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THE OBSIDIAN PALACE, THE CITY OF EVERLAST
For the second time in so many days, I spun through the darkness, wild and disoriented.
This time, when I felt the world start to fall away, I had some idea of what was to come, though I was not sure that improved the experience. Which was better? To jump from a cliff or be pushed?
The only real thing to me for the brief moments of darkness was my churning stomach and Prince Scion’s large arm holding my waist before my feet slammed into hard ground, first one and then the other. It was as if I’d taken a running start and leapt too far off a slight ledge or missed a step walking up stairs.
I wavered, wobbled, and tipped forward as the world seemed to crumble beneath me. My stomach lurched, positive it was left behind, and when I opened my eyes, my head swum. Scion let me go, and my knees crashed into soft earth.
“Breathe, rebel,” came Scion’s voice from somewhere to my right.
I opened my mouth to snap at him. No doubt his next words would be something biting, anyway—some mocking about how I was too weak and human to travel like he could. “I—”
Nothing else emerged. Nothing verbal, at least.
My stomach churned in protest, and my skin turned clammy, my throat tightening and nausea making the earth spin. My back arched, and I promptly vomited what little was in my stomach onto the ground before me. Water and bile climbed up my throat, and I coughed, doubling over for what felt like a very long time.
“Give it a moment. I imagine it’s a strange feeling if you’re not accustomed to traveling this way.”
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and craned my neck to glare daggers at the prince. “Are you mocking me?”
Scion leaned against a tree, watching me with only mild interest. “No.”
He had better not be, as this was his damned fault, the miserable bastard. Coughing one final time, I finally focused on where he’d taken us. My eyes widened again, this time from shock.
We stood in the forest surrounded by dense, swampy wetland with moss and vines hanging from the overhung trees. Now that I was paying attention, I could hear the distant sounds of insects and birds and see the faint hint of a weak, setting sun peaking the branches overhead. “Where are we?”
“Inbetwixt.” He shoved away from the tree with the heel of his boot and gave me a condescending look. “More specifically, this is Cutthroat. It’s the northern district of the city. The gate is just up there.”
Ice filled my veins, and my mouth went impossibly dry as I stared at him in incredulous disbelief. “You…you—” I spluttered and broke off, unable to think of something bad enough to call him. There were no words to express my horror. “You…fuckingFae.”
“Is that supposed to be insulting?” He stared down at me, an eyebrow raised. “Keep trying, rebel. I’m sure one of these days, you’ll learn to string two words together effectively.”
“Fuck you.”
“Congratulations.” He smirked. “Two words.”
I could have screamed in frustration, but instead, I spun around, turning my back on him as I lowered my voice to almost a whisper. “Take us back this instant.”
“You know I won’t do that,” he replied. “Not until we’ve found Ambrose.”
“But—” I broke off as a buzzing filled my head, and a numbness seemed to wash over me.
Scion was many things—some I’d be embarrassed to voice aloud—but he’d never given me any reason to believe he was weak-willed. In fact, he might have been the only person I’d ever met who was more stubborn than I was. There was no point in arguing. This was completely and utterlypointless.“Do not speak to me.”
I marched in the opposite direction from where he stood, paying no attention to where I was going. My mind raced. What was I to do now?
I couldn’t very well go running back to the capital when I had no sense of direction, and in any case, who would even know where I was? Where would I go? Maybe if I could escape him in the city, I could get a message to Bael, but then what? Maybe…maybe…
Scion strode after me, walking at a normal, leisurely pace as I practically jogged through the underbrush, holding my too-long gown over my knees, to get away from him.
“Let us speak frankly,” he said, tone unbothered.
“Let us never speak again,” I snapped.
“Oh, but if only that were an option.”
My head had begun to pound. My skin was flushing too hot, and I was quite sure that now it had little to do with traveling. I scowled and heaved in breath after breath, trying and failing to calm the rage coursing through my veins. Anger tended to lead me down dangerous paths…paths that resulted in my becoming the queen in the first place or spending a year in the dungeon. Paths that often nearly revealed secrets that could destroy everything I’d sacrificed so much to keep hidden. Paths that might or might not have summoned a horde of afflicted from Aftermath to the capital.
