“Are you okay, Rooke? Don’t worry, I’m here to get you out.”
I raise an eyebrow at her and gesture around the room. “There is no getting me out, Princess, not without facing your cousins for treason, and I'm not about to let you do that.”
She scoffs at me, pulling a key from the many folds of her dress, and Reed finally steps forward to clasp her arm gently and grudgingly, as though he is cursing the Fates themselves for forcing this upon him, but he does it nonetheless. “The witch is right. It's treason to go against Prince Soren’s command. This isn't a game.”
She stares him down with a look that could set fire to stone. “I’m well aware of what I’m doing, and there isn't going tobea Prince Soren to take the throne at this rate. The witches have taken the outer wall already, blown a giant hole in it, and hundreds of them have spilled into the village. The people have been moved inside the inner wall, thanks to Soren’s forethought, but it’s only a matter of time before they get through that, too.”
Reed curses viciously again, and Airlie steps up to the iron bars. She flinches as her fingers take the key without the protective gloves, and there’s a sizzling sound as the metal burns her skin, but she fits it into place with nothing more than a wince. She unlocks the door and pushes at the bars until they give, sliding open with ease.
I don't move from my seat on the ground, and she stands in the doorframe with her hands on her hips, the baby squirming on her chest in discomfort at being so close to the iron. For a moment, she ignores his protests and simply stares down at me. “You promised you’d protect us if the witches came to Yregar. YoupromisedI wouldn't have to lift a sword to defend my son, and I’m here to call in that oath.”
I scoff and glance away, staring at the etchings on the stone around me as I avoid looking at the fierce mother who broke the curse through her determination and belief.
“Even if I wanted to help you, I can’t. I gave my power to the earth for the chance of a spring harvest. I’m as useless as any other,” I say, my tone dismissive, but the princess is not one to accept the answerno.
Airlie reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small dagger, shooting a glare at Reed when he mutters furious protests at her. “I guessed as much. Tyton has been lagging, and you both gave your power to the earth, but what you gave can be returned. You said so yourself—it’s a never-ending renewal of sacrifice.”
She steps into the cell with me, confident and without hesitation over the uneven stones, and holds out the dagger. I have my own stored away, but whether she knows about it or not, I can’t tell. It doesn’t matter—a sacrifice isn’t an option right now.
The corner of her lips quirk upwards, a shadow of a smile there, but her face is set with a furious determination. “If nothing else, imagine how pissed off Soren is going to be when he's forced to admit he was wrong. That’s the only thing that stopped me from tearing a new hole in my cousin’s throat to breathe through as he whined and simpered in thatstupidmeeting.”
Reed looks not only horrified but shocked by her words, gaping as though he's never seen the princess before, but none of this shocks me. Loyalty does not mean following blindly, not to all, and Princess Airlie has always been fiercer than most. She knows her mind—no one will change it.
Another vibration shudders through the earth, and both high fae cringe. The baby begins to cry in earnest from the safety of the sling. I take the dagger from Airlie, and she shifts him into her arms, soothing him through the sound of the attacks and the war that rages above us.
Reed finally comes to terms with his unwitting role as an accomplice in this mess of treasonous actions. “The girl in the forest, the one that Prince Tyton connected with while he was there…the little one who was scared of the wraiths and was killed by Kharl's forces. She was your sister, wasn’t she?”
Airlie glances at me, looking surprised by this information, and I turn away from them both, furious that the high fae continue to speak of my dead so flippantly, but he continues, “You said that's why you’d never join the witches, no matter what else happened. Prince Soren might not have believed you, but I did, and I still do. Whatever help you can give us now, it’ll spurn Kharl directly. He's out there,right now, trying to take Yregar from us. He’s taken the fae door, and hundreds of his troops arrive by the minute. If they breach the inner wall, we all die, and Kharl gets away with our deaths and your sister’s too.”
My gaze snaps to meet his, my fingers tightening around the handle of the dagger, and a deadly calm settles over my bones. “Kharl Balzog is here now? He came with the army?”
Airlie nods. “That's how they got through the gates. His magic is stronger than that of any of the raving masses they've faced before. We were prepared to face a thousand of the witches alone, but with him at the forefront and the fae door acting like a bridge to the Witch Ward, Prince Soren is outmatched. He can't get close enough to kill the witch.”
I drag the dagger up the length of my arm, my skin splitting open as the steel bites deep into my flesh, far more than a simple opening of a vein.
I offer a sacrifice the earth hasn’t seen in generations.
Airlie scrambles toward me, a protest on her lips, until the white light from the earth below begins to surround me and fill me, the earth giving and pouring into my very soul as it thanks me for my sacrifice. I spill enough blood to kill a less powerful witch, but I let it run down my fingers and into the earth without hesitation. My heart pumps faster with the pain, and the crimson stream pours out of me, flowing until my vision begins to white out, too much too soon for my body to sustain, but still I give andgiveto the earth, and it accepts it all gladly.
It takes until there is nothing left of me, nothing left as I’m transformed into an empty vessel, everything pouring out of me and into it and so, when the earth returns my power to me, there’s a cavernous void within me to accept it, the earth’s magic filling me until I’m burning with the true power it wields. I take as ravenously as it has taken from me until every inch of my body and mind is nothing but vengeance and raw power.
The high fae cowering within the castle walls feel it. The witches, raving and streaming into the empty streets of Yregar’s village, feel it. The trees of the Ravenswyrd feel it, singing their mournful song to call me home.
The Goblin King, sitting in his own kingdom four days' ride from the battle beginning here at Yregar, feels it too.
* * *
When I open my eyes and find Airlie and Reed both staring back at me, their eyes mirror images of shock. I ignore them both, no time to explain the power of the earth or the magnitude of the sacrifice I gave for the power burning within me now.
“Reed, take Princess Airlie up to her rooms and bar the doors. Don’t let anyone in until the siege is over.”
He blinks rapidly, coming back to himself, and his mouth snaps shut. He steps in front of the princess as he gently nudges her back out of the cell. “You can't just go up there—Prince Soren will assume you’re escaping to be with the witches, and he’ll kill you without stopping to hear you out. That's why they put you in the cell in the first place.”
I stare at him for a moment before I move back to Princess Airlie, repeating my instructions, “Go to your rooms and stay there. Barricade the door, and don’t open it unless it’s to a member of your family.”
My words fall around us uselessly as she shakes her head as well. “Reed isn't being dramatic, that’s exactly what they're going to do. We need to get you out of the dungeon and onto the inner wall without bumping into any of them. I don't want you wasting any of that power knocking our own people out. Are you going to be able to use the power against Kharl? How strong are you right now?”
Stronger than any of them have any ability to conceive of, but Reed sputters and waves a hand in my face. “She's glowing like a fucking star right now—I'm pretty sure she can handle this fight! She doesn't have to go out there and face Kharl all on her own anyway, she just needs to let him know we have magic on our side as well. If the armies stop coming through the fae door, then we might have a chance.”
