5. Behave, Mistress,Her Majesty Will Have Your Head
5. BEHAVE, MISTRESS, OR HER MAJESTY WILL HAVE YOUR HEAD
The dungeons occupied the lowest levels of the palace. The “human” floor was immediately above the “fae” one, and there were no more beneath it.
The entire walk back to the royal palace, Hiroshi, West, and Ryder persisted in trying to convince Rush to deliver me to the bottom level designated for the punishment of the queen’s fae subjects. Despite their heated insistence, Rush ignored their advice, taking me to a room with a tiny window to the outside. While it wouldn’t open to allow in fresh air to alleviate some of the gloominess of the space, the natural light kept me from panicking.
Rush’s silver eyes welled with regret as he brought a finger to his sensuous lips—a silent reminder that now that we were within palace walls, there was no such thing as privacy. “We have to go. We all still have to fight today. As soon as they settle the situation with Braque’s potions, we’ll be up. ”
“Yeah, and we’d better hurry,” West said. “You especially,” he told Rush.
He, Ryder, and Hiroshi feared the queen would discover where I was sooner rather than later and punish Rush for the disobedience. They wanted him in and out of the ring before she learned of what they were certain she’d consider a betrayal.
On the way over, after hearing their concern, I’d eventually offered to go to the fae dungeon to spare Rush from any repercussions. He wouldn’t even consider it. “Whatever you imagine of the fae dungeon,” he’d said, “it’s worse. I won’t take you there, no matter what she does or says.”
Given that the queen held some secret leverage over him that allowed her to pull his strings, his reaction was unexpected. In Embermere, her subjects were in constant survival mode, doing what they had to in order to endure.
But despite the fact that he was spying on me, the fae dungeon was apparently a line he refused to cross. I didn’t want to begin to guess at what the queen might do to the fae hidden down there if in the open she enjoyed severing heads from necks at the slightest provocation.
I examined the sparse room. It was only large enough for a slim bed, a small counter with a sink, and a bare commode. A glowing orb bobbed overhead, augmenting the sliver of natural light.
“Who does the queen keep down here?” I asked, thinking it a safe question .
The four of them exchanged loaded looks before Hiroshi finally replied, speaking slowly as he chose his words with evident care: “The palace … employs … a large staff of humans. Every one of them lives down here.”
“I’ve never seen a human.”
“They’re instructed to stay out of sight and do much of their work when the rest of us are sleeping.”
“Ah, I see. And are they here of their own free will?”
Hiroshi chuckled darkly and quietly enough that no concealed ear should hear. “They come to the mirror world of their own volition, yes.”
But I’d bet they didn’t stay here with full awareness of what their lives were to become. That was one thing Zako had thought to mention before he passed away: humans were exceptionally susceptible to fae magic. Even the simplest glamor could fool them.
Rush’s hand took mine. I looked down at where our skin met. Blood caked my flesh and dirtied my fingernails.
He waited until I met his stare. “Don’t talk to them. Don’t interact with them in any way. You’re here because you defied Her Majesty. You’d be wise to do everything you can to show her you regret your actions and will obey and respect her from here on out.”
Respect her… Yeah, right . But I could pick up on a veiled caution with the best of them. I had an unseen audience that would relay anything of note. If I interfered with her slaves, she’d do her best to make me wish I hadn’t.
“Understood,” I said.
Rush’s gaze skimmed my lips before looking up again. He squeezed my fingers. “You’ll be safe here. When you’re ready to beg the queen’s forgiveness, call out and somebody’ll come to deliver the message. If you’re on your best behavior, our generous queen may show you mercy.”
My scowl was bitter. I had to be on my best behavior when she could treat the rest of us like chattel to do with as she pleased?
“Understood,” I repeated, as tightly as the stick up her ass.
“Come on. We gotta go,” Ryder said.
Rush nodded but didn’t release me. “I’ll see you later.” But he sounded as if he were trying to convince himself of the fact, as if he weren’t at all certain he would. “Just … be careful.”
I was trying to read the shadows of his expressions and failing. “You too. You’re the one who still has to fight today.”
He nodded slowly as if to say my fight for the day wasn’t yet over. I stiffened, glancing over my shoulder as if the walls might reveal their hidden dangers.
“Come on, man. Time to hit it,” West said. “You can visit her later.”
Rush jerked his head toward his friend. “It’s my job to protect her,” he snapped defensively. “The queen and king both ordered me to do it. ”
West put his hands up in surrender. “Whoa, Rush. Yeah, okay. I know.”
But I couldn’t shake the feeling that whatever they knew, I didn’t.
Ryder’s hand landed on my shoulder, and Rush glared at him next.
“Sorry, Elowyn,” Ryder said, “but we need to take your weapons too.”
I considered resisting, but what would be the point? The queen had magic she could use against me. Whatever power I had, I still didn’t know exactly, but it surely wouldn’t be a match for her arsenal. Better not to upset her for nothing.
I handed over the throwing stars and knives, sword, morning star, and went to reach for my daggers. But Rush shook his head, stilling my hand with his own.
“Hide them,” he mouthed.
I breathed in my relief. At least I’d have something to protect myself with, even if it was a spindly twig to the queen’s mighty, towering oak.
“I hope you all kick some major ass,” I told them as they filed out. Rush was last to go, studying me as if he were memorizing my features. It sparked a new wave of unease within me.
Before I was ready to be left entirely alone in this little room, Rush drew the door closed behind them, and it snicked shut. No sooner had they left, I tested it. No surprise, it wouldn’t budge.
If it hadn’t been plain I was a prisoner before, it was clear now.
The hours dragged by with agonizing slowness as I wondered how Rush was faring in his fight. How Hiroshi, West, Ryder, and Roan were doing. Had they defeated their opponents to advance to the next round? Had the queen ordered them to behead someone, and if so, had they done it? Worse, had they been the ones to lose, and had they lost more than the competition? Had they lost their lives to the queen’s capricious whims?
I should have been there to observe the weaknesses of my future opponents in the Gladius Probatio. I suspected the queen was intentionally depriving me of every advantage.
After I’d done my best to scrub clean, I longed with true desperation for a great book to distract me from my worries. At that point, I would have settled for anything that would allow me to pretend my life wasn’t in the hands of a madwoman.
As the light beyond my narrow window began to dim, footsteps shuffled outside in the hallway. No one spoke and there were no sounds other than a few opening doors, some rustling. The human slaves rousing from sleep and preparing for another night of work, I guessed.
When twilight fully descended, the single orb in my room brightened enough to reveal the hairline cracks in the damp stone walls and floor. Unlike the gentle lilac satin finish of my bedchamber above ground, this was truly depressing.
My stomach ached with hunger, but still nobody came to check on me. I tried the door again, even the window that was too small for me to climb through, to no avail. All it did was reveal how easily I could be forgotten down here. How I could waste away in secret.
The queen was ever so fond of her secrets…
I paced the ten-by-twelve-foot space until the constant turning made me too aware of my confinement. Then I did whatever strength exercises I could fit into the room, until I had to freshen up again at the sink, all the while longing for the bath in my rooms.
Eventually I lay down in a vain attempt to get my mind to settle, and quiet my complaining, empty stomach—to stop thinking about Rush and his uncertain fate, or whether Xeno and Saffron might be somewhere on the level beneath me, and if I’d ever get the king to confess my mother’s identity. What happened in the arena when I touched the earth? Why did my stab wound close and scab?
I’d fallen into a fitful sleep when the door finally swung open. I reached for the blade beneath my hard pillow while I sprung to sitting.
“Pru,” I breathed, releasing my grip on the blade. The goblin entered hurriedly—but not fast enough. A bloody, severed ear zipped in behind her before she pushed the door closed—but not all the way.
I alternated between looking at her, the ear, the ajar door, and the food she carried in her knobby hands .
Reaching for the plate, I rose from the bed. The simple meal of bread, cheese, and fruit had never looked so delicious. I tore into the thickly sliced, crusty bread while patting the bed beside me. “Oh, my sunshine.” I moaned at that first bite. “Damn, Pru. I’m so freaking glad you came by. I’m so hungry I could eat dragon scales.”
The fruit was ripe, colorful, and shiny—a plum, handful of grapes, and an orange. The cheese was rich, smooth, and creamy, the bread, soft and fresh. I groaned my delight as I sampled everything … before noticing that Pru was standing by my bed, staring at the empty spot beside me.
“What? What is it?” I asked, joining her in studying the threadbare blanket—gray to match the blah theme of the room despite the vibrant colors of the upper floors of the palace.
“Are you … inviting me to sit beside you?” she eventually whispered, glancing all around the tiny chamber as if searching for hidden eavesdroppers. The ear hovered by the door; she skimmed right over it without a hitch.
“Obviously,” I answered. “I’d love to offer you a chair, but as you can see, I’m a bit limited in my choices.”
She shuffled forward, dragging those big, floppy dragon feet of hers, gaping some more at the vacant spot.
I chuckled at the spectacle before remembering some of the reasons why she’d be so shocked I wanted to treat her like an equal. My mirth fled, and I paused my eating.
I smiled despite my predicament. “Pru, I meant it when I told you I want us to be friends.”
She looked up at me with those black, depthless eyes. They were shining, and she furiously blinked until they gleamed no more than usual. Gradually she nodded, her scraggly hair moving stiffly around her narrow shoulders.
I nibbled on the plum. “Thank you for the food. I wasn’t sure you’d come.”
“I thought you were in the … other dungeon. And we goblins aren’t allowed to go there.”
I swallowed thickly. “Oh? How’d you find out where I was, then?”
“One of the queen’s goblins told me.”
“I see.” Suddenly, the plum lost its flavor, and I set it down on the plate. Stare fixed on the bobbing ear, I whispered, “Is Rush okay?”
“I don’t know, Mistress.” Softer now: “He asked me to report back to him on how you’re doing though.”
Was that because he cared? Or because he was meant to know everything about me to do his job for the queen?
“And the fights,” I said. “Who won today?”
She rattled off the familiar names I was hoping to hear. I sucked in a deep breath. “Did anyone die?”
“Yes, Mistress. There are now fourteen contestants left to fight tomorrow, and that includes you.”
I nodded, unsure how to feel anymore. “ What happened with all of Braque’s potions? The pit? Someone closed it?”
“Ivar did.”
“And Braque?”
“He’s back to his usual self.”
What a shame. I liked the chicken beak and leg look on him.
I needed to ask, but at the same time I didn’t want to know: “The queen?”
Pru studied me, the bed, me again, then climbed up onto the mattress, swinging her short legs over the side once she settled in. After another sweep of the room for listeners, “Mistress shouldn’t disrespect Her Majesty, or it’ll be off with our heads.”
“Yes, yes, I know.” I chewed on a block of cheese.
“Many of the fae in the arena are being very disrespectful to Her Majesty too. It’s not good. Her subjects should show her respect and do what she says.”
If I understood what Pru was trying to say without saying it, after I left, and after the guard incited the spectators to rebel against the queen, some were indeed doing so.
“What’s the queen … doing to stop them?” I asked, wondering if the queen herself might be listening to us now.
“Whatever she needs to,” Pru answered shortly. It was the last of the useful information she offered me, and when she caught me eyeing the gap between the door and the hallway beyond, she shook her head.
“There’s no point to it,” she said cryptically, but I heeded her warning—for now. If Xeno and Saffron might truly be but one floor away, I had to at least try to get to them.
With promises to come fetch me the next day for my match, and to seek a book for me to read, Pru left too soon. Her final words to me were: “Behave, Mistress, or Her Majesty will have your head.”
With that bitter thought, I tossed and turned until the sky beyond my window was already beginning to lighten, and sleep claimed me at long last.