12. Chapter 12
12
Zara
“ M ay I sit?” I asked as I reappeared at the entertainers’ table tucked away in a damp recess of the cavern. As the other humans scooted over to make room for me, my nose twitched at the smell of wet rock. I glanced down to see that the carved space where we rested our feet was slick with water. If this counted as treating us better than the servants, I hated to think how they dined. The dragon overhead shifted its weight and huffed, a puff of smoke curling out through the iron bars of the cage.
“I know how you feel,” I said to the dragon as I settled my large, ruffled dress around my ankles. The fabric was still damp, and I smirked to think that I’d likely left a small puddle at the prince’s table where I’d sat.
Everyone at the table stared at me. The oldest woman, who wore her graying hair up in a neat bun, held her fork halfway to her open mouth, stunned into silence by something I’d done.
The young woman who’d first offered me a seat was looking at me like I’d grown a third arm as she leaned over and whispered, “We don’t speak to the dragon.”
I made a noncommittal shrug. “Can’t see what harm it does. He’s as trapped as we are.”
The two other women exchanged a wide-eyed glance.
My eyes darted back toward the prince’s table briefly, and I saw that he and his sister were engaged in conversation. The fact that he had a sister, and that she clearly annoyed him with her chatter, contrasted so blindingly with his persona of bloodthirsty monster intent on destroying all happiness in the world.
I turned my attention back to my fellow mortals. “I’m Zara, by the way. Zara Valencia Calderon.”
“Ivy Quinn,” the younger woman replied.
“Eudoria Armond.” The older woman spoke next, her voice and posture evidence of wealth.
“Neither of you are from Avencia?” I asked, surprised by their accents.
“We’re from Cavaria,” Eudoria answered. “Different provinces.”
My face brightened then fell. “I was to marry a man from Cavaria. Lord Montrose.”
Eudoria did a subtle double take. “ Lord Montrose was your betrothed?”
I shrugged. “Was. Yes. For about a minute.” I explained that my father and I had hoped love, or at the very least, a wedding, might break the bargain. We’d both been wrong.
Silence hung over the table for a moment. The dragon’s jerking movements were my only distraction.
“I’m sorry,” Ivy said. Eudoria slowly turned her eyes away and didn’t look at me again, as if I’d offended her.
“I’m Tomas.” The bearded, broad-chested man explained that he was from the island nation of Irdan, but his parents were Avencian, hence his Avencian name. His melodic accent was mesmerizing.
There was Adán from Ruvell, a tiny country beside Cavaria, and his Avencian was less precise. He had gray peppered through his dark hair and the kind of severe expression I’d seen on men who worked out in the sun all day, so perhaps he’d been a farmer before coming here. And a sandy-haired man named Samuel, from Lithera, a country across the sea from Avencia.
I’d never met people from so many countries at once. Excitement bubbled up until I remembered where we were and what we were facing.
As my shoulders sank, Ivy patted my back. “We all feel the same way. It’s a terrible place to meet, but I’m…I’m pleased to meet you nonetheless.”
I tried to smile, but my stomach had twisted into a tight knot, and my face scrunched into a grimace instead.
After an awkward moment of me staring at the other entertainers, it occurred to me: they all survived their first trial, too. I wondered how many other mortal games they’d endured, but if the goal was to kill the humans involved, these people had likely all seen death up close, and I didn’t want to dredge up those painful memories for them.
Despite Eudoria’s gray hair and prim manners or Ivy’s small stature, these women had endured in this nightmarish place. I could learn much from these people.
Nibbling the corner of a chocolate-coated wafer, I considered all the ways I could broach the subject of survival in a polite way. But no matter the words I tested in my head, there wasn’t a nice way to discuss the fact that we were all on a collision course with death.
The meal progressed in relative silence, as the others only spoke about the food or the unusual dress of the fae in attendance. Samuel asked what I spoke to the heir about, but after that, we exchanged few words. The other humans trapped here weren’t in a talking mood, and I didn’t blame them.
Finally, I could hold in my curiosity no longer. “How did you do it?” I blurted, looking quickly at each of them. “How did you stay alive?”
Adán looked confused, and Eudoria looked scandalized by the question. Samuel and Tomas exchanged a weighted look. Ivy alone responded.
“We did what they wanted. We entertained them,” she said, not meeting my gaze.
Samuel looked away, clearly avoiding the conversation. Eudoria sniffed. I was suddenly curious what under the stars above that woman had done to entertain the fae.
Tomas leaned forward over his empty plate. “It’s not something we’re proud of. We don’t speak of the trials.”
I nodded once in confirmation. But I wasn’t satisfied. They were hiding something, and I would uncover their secrets to survival.
After dinner, three servants hustled all the entertainers out of the cavern. The halls of the palace were partly underground, as the massive building was built into the bones of the mountain itself. No one spoke as we walked through the vaulted halls. Magical lights bobbed along the tops of stone walls, casting their cool, bluish glow over the shining stone. Everything here was so well polished that it appeared wet, so I reached my fingers out and traced the stone, half expecting my fingers to come back damp.
“Don’t touch anything,” the servant behind me snipped. He was tall and thin and had caterpillar brows.
I wondered how my father was faring after my disappearance. Did he know I’d be able to return in a year? Would his broken heart last that long?
I shoved the sadness away and pressed forward into this nightmarish prison, this beautiful, forsaken place. We walked until we reached a long passage with windows on one side that overlooked a sweeping mountain vista lit by bright moonlight on snowy peaks. I rushed to the cold glass panes. A lake covered part of the valley below, and a waterfall burst from the mountainside a level below the windows. I could hear its roar and envied the water’s power to leave this place.
Starlight fell across the long, straight hall. Compared to the halls under the mountain, this one seemed bright. On my left were doors. The servant at the head of our small parade stopped.
Ariana was among the servants walking with us, but she’d remained silent. Now she stepped up behind me, a lamp burning in her hand. “Your quarters.” She marched to the door at the end of the hall, inserted a key, and opened the room.
As soon as I stepped over the threshold into the cold, dark chamber, I sensed that something was wrong. I felt eyes on me, though the room was so dark I couldn’t see. Only the faint outline of what was surely a large four poster bed, barely catching the thin light filtering in from the hall behind me.
Ariana’s white tunic glowed in the candlelight as she walked into the room, dispelling the shadows. Polished wood, elegant drapes, and a large armoire greeted me. No one was in the room, but I still had the creeping feeling of someone watching me.
Instinctively, I glanced behind me. A slanted shadow against the far wall moved. I backed into the doorframe with a small clunk.
A man appeared in the dimly lit hall, his features barely discernable, even as the candlelight hit his face. He looked the way Cas had looked when he’d taken me from my home.
“Welcome to Nightsong,” said the shadowy fae. He wore a suit jacket but no shirt underneath, exposing his muscled torso.
I looked away with a firm scowl, trying to calm the rising panic in my blood. This man surely had somewhere else to be and would be on his way.
Ariana cleared her throat and stepped toward me, almost protectively. “The fae like to welcome the entertainment who survive their first trial.”
My throat closed up and I could barely breathe. The fae was much taller than me, and he leaned one hand against the opposite side of the doorframe, keeping me from easily walking away. But as long as he was there, I was not going to take a single step inside the room.
“I’d love to help you get acquainted with this place,” he said with a hungry smile. When he leaned forward, I tilted my head back against the wall, palms starting to sweat. “I can even offer you protection in the next round of games, if you want it.” With his last word, his breath ghosted against my cheek and I heard his every intention in the timbre of his voice.
I did the only thing I could think of. I ran.
I darted down the hall, back the way we’d come. This place was fouler than any nightmare I could have dreamed.
I blasted out of the windowed hallway and wheeled around one corner, then two, taking a new hallway, then another. My shoes were making such a racket on the floor that I ripped them off my feet, threw them ahead of me, and kept running.
I would rather have drowned in the lake or been eaten by whatever swam in its depths than be forced to endure the welcome that awaited in my room.
What little food I’d eaten threatened to come back up as I ran. I had to escape this place or die trying. Father wouldn’t want me to bow my head to these wicked fae.
Another corner, another turn. A corridor, no windows, no doors. Two stairwells, another long hallway. Then a wall. I had reached the end of this escape route. No one chased after me, which only left a sinking feeling in my gut.
A large door braced with crisscrossed metal vines stood at the end of the hall. There was nothing else in this hall save the lights that came on as I ran past them. I still wasn’t used to this kind of magic. What must it be like not to have to light a room as you entered it?
I stopped and panted heavily as I stood in the empty hall. I listened, but there were still no sounds of pursuit. I couldn’t go back to my room. I didn’t want to be here. I didn’t want to do anything the fae wanted me to do. I wanted to show them that I couldn’t be captured, cowed, and turned into their slave.
But I was so tired. Dancing for my life had taken so much more energy than I’d realized. I leaned against the wall and slid to the floor. My father had always said that feeling helpless was what made one truly helpless.
But Papá, I am trapped here. Thanks to you .
I fisted my hands and pressed them against my upraised knees. Thoughts of my father brought waves of sudden anger. This was all because of a bargain he’d made—a bargain he’d made for love.
Love had ruined my life, not saved it.
But I couldn’t think of him—not now. Fear was poisoning my mind, and I had to be clear-headed to survive the year.
Despite my efforts to avoid thinking of my father, I tilted my head back against the wall and closed my eyes as memories fought their way into my mind’s eye. My father had taught me how to wield a knife and told me to always carry one on my body, hidden in my clothes. Though my blades had saved me from more than one greedy hand in the streets at night, they had done little good in the end. Maybe that was why Father had tolerated my dancing, although it wasn’t a customary hobby for the upper class. Did he know I would be here performing for my life?
My eyes popped open, and I realized I was not alone in the hall anymore.
A woman slipped out of the massive door, her dark hair wrapped in a braid around her head and decorated with mushrooms.
Alba. The princess of this miserable place.
“Oh, it’s you,” she said as she spun around, shutting the door quietly behind her. “He thought the mortals wouldn’t want to talk to you, but he was wrong.” She sounded delighted, and I wasn’t certain if it was at the prospect of her brother being wrong about something or at the fact that the other mortals welcomed me. I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I said nothing. She nodded slowly, then darted toward me and dropped to her ankles, bracing herself against the wall with one hand. “I’m in need of a dueling partner, and my brother tells me you can fight. Interested?”
So alarmed was I by her question that I shook my head adamantly.
“Think about it.” She shrugged and stood. “You know, I hate the way you all have to die, I really do. But for his sake, don’t mess this up.”
I gawked at her as she walked away on silent feet. Her amber dress draped over the stone floor behind her, rippling like liquid gold as she vanished around the corner.
The subtle sound of a throat clearing behind me startled me, and I jumped up.
The prince walked out of the room. He wore no crown and his hair was disheveled. I tore my gaze away and stared at the shining black wall. What would he do to me now that I was out of my quarters when I was not supposed to be?
“You think you’re better than most, don’t you?” he asked, voice resonating in the vaulted hall.
I glared at him. “What?”
He cocked his chin up. “You think you can withstand the shadows, don’t you? You think that your heart is made of gold? That there isn’t darkness in you like there is in everyone else? The hypocrisy of it sickens me.”
I lifted my shoulders, straightening my spine. “What makes you think we’re all wretched like you?”
“Because you are. You’re mortal.” He walked in an arc around me. I spun, trying not to let my cheeks flare under his scrutiny. “You survived tonight, so you should celebrate.” He clicked his tongue.
“Your version of celebration is repulsive.”
His hard expression faltered, but only briefly. “I take it one of my courtiers has invited himself into your room? And you were not pleased?”
I scowled at him. “You are a foul creature.”
“I am not responsible for the way my courtiers treat you. They cannot kill you, and they are forbidden from forming attachments, but that is the only restriction on our behavior toward the mortals.” He took a step forward. “We may be foul in your eyes, but centuries of studying your kind has shown us what you all desire most. My courtiers want to ensure you are not deprived of anything you might want before your last day.”
Without warning, I dry heaved, unable to respond to him for a moment. Finally, I said, “I will celebrate when I’m back home, one year from now.”
He paused, tossing me a quick glance over his shoulder as he lifted one hand, his loose sleeve bunching at his elbow. In his upraised hand, an apple appeared. He pulled it toward his mouth and took a bite. The sound made me flinch.
Mouth half full and dripping with apple juice, he added, “Want some?” He held the fruit out to me.
Without thinking, I slapped the apple out of his hand. It clunked against the wall and then rolled back toward us. As he finished chewing his bite, he lifted his brows and tilted his head at me in an appraising way.
“Interesting,” he said, his voice dropping to a sinister tone. “How do you think it would serve you to offend me?”
I might have overstepped my bounds just then, but I wasn’t backing down now. What difference did it make anyway, if I was set to die in these caverns?
I looked him hard in the eyes. “I’m not going to play your games. I’m not going to bow to your wishes.”
“That’s nice,” he said. He bent down and picked up the apple, inspecting it for any flecks of dust. He found none and took another bite. When he had finished chewing, he spoke again. “There hasn’t been one mortal that came through here that didn’t crack. All of you are rotten from the inside out. There’s nothing good about you—other than that you can be pretty and that you all hate to die so much. My courtiers enjoy watching how hard you fight it.”
I wished so desperately right now that I still had my dagger hidden in my clothes.
He flashed me a grin. “You want to hurt me, don’t you?” I hated how handsome he was. It was as though he believed he had the right to make every woman tremble before him solely by the way he looked at them.
Talia had accused me of being so pretty that the men forgot themselves around me. Though I had seen many a handsome face in the ballroom, I’d never understood what she meant. But I had never encountered a man as unsettlingly handsome as the one standing before me now. There was something about him, especially the way he looked without his fancy suit on, that made my skin buzz with energy, and I hated it.
He stepped toward me. “I’m glad you want to hurt me, and I hope that one day you try because it will prove that I’m right.” His teeth clicked together at the last word.
“You’re not as scary as you think you are,” I said, stepping deeper and deeper into territory that I should have abandoned long ago. Why hadn’t I turned around and walked away?
“Brave little one,” he said, twisting the apple in his fingers. “We’ll see how brave you are when the next trial arrives.”
I swallowed. “When will that be?”
The side of his lips curled up. “The mortals didn’t tell you? Pity.”
“When will that be?” I repeated, tone lower.
“Does this mean you’re asking for my help?”
I rolled my eyes. “No. If the other mortals all know when it will be, it’s common knowledge that I could find out from them as easily as you.”
The words other mortals suddenly reminded me that I hadn’t yet asked anyone about Talia.
His dark eyes flashed. “Then go ask one of them.” He flicked his wrist as if dismissing a fly.
This time, I held my tongue from all the snide remarks I wanted to say. He must have sensed that I was holding something back, and he quirked his brow at me.
“My friend married a fae. I aim to find out what happened to her.”
“Oh?” His eyes brightened with interest. “You said married ? They gave away their magic and status, then.” He tsked. “Shame. Most immortals know better than that.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked past on silent footsteps. “If you really want that man to leave, just tell him,” the prince said over his shoulder before he disappeared around the corner.
He left his bedroom door open. Perhaps he was waiting around the corner to see what I would do. If he wanted me to snoop, then I wouldn’t. I turned and marched out of the hall back toward my room, which I desperately hoped was empty now.
It took me a half-hour to find my way back to my room. The black halls all looked the same, save for the chiseled art on the stone walls. I’d been running too fast earlier to take note of the scenes. By the time I found the windowed hall overlooking the mountain range, it was empty. The magical lights had dimmed, but they blazed to life again as I dragged my feet toward my room—my prison cell.
To my great relief, no one approached me in the hall and no one waited in my room. I was finally alone. My shoulders relaxed, and my arms fell loose at my sides. I realized that my heart was about to break through my ribcage.
When I stepped into the room, the candle glowed brighter as if welcoming my presence. I glanced around the room. It was elegant for a slave’s quarters. The sheets had a sheen to them that suggested silk. I ran my hand across them—cool, like spring water. There was a vase of fresh flowers on either side of the bed, along with unlit candles, a silver brush, and several tins that I recognized as containing face powders. A massive armoire stood on the other side of the room.
The room was long and narrow, suggestive of a cell, but full of such nice things that it was easy to think of it as merely a guest room. For twenty years, I’d been on a leash that had been getting shorter every day, a leash leading me here.
My shoulders sank, but I wouldn’t let myself dwell on the anger and fear and sadness that prickled in my chest. Shoving those emotions away, I peeked under the bed to check for any monsters hiding there. It seemed like a cruel prank the fae would enjoy. But there wasn’t even a speck of dust. I was so disgusted that the fae were trying to lure me into compromising situations solely so they could laugh at me the next day, that I grunted and flopped facedown on the bed, punching the soft sheets over and over again until there were no tears left.