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Chapter16
The tension from the thinly veiled insinuation shot through me and I froze, arguably at the worst possible time, since blowing off her comment would have been the smarter thing to do here.
I knew hesitating in a critical situation was the worst choice. I’d learned it the hard way fending for myself my entire life. And yet here I was, frozen in place as thoughts alluded me at the sound of Aleita’s statement.
A pause or hesitation would have been all Aleita would need to confirm something wasn’t the norm if a prince was kissing me, and I gave her a whole span of seconds of silence.
Then again, my inner monologue argued, it was a peck. A friendship. And truly, there hadn’t been anything else even remotely romantic that had happened between us. Not really. After all, what were stolen glances?
“Why?” I asked. It was probably the most idiotic thing I could have said at the moment.
She snorted. “If the prince fancies his feeder, at least you know you’ll be spared.”
“He doesn’t—”
I couldn’t even respond to Aleita’s comment, or shut her down in the hopes of not having her breathe a word of the encounter to anyone. Because before I could continue, a loud shout tore through the quiet halls outside of our cell.
“Unhand me!” a voice shouted. Aleita and I looked at each other with the same wide-eyed expression.
Moments later a few of the royal guards came into view carrying more servants. They threw two women into the cell with us, both appearing uninjured and fiery mad. At least they weren’t weak and beaten.
“Mary!” Aleita ran over to one of the women and they embraced. “Did they hurt you?” she asked, leaning away and looking her friend over.
I tentatively smiled at the other woman, who just looked down at the ground nervously.
“They didn’t do anything but yank me from the jail and start parading me down these secret passageways. Did you know they were here?” Mary asked Aleita, who fervently shook her head.
“Any news?” I asked.
Mary looked over at me and then back to Aleita. “There’s more people than they know what to do with being held now. Probably why we’re being transferred down to the depths of the palace.”
“I’m Cora,” I said, holding out my hand to the woman who hadn’t uttered a word yet.
“Lisa,” the woman answered as she took my hand in hers.
I patted the top of her hand, trying to figure out how to get her to talk a little so I could start gathering information of any kind. “Where do you work in the palace, Lisa?” I asked.
“I’m part of the kitchen staff with Mary,” she nodded over at the other woman. I wouldn’t have guessed they’d known each other.
Aleita put her hands around Mary’s shoulders. “I still would have been in the kitchen myself had Mary not recommended me for promotion.”
“I never asked where you worked, Aleita.”
“I’m a runner,” she responded. She was obviously proud of herself.
I was sure it was a great role given her response, even though I had absolutely zero idea of what that meant. It was a smack-in-the-face reminder that I had a lot to learn. If I made it out of here, I’d make it my mission to study Faerie and learn about everything I could. I’d be damned if I got caught again in a circumstance where I didn’t know the basics. Any of it could save me, and I was not as prepared as I should have been.
Aleita and Mary began jabbering away about what was happening inside the palace, and lucky for me none of it included the prince and what she’d witnessed between us. At least not yet.
Our foursome didn’t last long; within a few hours there were fifteen of us stuffed into the cell. The space wasn’t small by any means, but depending on how many more people the guards decided to herd in here like cattle, eventually it would start to feel claustrophobic.
A Brooklyn accent, arguing and causing a stir, pulled my attention to just outside the cell door where another round of servants were being discarded into Unseelie’s newest hotspot.
“Nicole!” I shouted louder than I intended to.
Nicole jerked her head in my direction and relief washed over her face. “Cora!” She ran to me and hugged me. “Girl, I thought you might be dead.”
I laughed, though I wasn’t sure why. It was a weird sort of reaction with everything going on, but having a familiar face here with me changed everything. “Can’t take me down that easily, you should know that.”
