“And what happens if I don't?”
“Do you really want to know?” He wasn’t being snarky.
Was it better to know what horrors awaited me? “Yes, I do.”
He nodded, satisfied with my answer. “You will die.”
He had warned me the previous night that this was something I had to survive, but death? After everything I went through? “If anything happens to me, take care of my donkey. You owe me that much.”
The guards stood in a row. The head one, which seemed to hover closer to Kane, looked at me with almost pity in his golden-brown gaze. His brown hair reached his shoulders, and his golden skin stood out against the stark mountain.
“It's time.” Kane nodded for me to move forward.
I couldn't see anything inside the cave. Was it a bear? Did I have to go in there and just… what was going to happen?
“Leave the robe,” Kane added.
I turned around horrified. “I'm naked under here.”
“That's the point.”
I clamped down on my jaw. I didn't want all these fae to see me naked.
“Your Majesty,” Liora said, keeping her head bowed. “The humans are not as free with themselves as we are. Please allow the court to turn their heads.”
“Very well.” He turned his back and the rest followed, even his pixies.
Liora walked beside me. “Gideon is right. Just be yourself. Everything will be fine. I promise.”
“Your Majesty,” Gideon said before Liora took my robe. “Our tradition states that one must enter just as they entered this world. Everything must be removed.”
Kane glared at Gideon but didn't reply. He walked over to me and pulled the key ring from his pants. I turned around, lifting my hair. The collar unclasped and a surge of power raced through my veins.
I sighed, the warmth of my magic returning, making me feel like myself again.
Kane leaned over my shoulder, his mouth close to my ear, his breath gliding across my skin. “If you survive, don't think your power will help you escape. There is only one way in or out and the guard and I will be waiting for your return.”
He stepped back and I glanced behind me, noticing how he clenched his jaw.
Everyone turned, giving me their backs except Liora. She nodded at me and I slipped out of the robe, using one arm to cover my breasts and the other to cover below.
I stepped forward, and just before the shadows of the cave fully enveloped me, I glanced back.
Kane turned around, his eyes widening for a moment, as if he was shocked to see me. Then his jaw tensed, and his heated gaze met mine before he glanced away, the tips of his pointed ears flushing red.
A slight brush crept into my cheeks from the way Kane had eyed me, not with disdain or anger, but longing.
Not wanting to dwell on that revelation and what it could mean, I continued into the cave.
At first, there was nothing but dirt and the crackle of dead leaves and twigs. The farther I walked, the more the single light behind me faded, leaving me to walk in complete darkness. Normally, I would be frightened, but the sensation of magic flowing through my limbs granted me a familiar comfort. I’d never realized just how much I needed to feel nature.
Soon, grass replaced the dirt, and the tiny tendrils of life surrounded me. Colored, glowing lichen covered the walls and floors, my bare feet finally getting a reprieve from the harder surface.
A joy filled me, and I wondered if my grief had been amplified because of the loss of my magic too. I’d never been cut off from it before.
Warm light shone ahead. Not light from a lantern, but daylight.
We had left before the sun rose, making it to the cave at dawn.
