My gaze drifted to the little girl in her lap. “I understand.”
Steel—or was it Flint—rattled the bars of their cage. “She’s out of control. Gone completely mad. No children should ever set foot in those mines. The ore would poison them within weeks.”
Rabbit’s children were so young. Would they ever recover from this? They needed a healer—someone like Serenity who could mend body and spirit.
But Serenity was on Earth. And we were stuck here.
Angelo would never allow her to cross into this dimension. I couldn’t blame him. Evil ruled this place.
Which meant I couldn't wait for rescue. I had to think. Darius had escaped once. Joy had been saved. There were ways out of here—I just had to find one. The chains. If I could break free, my magic would return. And if my magic returned...
I looked at Bunny and her children. At Flint and Steel.
I wasn't leaving without them.
I stared at Steel and Flint. They were massive men—the kind any NFL football team would kill to have as linemen. Strong. Powerful. Built for battle.
But they were slowly being broken.
I leaned my head against the cold stone wall. “Do you think we’ll ever get out of here?”
Flint and Steel both shook their heads.
"No," one of them said flatly. "No one gets out of here."
Bunny sighed miserably. "No one has ever escaped from this place. Except Hatter."
True. He’d escaped more than once. At least that’s what he’d told me. But now he was right back in her clutches. Somewhere in this castle, Alanna had him. Was hurting him. Using him. And I was stuck in this cell, useless.
"And look where that got him," Steel muttered. Or was it Flint? I still couldn't tell them apart. "Back in chains. We're fucking going to die down here."
Their despair wrapped around me like a shroud, sinking into my bones. As if I wasn't already drowning in my own.
The sound of flapping wings snapped me to attention. A pair of red eyes glowed in the darkness at the far end of the dungeon.
Black wings. Red eyes. My heart thundered.
Ari stepped out of the darkness, his dark wings folding against his back. My breath caught. What now? More torture? Another force-feeding? I pressed myself against the wall as he approached slowly, his boots barely making a sound on the stone floor.
"Get away from her!" one of the brothers yelled.
The bars rattled beside me—so hard I thought they might snap. Fists against iron. Bodies slamming into the cage. A child's sobs pierced through the chaos.
But I kept my eyes on Ari and clutched my chains. He was pure evil. And he was getting closer and closer.
Ari ignored them all. His gaze stayed fixed on me—prey stuck in a trap.
I refused to cower. I lifted my chin and met his red eyes.
"I have a proposition for you, time-witch."
"Don't give in to him!" Flint yelled. Or Steel.
I kept my focus on Ari. "What do you want?"
He stepped closer, lowering his voice so only I could hear. "I can help you escape from here."
I remained silent, waiting for the catch. There was always a catch with men like him. Something horrible.
