Bunny stared at me with wide, pitying eyes. She slowly shook her head, clutching her children tighter.
"Now that we're bound..." Ari reached into his pocket and pulled out a key. He unlocked my manacles and my arms dropped. Relief flooded through me—my shoulders screaming from being stretched for so long. I rolled them gingerly, wincing at the ache.
But the binding bracelets were still clamped around my wrists. I still couldn’t use my power.
And Ari still hadn’t told me how he planned to help us escape.
A slow, cruel smile spread across his face. "The queen sent me to retrieve you."
My blood turned cold.
No. No, no, no.
I narrowed my eyes, rage and horror warring in my chest. The bastard. He'd dangled escape in front of me like bait—and I'd swallowed it whole.
I'd walked right into his trap. I'd thought—stupidly—that Ari would free me and I'd find a way to double-cross him before he could betray us. Get the others out. Find Darius. Escape this hellhole together.
Instead, I'd handed him exactly what he wanted.
And now I was bound to him by dark magic, with no way out.
He gripped my arm. His fingers dug in hard enough to bruise. I didn't fight. What was the point?
Guards waited at the top, their faces blank and cold. No help there. No sympathy. Just more of Alanna's puppets.
Where was he taking me? Back to Alanna? To some new torture I couldn't even imagine?
One of them stepped forward. “We will escort her to the changing room.”
I glanced at Ari. He shrugged, offering nothing.
"The queen doesn't allow anyone in court who's... unpresentable," the guard said, eyeing my filthy, bloodstained clothes with obvious distaste.
It took everything I had not to slap the guard across his smug face. His queen tortured me. And now she turned her nose up at me? Didn’t want to see the evidence of what she’d done?
Coward. Hypocrite. Bitch.
The guard smirked at Ari. “You’re requested to be in court now—pet.”
Ari glared, his red eyes flashing with barely contained fury. But he bowed stiffly and left me with the guards. I could feel the rage radiating off him as he walked away.
Good. Let him suffer too.
The guards escorted me down the hallway. Men and women dressed in silks and velvets lined the corridor, their jewels glittering in the torchlight. I felt their stares like blades. Filthy. Bloodstained. A prisoner being dragged through their pristine halls. I might as well have been a rat pulled from the gutter.
I was a freak on display.
But I refused to hang my head. Let them stare. Let them see the dried blood, the torn clothes. Let them see exactly what their precious queen had done.
Didn't they realize the truth? If she could do this to me, she could just as easily turn on them.
Tapestries depicting royalty hung on the walls—kings and queens staring down at me with cold, painted eyes. Not that I knew who any of them were. I just assumed they were all as evil as Alanna.
Were there any of Grump’s family from before the Cormacs overthrew them? Or had Alanna or her father destroyed them all?
The guards turned down another hallway and stopped in front of a door at the end. One of them pushed it open.
"A servant will help you become presentable for our queen."
