AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Thirty-Two
My brain throbbed against my skull.
I couldn’t move.
Couldn’t think.
Slumped in the corner of the cell, I stared straight ahead, unblinking. The irony wasn’t lost on me—how I’ve come full circle to the place it all began. It was funny.
And I was the so-called fabled princess?
I’d laugh if I had the energy. I’d never stood a chance. At least I wouldn’t have to play along with the king’s stupid games—or be paraded about to amuse bloodthirsty fae. It was time to meet my fate. It was finally over. Everything. All of it.
My chest tightened.
I’d never get to see Talon again or feel his soft touch. I fought back tears and hugged my legs to my chest, our last conversation replaying in my head.
“You’re no better than any of the other fae in this stars-forsaken place. I knew it was a mistake to fall for you.”
That couldn’t be our last conversation. Sure, I was upset he withheld information, but that didn’t mean I hated him. I just needed time to process it.
Stars, if I had only shut up and listened, we wouldn’t be in this situation. I banged my head into the brick wall. I was going to die, and he was going to think I believed nothing we experienced was real. When, in reality, I was the damn coward.
All my efforts would be in vain.
Sugarfoot would forever wonder where I went.
My mother would die never knowing what happened to me.
I ran my hands through my dirty, matted hair as tears leaked from my eyes, dripping onto the hay below.
The sound of metal clinked together rhythmically from somewhere deep within the dungeon. I cocked my head toward the corridor to hear it better. It almost sounded like keys attached to someone’s hip.
My heart raced. The sound grew closer and closer with each step, and I shuffled to my feet, clinging to the metal bars for support, hoping it was Talon coming to get me.
An older, stocky fae guard appeared before me instead.
I tried to hide my disappointment, but an audible whimper formed in my throat despite myself. “Where’s Talon?” I demanded, matching him stride for stride until we reached the cell door, where he inserted a long metal key.
He said nothing as he slid it open and entered my cell, his blank expression an ominous sign of what was to come.
“I’m not going anywhere until I know where he is.” I staggered backward, cursing the walls that kept me contained. My fingernails dug into the grout behind me, cutting into skin as I pressed my body as far into the wall as possible.
The fae man’s lips curled into a cruel smile as he grabbed my arm, forcing me forward and twisting it around until it was behind my back.
I thrashed in response, but his grasp on my hands only grew stronger, shoving me out of the cell. Burrowing my feet into the ground, I tried to resist his authority, but it was no use. He pushed me in front of him like I was nothing more than a slight inconvenience.
“Oh, don’t yous worries yous human filth.” His thick accent was hard to decipher. “I’lls take yous to that treacherous, nos good, loyalist bastard.”
A pit formed in my stomach as he let out a gruff laugh and jolted me forward.
I tripped, but he kicked me along, disregarding the yelp that escaped me from his rough touch. Even when Talon first escorted me through this same hallway, he wasn’t that aggressive. But that didn’t matter. The pain came in second to the fear gnawing at my chest.
Talon was in trouble, and I needed to get to him—help him.
The stocky fae guard laughed again, casting a spell that rendered my body limp, and I fell.
The periphery of my vision dimmed as he seized my ankles, pulling me forcefully to his side. My eyes blinked once, twice, before they rolled into the back of my head.
