“Two days.”
Two more entire days lost that I could have used to search for my brother.“If you think I’m just going to die, why bother seeing if there’s something wrong with me?”
Another shrug.“I’m a curera.”
“Will you answer a condemned fae’s questions, then?”
“I’m not here for that.”
“Indulge me?”I gave her a closed-lip smile and my most charmingI won’t drink and drain youeyes.
Eventually, she harrumphed.“Depends on the question.”
“Nothing that’ll endanger you.”
“We’ll see.”
“Where is Crown Prince Mateo of Zaraga?”
Her hands stopped mid-ear tug.Her eyes snapped to mine.
“You can’t ask me about him.”
“Why not?”
“If you don’t know, then there is definitely something most wrong with you, even if I can’t find it.Guard!”
“Wait—”
The door swung open.The goblin padded hurriedly toward it.Over her shoulder, she called a clipped, “May the Fuerin grant mercy to your essence.”
The door shut behind her.
The darkness was heavier, more foreboding, than it was before her arrival.
Chapter8
This World Only Gives You What You Fight For
Sweat trickled between my breasts and along the curve of my spine, and had already dampened my frock where it cradled my underarms.Though sweltering, I didn’t begrudge the sun high overhead.It was a welcome reminder that I’d escaped my underwater tomb.
I’d escaped the fighting pits.Survived my rebirth as a sänglure…
I’d escape this prison, too.
I was just … still working out the how.Three additional torturous days of solitary confinement hadn’t yielded a plausible plan.
In a modest courtyard in front of the prison, and in view of the palace, beneath a canopy that appeared to float on its own—faithum, surely—sat a portly man and an even more portly woman.Although he was human and she was fae—from the point to her ears—and their features were noticeably different, their dour pinch made them resemble each other.
They were elevated on a one-step dais that held just their seats, a small table between them with a gavel and refreshments.More faithum was at work; the two judges appeared cool and comfortable despite the stuffy high collars of their shirts.
I stood directly across from them, in a line with four other prisoners.All men, all criminals.It wasn’t anything in particular about any one of them.By appearance, they were all quite different, even after a night or more in the same prison.But when you grow up in Zaraga’s underbelly as I had, you learn to recognize their ilk—ourilk.It was a sometimes subtle, sometimes not, vibe that tickled at the fine hairs at the nape of my neck, that put me on guard.A calculating gleam in their roving eyes.
Despite my present company, however, the judges glowered at me.Only me.
Maybe Heartbreak had enlisted Death to punish me for my insults, proving herself to be the very cunt I’d accused her of being.
Death hadn’t come for me when I wanted.It would be just like him to take me when I wasn’t ready.
