“She can and she did,” he said confidently.
“But, why? How?” My heart began to pick up speed.
“Likely she realized the superiority of our world and somehow tricked my foolish brother into believing she cared for him. Love,” he said with a sneer, “is nothing more than a fool’s illusion. Someday my brother will realize that. Hopefully it’s before he finds a faestone dagger embedded in his back.”
My mind whirled. It didn’t make sense. Dawn had been trained as our champion since birth. Even if she did have affection for one of the Ethereum lords—which was almost impossible to fathom:I was experiencing firsthand how evil they were—she wouldn’t just abandon Faerie to perish under the weight of the curse. If it was in fact true that she’d married one of them, there had to be an explanation. Although at the moment I couldn’t think of anything that would make abandoning her quest, her duty to our people, acceptable.
“I just don’t believe you,” I muttered. I couldn’t. Not without proof.
“Enough of this,” he said, waving a hand in the air as if to dismiss the whole thing, not caring if I was convinced or not. “As entertaining as our time together has been, I have other matters to attend to today.”
He thought this was entertaining? He truly was warped.
Stepping away from me, he went to his tray of torture devices and picked up a needle dagger. My heartbeat started to flutter.
“What are you doing?” I assumed that at the end of this questioning, at worst he’d put me back in my cell, but apparently he had other plans. “I answered your questions,” I protested, squirming against the straps that held me in place.
“And for that I’m grateful and will make it a quick death. But I think even you can understand how I can’t let an enemy with such strong magic live. Especially an enemy who’s one goal is to take my heart.”
The breath stalled in my lungs. He was really going to kill me. And why wouldn’t he? It would be stupid to keep me alive.
Lord Stryker took a step toward me, adjusting the dagger in his hand so it was positioned over my heart.
“No, no wait,” I yelled in desperation. “I can help you.”
He narrowed his gray-blue eyes at me and goose bumps broke out on my skin.
“You can help me by dying,” he said. “And then when the next princess shows up, she can help me in the same way.”
I gasped. That was something else he’d gotten out of me during his interrogation. That if I failed in my mission, another princess of Faerie would come to Ethereum with the same goals.
I’d thought I was garnering goodwill with him at the time, but now I realized I might have just signed their death warrants along with my own.
“No, I mean I can be of use to youalive. I can use my magic for you instead of against you.”
I was bargaining with a monster, but I had no other choice. If I died now it would be another three months until the next champion arrived in Ethereum. My land would be withered by then and Lord Stryker would be ready for her. I had to do whatever I could to buy myself time to figure out how to escape, retrieve my dagger and kill this monster.
Out of desperation I pushed some of my magic into him. Just a touch of calmness mixed with acceptance to get him to believe me, that I could be an asset to him, but he realized what I was doing immediately and only got more agitated.
“Stopusing your witchcraft on me,” he yelled and held the pointed knife to my throat, pressing it in slightly so that a single drop of blood escaped.
I hissed, leaning back as far as the restraints would allow and pulled back my magic immediately. My heart was beating faster than a hummingbird’s wings, but I saw in his eyes that his anger dampened when my magic retreated.The blade hovered over my skin, yet didn’t bite into my flesh.
“I can help you discern who deserves to be in your dungeon and who doesn’t,” I said, trying to calm my heart. I had no doubt that if I fainted now he wouldn’t bother waiting until I woke to make good on his threat.
He scowled. “Everyone in my dungeon deserves to be there.”
I started to shake my head, but stopped myself because I didn’t want to accidently touch the blade. “That’s not true. The boy beside my cell, he’s innocent. He’s not a smuggler.”
The lord laughed darkly. “A likely story. Every one of the prisoners here claims innocence. You’re as naive as you look.”
“It’s true. I used my magic on him already to discern the truth.” That was a bold-faced lie. I hadn’t done anything to Eli to know if he was telling the truth, but I believed in my heart he was. Enough to stake my own life on it. “And if he’s blameless,” I continued, “how many more are trapped in this abyss as well? Do you care so little about your subjects you are content to torture the innocent?”
I saw indecision flash over his features and it gave me hope. Appealing to his mercy was a risky move because I wasn’t sure he had any. There was a very good chance this lord didn’t care who was or wasn’t innocent. He might just relish causing pain. But I felt a glimmer of hope when he hesitated.
“And I can find out who deserves to be here in his place,” I added, trying to appeal to his need for justice.
He narrowed his gaze. His striking gray-blue eyes assessed me. “How did you discern the truth? You didn’t mention that as part of your powers before.”
