Page 138

The Hollow Crown

“She’s gone,” Dru said. She usually hated it when people said things that were obvious, but she couldn’t help herself. “But I don’t—”

“Perhaps Janus came back to get her,” said Ash. “He hates to be away from her. Whatever terrible ritual he is planning, he wants her there to see it. He wishes her to be impressed.”

“Yeah, that’s a great way to impress someone,” said Dru. She was bitterly disappointed, and not just that—she was terrified for Clary. “Stick her in a cage and kidnap all her friends.”

“It’s possible she’s escaped,” Ash said, checking the door of the cage. It was unlocked, hanging a little bit open. “Although I didn’t think she’d leave without you.”

“We don’t know what happened,” Dru said, defensively. “Maybe something came up—a single chance to escape, or to get a message out—and she had to take it.”

“It matters not.” Ash caught hold of Dru’s sleeve. “We cannot remain here, we cannot wait for her when she may never return. Come with me.”

He kept hold of her as they hurried out of the room and into the corridor. She half wondered if he meant to return to his own chamber, but they passed it at a clip, Dru keeping her head down, her eyes on the root-twisted ground.

“Don’t do that,” Ash muttered. “Keep your hood on, but look up. You must be thought a gentry lady being escorted by the Prince, not a servant hoping to go unseen.”

“Fine.” Dru raised her head and shot him a look. “But where are we going? Shouldn’t we head back to our rooms and—”

“And do what?” said Ash. “If Janus took Clary, he will come back soon enough to get me. And then it will be too late for escaping.”

“But if we don’t know where we’re going—” They were moving so fast now that Dru nearly tripped over a root.

“I have a guess,” Ash said. “I’ve followed Janus before, never far, but given the direction he was going…”

They passed a group of faeries, whispering and giggling, all of whom paused to bow to Ash as he went by. None seemed to notice Dru, though one called back, “Tired of nixies, Your Highness?” and cackled.

Nixies? Dru couldn’t help but think of Rathna, but surely not? She glanced at Ash. He looked much angrier than she would have thought mild teasing would make him. Perhaps he was just angry at the entire situation and not the taunt. They were already heading down, the tunnels beginning to slope, the air to cool. It was only when Dru saw the torchlights, glimmering blue and green, that she realized where they were headed.

Ash went ahead of her, ducking under a narrow archway, into the chamber beyond, the tunnel Rathna had taken Dru to before the revel. The smell of water was strong, and the river that poured from a dark tunnel in the far wall was very low, almost a creek running shallow over mossy rocks.

“We can’t take a boat with the river like this,” Dru protested, joining Ash on the riverbank. There were only a few boats, beached on the opposite side of the water, and the river had drawn back enough that Dru could see that the bank was not made of sand but of polished sea glass and semiprecious stones, glittering in jewel colors under the light of the stalactites.

“We’re not going to,” Ash said. “If we go into the cave here, we’ll find a system that isn’t linked with the rest of the Seelie Court—” He broke off, his face turning white.

Dru spun around to see what he was staring at.

The Queen had appeared on the riverbank, not far away, as if she had simply willed herself there between one blink and the next. In the look on her face, there was something viciously feral, something that made her look more like the monstrous creatures whose heads decorated the Huntsman’s workroom than the mannered gentry faerie she played at being.

This seemed far more the Queen’s natural form, Dru thought, and felt her blood turn to ice.

—

Kit had backed up under an awning, in a bid to stay out of the worst of the rain. There was a buzzing in his ears, a numbness in his hands. He was more anxious now than he had been facing the dullahans. If Ty was angry at him, there was no spell he could undo to make it go away.

When Ty joined him under the awning, Kit sensed something—not just Ty’s closeness, which was always a sort of pleasurable shock, but something else. The High Crown was nearby; Ty must have it on him. Kit hated that he could tell.

Ty stopped a few inches from Kit, close enough to touch him, although Kit didn’t try. “I heard you with Magnus,” Ty said, looking more confused than angry. “Why did you ask him about getting rid of Livvy?”

“I didn’t—” The buzzing in Kit’s ears had turned into a sharp whining noise. “I don’t want to get rid of her. But I need to find a way to make your bond with her less dangerous.”

Ty took a step back. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That heron pendant was supposed to protect you,” Kit said, “against the weight of being bound to the dead. But in the time I’ve been with you, I’ve been watching you get sicker and paler and weaker. Every time Livvy does something that needs to draw on your strength, like holding your witchlight during the fight, it drains you. And the Energy runes aren’t enough to bring your strength back—”

“If Livvy hadn’t held the witchlight when we were fighting the basilisk, it would have killed us—”

“That’s not the point, Ty. I’m afraid of what will happen. To you, if you and Livvy go on like this.”