Chapter 36
Thirty-Six
The Below
My skin was cool, but I didn’t feel cold.
My stomach was empty, but I couldn’t be moved to look for food.
My heart hurt, but there was nothing to ease the pain.
I had spent a very long time hitting and screaming and clawing at the door, and now I had nothing left to offer the darkness but a hopeless shell. I couldn’t help Schula, I couldn’t find Thain or Eberon or Puko. I couldn’t even help myself.
I didn’t know how long I sat on the cold ground staring at where the door to my prison must be. Not that I could see it. Not that I could see anything at all. All there was, all I could sense, was me, the hard floor beneath me, and darkness.
I would sometimes hear a soft clicking noise, but with the echo I had no way to know where it came from. Though it was quiet, it was a grating sound against the silence that blanketed me. I shivered when I heard it and was left with a sense of unease when it stopped.
My stomach made a noise that sounded like a roll of thunder in the empty space. With my new ears, I could hear a slight echo of every movement I made. That must be because I was in a large space, right? Perhaps more cave or another carved portion of the mountain.
I traced the lines of goose bumps on my arms as I continued to stare into the blank space that was the door.
What was happening to Schula right now? The Winter Court didn’t seem to like her for some reason.
And where was Thain? And Eberon? They should have caught up by now. Maybe they had, maybe the Winter King had sent them away.
I would even cry out in joy for Puko at this point. His soft feathers were a familiar comfort. They reminded me of home and of Mila.
My stomach growled again. I sighed and sank until I lay on the floor, curled into a tight shape for warmth.
And I slept.
I woke up with the sensation of gravel pressed into my cheek. Sitting up, I gently picked the pieces off my skin, trying to orient myself to the door. Then I heard the clicking again.
I stopped to listen. It went on for only a few heartbeats before it stopped once more.
I let my muscles relax. I hadn’t even noticed when I’d tensed them.
Then I continued to stare, rubbing my fingers over my hands. The small cuts I had given myself when I’d tried to claw my way out of the darkness were already gone. I was sure there were flecks of blood still on my fingers. But now I just sat and waited for a sign of life to come my way.
Maybe they would bring food. Maybe DuVarick would send for me.
Maybe they would toss someone else in here so I wouldn’t be alone.
There wasn’t much for me to do, so there I sat.
And waited.
In the darkness.
This was stupid. I couldn’t claw my way out. I couldn’t see. I was back to being the same stupid, helpless girl I’d been in the mountains.
Furious, I smacked my fist on the door in front of me, and a spark spit out of my hand and landed on the ground, extinguishing itself instantly.
I gasped.
Fire. Had I imagined it? But how had I made it happen? Eberon had intended to teach me about fire magic, but we’d never gotten the chance. I had thought I didn’t have a way to make it happen, but maybe I could try some things. It wasn’t like I had anything else to do.
I stared at my hand. Or where my hand probably was since I couldn’t say for sure. I tried to imagine another spark coming to life in my palm. Nothing. I tried making a fist again. I tried hitting the door again. I tried moving my hands like I had seen Eberon do. Nothing.
I stood, getting angry now. Just when I thought I could do something about my situation, it was yanked out from under me again. I flexed my hands, I hit the wall, and I yelled.
“Why won’t it work!”
My voice echoed through the cavern, as did the sob that followed. I felt the tear streak down my cheek, and I even heard the soft splat as it hit the floor.
I sank onto the cold ground. Yelling and cutting open my hand wasn’t going to get me anywhere, but neither was sitting here. If only I had something that would help me find my way back to the door if I went exploring, I would feel better about moving from this spot.
Then the clicking was back. My back stiffened until it passed. I sighed, quietly scolding myself for making so much noise. Or maybe it was in my head.
I was frustrated. I was tired. I decide to try and get some sleep. I usually handled problems better in the morning. Whenever that was.
I lay down again and thought about fire until I fell asleep.
When I heard the footsteps, I thought I was imagining things. I scrambled to wake up and be on my feet, ready for whatever was coming through the door. Another prisoner? Brute? The king?
I slid my feet into the position Schula had drilled into me and waited. I did my breathing in the back of my mind. One . . . two . . . three . . .
The door swung open, and I was nearly blinded. I remembered that when I’d been thrown in here, the light was so dim outside the door that I could barely see my fingers in front of my nose, and now it was bright enough to stun me.
I was yanked by the arm until I fell forward. A huge pair of biceps was the first thing to come into focus, and I recognized with more than a small amount of fear that they belonged to Asher.
My throat tightened, and I allowed myself to be carried away. My eyes focused painfully as I tried to peer through my eyelashes to let in the smallest amount of light I could. I couldn’t tell where we were going, though, and all the hallways looked the same as we passed by.
It wasn’t long before I was thrown onto a carpeted floor.
Ignoring the pain of my eyes in the light, I looked wildly around me.
I was in some kind of private office chamber.
Asher stood guard by the door. In front of me was a large desk, and behind that was DuVarick.
Those wisps, shadows, or whatever they were lined the wall behind him, and this time there were more of them.
Angry and dancing and whispering just beyond understanding.
I sucked in a breath and watched the king. He stared back at me unblinkingly until finally he waved his hand and about half the candles around the room extinguished themselves, the wisps dancing in delight.
“How did an abomination like you come to exist?” DuVarick asked slowly.
I swallowed and answered exactly as he wanted me to this time. At least until I had a better grasp of what was going on.
“I don’t know my parents, Your Majesty. I was abandoned as a baby.”
He grunted and folded his hands on the desk in front of him, leaning forward. “You look just like her.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Asher move his head to look over his shoulder. I would remember that to think about later. More importantly, the only her I might look like should be—
“My mother?” I breathed. I clamped my lips shut, hoping the outburst wouldn’t earn me another slap from Asher. Who could I look like, if not someone of my blood?
The king glowered at me.
“Do you even know what you are?” DuVarick sneered.
“The foundling?” I whispered. “A half fae?”
He snorted and stood from his desk. “Leave us.”
Asher bowed and left, closing the door behind him.
My heart was thundering in my chest. I didn’t want to be alone with the frightening Winter King, but he knew my mother. He had the answers I had been looking for all my life, and I wanted them badly.
DuVarick paced behind his desk a moment, then came around to where I was still on my knees on the carpet.
“Stand,” he ordered. And I did, slowly.
DuVarick stood tall, with broad shoulders but a lean build.
Looking at him closely, I noticed a surprising lack of scars for a fae so old.
His clothes were of a very fine material but in a simple design.
Like many of the other males in his court, he had no shirt but wore a kilted garment around his waist and short boots somewhat like the Autumn Court’s.
He approached as I stood and raised a hand.
I flinched, thinking I was going to be struck, but he did something much more surprising.
He stroked my hair, from my temple to the braid over my shoulder.
Even though I must have been a filthy mess with strands of hair pulling loose, he stared at it with fascination.
I was suddenly very aware of the breast band and torn leggings I wore in his presence.
My dirty skin and scratched-up hands needed a bath.
“You have her hair,” he said softly. “And her nose.”
His eyes trailed all over my face. It was awkward to say the least, but I had to know more. I had to take a risk, and maybe he would give me what I’d been looking for.
“What was her name?” I asked, pleading.
The king’s soft face turned hard and dark as he snatched his hand back. He frowned as he walked around me while I stood perfectly still.
“You shouldn’t exist.” His boots made soft sounds on the carpet as he circled me slowly, leaving goose bumps crawling up my back. The corners of the room whispered harder, mocking me with their non-words as the wisps’ disorienting lines blurred with the dim room.
I jumped as a finger traced the place on my back where my seal had been. He took his time, running over every line that had been there. “So, that’s how she fooled them.”
I didn’t know what the seal had done to fool anybody, but I knew better than to say it.
DuVarick continued circling me, inspecting me for who knew what. He stopped to my left and leaned in, raising my heartbeat to a painful level as I felt his presence right by my face. I felt his fingers brush my hair again, but I didn’t move.
He lifted a braid, pulling it away from my newly formed ear, and let out a low growl.
“We knew what you were the moment we smelled you, but we had to see it for ourselves,” he said.
I was afraid to ask what he saw, so I remained still and silent.
He dropped my hair and walked slowly back to his desk. I let out a slow breath as he sat back down.
“What to do with the abomination of a betrayer. Shall we skin you?” He tilted his head as he watched the blood drain from my face in horror.
“No, the other courts will complain. Pestering, pathetic, spineless. Perhaps we should keep you as a sort of pet? I’m sure you’d be obedient enough after a few more days in the below. They always are.”
I swallowed hard and couldn’t keep my composure any longer. I wasn’t going to stand around obediently for him, and I would start proving that to myself right now.
“You can’t keep me here, I haven’t met the Summer Court yet,” I insisted. “And I’m due back in Spring for the equinox.”
My words were met only with a cackling mockery.
“Fools,” he said, leering. “They don’t know what you really are.
With your tricks gone, you have nothing to hide the sin that you are.
You’re lucky we have a personal stake in your existence or you would have been slain the moment you stepped on our lands.
Don’t think that fool Baeleon would have done any better.
When word reaches him that you tricked him, he will want you and those that found you on the end of his sword. ”
Thain. My heart thudded.
“What is wrong with being half fae?” I asked, my voice rising. “Let me face Baeleon and I’ll find out for myself!”
“Half fae?” he laughed darkly. “Not a damn thing. Asher!”
The door opened almost instantly, and Asher appeared in the room, ready for orders.
“Take her back and give her something to eat until we decide what to do with her.”
“No!” I screamed, but Asher had no difficulty grabbing my arms and twisting them painfully behind my back.
“Yes, my king.” Asher bowed.
“Wait! Where is Schula? Who was my mother?”
DuVarick had given me a tiny taste of who I was, and I needed more.
But my answers wouldn’t come, because Asher dragged my flailing body back to the below.
And once again I was alone.