Chapter 14
Carrow’s words themselves made my nerves prickle, but it was nothing compared to the unmistakable feeling of danger that constricted all my muscles when I looked into those eerie eyes. Rhydian had a sense of danger about him too, but this guy…he personified death.
Carrow was tall—freakishly so—with the palest skin I’d ever seen.
I was surprised veins weren’t visible beneath the surface.
It was exacerbated by the fact that he wore all black, a long silver necklace with a big amulet hanging from the end.
He looked like a skeleton with the way the clothes hung off him.
His hair was like ice, pure white and slicked back, but what really made my nerves kick into high gear were the cold, silver eyes ringed in violet—similar to the gold rings around Rhydian’s—and the ragged scar that ran from one temple down to the opposite side of his face.
No one would dare to call him handsome, but he was so terrifying that it was difficult to look away.
I lifted my chin, trying not to cower in front of this Fae like I would have with my father. It was an effort to keep the quiver out of my voice as I asked, “Is that supposed to impress me?”
Prince Carrow blinked once. Twice.
Rhydian cleared his throat and out of the corner of my eye it seemed like he was holding back a laugh.
“Impress? No,” he said after a moment, cocking his head as if he couldn’t figure me out. “Terrify? Make you drop to your knees in awe and wonder? Yes.”
The words were out of my mouth far too quickly. “Well you’ve accomplished neither.”
Insert foot in mouth, Maren! Do you want this guy to kill you?
I dared a glance at Rhydian and was surprised to find a faint glimmer in his eyes—approval, maybe?
Or just amusement that this human he dragged here was about to die because she couldn’t control her mouth?
Would he even bother to stop him if Carrow tried to hurt me?
Or would he be more than happy to rid himself of me altogether?
Rhydian’s lips tilted into a frown, those gold-ringed eyes studying me, as if he sensed my distrust. I forced my focus back on the true danger in the room.
Prince Carrow glared at me as he looked me over from head to toe. For a long, heavy moment no one spoke. The hair on my arms stood on end. Was this the moment before a predator sprung toward his prey?
When Carrow finally broke the silence, I flinched, barely keeping my arms from rising in defense. “Where did you find her, Rhydian?” His eyes never left mine, never missed a single movement.
He then had the audacity to reach out and cup my chin between frigid fingers that were deceivingly strong.
A zing of fear shot down my spine, and my mind flashed back to when my father would do the same thing whenever I made the mistake of defending myself.
It was usually followed by a fist to the face.
Prince Carrow’s lips curled in disgust as he turned my head one way and then the other.
I despised that these Fae people treated me like I was a plaything.
Like I was meant to be used and discarded, like I wasn’t a real person.
It took everything in me not to snap my teeth at his fingers and control my breathing.
I was considering risking a swat at his fingers to get him to let go of me when another hand knocked Carrow backward. Rhydian stepped between us.
“She’s none of your concern, and I would strongly advise you keep your hands to yourself while you’re in my home,” Rhydian said in a low voice that made goosebumps rise on my skin.
Prince Carrow’s brow arched, either surprised or annoyed at his defense of me. Honestly, I was surprised myself.
He clicked his tongue, a sneer splitting his lips. “You’re no fun, Rhydian. Don’t you feel like sharing?” His mouth split into the most menacing smile I’d ever seen. I was kind of surprised his teeth weren’t razor sharp. “You’ve done it before.”
Done it before?
A scary thought wriggled into my mind. Was he talking about the other humans Rhydian had brought to Eroth?
Had he given them over to Carrow? Had he let this terrifying prince hurt them?
Instinctively, I took a step backward. Rhydian might have been a dangerous Fae, but surely he wouldn’t hand me over to Carrow.
Not when he’d done so much to protect me already.
If I thought Rhydian was in a foul mood before, it had nothing on the way his features darkened then. Gold light appeared in his palms, though he made no move to use it.
Would he kill the prince like he had my kidnapper? I was no advocate of murder, but if he was going to kill someone, a gut feeling told me it should be this guy. There was something about him—something bad. Evil. I didn’t know what it was, but every instinct made me want to run far, far away.
Prince Carrow looked unimpressed at Rhydian’s golden death rays.
“Is that all you can muster these days, Rhydian? How sad for you.”
All he could muster? What did that mean? Was there something wrong with his magic?
Rhydian’s hands curled into fists, the golden light disappearing, but he remained silent to Carrow’s taunting. Instead, he said, “You’ve seen her, now get out.” The words came out as a growl.
“I could snap her neck, sever her spine, suck every ounce of life out of her before you could even lift a finger to stop me, Rhydian. I suggest you be careful how you speak to me.”
Rhydian’s golden skin paled, and my own stomach twisted at the threat. To speak so casually about murdering me…and in such disturbing ways…
I tried to swallow, but my mouth had gone dry as cotton. Clearly my gut feeling about him being evil wasn’t unfounded.
“You forget that you are in my domain,” Rhydian replied.
“A domain that’s crumbling.”
“No thanks to you.”
Prince Carrow looked far too pleased by those words. Did he have something to do with the way this place was falling apart? And why Rhydian and Nico were stuck here in Eroth?
Just who was this guy?
“I won’t tell you again, Carrow. You’re not welcome here.”
Prince Carrow put a hand to his heart, sticking out his lower lip, pretending to be wounded by Rhydian’s words. “Your hospitality needs some work.”
“So does your ego,” Rhydian retorted.
Prince Carrow smiled then—a truly wicked thing straight out of a little kid’s nightmares—before he looked at me.
I was grateful I didn’t have to use the bathroom because I might have had a little accident right there in the hallway as those silver eyes bored into mine.
“You’ll have a choice soon, pet. I’ll be back.”
And then he disappeared.
One moment, he was standing there and the next, a flash of purple engulfed him and he was gone.
“What?” I couldn’t keep from saying as I stared at the empty space he used to occupy. “How did he—”
Rhydian waved a dismissive hand. “It’s called Flashing. Most Fae can do it. Don’t look so impressed.”
“Can you do it?”
He hesitated for a second too long. “I used to.”
I glanced at Nico. “Can you?”
He shook his head, a sad glimmer entering his eyes. “I never learned. I was too young when—”
Rhydian’s loud throat clearing stopped Nico’s words, and I suddenly found myself desperate to know what he had been about to say.
Why wouldn’t he tell me anything?
I turned to him. “Who was that?”
“No one you need to worry about.”
“No one I need—Are you kidding me? He talked about severing my spine and he’s no one I need to worry about?”
“I wouldn’t let that happen,” Rhydian answered, as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
“Wouldn’t you? You don’t want me here anyway. Wouldn’t that solve the problem? Let him get rid of me so you can keep your hands clean?”
His eyes darkened further, lips turning down into a deep frown. “You don’t deserve a death at Carrow’s hands.”
I crossed my arms. “You don’t even know me.”
“No one deserves a death at his hands.” The meaning in his voice was clear—Carrow was a monster. “Just stay away from him and you’ll be fine.”
That’s easy enough. He was creepy and terrifying. But why won’t he tell me anything about him?
I sucked in a slow breath, staring him down. “Enough with the secrecy. I want answers. Right now,” I demanded. “If there’s someone I’ve never even met threatening to suck out my soul, I think I deserve to know what is going on.”
Rhydian shook his head, running a hand through his hair. I was getting under his skin. Why wouldn’t he just tell me? What was so bad about this world, about him, that he would rather keep me in the dark?
I tried a different tactic.
“Fine, if you won’t freely tell me, will you at least answer my questions? Surely that’s a compromise you can live with?”
Rhydian considered for a few very long seconds before he finally conceded with a single nod.
Finally!
I waved him inside my room, and he fell with a heavy sigh into the chair near the fireplace. “You can go, Nico.”
“Are you—”
“Go.”
Nico hesitated, looking between us before he turned and left my room.
Now it was just the two of us, and I would have been lying if I said it didn’t set my nerves on edge. As much as I wanted to jump straight into the questions I was dying to ask, I settled for easier ones, hoping it would encourage him to start talking.
“What is this place?”
Rhydian quirked a brow. “Eroth. I’ve already told you that.” At my responding glare, he let out a long-suffering sigh. “This is Shadow Ire Castle. Every generation of the rulers of Eroth have lived here.”
“And you are one of them?”
His eye twitched. “I am the last of them.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means,”—he sighed again—“that I am the last of my line, everyone else is dead. I am the last heir to the throne of Eroth.”
“And…what happened to the others? Your parents? Did you have siblings?”
“I wasn’t aware your questioning would involve a dive into my lineage.”
I crossed my arms. “It’s an innocent question.”
“Is it, though?”
His gold-ringed eyes were locked on mine for a beat too long, and I squirmed in my seat across from him. The air was chilly despite the fire burning next to us, but a sweat broke out on the back of my neck anyway.
Just when I thought he wouldn’t answer, his low voice broke the silence.
“My parents are dead, and my only brother is gone. I am all that’s left of the Malathar line.”
“What happened to them?”
His brows dropped low over his eyes. “Next question.”
“But—”
“Next. Question.”
There was no room for arguing with that tone. Was it too painful of a memory that he couldn’t bear to talk about it?
Knowing he could choose to leave and quit giving me answers at any time, I asked the one thing I’d been dying to know for certain.
“Were you telling the truth when you said there’s no way for me to leave this place? No way for me to get back to my world?”
“No human has ever escaped Eroth.”
“That’s not quite an answer though. Maybe no one has—but is it possible? Is there a way?”
Rhydian crossed his arms. “Even if there was, I wouldn’t tell you about it. I told you, you can’t return—not when you’ve seen what I can do.”
“Even if I swore to never tell a soul about what I saw? About this place?”
“Believe me, Maren. If it were up to me, we never would have crossed paths and you’d be at home, comfortable and warm.”
Comfortable? Yeah, that sounds right.
But…
“It’s not up to you?”
“No.”
“Then—”
“Let it go.”
I blew a hair out of my face, frustrated. “You’re not being very helpful.”
All he did was shrug. “Maybe you’re not asking the right questions.”
Prick.
“So I’m stuck in a world of death for good then?”
Something flashed across his expression at those words, but it was too quick to discern. His head bobbed in a nod.
“And why is it that you and Nico are stuck here in Eroth? If everyone else has left, if this place is falling into ruin, why haven’t you?”
For a long, long moment, Rhydian stared at me.
His eyes flicked back and forth over my features, and I desperately wished I knew what he was thinking.
What was he looking for? I tried not to fidget in my seat, but I had never been good at staying still—at least not when someone was studying me so intently.
Finally, he inhaled, his nostrils flaring, before he braced his hands on his knees.
“Because…”
I waited, holding my breath.
“Because Eroth is cursed. I am cursed.”