“If you aren’t liars, I suppose I will let her decide what other dark intentions you might have.”
I straighten my shoulders as my hope soars.
We’ve found them.
“Take us to the sisterhood, and I will heartily promise to help dethrone, kill, or otherwise imprison Lord Arion,” I say, hoping to solidify my stance further.
Thorne lets out another jarring laugh. “Very well, my friends. If you desire to inculpate your court to aid us, who am I to reject you?”
He raises his hand, and a small spark lights up the tip of his finger.
In a second, the forest around us begins to rustle and twist. Some of the trees themselves animate, and their long, fluffy branches sink down to become arms and hands. Eyes open on once unseeing bark, and their mossy green orbs study us with blank expressions.
Niht gasps, but one of the trees hones in on Ulla.
“My lady,” an ethereal voice slides through the air. “You may come first,”the dryad says.
Thorne gestures toward the trees, and Ulla casts him a sharp, mistrusting look, which he almost seems to smirk at.
She takes the branch’s hand, and Ra'Salore, Niht, and I start moving to join her.
Thorne raises his hand, and a billowing shadow hits each of us in the forehead.
Most of my strength blinks out like a light. Struggling to move, I look back at theglacialmaras, which are yanking at their tethers.
An awful, gurgling sound makes the earth beneath us shake and sink. One of the dryads picks up my limp form, and I see a face grow from the ground, like another tree. Large, glowing eyes blink open amidst leaves and branches. It opens its mouth and says something in old elvish. Something even I do not understand, though it sounds like a question.
Thorne steps forward, and the rest of my awareness fades.
Chapter 10
Moonstone
ESTELA
For several days, my life follows the same pattern. Cold, shivering nights filled with nightmares and partial memories, and then frigid mornings with the comfort woman preparing me for Rholker and his strange, little parades with me around the lumber yards.
During this time, I am reduced to a pitiful foreign creature that others sneer and gawk at—particularly when I am given a dress with a low enough neckline to show off the Fuegorra.
My move to the palace has been delayed because he still cannot touch me. When we return to the cottage each day, I ask him to take me to Mikal. He denies me, hands me a strand of hair from my brother’s head as “proof” of his continued living, and then leaves.
I braid the black hairs together, desperately wishing that I knew they were actually his, and use the empty spaces in my day to memorize information I can take back to Teo. Everything I learned will be both a gift to my new people and an apology for the sadness that has followed in my wake.
Lord Fektir is the driving force behind the court, whileRegent Uvog is the one who has been tending to some unknown business with the swamp ogres. The Six are here, though their presence mostly causes worried whispers in corners and dark rooms that I barely catch. I saw Dahlia once, waiting in one of the palace rooms. She dipped her head to me while I trembled in my chains.
There are twenty-seven families in the royal court. A majority must agree to Rholker’s coronation for him to stay in power, and at least ten families are loyal to Lord Fektir and will follow him in whatever decision he makes. This includes Regent Uvog.
The stakes are high for my sadistic captor—but even higher for me. The Six told Rholker that I would need to remain untouched for several weeks. That healing period ends on the night of the mid-winter feast.
His coronation. If he wins, then…
I try not to think of what it would feel like to be in his bed. The fractured bits of my consciousness are held together largely by ignoring my reality. Spiraling into the depths of my future if I fail is foolish.
I always have a plan. Gathering information and finding a way to save as many humans as possible—including Mikal—is the best I have right now.
Lost to my thoughts, my door opens. Like clockwork. However, only one form shuffles in, bearing a humble meal.
I look up at the comfort woman from the back of my cage, leaning against the bars.
