AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Are you sure you don’t want to use that key I gave you now? You have a way out of here any time you choose. You need only use the right gate.” Ruskin looks at me like he’s never seen me before, the distance between us yawning.
“You don’t mean that,” I say, feeling my own gaze sharpen with anger. I know what it would cost him. I’m his best hope right now, and I don’t believe he’d really sell his kingdom down the river just to prove a point. And yet?—
“Don’t I?” he says, making the image of Dad disappear with another wave of his hand. Sadness spears me at the abrupt loss.
“Wouldn’t you rather be somewhere else, far away from me and my ‘cruel’ deals? Why do you want to help me, if you’re so certain that I’m a villain?”
I stifle my answer, not wanting to speak the truth of my feelings now, in these circumstances. I settle for shaking my head. I don’t understand why he’s working so hard to push me away, but I’m done fighting him on it for now. I throw him one more, pained looked, then turn towards the stone arches, leaving him behind to brood over the consequences of his decisions.
Chapter 31
The corridors of the palace seem unusually quiet as I storm back to my room. The events of last night, our argument, seeing my dad just now—I feel like I’ve been put through a wringer, draining the trust and certainty out of me. I’m so lost in the swirl of my own thoughts and emotions, I nearly stumble over the trio of figures kneeling on the floor, hard at work scrubbing.
I recognize Kaline first, then focus on the scale of the mess they’re cleaning. A dark liquid spatters the corridor and spills up the walls, their buckets of water stained pink as they rinse their brushes.
“What happened here?” I ask, but that sick feeling returns, and even before they speak, I know what their answer will be. Their soap isn’t enough to hide the metallic tang from my nostrils.
Kaline throws me a look I can’t at first read.
“This came from your guards,” she says, her voice a strained murmur. “The prince happened to them.”
I understand then: she’s angry, but not enough to eclipse her fear. I blanch, never having seen her look at me with such an unhappy combination.
“His Highness found out they left their post yesterday evening for an hour. He was very displeased,” she says, then looks away. “They were executed.”
I look at the corridor, chilled by the scope of the mess, the raw fury of it. This wasn’t an execution, this was an explosion, Ruskin’s powerful rage obliterated the fae foolish enough to fail him. I don’t know if the guards left their post on purpose, having been bribed by our enemies, or if it was more innocent than that, and their absence was a genuine mistake. It doesn’t change the end result. My gut twists in horror at the thought of this violence, and yet I’m also aware that the hands that inflicted this death are the same hands that have held me, touched me, that I’ve let turn me inside out, in mind and body.
I flee from the sight, turning around and heading in the other direction, moving quickly as if I can outrun my thoughts. I think I pass others, but don’t make note of their faces, though I do note that my earlier observation was right: the palace really is quieter than usual. It occurs to me that people have heard of Ruskin’s outburst, that he’s dangerous today, and are steering clear of the prince and his deadly temper. The thought only increases my disgust.
“Eleanor!”
Fiona’s voice stops me short, and my knees nearly buckle as she runs up to me. She’s so welcomingly normal in the haze of strangeness I find myself in. I clutch onto her and alarm flashes across her face.
“Fiona, I’m so glad to see you,” I gasp. “How are you? How’s your back?” I immediately feel guilty that I haven’t checked on her sooner—too caught up in the whirlwind with Ruskin to remember who my friends are in this place.
“Much better, thank you,” she says, smiling at me warmly.
I feel a rush of relief that she hasn’t been anywhere near that awful scene by my quarters, that she was far away when it happened. But what if she had been nearby? What if fate had conspired to make her one of the people who’d been close to my room? Would Ruskin have interrogated her, maybe even tortured answers out of her? Would she have gotten caught in the crossfire as he ripped apart those guards? I shudder at the thought, but also feel my mind cleared by the sheer awfulness of it.
“Is everything all right?” she asks.
How could I have thought I was falling for a man who was capable of such things? Has this realm driven me insane? My own feelings betray me, connecting me to someone whose very nature is deceit.
“No, it’s not,” I answer, my eyes stinging with unshed tears. “I don’t want to be here. I want to go home. I’ve had enough.” All I want is to see Dad again, to feed him up and hold him close, and smell the fresh air of the river on him as he tells me some silly joke. Nothing about this place feels right to me, and I worry about what I’ll turn into if I stay any longer.
Fiona rubs my arms, but my pleas seem to awaken something in her. When she speaks, her tone is rushed and urgent, like she’s determined to find a way to help me.
“What about the deal with Prince Ruskin? Is he still holding you to it? Did you…you know…what we discussed?”
The true name. All this hurt and I’d quite forgotten the power I held over Ruskin—that is, the power he doesn’t hold over me.
“Yes, I got him to tell me,” I blurt. “The deal is broken.”
“Well done,” she says, and I feel the warmth of her approval as her hands tighten around my arms. “You did what I could never do. You’re free now.”
“Am I?” I ask pathetically. “Maybe magically, but I’m far from being free of him. Not unless I can get far away.”
She nods encouragingly. “Then you must. You should leave as soon as possible. Don’t linger, Eleanor, or you might lose your chance. This place is treacherous, you must know that as well as I do.”
