Chapter 4 #2
This is not our home, Niall said, glancing back at her. She couldn’t make out his expression, but his mental voice was rough. This is our battlefield. Don’t forget that.
Of all of us, she’s the last person who will be able to, one of the others replied.
Not of all of us. Tarian’s voice was hard.
A creature to the right somewhere let out a long, mournful moan. Another answered with a whistle. They weren’t like any animals Daisy had heard. Something thumped repeatedly against wood away to the left, masked in darkness even though the light should’ve reached that far.
Do not look around, Darryn hissed, Niall’s brother with small braids lined with ribbons. He grabbed her arm and yanked her closer. Do not seek out what awaits in the darkness. Never venture into the shadows by yourself. Do you understand?
Y-yes, she said with a nervous flutter.
The shadows here are not merely the absence of light, Lennox said. Many of them are sentient. They are spies or assassins. Creatures or pitfalls into a trap.
Nothing here is as it seems, Niall intoned.
Nothing. This place is twisted. The rancid magic has affected much of the court and the creatures on the grounds.
Danger is everywhere. You have grown to trust Tarian, and us through him.
We are the only ones you can trust. Do you understand?
Eat only that which you have prepared yourself or what we have given you.
Starve before you rely on this court for food.
Die of thirst before you take their water, for it will be a less torturous death.
Kill before you are killed, Gorlan said. Always.
The nervous flutters turned into body tremors as the gravity of her situation once again sank in.
This time, Daisy wouldn’t have Tarian holding her to make it better.
She wouldn’t have anyone to guard her. The danger was solely on her shoulders.
She had to remember that. She had to remain vigilant. Back to reality.
Scout every room you enter for a weapon you might use.
Kayla looked back at her, and a plethora of images scattered within Daisy’s mind—various rooms reduced into examples, from a hot fire poker, to cutlery, to a blunt object.
Constantly reassess which one will be best given your exact location.
Don’t let the enemy know you are doing it. Do not touch it until you need it.
Try not to touch anything unless you have to, another female said, speaking to Daisy for the first time. The magic of the chalice is alluring. It lingers. The more powerful fae might be able to trace its flavor. Make it as hard as possible.
Will baths help? asked a male, another she hadn’t spoken to.
I don’t know, Tarian responded, not looking back. He rolled his shoulders, his posture tenser than she’d ever seen. The texts mentioned something to this effect, but it didn’t sound remotely as potent. I need to spend some time researching how to mask it.
At least your claim distracts from the chalice’s magic, Kayla said. Small miracles.
I’ve laid my claim once before, Tarian replied, guilt lacing his voice. If the royals remember that, they will realize Daisy’s flavor is different.
That was before the magic became so badly twisted, though, Darryn replied. Their memory of that time likely was twisted with it. Distorted, at least. Plus, she is a human, not a fae. We can say it is different for her. How would they know that is a lie?
No one responded as they passed through a stone canopy that looked like the darkness was physically moving across it.
They entered a tunnel with echoing walls of midnight.
Orbs faintly glowed at a point in the ceiling, the light diffusing and not reaching as far down as Daisy.
She stumbled and reached out to clutch Kayla’s arm.
I can’t see, she thought.
Shh, Niall replied, as though she had control over how loudly she thought things.
Whisper in my mind. Kayla grabbed her and patted her arm. Act like you are trying not to let Tarian hear your words.
She tried to do as Kayla said. The result was her hunching strangely with the effort and kinda stutter-stepping like an old man who’d just found a golden ticket in a bar of chocolate. She didn’t have much control of her body when she was trying to hamper her thoughts. I can’t see.
Someone up ahead wheezed and another cough-spat. Kayla’s hand shook on Daisy’s arm as she sucked in an audible breath through her nose.
I’ve never had a harder time not laughing in my entire life, Niall said through obvious strain.
What in the blight was that, human? Gorlan asked in a flat voice.
Three people spat out laughter and quickly muffled themselves afterward. The wheezing from earlier turned into a strangled laugh.
Turn the mirth into cruelty, Tarian said, no humor in his voice.
I’d really rather not devolve into something that fits in this disgusting court, Kayla told Daisy quietly. Just stop thinking until you know how to shield your thoughts.
She couldn’t stop thinking. She didn’t know how.
Hers was the sort of mind that never shut up, twirling with thoughts and memories and often a random song in the background.
Instead, she started thinking of things that might be on the walls, terrifying stuff made of nightmares.
If someone was reading her thoughts, they’d expect her to be scared—of her captors, this strange place, the horrible creatures.
She went in cycles like a frantic mind would, envisioning the worst of everything, worrying about her fate.
I shoulda thought of that, Gorlan said, barely more than a leak of a thought in her mind.
You’re more the brawny type, not the brainy type, Niall told him in the same soft mental tone.
Like you can talk. You didn’t think of it.
I never claimed to be smarter than her just because she’s a human.
It’s not because she’s a human. It’s because she’s a female.
Kayla huffed beside them, and Daisy could feel the smile in her voice. Cute, she thought sarcastically.
She is smart, though. I’ll give her that, the male she didn’t know thought, his mind more muffled than the rest. Either he was better at shielding his thoughts or was compensating somehow for being worse. If the latter, she needed to learn that trick.
She is ingenious, and I have a feeling she will shine, Tarian said stoically. Her training makes it seem as though she were preparing for this fight. It was a stroke of luck that she and I came to regard each other as…
He paused, and she felt a weird fluttering in her chest.
…allies, he finally went on. If we hadn’t, she’d be calm and logical and analytical, trying to outsmart us instead of playing a part and using us to outsmart the court.
He took a deep breath. This will be hard for you, Fallen, given she is new here and a human, but trust her instincts.
They are…infallible. I tested her in the human realm, as I told you, and she’s battled at my side here.
She’s earned that trust. Give her the information she seeks and the help she requires.
They reached the end of the corridor as pride welled up within her, mixing with that increased fluttering in her chest. He stopped under one of the glowing orbs, this one showering light on his hard face, horribly devoid of any emotion.
His eyes didn’t sparkle with teasing or soften when he looked at her, something she hadn’t realized they’d done lately until right this moment.
He looked at her like she was a stranger.
“Take her to the dungeons. I’ll send for her when I have a craving for her flesh,” he said with haughty command and disgusting arrogance.
Something withered inside her, even though she knew he had to play his part as well. Her personality rushed to the surface with unstoppable force. “Go fuck yourself,” she blurted, then went with it, spitting at him and accidentally hitting Gorlan instead.
Gorlan barely flinched, then tensed, stopping himself from recoiling.
She would’ve thought that funny if not for the cold indifference in Tarian’s eyes.
Kayla and the beautiful, curvy woman grabbed her upper arms, holding her tightly between them.
Tarian studied her like he might a finger painting done by someone else’s child.
No humor moved behind his eyes. No kindness.
“Do that again, and I will whip you unconscious before I toss you into the dungeon to rot. Do I make myself clear? You are nothing here, human. Less than dirt. Remember that.”
Cold crept through her insides. Steel entered her gaze. Her bearing. A smile pulled at her lips, and she let it. Then she coaxed it into full-fledged laughter.
“Whatever you say, boss,” slipped from her mouth, flippant and willful and challenging without completely crossing the line.
He was acting like one of the court members here, and they were probably real assholes. Let the record show that she was calling his bluff. Your move, Highness.
His eyebrow twitched up slightly. A tiny crease formed at the corner of his eyes, though she couldn’t tell which emotion that might be. Then he was giving directions to his Fallen. Before he left, his voice slithered into her mind.
Stay alive, little dove. Kill first, ask questions after you hide the body.
The feeling of lips ghosted across hers. Phantom hands held her tightly. Then he walked into the darkness with all but two of his Fallen, taking his protection with him. She was on her own.