Ignoring his assurances, I tighten my hold on the princess. “How many people know about me?” I growl as Lutyn starts to back out of her quarters.
We follow him out.
“Us”—she gestures to Lutyn and then back to herself—“the Crescents, and possibly some of the guards who were sent out to look for you when you first went missing.”
“Great,” I grumble as I cautiously advance. “How are you the Moon if no one listens to you?” I snap at her acerbically.
“I’ve been asking myself that same question for a while now,” she admits as we step forward, claiming the ground that Lutyn and the armored guards cede as they continue to back up.
My teeth and jaw are clenched hard against the pain, and each foot forward feels as though I’m grabbing the arrow and jostling it around. Neith is faring worse. She’s panting as though her lungs won’t expand enough to pull in a proper breath. Sweat beads on her brow, and it’s starting to drip down the back of her neck.
If she’s been feeling everything I have since I was taken, she should know that this is nothing.
“They never taught you how to cope with the pain?” I ask as we reach the part of the corridor that I passed earlier, which has two hallways that split off from this one.
There’s a half a dozen guards who are backing away from me and their Moon, just as I’ve ordered them to, but I didn’t get a chance to count how many were sent to protect Neith in the first place. The hallways that split off would be the perfect place to try to ambush me. Thankfully, Lutyn is between us and the guards, and according to him, he’s an ally.
“Lutyn,” I call out, and his wary green gaze snaps to me. “Make sure they’re clear,” I command, jutting my chin in the direction of hallways up ahead.
He nods and moves to check them, still cradling his arm as he goes. I almost feel bad for stabbing him…almost. The guards who have now retreated to the opposite end of the narrow corridor watch me with pure loathing. Clearly, they have no idea what’s going on here, or maybe they do. I’m just the sacrifice after all—how dare I threaten their Moon.
Lutyn crosses in front of us, moving from one offshoot to the other. I realize that he doesn’t look at me the way the guards do. He studies me and Neith as though we’ve featured in all his favorite childhood stories and now here we are in the flesh. There’s a hint of awe mixed in with the heaps of determination floating in his green eyes. It makes me wonder what they’ve talked about, and if he and the princess are telling the truth when she says she won’t hurt me.
“No,” Neith mumbles, and at first I think she’s telling Lutyn not to do as he was told, but then I realize she’s answering my question. “When they made the connection that it was your pain I was feeling, they figured out how to numb the link between us. I haven’t felt you since then.”
I scoff, the sound soaked in resentment. “Wouldn’t want theirMoonto suffer, would they?”
“If it makes you feel better, I’m suffering plenty now,” she mutters back.
“Why is that?” I press, suddenly perplexed. “If you couldn’t feel me before, how can you now?”
A small shudder moves through her as we wait for Lutyn to finish checking for any traps. Warmth trickles down my calf, and I can feel blood start to drip inside my boot.
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because we’re together? Like I said, no one has been able to explain how this connection works.”
“The hallways are empty,” Lutyn declares, and I eye him suspiciously for a beat.
“I’ll slit her throat without a second thought if you’re lying,” I warn, and he winces, his eyes darting to the dagger as though he canwillit from doing any damage.
An image of Verus using his thura to do exactly that flashes in my mind, and I tighten my grip on my blade. Neith shakes her head almost imperceptibly, and Lutyn relaxes. He should know I’m bluffing anyway. If what Neith says is true, I can’t slit her throat even if I want to. It will only kill me to keep her alive, but I don’t point that out.
“I’m telling you the truth, the way is clear,” he assures me. He pushes his long blond hair over his shoulder as though it’s a nervous habit. “They won’t risk the Moon for anything. There are many loyal Igeeyin who will do exactly as you say as long as you don’t hurt her.”
Oddly, his words sound more like guidance than appeasement. I cant my head as I study him and then Neith. It’s obvious they care about each other and that they’re up to something, but I don’t know what. Alarmed voices reach us from the floor below, and I realize that the booming cadence of the warning drums has stopped. Their echo still pounds in my skull, but I try to listen past that to the alarmed cries and the sound of bodies running around in preparation for an attack.
The corridor ends in a wide set of stairs to the left and the guards have already started to slowly back down them. Their eyes are intense and focused, but they don’t hesitate to give me the space my blade against their princess’s neck demands. These stairs aren’t the ones Beva brought me up, and I realize I’m turned around, not that it matters. The guards probably think they’re herding me somehow. Leading a desperate fae right where they want her. But I’m not trying to escape. I’m trying to make myself easier for the Scorpions to find.
The grand flight of steps descends to a large foyer. It’s buzzing with activity and barked commands, but it all grinds to a halt when the fae below notice the retreating guards.
Gasps and shocked cries ring out when Neith and I come into view. Hushed orders are spit out, and a few armored fae go scampering off. I suspect it’s to collect whoever is in charge here, because as much as they treasure their Moon and what Neith represents, she’s obviously not the one in control here. She’s a figurehead, a pawn in someone else’s grab for the realms, and I’m dying to discover exactly who that is.
I vigilantly descend the stairs, angling Neith and myself until our backs are to the rail that butts up against a stone wall. I scan my surroundings, steadily watching for anyone who might try to sneak closer both from below and from the floor above. The collection of onlookers in the foyer starts to back up as the guards spill down to blend with them. I spot the perfect place to take a stand as Neith and I step closer to the ground.
No one tries to stop us. No one says a word. They watch with horror and tears in their eyes, gasps of confusion and shock peppering the night as they take us in. I don’t know how many of them see past the threat to their princess and take in the similarities between us, but enough fae notice that an astounded murmur starts to move through the small crowd.
I stalk toward the spot that covers my back with a wall. I instruct Lutyn to extinguish the fairy light sconces behind me. He looks confused by the request, but he listens, not even trying to move against me when he has the opportunity and the advantage of being outside of my line of sight. When the sconces are dark, he stops and stands within arm’s reach of Neith but not close enough to pose a threat to me.
Definitely up to something.
