9
MAX
Groaning, I roll over. My nose crushes into a scratchy blanket, the scent of mold and earth strong.
The Black Palace doesn’t smell like this.
Bolting upright, the world spins and I moan, grabbing my skull.
I feel like I drank too much wine. But the events flash back to me—and unfortunately, not enough wine can drown out everything.
Coughing, I look up at the Fae leaning against the cell bars.
Cell. Iron.Dungeon.
“Why is it,” Reid asks, arms hanging over the metal. Thankfully, his tunic covers his skin. “That whenever you or my brother are in trouble, or more better accurate,starttrouble, I end up in the dungeon?”
“Just lucky I guess.” Rubbing my eye, I take in the surroundings. The dungeon is cold, dank, and smells like old rotting moss. But the walls are glided in gold.Odd. “You’re alive.”
He touches his neck, the smallest red scratch sitting there. “Thanks to you. I’ll let this imprisonment go because you kept me from meetingSeti.”
“I appreciate your generosity.” Wobbling over to his side, I force his head up. It’s true—he’s whole.
Amazing. I didn’t think I could do that.
My powers really are growing.
“How do you feel?”
“Other than pissed we’re stuck in a Godsdamn cell?” He kicks the bars for good measure. “Fan-fucking-tastic.”
“How long have we been here?” He hands me a cup and I greedily drink the water, taking care to notice it’s not laced. It burns my throat—I’ve healed much since the beast’s attack, but I still ache.
“Days,” he mutters. Pointing to the small cell window overhead, I blink against the violent sunlight. “The full moon is in two days. If Fenrir and Mal can’t convince Aoife of who we are, we risk everything.”
He doesn’t say it, but I feel it. We’re in here because of me.
I rushed leaving the Woodland. Anxiety, fear, and need, all compelled me to move. I had to get to Aoife—and didn’t believe the rumors of her mistrustful nature.
My mistake. I have a terrible habit of running into trouble. Now that I’m a queen, I can’t keep doing that.
“Have they arrived?”
He gives me a look. “No one has come, Max. They’ve left us here to scream into the void.”
Leaning against the bars, I cross my arms. “What happened after I passed out?”
He exhales sharply. “Aoife had us taken. Some of the guards were ready to fight, but with both of us in poor condition, they didn’t want to risk us harm. Thankfully, you killed enough guards that slaughtering us wasn’t going to happen.” At my worried glance, he placates, “Easy. The soldiers are in a different part of the dungeon. She didn’t trust them to help us.” He scoffs. “She took our weapons too. I could’ve used them to pick the lock.”
“But she didn’t kill us?” She alone could have. Aoife is strong with her magic. A kind I’ve never seen before.
“I think she was intrigued by what you said.”
I touch the necklace.She didn’t want to risk killing Kaden.
“Was Kaden there?” I ask, rubbing the bridge of my nose. My headabsolutely kills. It’s been so long since I’ve had this kind of pain, I almost forgot it existed. I need to get better at controlling my magic—I can’t just let it go whenever it wants. “I remember him being there.”
Reid rolls his shoulders, lifting his head, eyes closed.
