“The men, yes.” Em urged Lex out another door and down another long hallway. “The passageways are for the lovers of the women. This way.” They raced around several more corners until they were in what looked to be the servants’ section.
Lex caught her breath, her hand pressed to her chest. “Isn’t it forbidden for women to have lovers?”
“Oh yes, miss. But…” Em shrugged.
Lex thought Fae regimented and old-school, like Garrin. Turned out, they might be old-fashioned, but they also broke their own rules. “You Fae are pretty naughty, aren’t you?”
“Most assuredly.” Em winked and opened another door, this one to the outside.
Cold air stung Lex’s face, but the door they’d exited a second ago disappeared, smoothed over by ancient walls covered partway up with ice.
A secret portal? Only it wasn’t like the ones she’d traveled through. It had already existed… There was so much to learn about magic. “Will the soldiers find us?”
Em wrapped her arms across her chest, shivering. She still wore the gauzy gown of the court women, while Lex had on proper winter clothes and coat. “Let’s not find out. Where would you like to go?”
Lex pulled her arm out of one sleeve of her coat and held it for Em to slip into, the two of them huddling together. “I might be able to find a cottage Zirel took me to.”
“You’ve been to the village?”
“We visited an elder named Mertha.”
Em nodded as though she knew Mertha, or knew of her, and they took off, running as quickly as they could while sharing the coat.
But the farther from the castle they made it, the more disoriented Lex became.
Inside the village, the cottages all looked the same, and everything was covered in snow. The first time she made the trip, she’d had her hood pulled below her eyes, relying on Zirel to escort her to Mertha’s. Her lay of the land had consisted of what she could see from her knees and below.
Em and Lex were out in the elements now, with guards likely close behind. They wouldn’t last long before they were discovered if they didn’t find coverage soon.
“I’m sorry.” Lex glanced ahead and behind them, and shook her head. It had started to snow, the moisture dampening her hair and blurring everything. “I thought I could find it, but I’m turned around and I don’t know where we are.”
Em sent her a shivering smile. “I do. We will go to the home of my childhood. It’s not far.”
23
Zedekiah, the king’s head soldier, struck Garrin in the jaw with a sharp uppercut. “Where did you find the female, and who is she?”
Garrin spat blood onto the stone floor and narrowed his eyes. He glanced past Zedekiah—or Zed, as Garrin knew him—to alchemists hovering in the shadows. “At some point,” he said casually, “the alchemists will tire of holding back my power. Have you considered what will happen then?”
Zed picked at his tooth with the blade he’d stolen from Garrin’s belt. “I suppose I’ll bring in more alchemists, should that happen. Though at the moment, I see no cause for concern.” He leaned forward, his hot breath coating Garrin’s chilled skin inside the frigid dungeon that his father reserved for the worst offenders. “You may be powerful, but not against the king’s army.”
It had shocked Garrin to find Zed in charge of torturing him. He’d known the soldier most of his life, and the sense of betrayal ran deep. “Who ordered this?”
“King’s orders, as I said.”
The king was ruthless, but he rarely left punishment to others, preferring to do it himself. Something was off.
The commander Garrin had mentally requested to sneak Lex from the castle was nowhere in sight. Lex had either escaped, or they held her trapped in Garrin’s quarters while they beat him for information. Either way, the situation wasn’t good.
Zed struck Garrin with a backhand to the face.
“Was that supposed to hurt?” Garrin willed his eye not to twitch, though it pulsated from the blow. “You never could fight without backup.”
Zed snarled. “Laugh all you want, Your Highness. But I will get the truth from you one way or another. Answer now before it is too late. Where does she come from?”
Too late?What was that supposed to mean?
It didn’t matter. Garrin would never tell of Lex’s origins, now that his fears about his father and the past were confirmed. He couldn’t believe it, but he must—he was imprisoned in his own dungeon. “The Land of Sun,” he replied.
