AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Eris pushed the green room’s doors open for her. “This will be your room. I’ll be waiting right outside the door. If you require anything, just ask.”
Nava didn’t move. A sudden dread held her hostage. She couldn’t bring herself to step right back into the cage she’d been a prisoner in for weeks on end. “I don’t want to go in there,” she said, breathing harshly as her palms dampened. “Please take me to see Orion.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Eris said, shifting from foot to foot. He was clearly uncomfortable with what he had to tell her. “He is being tended to by the best magical healer of our kingdom. You have nothing to worry about.”
Nava tapped her worn boot against the polished floor, trying to mask the panic that twisted her stomach into tight knots. “He will heal faster if he has me by his side.”
It was common knowledge that soulmates benefited from being near each other. Which was probably why they’d brought her here, instead of to the dungeons downstairs—that was, if the king intended to imprison her again. It seemed doubtful when he had called her the future queen in front of his guards and whoever else was observing the fight outside.
“Right now, you’re tired and could use some rest.” Eris pointed at her clothes.
Nava looked down and gasped as her heart leaped. She’d been expecting to find the filth of the wet streets marking her dress or Arkimedes’s blood staining the fabric. What she hadn’t envisaged was for her previously maroon dress to have shifted to black, the color of the royals.
There it was. The real reason Eris did not whisk her away into some unknown tower in the castle to never see Arkimedes again. The citizens, guards, and workers knew of her. She hadn’t caught a lot of good luck lately, but this she would take with a smile.
“I know it’s hard to stay here,” he said, gesturing to the dark room beyond. “But you mustn’t be afraid. I was told by the king’s women that you can shapeshift into something magical—” Eris’s voice faded into a breath, but he didn’t look afraid of her. His expression turned reverent. “And that you can move through space without us being able to stop you. So why not go in and wash off? Rest. Later, you can see the prince.”
Was it true that a guard wouldn’t be able to stop her? The Zorren had cut through her in the middle of her transferring. Nava wrapped her arm across her wounded rib, feeling the ghostly pain of the demon’s claw digging into her. “So don’t stop me. Take me to see him now. I will wash off in his bathing chambers.”
“The king commanded you not to speak with anyone,” Eris said, shaking his head. “It’s not you who will get punished if you go there, madam. It will be the healer and the nurses. If you ask them questions, they will answer you. It will seal their fate.”
And just like that, her good luck vanished. The king was always one step ahead. “What about you? Will he hurt you?”
“I accepted my destiny when I offered to be your guard.”
She wouldn’t trust his words, not like she had trusted Fael. Yet it was hard to ignore how he pulled at her heartstrings.
There was no lie hiding in his expression. Still, the fae were cruel manipulators. “Why would you and the rest of the staff in the castle heed my command if the king has told you to do something different?”
“Because of his sickness. It’s why we came to get the prince back on your island. Our allegiance changes as his health worsens.”
Ah. That was why the castle felt different. “Fine,” Nava said. “But I won’t stay here for long. I’ll bathe and change, and then you can take me to him.”
Eris opened his mouth and then shut it again, standing rigidly against the door as she crossed the threshold.
A bath wasn’t a bad idea. It was one of the few luxuries she’d enjoyed while being a prisoner here last time. And she was filthy.
The flames in the fireplace burst into life as she strolled in, warming her chilled body. The fine tapestry that hung behind the four-poster bed was new and depicted a white horse with a horn growing from its head. A new rug lay beneath the bed, handwoven to perfection in beautiful patterns of turquoise shades that reminded her of the Leona Sea.
Nava turned to thank Eris—and caught a look of pity flashing over his face as their eyes met.
Then the king’s words rang through her mind. “She only gets to speak to you until I give permission otherwise.”
When Eris mentioned the healer and the nurse, he had withheld Orion’s name from the list. But the king wouldn’t allow her to speak with anyone but Eris. Not even with Arkimedes.
“Wait, Eris.” Her heart jolted as she rushed toward the door, reaching for it as a spike of magic surged through her fingertips. Her body became air, but the weight of her aching limbs held her back.
Eris slammed the door shut with such force that the glass panes of the balcony doors trembled. Nava slammed her entire body against the wooden surface that prevented her escape, trying the handle. Of course, it was locked.
They had imprisoned her in this hole, even though Arkimedes was hurting.
The brass heated under her grip, but the doorknob didn’t move. “Eris!” she shouted, banging against the door with all her strength, until pain radiated from her hand to her elbow. “Let me out this very instance.”
At first, it didn’t seem like the guard would answer, but she waited, breathing heavily. If only she could force the door to explode into a million splinters and let her out.
“Try to rest, madam,” Eris said. “It’s been a rough day. I’ll bring you breakfast in a while.”
“Fuck you!” she shouted, slamming her body into the door again, until the pain traveling from her arms to her shoulders brought tears to her eyes.
