Chapter 24
Elva
Iheld the door so it would close quietly, hissing at the gash in my side where I’d cut myself on the rusted edge as I slipped through.
I was at the top of a steep stairwell. Torches flickered as I reached the bottom.
Here, it was much colder, and the air felt moist. I rested my hand against the wall and felt the drops of water running down the stone.
I must have been below the waterline. Letting out a slow breath, I craned my neck around the corner to see another dark hallway and silently groaned.
With how many dark tunnels there were, I wasn't sure I'd be able to get out of here even if I found Njall.
Part of me wanted to give up, sneak back out, and try again another night, but I knew I had one chance to do this, and it was now.
The torches on the wall were smaller. Standing up on my toes, I tugged at one and wrenched it from the stone.
I looked around to see if there was anything I could use to extinguish the others, but found nothing.
Biting back a groan, I lay my torch down and used my dagger to cut the bottom half of my shirt off.
Then I wrung my hair out onto the fabric to make it as wet as possible.
After twisting it together, I cracked it like a whip at the torch on the wall, and the flame vanished to make sure no one would see me coming.
“Well done,” I whispered to myself and continued down the stone path, extinguishing torches until the whole path was dark outside of the torch I held in my hand.
At the end of the path was another door, identical to the one I’d seen on the floor above.
Dousing the final torch, I grabbed the icy iron door handle and pushed it open.
“What are you doing here?” A deep baritone voice barked as the door closed behind me.
I spun and saw a single guard. He was tall with a full head of hair, and his arms were like those of the chiseled statues that decorated the siren halls.
Considering what I had planned for him, it was a shame, since he was rather handsome.
He eyed me with a mixture of suspicion and lechery, his gaze lingering on my body rather than the dagger in my hand.
Pouting my lips seductively, I stepped toward him, and he didn’t even flinch as I grabbed the top of his chest plate with one hand and my dagger hilt with the other.
I pulled him toward my mouth and kissed him for a moment before I rammed my dagger into the side of his throat.
I sucked his scream and final breath into my lungs before he pushed away from me and crumpled into a heap on the ground at my feet.
I pushed his arm off his waist and found the key ring I had hoped would be there.
Seconds later, I was on my way down the hall again.
With luck, he'd be the only one in this part of the dungeon.
I listened for any signs of other men as I picked up my pace to check each cell in this area.
I'd already been inside the castle too long, and I was worried Sindri would lose patience and do something stupid like try to come after me.
After passing thirteen cells, I was feeling as if this entire thing was hopeless when I heard a cough.
I stopped walking and tried to place the sound, and when I heard it again, I dashed past another three cells.
Njall was on his hands and knees behind what looked like a pile of hay and boards.
He looked like he was digging, but that made no sense when this entire level was underwater.
Silently, I crossed the path and pressed my elbows against the iron bars. “Trying to end it by drowning doesn’t seem very regal.”
Njall flinched and dropped his makeshift shovel. It took a moment for him to recognize my voice, but when he did, he slowly turned his head to face me.
“What are you doing here?” His question came out more like a growl than a man, but I didn't let that bother me.
I held out the key ring and spun it on the end of my finger. “Saving your spoiled ass, so get up.” The compilation of confusion, fear, and indignation on his face was enough to make me laugh. His expression morphed into rage. “Oh come now, Your Highness. You should thank me.”
Njall stood slowly like a wolf stalking prey, and lunged toward the bars, but I wrenched the keys from his grasp and wagged a finger at him as if he were a child.
“Uh uh,” I scolded. “Only good boys get released.”
He glared at me with more fear than I’d ever seen from anyone in my life, outside of the men my siren had murdered. “And what exactly do I have to do to be good?”
I couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face as I leaned closer to the bars. “For starters, you could apologize for getting me and my brothers arrested.”
“Just that?” He grinned wickedly at me. “Not for bedding you better than anyone else ever has and then just leaving?”
A heat spread through my core at the memory of our night together, but I couldn’t let it show on my face or confirm his suspicions about how it was for me.
“Was that you? Must not have been that memorable.” He opened his mouth to reply, but I snapped back.
“Your satyr brother, on the other hand ... that was a night I’ll always remember. ”
Njall’s eyes narrowed at me, and his jaw clenched so hard I worried he might break a tooth.
He’s not jealous, is he? I stood taller.
“As much as I enjoy seeing a man who wronged me behind bars, we should get going. I’d prefer not to kill anyone else tonight if I can avoid it.” I spun the keys in my fingers, searching for the one that would match the lock on his door.
“How many men did you bring with you?” He looked down the hall before fixing his gaze on me.
I paused and took a moment to really take him in.
He was filthy and smelled worse than Sindri when he was transitioning from boy to man.
I stood there clean, rested, and ready to kill to get him out of here.
And yet he assumed I had help. “No one,” I snapped as quietly as possible.
“Because no one else is coming, Your Highness. They’re all saving your sister, so you’ll need to get off your high horse and let a lowly little siren save you.
Or else you’ll stay in this cell until the Huestur king tires of you and has you killed for sport.
I’ve heard he enjoys letting prisoners go free in the forest to feed the dire wolves. ”
Njall’s face went ashen at the mention of the beasts that even my kind knew to avoid.
“Then why are you here?”
“To rescue you.”
“Because?”
“Baldr sent me.”
“Ah,” he whispered. “So you’re being paid.”
“Of course. I don’t work for free. He offered me all the gold I wanted if I brought you home.
” I found the key I suspected was the right one, thrust it into the lock, and wiggled it.
When I heard the click, I shoved the door open.
He leaped back just in time to avoid being hit, but still grabbed it before it could slam against the bars and potentially give us away.
“The way I see it, Your Highness, you have two choices.” I nodded toward the corner where he’d been when I arrived. “You can stay here and keep doing whatever that is, and probably die here waiting for your father to send his men. Or you can come with me, and I’ll get you out of here alive.”
He grunted at me, and before he even took a step forward, I had my dagger out and under his chin. “I was promised gold even if I confirm you’re dead.”
His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed hard, trying to avoid the blade.
“Do we have an understanding?” I asked, letting my siren side surface for the briefest moment. I wanted to remind him that my dagger was the least dangerous thing about me.
He gulped softly. “Yes.”
I held my dagger there a moment longer before I sheathed it, then stepped aside. Once he was out, I took one last look at his cell and felt a pang of pity. I wouldn’t want to stay here, and he’d endured weeks.
I turned toward him, but he had his back to the cell and was trying to figure out which direction to go. “Left,” I said, and the two of us took off toward the door.
Njall shot me a curious glance as we stepped over the body of the dead guard. “He was in the way,” I said, and focused on retracing my steps toward the water. When we reached the door that led to the regular cells, I held my hand out to slow him.
“What?” he whispered.
“These are the normal cells. They were actually guarded, unlike the rest of the path to the sea.”
“The sea?”
“Yes, how else would a siren get in here?”
“We’re leaving through the water?”
“Stop asking asinine questions.” I opened my satchel and pulled out Sindri's vial. “Drink this.”
“What is it?”
I barely held back my snort. “A tonic sirens use to bring prisoners of war back to our castle. Now drink it.” I pressed my ear to the door trying to listen, but the wood was too thick. “We’ll just have to go in.”
“And if there are guards?”
“We handle them.” I held my dagger out to him and pushed my talons out of my fingers, hissing slightly at the sting.
“Can you subdue them without them raising the alarm?”
A smirk spread across my lips as I pushed down on the door’s handle. “Yes. I’ll do it the way I always handle men. Just wait and see .”
I threw the door open, and sure enough, the three guards from earlier were leaning against the wall together, passing around a silver flask.
The moment they saw me, they stood at attention, and I acted.
As soon as my siren song filled the space, the three men froze and stared up at me, openmouthed.
I took the silver flask from the first, a slightly older man, and quickly surveyed the other two.
Seeing a bulge, I snagged a coin purse from one's pocket and fastened it to my hip.
“What are you going to do with them?” Njall asked, coming up behind me.
“Aww, are you concerned for your enemies?” I teased.
“No. I want to make sure they have no idea how I escaped.”
“Then you have nothing to worry about.” I held up my talons and drove them into the first man’s neck until they hit the wall.
Njall watched as blood squirted everywhere.
The rage on his face told me these men had a history with him, so I handed him my dagger.
He sliced the younger man’s neck before driving the dagger into the older guard’s eye and then his neck, before holding it out to me.
“You keep it. You might need it.” I reached up and grabbed a torch from the wall before we headed into the darkest part of the path.
My patience was tested almost to the limit as we hid in a dark corner and waited for guards and servants to leave the stairwell that led to our exit.
Before, I’d only seen the two young maids, but now the party was in full swing.
We watched at least nine servants make their way down the stairs and return with various jugs of ale.
Two guards even came back with a barrel between them.
“Did they feed you that well?” I asked Njall while we waited for the guards’ footsteps to leave the stairs.
“Hardly. I was lucky to get food that I could chew without breaking a tooth.”
I realized part of the reason his clothes had looked so bad on him was likely because he’d lost some weight from not being fed.
My brothers and I were used to only eating a meal or two when things got busy, but I was sure a prince, even if his father hated him, would still be fed enough to keep him fit.
I shook away the sympathy for him that was creeping into my mind and reminded myself that if he hadn’t had that change of heart, I’d have been in his father’s dungeon, where we’d be starved and put through unthinkable acts as his pet.
“I think the coast is clear, let’s go,” I spoke too soon. Shouts came from far above us. Metal clanked as men streamed into the stairwell. I grabbed Njall’s arm to pull him back into the darkness. The guards were getting closer. Trying to decide which way to go, Njall grabbed my face and kissed me.
Heat rushed through me as he stepped closer.
The instant his skin touched mine, a needy moan left my lips, and he kissed me harder.
His hands roamed across my ass and back until he squeezed my thighs and lifted me off the ground before shoving me into the stone wall behind us.
As he ground his groin into me, I couldn’t help the breathy moans that left me as he moved his kisses to my neck, hitting the exact spot he’d bitten me weeks before.
Footsteps pounded behind us as the guards rushed past, oblivious to the two guests going at it in the corner.
Njall paused, still holding me against the wall as we listened for the footsteps to fade into the distance.
Then, he dropped me so suddenly that I barely caught myself before I hit the ground.
“Let’s go,” was all he said, as he hurried to the stairs.
I growled through my teeth as I caught up to him. I need to make sure that he didn’t get us lost in these tunnels. We only took one wrong turn as we raced toward the small dock I’d arrived on. But once we got closer, I could hear shouting again.
Ferflucs, I cursed under my breath. The echoes in the tunnel made it impossible to tell if the sounds were coming from behind us, ahead of us, or both.
“What if they found your boat?” he asked as we rounded another corner and heard the lapping of waves.
“Who said I came by boat?”
“I thought you said you came by the sea!” Njall said as we emerged into the sea cave.
“You can swim, can't you?” I asked. I was relieved to hear the sounds were behind us.
Njall's eyes went wild. “I don’t swim!”
The shouting was getting louder, and I would not stand around and argue with him. I grabbed a torch off the ground and extinguished it against the wall before turning toward the stubborn prince.
“Then it’s a good thing that sirens and selkies are exceptional swimmers.” Before he could reply, I slammed the torch against his temple, and he fell into the water with a loud splash.
Hopefully, he drank the tonic.