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“The troll who dug this beautiful place.” Sofia said. “Used to feed me cinnamon cakes as a girl. She thinks she’s doing me a bleeding favor by collecting me. Her heart is in the right place, but she simply keeps forgetting to feed her prizes. Troll folk are empty in the head. That bleeding troll can’t help herself. Burrowed right into the stronghold in the trees.”
“How did she know you were there?” Ari asked.
“Bracken must’ve told her I’d been snatched since Hodag also burrowed into the palace dungeons to keep watch on her princey.” Sofia snickered, mimicking a low, raspy voice when she said the word.
“Why not burrow Bracken out, then?” I asked.
“Oh, it isn’t so simple,” Sofia said. “There are too many guards, glamour protections, and Hodag does not collect anyone whose glamour does not interest her in the moment. I’m afraid she’s too accustomed to Bracken’s glamour, so she has no motivation to snatch him. Me, however, she’s always loved watching me work. Instead of returning me to the dungeons once she found me, she took me out of nostalgia and placed me here. She also nabbed the other prisoner because she insists he has grand power.”
Sofia looked at Ari again. “Bo and Rune remain with Bracken until Signe weds the Eastern fool. If Signe is crowned the new queen of the East, then Queen Astrid’s game is over.”
“Those are Bracken’s personal guards. Signe is his younger sister,” Ari explained to us. “And . . . are Bo and Rune the only ones who stood with him?”
“There would’ve been more, but the High Queen is shrewd.” Sofia’s lip twitched. “But if you’re asking about the lovely Saga and which lot she chose, she remains with the queen.”
Ari’s jaw pulsed. “I did not ask of her. But it is no surprise she would choose the wrong side. She is captivated by those with power.”
Sofia rolled her eyes. “You and Saga pretend to know each other to the point of hatred, but I believe neither of you really knows anything.” Sofia scratched her dirty hair and started to pace. “If I can reach Bracken before the vows, then we will at least have the benefit of moon glamour on our side since the ceremony is set for the full moon.”
Ari’s eyes brightened. “Malin and Elise have not seen what the prince can do.”
“Ah.” Sofia leaned against the wall, as if the conversation were beginning to take its toll on her skeletal body. “Prince Bracken’s form quite literally wanes and waxes with the moon. Since the moon will be full on the night of the vows, he will be nearly indestructible to a blade. When the moon is but a crescent, or when the moon is hidden, he can become a mist in the wind should he desire it.”
Gods. The Southern tricks did not end.
“Then how could a prison keep him captive? The moon is not yet half full.” I asked.
“Credit my queen once again.” Sofia slumped, to the point I feared she might topple. “Queen Astrid has the ability to bind with light. We call her the queen of hellfire behind her back. Her glamour is powered by sunlight, and she can create horrific ropes of fire that no magic I’ve seen has ever been able to break.”
“And when the sun sets,” Ari interjected, “what do they use to keep Bracken contained?”
Sofia grimaced. “Horrid potions. It kept the prince in and out of consciousness. He was not lucid enough to even use his glamour. Ari, I fear they will poison him, by accident or with intent, if we do not reach him soon.”
“We’re working on it,” Ari said, irritated. “Or we were until we fell into this bleeding hole. Oh, and you should know Princess Eryka is here.”
“What?”
“She is with us,” I said. “We found her as a prisoner of the Black Palace. Perhaps you should tell the queen her new allies nearly killed her niece.”
“She is selling her daughter like a lamb going for slaughter. What would a niece do to change her mind? But it lights a hot fire within me to make them pay if they caused her harm.”
“We do have folk searching for us, so I hope we will not be trapped long,” Ari said.
For the first time, Sofia looked like she might fall into tears. “Then we would be brainless creatures not to find a way to make ourselves known.”
“Sofia,” Elise said softly. “You mentioned another prisoner.”
“Yes.” The huldra’s eyes went wide. “I almost forgot. We can’t leave him behind.”
“Who is he?”
“A sea fae of some kind. Hodag spoke of his grand ship and how she very much wanted to raid it, taking whatever magical trinkets he kept aboard. We’d better get to it before the old girl gets back and takes you lot as her treasures. Then we’ll have no hope of leaving.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO
THE MEMORY THIEF
Sofia presseda hand against the wall. Another earthy door gave way and opened to a narrow cavern.
