Naveer's next words came brittle, as if recited with guidance. “It’s my duty as queen to pass judgment. Guilty as charged.”
A legal execution would provide the perfect cover for what she truly wanted—our life force, freely given through our willing participation in her games, now forfeit through her twisted justice.
The frostwilla blossom was wrenched from my hand. It floated across the room to land on Naveer’s outstretched palm.
Her eyebrows rose as she examined it. “Such a beautiful thing. How dare you pluck this rare blossom from my property? If I wasn’t already charging you for spying on my beloved court, I would have you whipped for decimating my precious garden.”
Naveer lowered her hand to the arm of her throne and a boom echoed in the big room, making everyone still. The crow spreadone wing, and Naveer's hand moved to mirror the gesture, waving toward us. “Your punishment will be death.”
Guards strode toward us. One latched onto my arm, another Lore’s. To them, this was an everyday occurrence, a necessary step in their queen’s need for justice.
I seethed, but I bit back my words, refusing to give her the satisfaction of a struggle.
Lore bellowed, his muscles straining against the magic cinching his limbs. “Fuck you, Naveer.”
“I’ve already declined, dear.” She smirked. “Please don’t debase yourself further.”
The guards dragged us from the room and down a long hall to a steel door with so many locks, it took them a few moments to release them. Despite the bindings, Lore managed to brush his fingers against mine. That tiny contact sent warmth through my entire body, reminding me I wasn’t alone in this.
Each step deeper into the castle's bowels felt like descending into our tomb. The curse would claim Lore in two days, but Naveer intended to kill us both before then. Unless we found a way out.
The door creaked open, and we descended stone steps slick with water and moss, dank air churning around. Water drizzled down the wall on my right and a glance over the drop-off on my left made my pulse seize.
We finally reached the bottom, where we were shoved along a stone corridor with barred cells on each side.
Near the end, they unlocked a cell, the door groaning as the shoved it wide.
They pushed us inside, and I barely caught myself from falling on a stone floor.
Lore crashed down onto his knees with a snarl. Thedoor clanged shut behind us, the sound of it ringing in my skull, and the guards strode back down the hall.
Like when we were trapped inside the labyrinth, our magical bindings released.
A soft scraping sound echoed from the corridor beyond our cell. Through the bars, a sleek black crow perched on a torch bracket, its eyes reflecting the guttering flame. It tilted its head, studying us with an intelligence that made my skin crawl.
The bird's beak parted in what sounded like a satisfied sigh.
We were caged, helpless, while time ticked away toward Lore's death.
All Prager needed was patience.
The crow preened, a creature savoring its victory.
Every competition, every trial, every moment we'd thought we were clever or ahead of the game, Prager had been right there. Listening. Planning. Savoring our inevitable defeat.
She fixed us with another long stare before spreading her wings and gliding into the darkness beyond the torchlight.
The worst part wasn't that Prager had outmaneuvered us. It was that she'd made us complicit in our own destruction. Every challenge we'd completed, every trial we'd survived, had fed energy to Naveer, and through her, to Prager herself. We hadn't been fighting for our lives.
We'd been powering our own execution.
Lore tugged me into his arms. “I need to feel you're real,” he whispered against my hair. “Need to know you're still mine.”
“Always yours. In this life and whatever comes after.”
“Fucking Prager,” he hissed, his head reeling back.
“She's been steps ahead the entire time. Every move we made, every victory we thought we'd earned…” My voice cracked. “We thought we controlled this game, but we were never the players, we were the pieces.”
