Chapter 40
DAHLIA
“If I die of starvation you won’t be able to cut off my hands!” I yell, shoving my head through the iron bars. I suppose they could still cut off my hands, but they wouldn’t look very pretty. Tauren might not even recognise them if they’re all bony, and then what’s the point?
“You’ve been in there half an hour, Princess Dahlia,” my useless guard sneers. “You’re not dying of starvation any time soon.” He goes back to his book, propping his boots up onto the table outside my cell.
I slide down the bars to sit cross-legged on the floor, glaring at him. “When my husband hears you’ve been starving me, he’ll eat your soul.”
“Good thing he’s not here then.” He ignores my scowl and continues reading, just like he’s been doing since throwing me in here. I’ve already asked him what the book’s title is twice, and he ignored me both times. Judging by its reader, it’s a boring non-fiction with no emotion in it at all.
Huffing, I let my back fall against the floor. There’s a hay bed in my cell, but I’d rather sleep on the floor than on a bed made of hay – if you can even call that a bed. There’s also a bucket for doing something I’d rather not think about, especially given the audience outside my cell.
Tauren better rescue me soon, otherwise I’ll die of humiliation before the starvation gets me.
“I need food!” I scream at the top of my lungs. “I haven’t eaten since moonrise! I’m dying in here!”
The guard listens to my wails for another minute before finally slamming his book onto the table and marching down the corridor.
I roll onto my front, grinning, until he returns minutes later and tosses a fist-sized rock into my lap.
My smile falls. Not a rock. It’s the stalest piece of bread I’ve ever seen.
“Is this even edible?” I scoff.
“If you were actually starving, it would be.” He sits back down, and I resist the urge to launch the bread-rock at his head. Actually…
My gaze catches on the key to my cell swinging from his belt.
If I can just get him to walk up to the bars again, maybe I can whack him with the bread as a distraction and steal the key.
But my heart sinks when I notice it’s hooked on a metal ring.
It’d be fiddly enough for him to unhook it, let alone for me to do it without him realising.
Still, it’s worth a try. Better than sitting in here waiting for a demon who may or may not come for me.
My fingers twitch around the bread nervously. I’ve been trying my hardest not to think about the salt barrier surrounding the palace, or that it took Tauren fifteen years to try to rescue his sister. But every minute I’m in here makes those thoughts seem louder and louder.
“I need butter or cheese or something for my bread.” I put on my best whiny voice.
The guard glares at me.
“Puh-leeaase!”
“That’s it. I’m no babysitter.” He rips the key from his belt and slams it onto the table.
“They told me to guard you, but I’m not getting paid anywhere near enough to put up with this princess bullshit.
Enjoy the fucking bread, Your Highness,” he spits out my title, “because you won’t be getting anything else.
” Before I can argue, he stomps down the hallway, leaving me alone in my damp cell.
“Wait! Come back!” I cry. He left the key behind, but it’s sitting on the table, metres away from my cell. There’s nothing I can use to reach it. “Please! I’m sorry! Don’t leave me here!”
My only reply is the faint squeaking of the rats. Two of them scuttle down the hallway outside, as if taunting me.
Shuddering, I hug my knees to my chest. If my sisters were here, we’d be out of this palace by now.
Eden would’ve picked the lock on the door or Blossom would’ve charmed her way out, like she did with the guards on the gate.
Even Amaryllis would’ve thought of something clever to try. She always knew what to do.
I kick my bare feet against the bars, scowling. “Why did I have to skip lunch today?” I grumble to myself. “If I had a proper meal, I could think of a way to get out of here,” I snarl at a rat as it scuttles past. “Even just some cheese for my bread-rock. You like cheese, don’t you?”
The animal pauses to look at me, its grey ears twitching.
For some reason, I’m reminded of the wolves that attacked me in the forest – how they seemed to listen when I shouted at them to leave Tauren alone. And Tauren’s words in the conservatory before he gifted me Angel – how he thought my ‘gift’ was something to do with animals.
I scoff. Even if it was, what good would that be?
“If you can understand me, and that’s a big if,” I sneer at the rat, “go and bring me some proper food so I can think clearly.”
I roll my eyes when it just squeaks and scuttles away. If that guard were still here, he’d call me mad and probably throw away the key to my cell.
I don’t have magic and neither does Blossom.
That shooting star in our dance circle was a fallen star and nothing more.
But when the scent of cheddar hits my nose, I bolt upright.
My rat friend nudges a block of cheese through the bars, its tiny mouth barely able to carry the huge chunk.
“I’m dreaming,” I mutter. “There’s no way that just happened.” But after I bring the cheese to my mouth and take a bite, the very real taste of cheddar melts in my mouth. “Stars…” I sigh.
I swallow the cheese, the cogs in my mind whirring. “This is absurd.” I shake my head.
But I’m trying it anyway.
“Mr Rat,” I ask politely, lowering myself to the rat’s eye level. “Or maybe Ms Rat. Sorry.” I clear my throat. “It would make me so happy if you could scurry over to that table and bring me the key to my cell. Can you do that for me? I need to get out of here.”
Screw the guard. I’m ready to throw away the key myself. Talking to rats…
But my new friend doesn’t seem to care how mad I look. Long tail twitching, he scampers over to the table, climbs up the wooden leg, and nudges the key until it clatters to the floor.
I hide my gasp behind my hands. There’s no way this is actually working.
Jumping from the table, he picks the ring up with his mouth and hurries over to my cell.
I snatch the key up the moment it’s within reach. “Thank you, thank you!” I squeal at him. “Here.” I slide the rest of the cheese towards his tiny hands. “Enjoy, and if you ever want more, come and find me in Lord Tauren’s castle.”
I don’t waste a second to slide the key into the lock and hurry into the torch-lit hallway. I vaguely remember the way out. My cell is deep underground, but there should be a staircase somewhere nearby. I remember tripping down it while being dragged through the palace.
As I reach a turn in the walls, I hold my breath, listening for guards. I only hear the patter of dozens of tiny feet as my new rat friend hurries up behind me, followed by not one but several more rats. Cheese crumbs cover their tiny mouths.
“You brought friends.” I grin. I look like some kind of crazed rat witch with the army of rodents around my feet. More seem to be joining us every second. I don’t have time to marvel at it, though. “Is it safe for me?” I ask the pack. “Can you check?”
A few of the larger rats tread hesitantly out past the corner, before breaking into a relaxed run. When the squeaking herd follows, so do I. Relief whooshes out of me when I find the hallway empty.
“Go rats!” I laugh. Perhaps I should bring a few home to Tauren. Though I can’t imagine he’d appreciate rats scurrying about our bedchamber, bringing me my hairbrush or whatever else I need. I chuckle at the thought.
We’re just reaching the end of the dank hallway when a conversation carries down the walls.
“I’m not lying. I saw a rat run off with it. Why would I steal only the cheese from your sandwich? I tried to stop him, but the greedy beast was too fast.”
My chest seizes. Clearly hearing it too, my rat army dives through the bars of the nearest cell. But I can’t fit through, and the door is locked!
“Help me!” I squeak at them, but it’s pointless. They’re rats. All they do is stare until two sets of footsteps echo down the hallway.
“You there! Halt!”
I whip around to see two guards sprinting towards me, one holding a rather sorry-looking empty sandwich, and the other with a huge sword pointed right at my chest.
“No! Please!” I shout. My eyes screw shut. I stumble backwards.
But instead of a sword plunging through my chest or being grabbed by the two burly men, I hear their footsteps stop as one of them lets out an odd squeaking sound.
Breath ragged, I open my eyes.
There are two slices of bread on the floor, along with a growing puddle of blood. The man with the sword coughs as more blood flies out of him. He drops his weapon, crumbling to the floor.
It’s then I notice another figure standing behind him. Long wavy red hair. Violet eyes. A dainty lilac corset that looks absolutely divine beneath her black cloak.
“Ami,” I cry out, reaching for my sister. I’m either dreaming or dead. Very dead.
“Dahlia.” She beams, diving to the floor to hug me.
I don’t notice the other guard until it’s too late. My sister has her arms around me, too busy burying her face in my shoulder to see him charging towards us. “No! Don’t hurt her! Help us, please—
Rats fly out of the cell, all moving as one like a giant, horse-sized beast. They swarm over the man, squeaking and chattering while he’s forced backwards onto the floor. His screams are muffled by their fur.
Ami yelps, jumping out of our hug. We both watch in horror as the guard is dragged down the corridor by my rat army. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’m not sure I ever want to see it again. But knowing I just did that feels too damn good, I can’t help but laugh.
I’ll take that over Blossom’s ‘magic’ any day.
“What just happened?” Ami stammers.
“I made some new friends down here.” I grin, helping her stand.
“Was that your gift?” she gasps, before pulling a face. “Your gift is rats?”
“All animals actually. It’s like they can understand me.”
She nods, exhaling. “We all need to catch up when we get home. Go over this ‘gift’ nonsense once and for all. I was going to speak to all of you when I next visited the dance circle, but Father had sent you away before then.”
I’m about to ask what her gift is when three more figures sprint down the hallway.
My hand grips my sister’s until I realise it’s Blossom, Eden, and…
“Kasimir is here too?” I blurt at Ami.
She chuckles, relieved. “As if he’d ever let me go anywhere without him.”
“Don’t you dare run away from me again, Ruby.” He pulls her into the tightest hug. “I let you out of my sight for one second and then you’re gone. When I heard you screaming—”
“I’m fine,” she insists, stepping out of the hug to smile at him. “I used my dagger just like you showed me. Look.” She points at the dead guard on the floor.
My stomach rocks at the sight of the still-growing blood puddle, while Kasimir just pats my sister on the shoulder, grinning proudly.
It’s easy to forget how completely psychotic he is when he looks that good.
Based on how unfazed Ami is that she just killed a man, perhaps his psychopathy is catching.
“I’m so glad you’re safe.” Blossom pulls me into a hug.
“Did they torture you?” Eden pales.
“Oh yes, it was awful,” I sigh dramatically.
Ami rolls her eyes. “She’s lying.”
“How do you always know—” I’m cut off when the distant boom of an explosion rumbles through the walls. “What the hell was that?”
“Dahlia, listen to me.” Ami grasps my hand. Her voice is frantic. “We don’t have much time. Do you want to stay with Tauren? If you decide to leave him, we’ll take you back to Father’s palace or you can stay with us in Night Alley – wherever you want to go. Kasimir and I will protect you.”
“Us too,” Blossom says with Eden. “We’ll keep you safe. Always.”
“But if you decide you want to be with Tauren, with your… husband,” Ami struggles to say the word, “then we’ll take you upstairs to him now and we’ll all travel back to his castle together.”
“The choice is yours, Dahlia,” Kasimir adds. “We’ll respect your decision either way.”
I don’t even need to think about it. Another explosion shakes the walls, the torchlight flickering as I reply, “The demon castle isn’t my home yet, but I think I want it to be.
” I squeeze Amaryllis’s hand. “Take me to Tauren please. To my husband. Before whatever he’s doing to this palace kills us all. ”