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I fell onto the seat when the carriage jerked forward. Siras didn’t rush. As soon as I settled, I stuck my head through the window and searched for another carriage. Instead, I spotted Irsha.

His hands were bound, with a rope attached to Niersen’s saddle. That bastard was pulling Blade along like a runaway slave.

Just when I thought I couldn’t hate Niersen more, he proved me wrong. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do about it.

The journey was long and boring. As the hours passed, my stomach began rumbling, and the carriage turned into an oven. I held out until sometime past midday, then called Siras.

‘We need to stop,’ I said, wiping the sweat from my forehead.

‘We’ll stop in the evening,’ he answered, eyes fixed on the road. ‘The Care’etavos army is nearby. We don’t want incidents occurring on our journey, do we?’ he said, and I struggled not to scream my happiness out loud.

The Dark Fae had held up their end of the bargain. That meant Rey had a chance. I had a chance. All I needed was a way to free Irsha from Niersen’s mind control and let the assassin fillet the Light Fae like a fish.

The problem was, the Care’etavos army had to find us first. My eyes fell on the cushions and the rainbow cast by the overhead hatch. A menacing grin spread across my lips.

‘How far away are they? Will you let me out of this death trap if they attack?’ I asked faking fear.

‘Far enough for us to pass unnoticed. You’ll stay in the carriage until we leave hostile territory,’ he said, kicking the horse’s side and pushing the animal to join the soldiers.

‘If you say so,’ I said.

When Siras was too far away to see me, I opened the hatch and knocked out one of the glass panels.

‘There you go, my precious,’ I muttered, focusing the sun rays on the cushion. ‘Tova will be so proud of me.’

Getting the fabric to catch fire in a jostling wagon was difficult, but I couldn’t risk using magic with Niersen around. The fae bastard could detect it and spoil my plan.

When flames finally appeared, I wanted to scream with joy. I coaxed them out, feeding the fire with pieces of my blouse until dense, dark smoke filled the wagon.

Shouts erupted outside, and the yanking at the door handle told me Siras had discovered my stunt, but smoke was already pouring through the hatch like a chimney. The flames couldn’t hurt me, but the smoke left me bent over and coughing. When the door finally opened, the Prefect dragged me out, struggling to breathe.

‘Talk to me, Roksana. What the fuck happened? Did you use magic?’ Siras asked, holding me, and I gave him my best wounded expression.

‘So now I’m setting myself on fire? That’s Tangra’s way, not mine,’ I croaked between bouts of coughing.

Something akin to guilt flashed in his eyes. ‘Fine, we’ll talk later. Can you ride a horse? We need to go.’ He glanced towards the forest as if expecting an attack, but it was too early. Even if the signal was noticed, the Care’etavos fae still needed to get here.

As I pondered how else I could delay the journey, an explosion shook the forest ahead of us, and a massive tree trunk fell across the road.

My lips spread into a smile.

Tova got my message.