I took a sip. A soft sound escaped me—half sigh, half mewl.
Her grin stretched wider. “It’s very fucking good, isn’t it?”
It was. Sweet and savory all at once. It warmed me all the way down to my belly. I took another sip, deeper this time. I didn’t even care where it came from.
Only then did Thalassa begin ladling her own. She drank fast, sipping loudly.
Dorian moaned from the other room, climbing in pitch. I half rose but she waved me down. “He’s fine.”
We ate to the sound of his suffering.
“So,” Thalassa said between slurps, “the trial requires that you reach the end of this place.”
“Yes,” I said around a mouthful. “Do you know how to get there?”
“Of course I do.”
I froze, spoon suspended midair, eyes wide on her. She went on eating, unfazed.
“How?” I whispered. “How do we get out?”
“Can’t tell you that. You’re in a trial, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes met mine, glinting with curiosity and amusement. “Now that is unexpected—how did a human end up in this shit?”
The tone of her voice was almost delighted, like this was theater. As if I were tonight’s entertainment. And maybe I was. I wanted to beg her to tell me, but I already knew how far that would get me.
I took another sip of soup. “I was kidnapped.”
“No,” she said, all astonishment. “Truly?” But something in her tone told me she wasn’t surprised at all.
“I was brought before the spiritstag. The stag paired me with him.” I flicked my gaze toward the room where Dorian writhed.
“Ah, the spiritstag.” She lifted her spoon, eyes going distant. “Yes, I remember. Been so long since I visited the grove.”
I hesitated. “How long?”
“So long ago I can’t even picture it. Carys sent me when I was barely grown.”
Young. Just like the others in this trial.
“Carys,” I said. “Queen Carys?”
“Ruthless bitch, she was. Is? Gods, I hope it’swas.”
I stared at her. “She’s been dead for at least three hundred years.”
She drew herself upright. “Is that so? Must have been a hell of a fight. We thought she would be the eternal queen.”
The eternal queen. What did that even mean in this kingdom? For the first time in my life, I longed to know more about history.
“How did she die?” Thalassa asked.
I shook my head. “A war, I think.”
She chuffed. “That’s what it would’ve taken to bring that one down. A fucking war.”
