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As I’d anticipated, the trail ended near the outside ring of stone that used to be a foundation for the temple. I began to pace the perimeter, trying to pick up the scent and searching for a hidden entrance.
“Well, well, well.” A familiar figure stepped out from behind one of the towering, vertical stones. “What do we have here?” Nigel stood facing me, blocking my path. “A mountain lion? In merry old England? Why, I never.”
I growled and flashed my fangs at him in the moonlight. The fur on the back of my neck stood on end and I crouched, ready to pounce.
“Ah, ah, ah,” he said. “I wouldn’t do that, if I were you.” Two spirits flickered in my peripheral vision.
My suspicions were confirmed. I’d been lured into a trap. I took a step backward and the spirits closed in on me, pinning me between them with no escape except to turn tail and run. I couldn’t conjure myself away in this form. I’d need to transform first, leaving me defenseless and vulnerable to their attack. I searched for an escape route as they closed in on me.
“Chain him,” Nigel said.
I lunged out of reach of the spirits and flew at Nigel, leaping off the edge of a collapsed stone and aiming to pin him under my front paws. The glint of a knife in his hand caught my attention, and I knocked it from him as we tumbled to the ground. He rolled away from me as we landed, chasing after the knife, and I skidded on my paws, turning quickly to catch him before he had a chance to run away.
But he wasn’t running away. He was running at me, knife in hand. I dodged his blow and he tumbled. I pounced and missed him but managed to knock the blade away again. By now the spirits were nearly on me, closing in fast. I ducked behind a stone for some protection as I transformed, then I grabbed for Nigel’s discarded knife. The spirits surrounded me, holding steel manacles and chains. I lunged at them and stabbed each of them, using my magic to amplify the iron content in the blade, iron being deadly to spirits, where only man-made metals were deadly to Fae.
The spirits disappeared, and the chains clattered to the stones at my feet. Only, I knew the spirits were connected to Edric and would return so long as he remained. I would only have a few precious minutes before they reappeared. I reached for my magic and tried to conjure myself away. Nothing happened. That’s when I felt it. The place had been cloaked in protection spells, not unlike what I’d done around Lydbury. Spirits and demons didn’t have this kind of magic. One of my kind was helping the enemy. I needed to get Evelyn and get out of here to warn Arabella.
I turned and found Nigel facing me. “Where is she?” I asked.
He flashed a sly smile. “Now, why would I tell you that when I could just take you to her?”
“You’ll need better goons than those if you think you’re going to take me anywhere.” I shifted the knife in my hand. “I’ll ask you again. Where is she?”
I crouched and took a step toward Nigel. He backed out of my reach and we began to circle each other on the flat rock. The two spirits began to flicker into being again, just beyond the edge of the stones and out of my reach.
“Thought you could take us on all by yourself, Fae?” Nigel taunted.
“Since when did demon folk start doing dirty work for the spirit world, halfling?” I swiped at him, but he slid out of reach.
“What makes you so sure that we’re not the ones in charge here?”
“Joined the Wild Hunt, have you, then? Losing your touch with the ladies? Decided clubbing them over the head is a bit easier than turning on the charm these days?”
Nigel flashed a signal at the spirits and they flew at me. I took my eyes off Nigel for a moment and moved to defend myself against the spirits. As soon as I took my eyes off him, Nigel attacked. He grabbed the knife from my hand and slammed the butt of the blade into my skull. My vision swam, and my knees buckled.
“Not a half-bad idea, that,” Nigel said, dusting off his black trench coat. “Cuff the bastard.”
The spirits slapped the cuffs around my ankles and wrists and chained them together. I was beginning to regret my decision not to send for Arabella and the Queen’s Guard before rushing into this fight.
Nigel stood facing me. He spat on the ground. “Cocky faerie bastard. Your kind will never learn, will they?” He took a step closer to me and turned to the spirits who were holding on to my arms. “Hold him up!”
The spirits yanked at my arms and forced me to my feet.
“Wanted to do this last night,” he said. “Better late than never, I guess.”
His fist connected with my jaw and my head twisted. Pain sparked through my face and my vision went blank. Nigel’s laughter haunted my last conscious thoughts like the beginning of a bad dream.
11
My body feltsore all over and my head throbbed. I closed my eyes and rubbed the lump forming on my head, trying to remember how I’d ended up here. I’d been on an errand for my aunt. The last thing I remembered was standing in the road and seeing men on horseback with dogs riding toward me. There had been a hunting horn and Liam’s voice calling to me, then nothing.
I sat up slowly and realized I’d been lying on a dirty, cold stone floor. I scooted backward until I could lean my back against the wall. When the wave of dizziness passed, I studied my surroundings. This wasn’t a room. It was a cell with three thick stone walls and bars closing off the fourth side. There were no windows, and the candles that gave me just enough light to see by were both located outside the thick bars.
I pushed myself up, using the wall for support. Then I took a few tentative steps toward the bars of my cell. The room shifted as I tried to focus and keep my balance. The blow to my head was making me see double. But I managed to stay upright, setting one foot in front of the other until I clasped my hands around the cold steel bars. I pressed my forehead into the gap between the bars and let my temples rest against the cool metal. I closed my eyes and leaned against the bars until I felt steady. Then I opened my eyes and waited for them to focus. Without moving my head, I glanced to my right and to my left, hoping I’d recognize something, anything, that would give me a clue as to where I was being held prisoner.
Shuffling footsteps made me suck in a breath and hold it. I listened, my heart beating madly. I turned my eyes in the direction of the sound but didn’t dare move my head. If I moved, I knew my vision would blur and the dizzy, nauseous feeling would return.
A robed figure appeared at the end of the corridor outside my cell. The hood of the robe cast a shadow over the figure’s face, and the thick fabric folds obscured the rest of the body. With each step toward me, metal scraped against stone. I glanced down at the figure’s bare feet, which were poking out from under the robe with each step. Shackles circled each ankle, just visible beneath the hem of the robe, and chains dragged against the rough stone floor.
