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The fairy ran his fingers over the too-familiar stag skull mask. “How do you know I didn’t kill him?”
“Did you?”
“No.”
My eyes traveled from the fairy to the room behind him, and my confusion deepened. Where was this? Had I not just been…nowhere. It didn’t matter.
Thick cobwebs clung to every nook and cranny while sunlight filtered in through a pile of broken stones where a doorway used to be. Hints of gray sky peeked through the open ceiling, and shards of light burst through the cracks in the walls while gusts of wind whipped around me like a wild symphony.
What might have once been stately furniture had been reduced to splintered fragments. Dead leaves scattered across the cracked marble floor, mixed in with dirt and shattered glass. Some walls still boasted faded blue and gray tapestries, while others had begun to crumble away, showing a magnificent view of the mountain range in the distance.
I licked my lips, tasting sweat and a hint of wine. “Who are you?”
The fairy sat up, his self-satisfied grin widening. “Do you often threaten strangers?”
I considered that. Maybe? I wasn’t sure. “What’s your name?”
He cocked his head to the side, giving the odd impression of the fathomless eyes in the skull shifting to watch me. “I’ve told you before, Elowyn, don’t ask questions of the Fae.”
* * *
I hadno notion of how long I slept.
Consciousness eluded me, and I drifted in and out, hovering somewhere between sleeping and waking, wrapped in warmth and the scent of woods and roses surrounding me.
When finally awareness dawned, I was swathed in a cocoon of warmth and luxurious sheets. I shifted slightly, feeling my mattress softly move with me to cradle my body. My eyes opened slowly, still full of sleep, and I blinked up at the soft, bluish light of my surroundings with confusion. My heartbeat sounded softly in my ears, and a metallic taste coated my tongue.
How?
I was in the tower—the obsidian tower room that I had not seen since before the second hunt. It looked the same as I’d left it—or rather, the same as it had before it was destroyed by rebels. The black masculine furniture, the ornate carvings and silver accents, the huge windows and towering ceilings.
Everything must have been repaired. Either that or I was trapped in some elaborate dream.It would not be the first time.
I blinked several times, the sleep clearing and reality setting in. How did I get here? I couldn’t remember anything except… I jolted, alarmed, and sat up.
Wincing as my muscles pulled with a strain I wasn’t aware was there until that moment, I ran my hand through my hair and pressed it against my forehead as I looked around. There was a pile of clothing on the bedside table—the clothing I’d been wearing when we left Inbetwixt, complete with my belt and dagger placed on top. Hurriedly, I looked down at myself to find I was wearing an unfamiliar nightgown.Fuck.Fuck!
“Hello, rebel. Nice of you to rejoin the living.”
My breath caught, and my gaze darted toward the sound before hardening on the black-haired, silver-eyed Fae male lounging in the ornate armchair to the right of my bed.
Somehow, that image felt all too familiar.
“What happened?” I jerked, sitting up straighter, and bared my teeth. “What’s going on?”
Prince Scion lowered the ancient leather-bound book he’d evidently been reading and leaned forward, cocking his head at me. “How are you feeling?”
I gaped at him, unable to find words.How am I feeling?
Prince Scion usually dressed as if he were about to walk into a diplomatic reception, but today, he sat at the foot of my bed in his full set of armor. I assumed it had to be his because the breastplate fit his body as if the metal was poured molten onto his skin and allowed to harden around him. It was black and mirrored, as if it were made of obsidian rather than iron, and marred only by his house crest carved into the right shoulder. He moved slightly, and nothing creaked or rattled as it would with regular armor, again giving the impression that it was a second skin. I’d seen soldiers in the city and around the palace, but I’d never seen it look likethat. Indeed, I’d never seen Scion look more comfortable than he did right now.
He was taller and sharper in appearance than Bael, with finely carved features, pale skin, and hair like the obsidian wall behind him. Where Bael was beautiful in a way that was undeniable to anyone with eyes, Scion made you think of sex just by looking at him. You knew instinctively that it would hurt, but something about his scorching silver eyes made it difficult to care.
I had to remember to care because Prince Scion didn’t just want to hurt me; since the moment we’d met, the heir apparent to Elsewhere had made it perfectly clear that he intended for me to die and would take great pleasure in being the one to do it. We spoke infrequently and always in the form of insults or threats veiled by dangerous flirtation, but if he was here, it couldn’t be for any good reason.
“What am I doing here?” I asked, trying to keep my voice even, even as my gaze darted to the knife on the bedside table.
“You were attacked returning from Inbetwixt.”
