Chapter 38
C loying, damp air emanates out of our bedroom back at the castle, shoving its way up my nose and ramming into my lungs. Darkness oozes out, leaking like a mist from the slightly open door. The entire castle is so much colder and more pitiful than it had been a few days ago. I open my mouth, ready to complain and ask if we can move to another room?—
“I have some stuff I need to sort out, think you can stay here for me?” Dae asks.
I’m about to argue when I start counting the days. A week—that’s how long I’d had before the demon attack. It’s been five days since that clock started ticking and the moon is nearly at its apex. There’s only a day or two left until ’sacrifice’ has to go ahead or Ellyllon is weakened.
If there’s another way out of this other than my mother’s death or Ellyllon falling, I’ve got to figure it out now. “Yeah, okay, I’ll stay here,” I say. His eyes narrow and before he gets the chance to question me I say, “Can you power up that laptop for me, please?” I almost ask him to send a Coblynau in with some tea, but that would be too obvious—I never did get used to people doing things for me.
His lips twist in what could be a smile, if not for the sharp teeth and serpentine eyes. “I mean it, Elly, please stay up here.”
“I swear.” I meet his smile with one of my own, except mine feels too tight. Apparently, we can no longer play pretend with one another. “I’ll stay.”
Dae shoves into the room and I’m reminded of the fact that we’re sort of engaged now. It seems such a silly, human thing for him to want. He powers up the laptop for me, kisses me on the cheek, and leaves.
I wait three minutes before edging the door open. Two guards stand on either side of the door, and a third is positioned across the hallway. That one arches an eyebrow at me and smiles. “Try it,” the smile says.
Closing the door again, I consider my options. Only one way out. The window.
Peering out the window, I assess the distance from here to the ground. No way I reach the bottom all in one piece if I jump.
Just say the words , the tall trees below whisper. Just once.
When I first arrived in Faerie, I wouldn’t have dreamed of answering their call. Not after what happened to Mum all those years back. That’s the funny thing about guilt. It’s a creeping, sneaky feeling. It slips its tentacles into your bones, your blood, your soul, tainting everything it touches.
I killed four men.
I nearly killed my mother.
I’m a monster.
And I needed something to blame for that, so I blamed the trees. But it wasn’t their fault. I told them what to do. I’m not a slave to them. I’m their master.
Come, I whisper back.
With a sigh that ripples across the landscape, sending birds flying and leaves rustling, the tallest, strongest tree of the bunch reaches up its long branches, all the way to my window.