He was quiet for a beat as Lexi passed, arguing with three ghosts from home. They wanted to come along.
When she was again out of earshot, Mordecai continued.
“They made a mistake with Daisy, though.” He pushed off the side of the cashier building. “Daisy isn’t less dangerous than magical people. Because of her upbringing and constantly having to assess the danger around her and find a way to kill it before it kills her, she’s ten timesmoredangerous than magical people. Than you, Demigod Kieran. Than even Lexi. She’s at home in the shadows, has no moral hang-ups where survival is concerned, and knows how to manipulate people, spy, and play games. She won’t ever break. Not ever. She won’t give them the satisfaction. If there is one human in all the world theyshouldn’tbring into Faerie, it is my sister. She’ll burn that place to the ground and wonder why we took so long to show up and join her in dancing around the flames.”
6
Daisy
“Come on, you stupid human,”said Curvy Woman.
I’m Revana,she murmured, pulling Daisy roughly down the dark tunnel on the left.Gorlan said to tell you how gross that spit was, and he does not appreciate it.
“I can’t see, you fucking idiots. How am I supposed to walk?” Daisy gritted out, resuming looking at the walls and thinking of the horrors that might await there. Then thinking of her captors and how hard it was to stop herself from falling to the ground and sobbing.
Kayla and Revana hoisted her up, carrying her. It was not at all comfortable, so Daisy grunted and squirmed until they had her in a better hold that didn’t yank at her shoulders so much.
Don’t take it personally,Kayla said.About Tarian. He disappears into the creature he needs to be to survive this court. He has to battle harder than we do to keep the twisted magic from infiltrating his mind. It’s not an easy feat when you feel it as often as he does. The royals—the princess, especially—plague him.
We are sitting down to a game of chess,Daisy thought in that way Kayla had described. Her body twisted weirdly, and it looked like she was trying to moonwalk in the air, her legs dangling as the females carried her. Why the hell couldn’t she think quietly like (apparently) a normal person?I would expect him to play his part correctly, so that I might play mine.
You can think more freely now,Revana thought.Anyone powerful enough to possess the mindgazer magic won’t be in these tunnels. And if they are, they are easily spotted. Tarian said you have a distinct eye for human fashion?—
He sounded very impressed by that,Kayla murmured.Heloveshuman fashion.
If that is true,Revana went on,you should be able to notice the finer attire here. Those who wear it have gold and status. They will be more powerful, more prestigious, and crueler. Try not to gain their notice.
Only the more powerful half of the court has the mindgazer magic,Kayla said.
Yes. If you see someone with less quality attire, you may be safe in assuming they cannot hear your thoughts. Soon, hopefully, you’ll learn to block your thoughts. Tarian thinks the chalice magic should make you powerful enough to do so, even against the royals.
And your crew?Daisy asked.
Are an exception,Kayla said.An exception the true nature of which no one knows. To them, we are the Thornborn, a rough and hardy group of kin that exists on the outskirts of fae society. They live in the wylds on the borders of this kingdom and the mountain ranges of the Topaz kingdom. We found some of them working here, as hired muscle, mostly. They took us in when the gods stripped us of all that we are.
A pale blue glow interrupted the darkness, and a putrid smell hit Daisy like a wall. Her stomach churned. It was a combinationof damp stone and mold, stale body, and decay and rot. She shut down her senses as the glow grew into a dim magical light that washed over a cramped space filled with strange contraptions. They appeared to be intended for physical suffering, and she wanted to inspect each one, curious to see what they did. How creative fae got with torture.
Beyond, the area opened into a narrow hall two stories high. Cells existed on each side, and darkness waited through the rusted bars. At the top were more cells, and one had long, spindly fingers curving around the bars.
“Lovely,” Daisy murmured. Her stomach fluttered. She’d never been kept in a genuine dungeon before. Zorn had tossed her into a jail cell or two and left her there for a couple days to sleep on the floor and use a bucket for waste, but that hadn’t held a candle to this. It hadn’t had the smell, the splatter of dried and cracking blood, the pockets of midnight with strange species wasting away inside. It hadn’t had an utter lack of safety like this. Zorn had trained her, but he’d never hurt her. The new Tarian and the dungeon masters of this place presented a different situation.
She let out a very slow breath as fear threatened to overwhelm her.
There is no point wasting one’s last moments to fear,she said to herself.
But these weren’t her last moments. Not by far. She’d need to endure this. If things went bad, death wouldn’t quickly embrace her; first would be pain. Incredible, horrible pain.
She pulled in a deep breath and let it out again. Her goal was not to break. No matter what happened, she couldn’t break. Survival meant keeping an intact mind. Pain was merely a device to alert a person that they were still alive. If it came to it, she’d have to remember that pain was living. Living was protecting her family. She could do this.
A stooped figure with wispy white hair falling down to its mid-chest waited along the wall. Wrinkles sagged along the arms and overlapped at the neck. Its face was lost to shadow, even though the rest of its body was visible in the dim lighting. That shadow had to be magically created.
“Prisoner,” Kayla told the creature in a rough voice.
The creature shook, as though it were being electrocuted, before raising a bone-thin arm and pointing down the tunnel into the blackness beyond.
“No!” Revana barked. “This is a human. They require a window or they will wither. His Highness Tarianthiel Drystan Windryker’s orders. He needs it alive for the court games.”
The creature started to shake again. Its voice came out like a wave of insects skittering over a dusty stone floor. “But if it lives, it will kill us all.”
