He left me. No goodbye. Left me and didn’t return.
The cage is tight and made of iron, with sharp spikes pointing at me. Sometimes, a guard extends a tube with air, and I inhale it voraciously.
Outside, the Sea Prince and his mother laugh every time I have to breathe. The Sea Queen is very beautiful, her hair dark and curly, her skin a bronze hue, with a shimmery, iridescent tail. Beautiful and cruel, clearly delighted in seeing me suffer.
“How come you can’t breathe water, girl?”
I don’t answer.
She approaches the cage. “Answer me, little tramp.”
Now I’m definitely not going to say anything, but then I feel the pointy spikes getting closer to me.
“Answer me,” she repeats.
“I’m a Crystal Court fae,” I say, struggling to speak in the water. “A land fae. Why should I breathe water?”
I’m half Sea Fae, of course, but I never considered this place my home, and plus, I don’t have gills. But even my brother can’t breathe water, so that’s not the right explanation.
“And where’s your tail?” the queen asks.
“I don’t have a tail.”
She laughs. “And yet you think you can challenge my son for the crown?”
Is she crazy? “I absolutely do not think that.”
I’m running out of air, and the guard extends the tube again, so I take a large gulp.
“You think you can be the queen of the Sea?” the queen asks.
I frown, truly confused. “That has never, ever, crossed my mind. I can’t lie! I want nothing to do with the Sea Court. You must have the wrong fae. Let me go!”
“I don’t think so. You think you can steal everything from me? Ruin everything? No. You stand in my way, I’ll destroy you.”
“Let me go, and I won’t stand in anyone’s way.”
She tilts her head. “It’s not that simple, is it? Your mother should have heeded my warnings, should have escaped into her insignificance when she had the chance, but she didn’t. Now I need to ensure my future.”
My mother. Was this queen responsible for killing her? Anger feels like electricity inside me, like heavy clouds rushing against each other. Within me, I feel a surge of something strange, dark, and dangerous. But I don’t understand what’s happening, and don’t know if there’s any way for me to escape.
ZIVEN
It doesn’t make any sense. I blink and look down again, wondering if the night is playing tricks on me.
My body trembles. “Are these…”
“Ghouls, yes,” Mirella says. “Malformed, made of earth. What else could they be?”
There must be hundreds of them. Some are going up the winding stairs, while others are climbing the rocks.
“We need to warn them,” Mirella says, then proceeds to climb down from the roof, and I follow her, going down a thin, winding path past the main entrance.
We slip through her bedroom’s window in the guests’ section. She shuts it, eyes wide. If ghouls are climbing the walls, they could obviously enter through this window.
She rushes to the hall, then the winding stairs leading to the old library, and I follow her.
“Renel!” she yells even before entering the room. “The castle’s under attack.”
