Her use of certain words was peculiar. “And who am I to him?”
“You don’t know yet?” She chuckled, shaking her head. “I am not getting involved in that. However, I will say that you coming in here and creating trouble will ensure that trouble returns toyou. All of that does not matter to me. However, if I answered your question, it would bring trouble forme, and I refuse to subject myself to my King’s wrath.”
“Your King?” My jaw nearly dropped at how smoothly she called ClauseherKing. As though she belonged to no other. “You so easily turn your back on where you came from?”
She shrugged, completely indifferent to my comment. “My father never came for me, did he? Never wanted me or fought for me. He just let me disappear.”
“But you think Clause fought for you?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
She was delusional. Drinking the poison water Clause seemed to pump through the people he acquired from lands that were never his to farm from. I didn’t have the time or patience to sway her mind. I was not sure I even wanted to if she had people kept against their will at such a place.
“Where is the person who does not wish to be here?” I asked instead.
“The girl belongs to one of Clause’s men.” She paused as if allowing time for her words to sink in. “You sure you don’t want to disappear and pretend you never stumbled onto this place? If you intervene, we will alert Clause at once.”
“Show her to me.”
Iona shrugged, as if it truly made no difference to her. “Very well.” She moved through the beaded partition, keeping a hand up to leave an opening for me to step through into a long, dim hallway. Doors on each side, eight of them. Eight rooms. All were probably used as places for services exchanged, all except for the one she led me to. The last room.
Iona tilted her head, indicating that through the threshold was the answer to my question.
I reached for the handle and opened the door, surprised to find it unlocked.
A Sidhe woman lay on a mattress, her pointed ears peeking through dirty-looking brown hair. A small groan escaped her lips at our presence, yet she did not stir, did not even open an eye. Chains circled each wrist and each ankle, binding her even though she looked too weak to even stand.
“Does she get food or water?” I asked, unable to move, to actually enter the space. The scent of sweat and rot assaulted my nose, but didn’t stop there. It traveled down my throat, taking hold of my stomach. Itastedthe revolting air.
Iona shrugged, eyeing me as if more curious to see my response as opposed to what hid behind the door. “I do not know. I do not enter this room, for it is the one area in this place that does not belong to me. For whatever reason, this girl was brought here. I do not care to know why. I do not involve myself.”
“You are disgusting.” I turned to her. “This is happening right under your nose, and you do nothing.”
“And what do you wish for me to do? To free her?” Iona dared to smile as thoughIwas the foolish one. “Let me know how well that turns out for you. I am not here to rescue anyone outside my means. I can help the women here, those in the other rooms. Their protection is my sole responsibility. We all have limits, little lamb. I know mine. You had better learn yours before you are put on a spit and roasted alive.”
I did not respond, instead turning my gaze to the emaciated girl.
Mist shot out of my fingertips, like vines drifting through the air, over the bed, to each of the shackles. It entered the space meant for a key, curving around the metal compartment, pushing and pulling until all four locks snapped open.
26
ARIANA
I lowered the girl down onto an open bed in the servant’s bunker. She weighed close to nothing. It took far too little effort to wrap her in a blanket and carry her from that torture room and through the city.
Shay found me as I walked the streets and followed us to the servant’s compound in silence, releasing a soft whine only after I placed the girl on the bed.
“Who is she?” Erik asked, looking over at her as the blanket fell away from her face, revealing one that did not belong to his sister. His shoulders sagged a touch with relief at seeing a stranger in such a state and not Iona.
“They kept her chained in a whorehouse,” I said, running to get a cold compress to hold to her forehead.
“You should take her back.” One of the servants stated coldly. “This will only bring trouble.”
I froze, turning to view a Sidhe man with a scowl curvinghis lips. “I could not just leave her there.” Eyes of the entire room were on me.
My attention settled on the wolf as I decided. “It’s time. Go.”
Shay released a throaty rumble and ran out of the room at once. The time of suffering under Clause’s rule would not continue. His people were going to get a choice of the kind of life they wished to live.
