle in her hands.
“Thanks,” I rasped and followed it with a burning cough. My throat felt like I’d gargled with broken glass.
She set the bundle on the floor and fled without another word. The guard followed her, and the door closed with a loud click.
I let out a breath, grateful they’d left me to change without an audience. Standing, I went to pick up the clothes. My body still hurt, but I was able to undress without much difficulty. I made a face as I tossed my damp pants away from me, and I sighed when I donned the clean, dry clothes. The air in the room was warmer, and it was a small relief to finally stop shivering.
The door opened again, and I couldn’t stop my body from recoiling when Bauchan entered carrying a pair of shackles. Queen Anwyn had taken delight in telling me how good her head of security was at making people talk, and what a pity it was that he’d needed to stay in Unseelie to keep up appearances.
“Hold out your arms, and do not try anything,” he ordered. What did he think I was going to do? I had no weapon and barely enough strength to keep from swaying on my feet.
I did as he said, and he shackled my hands in front of me. Taking my arm in his bruising grip, he marched me out of the room and down the tower’s winding stairs. We left the tower and navigated a maze of hallways that all looked the same to me. Every one of them had a white floor that resembled marble, white walls, and wooden doors. Occasionally, we passed a small table holding a vase of white flowers. The only color came from the glimpses of sky and trees through the windows we passed.
We stopped at a set of double doors with a guard on either side. Bauchan didn’t spare the guards a look as he opened one of the doors and shoved me inside. It was a large living area done mainly in white with some splashes of color in the tapestries on the walls and in the rugs on the floors. Large windows gave a panoramic view of the river and beyond.
The room had a feminine feel to it, and I didn’t have to wait long to see its owner. A door opened, and Queen Anwyn entered wearing a long blue gown that trailed the floor and a small jeweled diadem that caught the light as she moved. Unlike me, she looked well rested and fresh, and her face practically glowed with health and beauty.
She saw me and smiled as if she’d hadn’t spent hours torturing me yesterday. “Jesse, you are a marvel. Anyone else would be a mindless lump after that interrogation, and yet here you are.”
I didn’t respond. If that bothered her, she did not show it. She reclined on a chaise and motioned to Bauchan, who pushed me forward
and forced me down onto a chair across from her. He stayed behind me, out of my sight but close enough for me to feel his threatening presence.
“Bauchan brought me the news that King Oseron believes you are hiding somewhere in the human realm. Prince Vaerik and his guard are going there today to search for you.” Queen Anwyn paused to let that news sink in. “No one is coming to save you. The sooner you accept that, the sooner we can move on to more important things.”
I folded my trembling hands in my lap. “Like you stealing the ke’tain again?”
She had said enough during my torture session to make it clear why I was here. If I was going to be subjected to more of that, I was determined to get answers to the questions that had plagued me for months. Everyone in Faerie had to know or suspect by now that she was behind the theft, but no one had evidence to bring against her.
Queen Anwyn didn’t bother to deny it. “Yes.”
“Why?” I implored. “You saw what happened when the ke’tain was taken from Faerie. Why would you want to do that to your own world?”
Her mouth twisted. “It was never my intention to harm my world. I took the ke’tain to save Faerie.”
I shook my head. “That makes no sense. You had to know that removing something so powerful from Faerie would upset the balance of magic between the two worlds.”
“Of course, I knew that,” she snapped. “The ke’tain was only supposed to be in the human realm long enough to cause minor instability. Then my men would recover it and return it to its rightful place. Our mistake was including humans in our plan. We will not do that again.”
“I don’t understand,” I said more confused than ever.
“My men took the ke’tain to a human known for selling valuable Fae objects. His job was to keep it safe until another human named Davian arranged to buy it from him. In turn, Davian would return it to me.” She huffed in irritation. “It would have worked out well had the first human not lost the ke’tain.”