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“What?” Val asked sharply. “I thought you stabbed him.”
“You heard about that?”
She grinned. “The guards are gossips. Was it not true?”
“It was a mistake,” I said as a small shot of pain went through my heart. “He’s…”
Kalen.
“Tessa,” my mother hissed. “But Morgan said—”
“Morgan isn’t trustworthy. She made a vow to Oberon to say and do whatever he commands.”
Val frowned, but she didn’t argue. Mother, on the other hand, looked bereft.
“Don’t tell me you actually trust that monster.” She gazed up at me, her eyes searching mine. “He’s the reason we’ve been stuck here with these horrible fae all these years. He trapped us here. That mist, that dangerous mist, he controls it. He is our enemy, just as much as Oberon is. You cannot forget that, Tessa, no matter what he told you.”
I looked at my mother and saw a reflection of my own self there in her eyes, angry and harsh. Her words haunted me, because they were the very same words I’d thrown into Kalen’s face when he’d shown me nothing but kindness. Well, he’d shown me grumpiness, too, and he had lied about some things, but when it had mattered—really mattered—he’d taken care of me. He’d protected me.
He’d saved my fucking life.
And he’d let me shove a blade into his chest rather than raise a hand toward me in defense.
But Mother didn’t know all that, of course. She’d never met him. She hadn’t looked into his sapphire eyes and seen the way they gleamed. Not like a sword’s murderous blade, but like the stars.
I grasped her hand. “He’s not our enemy.”
She scoffed and started to form another argument, but Nellie cut her off.
“We need to go.” My sister’s voice wobbled. “The fire is spreading.”
We all turned. Plumes of smoke raced toward us. Fire licked the walls of the corridor now, having followed the path from the Great Hall to the rest of the castle. The orange light drenched the crimson carpet and the sun-gold walls, the perfect complement to Oberon’s gaudy color scheme.
But it would all be ash soon enough. Us, too, if we did not leave this place.
Val grabbed my arm and tucked herself up against me. “I don’t want to go into the mist.”
“It’s the fire or the mist,” I said. “I’m afraid the mist is the better option right now.”
“The shadowfiends. They’ll be out there. And they’ll rip us to shreds if they find us.”
“Probably. But we’ll be safe if we can find somewhere to hole up for a while. They don’t like to go indoors.” Most of the time.
“Then we need to warn everyone in Teine,” Nellie said, her voice now steady, as if she’d gained control of her nerves. “The villagers might be running around outside, scared.”
I nodded. “Mother?”
She grimaced and glanced over her shoulder at the approaching fire. “I don’t like this, but I don’t much like the idea of being burned alive, either.”
“That settles it then. We’re going to Teine.” I led the four of us out the doors and down the curving steps that took us into the mist-drenched courtyard. The sun cut through the dense haze, basking the city in an eerie orange glow that matched the fire raging behind us. Every now and then, another scream ripped through the city, a constant reminder that danger lurked in the shadows.
Our footsteps were light on the stone street that traced a path to the gates of the city. We raced toward it, hands clasping hands, our breaths ragged, our cheeks burning pink. None of us said a word. We didn’t stop to calm our racing hearts or peek around corners. We did nothing other than run.
When we reached the dirt path that led down the hill to the tiny village of Teine, I risked a glance over my shoulder. The fire had spread. It consumed most of the castle and several of the nearby buildings. Only the Tower of Crones, quiet and dark, had been left untouched for now. It stood separate from the rest of Oberon’s castle, but it was still close enough that it was only a matter of time. Would anyone think to get the former queens out alive?
A distant sound drifted toward us on the wind, snapping my attention away from the castle. It had been a scream or something like it, and it had come from Teine.
“Tessa,” Nellie said, almost sobbing.
