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A rumble shook the ground, coming from the direction of Nellie’s cell. Ruari frowned and glanced up at the ceiling. “Go. We need to get out of here.”
He didn’t wait for an answer. Without another word, he took off down the passageway toward the stairwell. I tightened my grip around the keyring and shoved back through the door, going to Nellie first. I had the cell open within seconds. Chunks of rocks crashed only a few feet away from us.
Nellie grabbed Kalen’s cloak and shoved it into my hands, following me back down the passageway. Despite the heat, I draped the cloak around my shoulders. The scent of mist surrounded me and soothed away the frayed edges of my nerves.
When we reached Mother and Val, they were both on their feet. My mother’s face was lined with worry, and a watery film coated her familiar brown eyes. She wore a simple frock I knew well, though dirt stained the soft material. Dirt and blood. Her hand clutched her leg as she stumbled toward the bars.
My eyes went to Val as I unlocked the door with shaking hands. Her gaze betrayed none of her emotions, not like Mother’s did, but I could tell, just by the bald spot above her ear, that she’d spent the past few weeks scared out of her mind.
The hinges creaked as I yanked open the door. For a moment, the four of us did nothing but stand there, as if our collective trauma had become like twisted vines trapping our feet to the floor. It was as if my mind couldn’t comprehend it. I’d fought so hard to get back to them. With every step closer I’d made, they’d felt further and further away, even when they’d just been down the dungeon corridor.
I’d truly believed that I’d never see them again. Not alive, at least.
My mother was the first to crack.
“Oh, my loves.” Her shaking voice was papery thin as she stumbled toward us. She reached Nellie first and clung to her neck, reaching out for me to join them. I folded my body into their embrace and grabbed Val’s arm. She closed her eyes, leaned in. And we all stood there like that, holding on to each for dear life, sobbing.
Until the floor shook again.
I pulled back and wiped the tears from my face. “We need to go. The castle is burning. And maybe even falling down.”
My mother cast a frantic look down the length of the passageway. “What about the guards? Won’t they try to stop us?”
“They’re busy. I doubt they’ll pay much attention to us.”
Together, we rushed down the corridor. Val ran in step beside me. She noticed the cloak I wore, but she didn’t comment on it.
“Where are we going to go?” she asked, her breath huffing.
“For now, we’ll go to Teine.”
“Won’t Oberon look for us there?”
“I don’t think Oberon is going to be a problem right now.”
His son might be, though. He’d told us to leave this place, and we would. But I didn’t want to take my family across the bridge and out into the mists. It was too dangerous.
When we reached the castle’s ground floor, smoke billowed toward us from the direction of the Great Hall. The corridors were empty, and the front doors had been thrown open in the fae’s haste to escape. I covered my nose with the edge of the cloak and coughed, my eyes watering.
Outside, smoke coated everything, or at least we thought it was smoke. As we drew nearer, the thick fog that pushed through Albyria’s streets became achingly familiar. I didn’t know how I could tell the difference. Maybe it was the scent of it or the way the particles floated in the light breeze. Or maybe it was just how it felt likehim.
“That’s not smoke,” I whispered. “That’s mist.”
As if to confirm my suspicion, a scream rent the air. My stomach turned. That scream could mean anything, of course. The fae might be turning on each other. They’d be breaking into factions now to fight for the throne. With all the mist and smoke and fire, some of the more undesirables of the city might start looting.
There were many reasons to scream.
But where there were mists, there were monsters. A fingernail of dread scraped down my spine.
Nellie stepped up beside me and gazed out the castle’s open doors. “The sun is still in the sky. How’s that possible? Shouldn’t it be night now that the mists are here?”
“I don’t know.”
Mother clutched at the fabric near her heart. “He’s dead. Oberon’s dead. The barrier is gone.”
“The Mist King will come for us all,” Val breathed.
“Yes, about that. There’s nothing to fear if he comes. He’s my friend.”If he’s still alive.
