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She walked toward me with the bowl of water. “We need to get you clean.”
“Why?” This part made no sense to me.
“The Master is very particular.” She handed me the bowl. An herbal fragrance wafted up on the steam rising from the liquid swirling inside. “And we need to do something about that.” She pointed at my wrist.
I set the bowl down on the stone floor and clasped my hand over the bracelet. “You can’t have this,” I said, hugging my arm to my chest.
“She’s right, Eve,” Liam said. “If anyone here sees you wearing that bracelet, they’ll never let you go.”
“How am I going to explain to Uncle Oscar that I lost his family’s precious heirloom?”
The robed woman’s face creased in anger, and she said something low and menacing in that other language. Liam responded in a soothing tone. Her mouth softened, but her eyes remained narrowed and suspicious.
“Give her the bracelet,” Liam said.
“Why can’t I just give it to you?”
“It will be worse if they find it on me,” he said. “Please, Eve. She’ll return it once we’re free. You need to listen to her.”
The woman held out her hand and took another step toward me. I slipped the bracelet off my wrist and stepped to the side so I could see Liam. He nodded at me. I took one last look at the bracelet and placed it in the woman’s hands. I really did not like this plan.
“Quickly, now,” she said, closing her fingers around the gold. “We don’t have much time.”
I watched my long-lost aunt, the youngest of Godda’s sisters, prepare Evelyn for presentation to Edric. She washed Evelyn’s face and hands and made her change into a simple white gown. Then she brushed out Evelyn’s hair until it flowed in dark waves down her back. Evelyn was beautiful. I feared for her life.
Sorcha had promised me that she’d protect Evelyn. She’d told me that Edric would inspect the Fae who’d been captured in that night’s Hunt. She said he usually picked the most promising of them to interrogate first. I’d begged her to help make sure that Evelyn would not be selected. She’d promised to use whatever magic she had available to her to escape with Evelyn and any of the Fae who had not been chosen. I would need to find my own way out and free any remaining captives in the process.
When she finished, Sorcha left Evelyn’s cell and disappeared down the corridor. Evelyn paced to the bars and gazed down at me.
“She’ll keep you safe,” I said.
“What about you?”
“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. Just follow her instructions. Promise me.”
“Liam…”
“Please? Promise me.”
“I’ll listen to her, but you better promise I’m getting that bracelet back once we’re out of here.”
A commotion at the end of the corridor made us both turn our heads. Two spirits came toward us, laughing and joking in loud, drunken voices. Spirits couldn’t get drunk. So these two specimens must have died pissed. They stopped in front of my cell.
“This one?” said the tall, burly spirit.
“Looks like the one,” his shorter, wiry friend responded.
The first spirit unlocked my cell and they crowded inside. Each took one of my arms and hauled me to my feet.
“Stop!” Evelyn cried. “Where are you taking him? Let him go!”
The two spirits just cackled and dragged me toward the cell door.
“Promise me,” I said to Evelyn.
One of the spirits mimicked me in a whiney sing-song voice. They both started cackling again.
“Let him go!” she shouted. “Stop!”
