10. Lira
10
LIRA
T hough I wanted to turn around and race for the daggers, I forced myself to remain in the doorway, searching the darkness for any hint of movement. I needed to take my chance to escape, but I didn’t want to rush and fall into a trap.
Not sure what I was looking for; I squinted … but I didn’t see anything.
Another scream had me shuffling back and shutting the door. It was now or never, and if this was a test, so fucking be it. I needed to get the hell out of here instead of waiting for my death to arrive.
A faint click informed me that the door had shut, so I spun and raced into the bathroom to retrieve the daggers. Fortunately, I was able to fasten the one I’d brought from home to my ankle, and then I grabbed the dagger Eldrin had left after his attack.
As I reentered the bedroom, I heard more commotion outside, with someone yelling, “The attacker is toward the front of the castle!” followed by a group of guards flying by .
There was no way I could leave via the hallway, so I had only one option.
My breath caught as I turned to the windows, and the threat of tears burned my eyes. I would have to climb to safety and risk falling to my death.
But at least I’d die trying to survive and not at the hands of Tavish or any other fae.
Decision made, I ran to the window and lifted it, trying to open it as quietly as possible. I didn’t want to be careless and have someone walking by notice what I was doing. I gritted my teeth, and when the window was open about two feet, I locked the top in place and stuck my head outside.
The ledge had a small platform, so I held the extra dagger in my teeth and crawled outside. The cold air hit my face and body, and my gray gown puffed underneath me.
I suppressed a shiver, turned so that my chest was facing the window, and glanced to my right. There were fairly deep grout lines from where the smooth stone material had been placed together. Each piece of stone was five feet wide and four feet long. Scaling the wall would be difficult, but there were indents where I could place my feet and hands.
Needing my toes for leverage, I kicked off my flat-bottomed slippers, letting them fall below onto the rocky embankment, and pressed my toes into a crack. A sharp ache shot up my legs, but I held my breath and climbed.
I tried to ignore the chill, but my body quivered. The stone felt like ice, probably from the snow that continuously flurried around me. I moved inch by inch carefully, but the longer I remained out here, the more numb I became, except for my hands and feet. They were on fire.
My teeth clacked against the dagger, and I stupidly looked down. The area below me was, at minimum, a fifty- foot drop with pointed, jagged pieces of rock sticking out of a thick layer of snow. A dark, wolflike creature was standing right underneath me, his lime-green eyes glowing up at mine.
Nightbane.
Shit. He was watching me, and he was alone, but that didn’t mean his guard wasn’t coming.
If I was the Seelie princess, I needed my wings to come out now. My heart thundered against my rib cage as I became light-headed.
I faced forward, my nose pressing against the smooth stone as I flexed my back muscles. If the blasted things were in there, now would be a good time for them to make their debut. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could scale the side of the castle.
Of course, all I wound up with was a back spasm.
Great .
Focus, Lira, I chanted. One task at a time. I needed to get off this ledge. Then I could deal with Nightbane and whatever guards showed up. I’d either become free or die, but at least there would be finality to my dire circumstances.
With resolve, I moved again, though now I could barely feel my hands and feet. I thought about going back and seeing if I could find another way out, but when I glanced back, I realized I’d climbed halfway between the window and where the castle abutted the steep mountain.
I had to keep moving. Running down the hill would be easier in bare feet, even if I couldn’t feel them.
My body shook as I continued, increasing my pace. My right foot lost its grip, and I scrabbled for purchase but couldn’t offset the weight. My heart lunged into my throat as my body dropped. Flailing, I flipped frontward toward the ground.
I shrieked. The dagger dropped from my mouth, tumbling directly below where I’d be landing within seconds. I closed my eyes.
A faint whimper came from below me, and my body hit something soft and warm. I jarred as whatever had caught me dropped on impact, and I opened my eyes to find myself wrapped around an animal with dark, green-tipped fur.
Nightbane’s body ran hot, warming me so that the frost eased from my body, and he quickly stood on all four legs again. He trotted, with me clinging to his back, his gigantic muscles working underneath me as he went to the dagger and used his teeth to lift it.
Raising my head, I expected to find guards hurrying toward us, but the area was clear. Still, Nightbane had caught me and knew I was a prisoner. I couldn’t stay with him. I had to get away, though I didn’t relish the idea of harming the animal.
Loosening my hold, I moved to roll off him, but he increased his pace and headed down the rocky spike of a hill.
I tightened my grip, not wanting to risk getting a spike lodged in my side. Once he tore off toward the front of the castle, I’d roll off and deal with the consequences then.
Enjoying the warmth while I could, I lifted my head to see dozens of fae standing outside the castle. Snow dusted their hair and clothes as they stood with their fists high above their heads. I expected Nightbane to veer toward the group, but he continued his trek downward through the spiky rocks to the stone road that ran through the village. He jumped over a small ledge, all four of his paws landing on the stone path, and darted through the town toward the sea.
My eyes burned as tears threatened to fill them, but I was confident that Nightbane planned on helping me get out of here.
I had so many questions, but I held them back. Now wasn’t the time, nor could the animal answer them.
A young boy stood in the middle of the street, watching the people in front of the castle with four women beside him talking.
“It’s the king’s cù-sìth!” the boy exclaimed. He spread out slate-colored wings, knocking snowflakes off himself. He wore a light-gray tunic, making him stand out a little more than the people who lived in the castle. “Mother, look!”
My stomach dropped as the woman turned to me.
“It’s her!” a woman screeched. “The Seelie princess! She’s escaping on the king’s prized animal.”
Of course. I’d made it out of the castle, but one second in the village, and I might as well have been wearing a flashing neon light.
“Guards!” A woman with light-blue hair flung her hood from her face. “The sunscorched is out here!”
Nightbane continued pushing through as more doors opened, and a silver-haired man a few inches taller than I flew out, lifted me by my waist, and dropped me onto the stony path.
The chill covered me as I landed on my tailbone, throbbing pain stealing my breath. I jumped to my feet, removing the dagger at my ankle, preparing to fight anyone who might come at me.
Three other men joined the silver-haired man.
Nightbane growled, dropping the other dagger from his mouth and standing next to me. His eyes glowed vibrantly as he bared his teeth and circled me, staring down my potential attackers.
Behind me, the sound of a gigantic door opening warned that the guards had to be coming near. I had to get out of here, and now.
“The king should’ve known not to trust a Seelie wildling,” a man more thick than tall snarled. Unlike most of the fae I’d seen, this one appeared older, with faint crow’s-feet around his eyes and slightly thinner hair than the others. “You should be with the rest of the prisoners.” He spat at my feet.
“Why? I haven’t done a damn thing to anyone here.” I hated how they treated me as if I was the person who’d attacked and banished them. It hadn’t been my decision, yet they put as much blame on me as those actually responsible.
A boy flew from the window above me and landed right in front of my face. He couldn’t have been older than ten, but he held a dagger larger than the one I had in my hand.
No wonder Tavish had called my pocketknife a mere toy.
“Their blood runs through you.” He swallowed. “Because of them, I lost my mother. Your death will be celebrated by all of us.” Then he attacked.
I ducked, the boy’s dagger sweeping over my head. I leaned left and kicked him in the stomach. The impact sent him slamming into the house behind him, and his head hit the stone.
I wanted to run over and check on him. I couldn’t imagine what losing a parent that young had done to him, and he wasn’t old enough to know any better.
The four men moved toward me, and Nightbane leaped at the man with silver hair who’d removed me from his back .
Nightbane sank his teeth into the man’s throat and ripped it out.
I stopped, nauseated, as the man gurgled, but the other three men came toward me. I raised my dagger. My feet were freezing, and so were my hands, but I’d go out like a warrior and not some helpless victim.
All three men removed short swords from sheaths at their sides and attacked me simultaneously.
Adrenaline pumped through my body, burning through the cold. My parents, Eiric, and I had sparred, but never like this . I inhaled, ignoring the way my lungs burned, and prepared to use the defensive moves I’d learned during the past twelve years.
Nightbane snarled and clawed a man with light-blue hair in the face then steamrolled into the man in the center, leaving me with one opponent.
I ignored the light-blue-haired man’s screams as my attacker swung his sword at me. I jumped back several feet, and the edge grazed me, slicing through the center of my dress and nicking my skin. The pain stung, but I used his momentum against him and punched him in the jaw. His head snapped back as his wings expanded, keeping him from falling down.
His ink-black eyes widened, and his nostrils flared just as a far-too-familiar voice commanded, “Stop!”
Ink-black eyes glared at me, and I knew his intention. As he thrust his sword at me again, I spun to the side, allowing him to catch air, and Nightbane clamped his teeth down on my attacker’s arm.
Black blood squirted over my face and chest as someone’s arms circled my waist and lifted me. My buzzing skin informed me of my captor’s identity, and I hated the relief his touch brought again. Yet, his warning from the first night we met rang in my ear. I’m the very one you should fear.
He hadn’t been lying.
He flew me upward toward the castle, my backside against his chest, so I elbowed him in the gut as hard as I could.
It was like smashing into rock. Groaning, I used my other elbow to hit him in the face.
“Blighted abyss,” he snarled as I jerked from his loosened grasp.
Then, I fell to the road but managed to land upright. My feet stung on impact. I pushed the discomfort away and spun around, readying for Tavish to come at me again. He’d needed me enough to hunt me down on Earth, so I had to hurt him to get free from here.
“Lira,” he warned as dark blood trickled from his nose. “You need to stop. Don’t make your situation worse.” His eyes darkened to the ones from my nightmares, but this time, there was no hatred or malice in them. In a way, it looked like he was pleading with me.
I wanted to listen, but that was foolish. I gritted my teeth and struck with my knife, faster than ever before, aiming for his neck. Just before my blade would’ve sliced his throat, he kicked me in the stomach. I stumbled back, somehow not falling on my ass, but my tailbone nevertheless flared as if it were on fire.
Then Finola and Torcall were flanking me and restraining me, each grabbing an arm. I jerked to get free of their hold, but their grips were like vises. Torcall pried the dagger from my hands and dropped it. The blade clanked on the stone, the sound of my freedom being ripped from me once more.
This had been my one chance .
My one shot to not die by Tavish’s hands was gone.
A low, threatening snarl had me glancing at Nightbane. Drool dripped from his mouth, and the hair on the nape of his neck rose. For some reason, he’d tried to help me tonight, and I feared what the repercussions would be for him.
“Nightbane, go to the prison and make your rounds,” Tavish ordered, and the wolf turned his snarl on him.
“She’s going to ruin us all!” a man yelled from the gathering crowd. “She’s weakening the king, and the Seelie will overtake us, killing everyone!”
Eyes darkening, Tavish extended a hand, and Nightbane dropped to his stomach. He whimpered and whined as if something was killing him.
“Stop!” I shouted, trying to jerk free. “Don’t hurt him. Hurt me instead!”
Tavish turned his steely gaze back on me and rasped, “Oh, your fate will be far worse than his.”
“That’s right!” A man smirked, his eerie, pale-yellow eyes shining. “A prisoner tried to escape and attacked the king. We all get to watch her die.”
“No.” Tavish shook his head and expanded his massive wings. “The plan is to kill her in front of the Seelie people. They need to feel her to know she’s here before we take her there for all of them to see her death.”
My stomach roiled. I hated how easily the words flowed from his lips as if my life didn’t matter.
“What are you saying, King Tavish?” A guard beside Finola raised his chin. “You’ve killed your own people for her, and she sleeps in your bedchamber. The law is that if any prisoner tries to escape, then every prisoner must pay the price. Are you saying the Seelie princess is above the law? The very law you created? ”
I glanced around and saw more people at their windows, watching the show.
Something significant was going on here, though I didn’t know what. It appeared as if Tavish’s people could be turning against him.
“Yes, King Tavish,” the man directly behind me crooned. “If she dies in the gauntlet and we toss her body onto Seelie land, it will provide the same reaction. Why isn’t she being held to the same standards as the rest of your people?”
The gauntlet? What the hell was that?
I didn’t want to know.
The people closed in tighter behind us. I could feel their breaths on my back, and then a few shoved forward … and chaos erupted around me.