“Alleria.” She sits on the edge of the bed, and takes my hands. Her fingers are warm against my frozen skin. “You’re shaking. You’re ice-cold. What did you dream about?”
I close my eyes. I can still see Cowen’s face. I can still smell the burning.
I shake my head, tears spilling down my cheeks. She doesn’t push, just lies down beside me and holds me close.
It was just a nightmare. That’s all. A nightmare born from everything I saw at the Dell and everything I experienced. My mind is twisting it into something worse.
It was just a nightmare.
EIGHTEEN
CAIRN
Did you enjoy the show,Moirthalen?
I meant it as mockery. A reminder of what I am, what she helped release by coming here with her bow and her birthday excitement. But now something colder fills my veins.
She saw everything that happened.She has access to my mind.
The bond I forced onto her when I ingested her blood and then mixed mine with hers should only work one way. Should onlyflowin one direction, my awareness sliding into hers. Yet it carried her straight into my mind.
If she can see through my eyes, she can see where I am. What I’m planning … and what I’ve done.
If she tells anyone?—
My jaw locks so hard my teeth ache.
She won’t. She can’t. She has no understanding about blood and magic or what I did. But humans are clever in their stupidity, and someone else might understand. This is a complication I don’t need. If she mentions it to anyone, someone might believe her …useher.
A princess who can spy on the escaped fae. What a weaponthat would make.
I file it away underproblems I can’t solve tonight, and step outside.
The courtyard is full of my people. I should be celebrating, exultant over the fact they’re free. Instead, I’m cataloging damage.
They’re scattered across the open space. A male near the well has his hands pressed flat to the rim, his head bowed so low his forehead nearly touches the stone. A female by the fence keeps reaching out to touch the wood, then pulling back, then reaching again. She’s caught in a loop she can’t seem to break. Another is pacing in tight circles, walking the dimensions of the cage that held her for decades.
Seventy-nine of them. It took most of the night. Therin first, then Vel. Once they were free, we hunted down the other guards and bled them dry to free as many fae as we could before their hearts gave out. Once enough of our people were on their feet, I left Therin in charge and went to make sure no one woke to raise the alarm.
A whisper of magic kept all the humans asleep in their beds. None of them felt the blade across their throats.
All but two, anyway.
The mage I couldn’t find. His quarters were empty when I got there, his bed still warm, and I cursed myself for not dealing with him first. He would have felt every collar break, and known exactly what it meant. By the time I reached his door, he’d already run.
He’s out there somewhere, carrying news of what happened here. And I’m standing in a courtyard full of fae who can barely remember their own names. I shove the thought of the mage aside. It joins Alleria on the pile of things I can’t fix right now.
Before the Sealing, we were dangerous, terrifying. Now we’re this.
The humans would laugh if they could see us, and take noteson what worked best. The irony would be amusing if it weren’t so fucking tragic.
I scan the courtyard, trying to see past the damage to who they used to be. Some of them might find their way back if we give them time. Others won’t. The emptiness inside them is too far gone to be fixed. Whatever the humans did to them, there’s nothing left to save.
A female sits apart from the others on a patch of open ground. Her face is tilted toward the sky, and tears run down her cheeks in steady silvery tracks.
Serath.
I’d know that profile anywhere, even wasted to bone and sinew. There’s no sign of the bright, fierce joy she always carried. No sound of the melody I heard her humming through the bond yesterday.
