Chapter 33 Auria
Itried to sleep in the hedge maze, wrapped in Bylur’s magic, but my mind was too busy. If he thought I was going to leave him to die, he was delusional. And the queen’s daughter didn’t think that would actually happen anyway. I needed a plan.
Hours slipped away.
I jolted awake in the early pre-dawn light when a princess dressed like a maid poked my shoulder. I sat up on the bench, trying to figure out what she wanted.
She wrinkled her nose, probably disturbed by how many days had passed since I’d bathed. “Why aren’t you freezing?”
I rolled my shoulders back and looked her in the eye. “Since you can’t help me, I shouldn’t give you any information that would make me more vulnerable than I already am.”
She shrugged. “What’s your plan? Mother’s never been so angry before. I think there’s actually a chance that she might kill him tonight.”
I dropped my head into my hands. “I’ll think of something today.”
But I did not.
More hours passed, and all I did was pace in the maze and reject idea after idea. When the afternoon escaped me enough that both the sun and the moon were in the sky at the same time, I knew I was out of time. There was nothing left but to face the queen and try to convince her to give Bylur to me.
On my way out of the hedge, the princess appeared again. “Do you have a plan?”
“Yes.”
She raised her brows.
“It’s a terrible plan, but it’s all I have.”
She shook her head. “Well, at least tonight will be more diverting.” She turned to walk away, but I finally realized what she was carrying.
“Wait!
She turned back around, and I pointed at the goblet and pile of grapes on a plate. “Do you need to assign someone to go to the dungeon?” I would love to see Bylur again before I faced the queen.
She lifted her chin. “It will make the queen unbearable.”
I pulled out Brielle’s ring. “Would a ring with summer magic in it make her more bearable?”
Her eyes turned greedy and she offered me the goblet and plate. “A ring with summer magic would make many things bearable.”
We exchanged the items, and she escorted me to the stairwell that led down to the dungeon.
The guards saw my goblet, pointed me down the corridor, and I wound my way back to Bylur’s cell.
He rushed to bars and put a hand through. “What are you doing here?”
I set the goblet and plate on the floor and took his hand. “Seeing you, obviously.”
He shook his head and reached for my face. “I have dreamed about you all day. Imagined what I would say to you if we had more time. Wished I could go back and undo my own rash attack that let her land a curse on me so I would be free to be with you.”
I tipped my head, diverting my gaze to his eyes and ignoring the new gash on his temple. “But Bylur. If you weren’t cursed, you never would have even considered marrying me.”
He rubbed a thumb across my cheek. “In that case, I would take a thousand curses and consider it a small price to know you.” I closed my eyes and let myself truly relax for the first time in almost three days while he stroked my cheek.
This was worth fighting for. This trust, this closeness, this safety.
“And what’s this?” a sickly sweet voice from behind me made the hairs on my arms stand straight up. I opened my eyes and turned to see the queen.
It couldn’t have been anyone else. She was taller than me, wore a glittering white crown and a rich red dress, and had several medallions hanging around her neck. One of them looked a lot like one I’d seen on Ephaltes.
“Is this the reason you won’t marry me, Bylur?” she crooned. “Does someone else hold your heart?”
My hands trembled, but I stood tall and said the only words I’d thought of after three days. “Queen Daneira, I challenge you for Bylur.”
“No,” Bylur groaned.
The queen tsked. “It seems he does not want to be rescued.”
“He did not want to be imprisoned, either, but that did not stop you.”
Her eyes glinted with an evil delight. “So you’re saying we should decide his fate, regardless of his opinion.”
I folded my arms. “Or you could ask him who he’d prefer, and send him with his choice.”
She cackled. “Oh, no, I suspect you’d rank higher than me, despite your human nature.”
I tipped my head, hoping this was my chance. “Are you afraid of me, then? Because I’m human?”
Her eyes darkened. “Never.”
I stepped closer to her. “Then name your fight. I’ll play the game of your choice, and Bylur will be the prize.”
She stepped closer to me. “You’re too eager. You have a secret, and I won’t fight you without knowing it.”
“Then you are a coward,” I bit out. “Frightened of a human who didn’t even know fae existed until a few months ago!”
She slapped my face with the back of her hand, digging slices into my cheek where her sharp rings cut my skin. Then she grabbed the front of my jerkin and lifted my feet off the ground. “I am as frightened of you as I am of a cockroach.”
Fury burned at my eyes. “I am a cockroach who will find a way to defeat you.”
She laughed in a cold, calculating way and tossed me to the ground. I hit hard enough that my momentum rolled me, and my head bumped against the stone wall.
Her voice cut through the haze in my mind. “I have a new idea. Unlock Bylur’s door. Let’s see what happens.”
Moments later, Bylur was kneeling at my side, his chains bumping my chest as he cradled my head. “Auria, please stop antagonizing her. I can’t watch you get hurt any more.”
I opened my eyes and smiled at him. “I’d rather this than stay home and pretend I didn’t know that you were dying.”
He ran a thumb over my lips and whispered in a breath so light I barely heard him. “Please. Go home. Think of our room and run into the shadows.” He didn’t realize I couldn’t jump through shadows so far away like that. I didn’t even understand how to call shadows to me.
I gripped his hand, and the queen’s voice interrupted. “New plan. This girl will provide us with some evening entertainment. Guards!” Metal boots echoed around us. “Chain Bylur to the post, and bring the girl to me.”
Rough hands dragged me up to standing and forced me to walk behind the queen.
We marched down two corridors, past rows of metal and wooden weapons, and turned into a wide empty room, except for a post in the middle of the space.
Two soldiers chained Bylur to the post by securing the chains around his wrist to another chain at the top of the post in the middle of the room.
He grunted as they wrenched on the chain, forcing his hands above his head.
I clenched my hands into fists. This was the worst version of my worst nightmare. Was I supposed to watch him get beaten? I wanted to run to him, but two soldiers each gripped my arms, holding me just inside the room’s entrance.
The queen turned to me. “Now then, what was your name?”
Before I could answer, Bylur yelled from the middle of the room. “No! Don’t tell her your name. She doesn’t need any more power—”
The queen flicked her fingers toward him, and an ice ball flew across the room and pelted his gut so hard that it forced the air out of his lungs and left him gasping for breath. She turned back to me. “You were saying?”
I clenched my teeth together. I wasn’t about to say anything, not after she hit Bylur like that.
“No? Well then.” Her voice rose to a false crooning. “I’ve thought of a game we can play.” She straightened and called out, “Maid!”
Daneira’s daughter emerged from somewhere behind me. Everyone turned their faces down.
“Make a path,” the queen instructed, “of fire, from one prisoner to the other.” She waved her hands at the space from Bylur in the middle of the room to me.
The princess maid snapped, and the ground between Bylur and me erupted in knee-high flames. I tried stepping back from them, but the two soldiers held me still, despite flames licking their boots as well.
“Now,” the queen called, “I want guards lining this path!” Twenty guards slid out from the corridors behind us into the stone room. They lined up along the fiery path, ten on each side. My gut twisted. I wasn’t here to watch Bylur get tortured. I was here to die.
My death would be his torture.
Blood rushed away from my head as I realized what was happening. I would have lost my balance if the two soldiers next to me didn’t have such a tight grip on my arms.
The queen clicked her tongue. “I think we’re still missing someone.” She lifted her head and called louder. “Slave!”
A blue-haired fae with his face toward the ground rushed around us and knelt in front of the queen. My jaw fell, and a new rush of anger woke up all my limp limbs. I lifted my chin up and turned to the queen. “What did you do to him?!”
“Oh? You know this one?” Her smile turned sickly sweet again, and my stomach twisted. Something was wrong here. “You think I captured him, don’t you? Forced him into slavery?”
I didn’t answer out loud, but I glared at her.
She laughed. “Ephaltes, stand up and tell this human why you are my slave.”
He bowed to her and faced me. “I failed to sabotage Bylur’s efforts at making a council. She wanted him to not have any support from the nobles so he would appreciate her more, and I… failed.”
“Tell her,” the queen simpered, “why you agreed to help me.”
He focused his gaze over my shoulder, deliberately avoiding my eyes. “When she conquered Kalshana, she was going to give me a position of more power than the one I had as Lord of House Fundan.”
I was shocked. We hadn’t been friends exactly, but he’d helped me once or twice, and I never would have imagined he would have tried to hurt Bylur and me. “Eris?”
“I coerced her. And sentenced her.” His dark eyes looked sad, but his voice did not sound remorseful at all.
I couldn’t say anything else to him. The betrayal cut too deep.
“Well, I’m glad you two worked that out.” The queen waved at someone behind us, and they passed a long club to Ephaltes. “You’ll be first in line.” Her eyes glittered. “And if you don’t get a hit on her, you will die next.”