Her lips twitched. “No. I am here because it would be most unfortunate if you froze to death.” She pressed the coat through the bars, working it through the space with care. “Here. Take this coat and gloves. Best put them on right away. I imagine he’ll be down to see you soon, but it won’t do you any good to already be near death.”
Oh gee. How thoughtful. Still, I wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. I took the coat, the thick fabric pressing over my hands. “I was under the impression he was happy to let mefreeze to death.” Maybe there was something metal on this coat that I could use. The silver buttons and fasteners felt sturdy.
She scoffed and tilted her head as if she’d expected that from him. “He isn’t thinking clearly. Not that I recommend you try his patience any further. You’re quite likely to wind up far worse off.”
I shoved my arms into the coat sleeves and yanked it tight across my chest. It was heavy, smelling faintly of lavender and the same sharp tang as the torches in the hall. The lining brushed my skin, so soft it made me shiver all over again, but then the heat expanded, as if some sort of magic had made it reach me faster.
The gloves followed. Chunky wool, stitched patterns on top, leather palms, and thick around the wrists, like they’d been made specifically to suffocate cold. I flexed my fingers inside them and almost groaned. Sensation came rushing back, with pins and needles running from my knuckles to my elbows.
“Thank you,” I said, a little wary but also grateful. My fingers burned as the cold receded. “Wow…I’ve never gotten warm this fast.”
“Living in the Dusk Court during these uncertain times requires a certain skill with temperature and fabrics if one doesn’t want to freeze. How did you get here, and where are you from? Are you another survivor from the Aurora Court, perhaps, who traveled to…Tennessee?” Thea folded her arms as she studied me, her expression curious.
I slid my hands down the outside of the coat. Aside from the small silver buttons and fasteners, there wasn’t much. But the edges of the smaller inside buttons might just be slim enough to slide directly beneath the head of the bolts in the hinges. Maybe. “No. Really. I’m from Tennessee, and I have no idea where this place is. I’ve never even heard of it.”
Her brows lifted. “Odd indeed. So you aren’t even from this world?—”
“Thea.” A soft male voice cut through the cold air.
My attention snapped to the left. The younger man who’d been with the king stood there, his gloved hand pressed against the stone archway and his expression drawn.
He glanced over his shoulder down the dark hall and then looked back at her. “You heard what Kai said.”
“Kai?” That didn’t sound nearly as intimidating as Kairos. I bit back a smile and kept my arms folded.
Thea scoffed and mirrored his stance, folding her arms as she tilted her head to meet the man’s gaze. “He can take it up with me if he has a problem, but I think it’s safe to assume that he would prefer a living prisoner in a coat who was shown some compassion versus a dead captive who was kept in complete isolation in strict compliance with his orders.”
“My brother’s in one of his moods.” He reached for her, then dropped his hand. The tension in his jaw tightened. “Just—don’t make this harder than it must be.”
“I make everything better, Ashren, not harder.” She smiled sweetly, but the edges of her mouth pinched tightly, suggesting she was holding back something she wanted to say.
The weight of their glances zapped through the bars, quick as a current, Thea holding Ashren’s gaze a second longer than needed. I felt like I should look away, or at least cough, but I just huddled deeper into the coat and considered whether the buttons would work on the lock.
Ashren cleared his throat and glanced at me. “Are you staring at something in particular, prisoner?”
A snort escaped me, though I hadn’t meant it to. The harshness of his words compared with the softness of his expression when he’d looked at Thea surprised me, which probably wasn’t the best reaction here. “Just wondering why theking thinks I’m going to survive down here without a coat in this temperature. I think Thea is right, and you should thank her. If it weren’t for her, I’d be hypothermic by now. She’s the smartest person I’ve met here. Granted, the bar wasn’t set very high.”
“A bar?” Thea’s elegant brows lifted. That small smile pulled at her lips, as if she was more pleased to be praised for her intelligence than her kindness.
Of course they wouldn’t understand the saying. “My expectations weren’t high, but even if they had been, I’m sure you’re the smartest one here.”
She smiled wider.
“Thea’s intelligence is not in question,” Ashren said sharply. “It is a matter of what the king orders.”
“And the king made his ordersveryclear,” a stern voice intoned from behind Ashren.
My stomach dropped like I’d missed a step in the dark.
King Kairos stood just outside the doorway.
CHAPTER 4
Hannah
My stomach dropped as ice spread through my veins despite the enchanted coat and gloves.
Both Thea and Ashren stiffened, and the torchlight shrank back as if it wanted to be anywhere but in the sight of the bastard king himself.
