Chapter 31
The cell walls close in, squeezing the air from my lungs until there’s no space left to breathe.
My ribs throb from the ghost of Fief’s boot. The echo of splintered bone pierces my eardrums.
My chest heaves too fast, too shallow. Spots swim in my vision. I dig my nails into my palms, desperate to anchor myself to something real. Anything to stop the panic from swallowing me whole.
I can’t do it. I can’t let him torture me again. I’ll break.
“You will not touch her,” Juniper snaps.
Rage flows off her body, making her seem much more formidable than her frail stature otherwise conveys.
“Oh, but I will.” Fief smirks. “Until Elara gives up what she knows of our enemies, she will be questioned every day, two times a day, until she breaks.”
My hands tremble violently.
“Elara is a vital member of our community,” Juniper shouts. “Verdanthia needs its healer. Blood already runs in the streets. Who will help your soldiers if not her?”
Blood?
Her words break through the veil of panic.
I guess the coup wasn’t peaceful…
“Our men will figure it out,” Fief snaps. “We don’t need a woman to treat us.”
“This woman saved your son’s leg! Or are you forgetting that?”
I don’t wonder how Juniper knows about Rolf. She knows everything that goes on in Verdanthia.
“What we need is answers,” he growls, taking a threatening step forward, “and if I have to peel the skin from her bones to get them, I will.”
My mind begins to separate from my body, preparing for the pain it knows will come.
Through the haze, I hear Juniper say, “Then I will personally see to it that poison finds its way into your next beer at Odden’s.”
“Are you threatening me, witch?”
“It’s a promise.”
“Enough!”
I come back from dissociation and find Lev glaring at the man hovering over my adoptive mother.
“That’s enough, Fief,” he clips out. “I’ll take it from here.”
Every muscle in Fief’s body grows taut. He doesn’t want to defer to Lev, but there is just enough lingering respect for the Ironheart name banging against his thick skull that he releases a disgruntled sound and stomps out of the cell.
I watch Fief go, but my fear doesn’t abate until the sound of the door closing reaches my ears. Then my shoulders slump, and a lone tear rolls down my cheek.
Lev asks, “Are you all right, Juniper?”
“Don’t you dare speak to me, boy,” she hisses.
He clenches his jaw. “It’s Major Ironheart.”
Major?
“And your time with the prisoner is over. Come.”
Juniper doesn’t budge. “No.”
“No?”
“Elara is not healed. I’m still needed here.”
A flicker of emotion crosses his gaze as he glances at me. “She looks fine.”
Liar.
“She has cracked ribs and bruised kidneys,” Juniper snaps back. “I will stay here and continue to monitor her symptoms. And I will fight any man who dares to try and take her.”
Lev bristles. “I cannot guarantee no one will—”
“Because you are a spineless coward.” Her eyes flare with disdain. “You’ve never been good enough for my Elara, and now you have done her the grace of proving it.”
He flinches as if struck. The facade cracks, and heartbreak darkens his stare. “Things are more complicated—”
“Don’t,” I croak.
Lev turns to me. “Elara, I—”
“Don’t,” I say again, angry at myself for the tears that burn my eyes. “Just leave…please.”
I think it’s the please that does it.
Lev looks at me like I’ve ripped out his heart and stomped it on the stone floor—like he’s not the one who walked away hours ago when he knew his comrade was going to beat me. Like he hasn’t sacrificed the peace of every human south of the Veil by joining the foolish effort to act against the Fae.
We’ve had almost fifty years of relative peace. Now they’re going to ruin it all.
Lev pivots on his boot and leaves without another word or glance. When the door shuts behind him, another tear falls. I wipe it away with a scowl and meet Juniper’s pointed stare.
“What?” I ask.
She holds up her hand. “Nothing.”
I swipe away another tear. “What do we do now?”
“Well, we don’t have much time.” She lowers her hand and shoots a pointed look at Silas, who is still lying, eyes closed, against the wall. “You must use your power.”
I bite my lip and look at Silas, remembering his unconscious act earlier. “I don’t know—”
“The time for secrecy is over, Elara. You’re a prisoner, and if those men have anything to say about it, you will be for a long time.”
“But the town needs me...”
“They do, but they also need a villain to hate. And you know as well as I that they were wary of you the moment you agreed to help the Fae.”
“But I did it for them!”
Everything I’ve done my entire life has been to prove my worth to everyone around me. To prove that even as a Kinless orphan, I have value. That I can help people.
Understanding, raw and painful, shines from Juniper’s eyes. Bones creak as she lowers herself to sit next to me. Her wrinkled hand takes mine, and she holds tight.
“You’ve done well, my love. So well. But now…it’s time to do something for yourself. Call on your gift. Use it to free yourself.”
“I don’t know how,” I whisper.
My magic still moves sluggishly in my veins. And it has only ever healed, with the exception of defending me from the forest beasts.
Could I use it to burn through my shackles? The bars?
Even if I can, what will I do when soldiers try to stop my escape? Will I hurt them to be free? I don’t know if I can…
“I can help.”
My gaze flies to Silas. His eyes are open, and his shadows have erased the illusion that makes him appear human.
I wait for Juniper to react to his pointed ears, but her expression remains calm. Stoic, even.
She dips her head. “My lord.”
He returns the respectful gesture. “Brownie.”
My gaze darts between them, forehead creasing. Brownie?
“Do you two…know each other?”
“No,” Juniper says. “But we know of each other.”
What in the hells does that mean?
Before I can ask, Juniper addresses Silas. “You believe you can help Elara use her power to escape?”
“I do.”
“Well, then.” She fixes me with that determined look I grew up seeing. “Let’s get to it.”
The night the monsters attacked outside the forge fills my head as I reach for the terror that motivated the first physical manifestation of my magic.
I picture the white light, imagine it forming into a key and slipping it into the manacles on my ankle, freeing me from the heavy metal chafing my skin.
But no matter how much magic I manage to gather in my palms, it will not rise into the air. It’s trapped under my flesh as much as I am trapped in this cell, and no amount of basking in my previous trauma is helping.
“Again,” Juniper demands.
I drag a hand over my disheveled hair and sigh. “I can’t. I need a break.”
“We don’t have time.”
Dian came in an hour ago, dropped off enough food and water for all three of us, then hurried away without a word. I imagine Lev ordered him not to speak to me. Or maybe he feels guilty about the situation and couldn’t stand to face it a moment longer than necessary.
“Nothing is going to work,” I say. “I’ve done all I can. I don’t know how to use my power like…that.”
Juniper huffs then whirls to Silas. “Well? Do you have any other advice?”
The Fae watches me; a question that’s hovered in his gaze since I started trying to use my magic remains, but he has yet to voice it.
“No,” he says. “I’ve exhausted my knowledge of human magic.”
“Then why isn’t it working?”
“Why, indeed?” He purses his lips, gaze dipping to my shackles then back up.
I don’t know how Juniper and Silas know of each other, or why the hell he called her a brownie. Anytime I try to ask, I’m reprimanded for my lack of focus. By Juniper, not Silas.
The Fae has been a calm teacher. Patient. His shuttered, unreadable expression almost reminds me of Rian, except there’s no enticing aura luring me to him anytime I meet his stare.
“Why don’t you use your magic to get out of here?” I ask, too hopeful for a simple solution to my massive problem.
“Because that is not part of the mission,” he says, then clears his throat. “And I couldn’t leave…even if I wanted to.”
“Why not?”
“It doesn’t matter.” He rises to his feet and stretches his arms above his head. Like all Fae, he’s muscular, though the lack of sunlight has made his tan skin look a little wan. “Besides, my brothers will come for me.”
“Are you certain?” Juniper asks, shrewd as ever.
“Unreservedly.” He drops his arms and meets our disbelieving stares. “We’ve done this song and dance in five villages since crossing the Veil, and they’ve never let me down before.”
My lungs seize.
“What in the Gods’ names were you doing tricking five human villages?” Juniper snaps.
Even for her, it’s too bold to speak to a Fae male this way.
“That is for my prince to explain.”
My heart hammers, dousing my veins with dread and foreboding. “So it’s true… The Shadow Prince travels with your retinue.”
Darkness flows over the whites of Silas’s eyes. Danger and violence line every inch of his fierce features. “You will do well to keep that information to yourself, or I cannot speak of what retribution Draven will exact on his prince’s behalf.”
Draven’s concern about Darius, concealed with ire, plays in my mind.
His devotion to a friend would be admirable, but to a prince? It’s no doubt expected.
I hold Silas’s gaze, worried I’ve crossed a line. He blinks, and a mask falls over his features once more.
His lips curl into an odd sort of smile. “You know…I hadn’t considered this before, but the human Gods must be smiling down upon me and my brethren’s plans.”
I shift my legs close, wrap my arms over my knees, and hold tight. “Why would you say that?”
“Verdanthia. It’s the sixth town we’ve searched. Six.” He pauses for emphasis, his smile growing. “Lucky number six, like the six Gods you believe give a shit about human fate.”
I bristle at the disrespect. I’m not a temple maiden, but even I know better than to scorn the deities who shape our lives.
Juniper scoffs. “What about this situation do you find lucky?”
Silas’s shadows flicker over his face.
When they clear, he stares at me and says, “You.”
I scowl. “What do you—”
“Swords!”
The cry is muffled, but there is no mistaking the shouted word traveling through the door.
Juniper grabs my hand and tugs. I rise on shaking legs, and my heart billows with affection when she nudges me back so she stands between me and whatever is coming from the other side of that door.
From the moment my parents left this earth, Juniper has protected me and Ferria. She is the best woman I know, and Olyra help me, I will not allow her to come to harm for my sake.
“Stop!”
“Do not—”
A scream reaches my ears. I jump. It’s so loud, so pained… Renewed fear grips my chest.
A chuckle sounds from the other side of the cell. I whip my head to the side. Silas leans against the stone wall, grinning, arms crossed, and one shackled foot propped up on the wall behind him.
“What in The Mother are you smiling about?” Juniper snaps.
I gasp at the blasphemous use of the Fae Goddess’s name, but Silas’s smile simply grows.
“Freedom, dear brownie.” Shadows flow down his arms and legs, their excitement and anticipation reminding me of an excited child moments away from receiving a surprise. “It seems like he couldn’t wait.”
The foreboding sensation, the one that wreaked havoc on my mind before the celebration last night, stirs to life once more.
My lungs cannot seem to get enough air. The sound of fighting grows louder, coming closer. Screams of pain begin to outnumber the alarmed shouts.
“Juniper,” I croak.
My adoptive mother looks at me.
I tighten my hold on her hand. “Please don’t do anything foolish. Whatever comes through that door, please…take care.”
Wrinkled eyes soften. She reaches up and cups my cheek. “My dear girl, The Mother knows that nothing about protecting you could ever be considered foolish.”
Emotion thickens my throat. The screams increase.
“Are you certain Ferria is okay?”
“I swear it.”
I wipe the sweat from my forehead with a stilted nod.
“Brace yourselves,” Silas calls out, still leaning against the stone wall like he’s waiting on a post delivery and not for whoever is eliciting those terrified screams.
BOOM.
The ground shakes. Dirt and stone fall from the ceiling. I grab Juniper and lean over her to shield her from the debris.
A heavy mass strikes my back. A cry flies from my mouth.
“Elara!” Juniper tries to straighten, but my grip tightens.
“I’m fine.” I cough, clearing away the dust flying into my throat. “I’m fine.”
Crack. Crack.
My eyes dart up.
Oh Gods…
A thick crack spreads through the ceiling. And it’s growing wider. The roof… It’s going to come down.
I glance at my ankles—at the manacles holding me hostage.
I meet Juniper’s fierce stare. “You have to get out of here.”
“My dear, I was there the day you first drew breath, and I will not live a day longer than the moment you take your last.”
The morbid vow roots itself in my soul.
Arthritic fingers reach for my hand. I take them and squeeze. Tears burn my eyes from the gathering debris and the unending love I see in her gaze.
“I love you, Juniper.”
“And I love you, Elara.” She draws me into her chest.
I maneuver myself so I’m still hovering over her, still protecting her from the worst of the falling debris.
“Touching,” Silas calls out over the crashing stone and billowing dust. “But unwarranted. No one dies in this cell today.”
I look over Juniper’s head with a scowl. “You can’t possibly—”
CRASH!
The door bursts open. Wood shards soar into the air and land at the end of the hall separating the cell from the exit.
Thick, dark shadows flow into the cell, snaking up the walls and coating the ceiling, suppressing any further debris from falling. I stare at the magic in awe, and my heart begins to race.
He came for me.
Rian.
I thought he left. I thought I was alone.
My grip on Juniper slides to her shoulders. I tuck her into my side as the shadows do their work. I marvel at the seemingly limitless use of the Fae’s dark power.
Once the ceiling is reinforced, the shadows solidify. Then heavy footsteps pound toward us.
Anticipation coils tightly in my ribs. My heart beats against my sternum. I force myself to straighten, spine stiffening as I turn toward the door. A sudden ache claws at me to lay eyes on the formidable Fae.
A figure emerges, features distorted by the cloud of dust still lingering in the air.
“It’s about damn time.” Silas claps his hands once, then adds, “Took you long enough.”
“There were important matters to handle first.”
The voice freezes me. My pulse stutters, then blood roars in my ears. The voice is familiar…but it’s not Rian.
The figure steps forward, and the haze falls away, his features sharpening into clarity.
My stomach drops, my jaw along with it.
“Anton?” The name tears from my throat.
Ferria’s apprentice stands at the metal bars, wearing a sheepish grin that would be charming if it didn’t feel like I cannot trust a single thing about my life.
Not when I notice his ears.
His very pointed ears.
“Hello, Elara.”