“All right.” I nodded. “Let’s get you back to the room, Nellie.”
But instead of leaning into me like she’d done before, she released her hold on my shirt and stepped up beside me. She was no longer unsteady on her feet. “I feel all right now, actually. And I don’t want to miss this.”
Toryn reached out and brushed her hands. Gently, he lifted her fingers before his eyes. The tips were stained a dark red, but the claws were gone. “How’s the pain?”
“It’s there, but it’s not too bad.”
“Your choice,” he said softly. “No one would think poorly of you if you’d like to go get some rest.”
“I’m here now. I want to help.”
He smiled. “Good. Just stay behind me until we dispatch these guards.”
She rolled her eyes and pulled her hand from his. Suddenly, the claws shot right back out. Nellie didn’t even wince. “I think I’ll be all right.”
An appreciative gleam lit his eyes. “You are one of a kind, Nellie Baran.”
Fenella coughed. “Can we get on with this, for the love of the moon, the stars, the sun, and every other damn power that’s out there?Please.”
And as Toryn turned to lead us around the corner, I caught Nellie’s blush. Now was definitely not the time, but I couldn’t help myself. I’d never seen my sister react toanyonequite like this. While the others went ahead, I caught her arm and whispered into her ear. “Is there something you need to tell me?”
Nellie answered with a quick shake of her head, and I knew that was all I was going to get out of her now.
Toryn stepped around the corner, and the rest of us followed suit. The two guards had drifted closer and stood facing our direction. Both were covered in thick steel and held their swords before them, their stances firm and unyielding.
“We could hear every fucking word you said, and you’re not getting through this door,” a muffled voice came from one of the helmets. “Go back to your rooms.”
“I command you to stand down,” Toryn called out. “Or shall I repeat what I said to the others? I will take this before your queen.”
“Our queen is the one who gave us our orders,” came the reply. “We are not to let anyone near this door. Including you, Your Grace.”
“Come, now.” Toryn took a long, slow step toward the guards. “You aren’t really going to fight me, are you? And risk killing me? My mother would chop off your head and display it on a spike for all the realm to see.”
But the guards did not back down, not even when Toryn took another step closer to them. Whatever was in that room was clearly worth dying for if they were willing to fight the queen’s beloved son—if they were willing to kill him to protect its secret. My stomach twisted into knots as I looked past the guards and at the door.
It was just a normal wooden door, so unassuming that none of us would have suspected what lay beyond it if heavily armored guards had not been stationed outside. Toryn hadn’t really seemed to have any idea where to go until we’d approached the corridor and seen the guards protecting it. Frowning, I cocked my head, listening, feeling, trying to find that undercurrent ofwrongnessthat had plagued us from the moment we’d stepped foot inside this castle. It was still there, of course, but weaker. Like it was somewhere far away from where we stood.
I sucked in a breath. This was the wrong door. It was nothing but a decoy. The queen had suspected we’d go prowling the castle during the storm, and so she’d set a little trap. I appreciated the cleverness of it, even though we’d fallen for it.
Kalen stood beside me. I placed a hand on his elbow and waited for him to glance in my direction. When he did, I shook my head, hoping he’d catch my meaning. He frowned and raised a brow in question. I shook my head more emphatically, and then flicked my eyes toward where Toryn had started advancing on the guards with his spear held at the ready.
“No,” I finally hissed between my clamped teeth.
Confusion rippled across his face. For a moment, I thought he might not listen, not without an explanation. But then he lifted his gaze, cleared his throat, and called out, “Toryn. I’m feeling the wind pick up. We need to return to our rooms.”
Toryn froze in place, his entire body stiffening. Corded back muscles shifted beneath his linen tunic, and the blaze of the nearby torches flashed across his tense face as he shot a glance over his shoulder at us. Anger furrowed his brow and etched itself in the lines that bracketed his mouth, anger I understood. Since he’d arrived in this wretched place he’d thought he’d left behind, his mother—the woman who had raised him—had poked and prodded and tried her level best to provoke him. He’d done well to let it roll off his back until now, but this was his opportunity to fight back. And we wanted him to stand down.
I thought he might very well refuse to listen. After what I’d seen in this place, I wouldn’t really blame him, even if killing these guards meant losing any hope of peace between the fae kingdoms.
But Toryn was more level-headed than me. He heaved a sigh and lowered his spear. The guards shifted—clearly relieved—and their steel armor clanked.
Toryn walked back over to us. I caught sight of how his spear shook, just a little, from where he held it clamped in his fist. “Come on then. Let’s go back.”
Fenella clucked her tongue, but she didn’t argue. Neither did Caedmon, even though he grumbled. As the guards shuffled back over to the door, their steels clinking and clacking away, we retraced our steps around the corner and back the way we came. No one said a word for a long while, not even Toryn, who kept shooting questioning glances our way. Only a light wind dusted around us now and again, so he knew we’d made up an excuse to get out of that hallway.
Finally, when we’d made it halfway to our chambers, Toryn stopped and gripped Kalen’s shoulder. “What in the name of the moon was that, Kal?”
“You’ll have to ask Tessa,” Kalen drawled. Then every single one of them, including my sister, narrowed their gazes at me.
