“Days?” I asked sharply, and the storm fae guard nodded. If I didn’t know better, I’d think Tatiana had brought upon the storm herself as a way to keep us in our rooms until Owen returned.
Fenella scowled. “Mind telling me whystormfae are so afraid of storms?”
“You’re welcome to stay out here in the courtyard to find out,” Enid replied with a lethal smile.
“You joining me?” A challenge.
“Come on, Fenella,” Tessa said, hooking an arm through hers. “We don’t want to stay out in this dreary garden anyway.”
But she shot me a sad smile as she moved to the doors, and I scented the lie on her. She would have loved to stay out here for hours with the blooming flowers, elaborately shorn hedges, and archways made from vines. But underneath all the beauty was that strange, creeping sensation, like a pair of fangs that scraped along your skin, ready to dig in with a venomous bite. One that would kill you before you could take your next breath.
* * *
Enid led us back to our quarters, but we all gathered inside Tessa’s room after the storm fae vanished down the corridor. Nellie sat on the bed with her legs pulled up to her chest, while Fenella paced with a scowl. Caedmon stood with his ear to the door and a hand on the pommel of his sword—ever the dutiful guard.
Tessa vanished through a doorway that emitted an orange light. Toryn and I followed just behind her. The room was a bathing chamber, and a single floor-to-ceiling window looked out onto the city and its moss-covered rooftops. From here, the streets looked empty, and a whistling wind already kicked up dirt, discarded scraps of parchment, and small rocks that clinked against the sides of buildings. The orange glow of the sky had deepened, the horizon fading into a black that was almost as dark as the misty night itself.
Toryn moved over to a stone slab and started moving it across the window. “You don’t want to be standing in front of glass when the storm hits.”
I helped him slide the stone shutter into place and locked it with a chain. All the light blinked out, save that from the lanterns Nellie had begun to light in the bedroom. “Couldn’t we just close the bathing chamber’s door? If the glass cracks, it cracks. The stone isn’t going to stop that from happening.”
“We might be here for a while,” Toryn said in a tight voice. “Best to have access to the bathing chamber if the storm lasts for days.”
“And what is the likelihood of that?” I asked as we returned to the bedroom.
He rubbed his jaw. “With deep orange? Half of those storms are over within a few hours. The other half can last days. At least it isn’t a red storm. Those are much worse.”
With a scowl, Tessa motioned in the general direction of the sky. “We don’t have days to waste. Andromeda will be here soon, and what have we accomplished?Nothing.”
“No, not nothing,” Toryn said, surprising me with a chuckle. “You’re speaking to a rebellious royal son who never stayed in his rooms when there was a storm. Now, I don’t know where the tunnels are, exactly, but I have a few ideas.”
Fenella stopped pacing, Nellie lifted her chin from her knees, and Tessa arched a brow.
“Most fae don’t dare venture out of their quarters when there’s a storm as strong as an orange,” he continued. “So if we want to search the castle, now is the time to do it.”
Twenty-Two
Tessa
“She won’t expect us to do that?” I asked when a thunderous boom shook the castle. When the floor rumbled beneath us, a thick fear curdled in my veins. That boom sounded eerily familiar to the storm Kalen and I had endured in Itchen. That one had lasted for days, though it had been enhanced by Andromeda’s essence as a way to keep us trapped close enough for her to torment.
“She might,” Toryn admitted. “If she did, there will be a few guards about.” Wincing, he glanced at the door. “There could be one outside this room, listening to this conversation.”
“Enid?” Fenella asked, almost eagerly so. Clearly, she was still itching for a fight.
I couldn’t blame her. The storm had brought an electric energy to the air, and it pulsed against my skin, a buzzing sensation that set my teeth on edge. Combined with that darker feeling, that scraping along my back, I didn’t know how I could manage to sit still, much less sleep.
I needed to do something. Prowling through the castle seemed like an excellent way to burn off this energy, particularly if we got to fight some guards.
“Enid is the Queen’s Shadow. She’s precious to my mother,” Toryn said quietly. “Mother would not allow her in the corridors during a storm.”
“But why not?” Nellie asked. “There are no windows in the corridors.”
Toryn ran a hand along the top of his hair, longer now that we’d been traveling without access to a razor. “There are two weaknesses in the castle walls where wind can break through whenever there’s a storm as strong as an orange. No matter how hard the storm fae have tried to fix it over the years, it always breaks down. And it creates a brutal tunnel of wind in the corridors.”
Fenella dropped a heavy hand to her side. “Oh, I see. While everyone is being smart and staying safe in their rooms, we’re going to wander around in abrutaltunnel of wind.”
“We have a few hours before that starts, at least.” Toryn gave her a wolfish smile. “Of course, you’re welcome to stay in here, if you’d like. We can go without you.”
