Faye slid her hand back into her glove and reached out to inspect the demon for injury. The princess was certain she and Raxx were able to touch, provided it wasn’t skin on skin and if they were careful about it. If the worst came to worst and she slipped, perhaps a fraction of discomfort might aid her in rousing him.
Raxx remained still and silent. Faye carefully lifted his head, craning her neck to look for any signs of blood or bruising, but found nothing. It was as if the demon had fallen into some sort of coma.
Faye glanced up at the ceiling tiles, noticing for the first time the small cracks between them were beginning to glow with the light of dawn. A chill crept down her spine and panic gripped her anew.
“Raxx, I need to get back to my cell. They’ll kill both of us if they find me missing.” She shook his shoulder firmly. “Please, please wake up.”
There was still no response from the demon. Faye’s stomach churned as she came to the realisation that she was in this on her own. She sprang to her feet and paced back and forth.
“Keep calm, you can do this... Do what though? That’s the problem. Oh, Raxx I don’t know what to do,” Faye sighed.
It’s about desire princess. You need to forget that you can’t, and embrace that you will.
Tabitha’s words rang clear in her mind and Faye’s pacing halted. Perhaps it was as easy as that –willingherself back to her cell.
The princess closed her eyes and concentrated, harder than she ever had before. She visualised the dark, dank little space and felt her brow furrow as she tensed all the muscles in her body. A few long seconds ticked by.
“It’s no use,” Faye cried, kicking a book across the floor with frustration. “Who am I kidding? I can do a few parlour tricks at best.”
She walked back to Raxx, sliding down to sit heavily beside him. Faye reached out and took his wrist in her hand, rummaging around beneath his leather glove in a clumsy attempt to find a pulse. As her frustration grew, she yanked the glove off and dropped it to the ground beside her.
“The least I can do is try to keep you alive, I suppose,” she sighed.
The princess closed her eyes. It had been foolish to believe she could justdothese things. Sure, that half-crazed witch seemed to believe she had some sort of talent, but surely it wouldn’t be that easy? Especially not after a lifetime of repressing everything that felt natural.
Faye should have stayed put in her cell. She shouldn’t have allowed her curiosity to get them all into this mess. Perhaps even her sister’s fate would have been different, if it hadn’t been for the greater threat thattwofaerie princesses wrought.
As Faye let another soft sigh ease from her chest, the floor seemed to shudder. She opened her eyes, alarmed to see Raxx’s room had become hazy and blurred. The nauseating feeling of falling overwhelmed her as Faye snapped her eyes shut once more.
She focussed on her breathing, envisioning in her mind’s eye being back in the cell. Despite her nervousness, her majick seemed to instinctively know what to do. She felt a tingling in her palm and, with a strength she had never possessed before, she rolled Raxx’s limp body over onto his back.
Her hands moved as if they were not her own. She watched through the cracks between her lashes as her gloved hands unbuttoned the shadow demon’s shirt.
Faye had never seen the demon’s bare torso before, that she was absolutely certain of, so how did she know he had that series of fascinating tattoos down his side? Her palms navigated to them as if she had known what she was looking for. She pressed her hands flat over the symbols and felt her majick growing and swelling inside her.
Faye held her breath as the room tilted alarmingly and the floor disappeared beneath her. Raxx’s warm, firm rib cage was her only constant as she fought to keep her mind clear and focussed. They just needed to get back to that horrid little cell before anyone noticed she was missing.
There was a loud screech of metal against stone. Faye gasped as she plummeted through the air, landing painfully against the cold, wet floor.
“What in Hestaesia!” She heard a voice echoing down a long corridor.
She couldn’t allow herself even a moment of confusion before she began forcing herself to full consciousness.
The princess and the shadow demon lay on the damp stone floor of her cell, their bodies entangled in an impossible position.
Faye had little time to celebrate, her heart pounded in her chest as she heard chainmail clinking towards them. She ripped her cloak off and draped it over the unconscious demon that lay splayed out on the floor beside her metal cot. The material barely covered him, never mind his huge wings. The princess darted back and forth in blind panic and desperation. She and Raxx were out of options.
The tell-tale glow of a torch approaching cast long shadows across the small cell. Faye span to face the bars and froze as a demon guard appeared before her.
“What is the meaning of this?” the man asked with a scowl. Faye watched the demon’s dark eyes flicker over her shoulder as he undoubtedly spotted the chaos behind her.
Faye opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came.
The guard caught her eye and shot her a disapproving glare. “Is this some sort of faerie thing?”
The princess paused for a moment before glancing over her shoulder. The cell was empty, void of all signs of Raxx, but her metal cot had tipped onto its side – no doubt from the second less-than-graceful landing of the evening – and her cloak lay crumpled on the floor beside it.
“I, uh, fell?” Faye mumbled.
