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What did that mean? Solok named me? That couldn’t possibly be true.
“The name seemed appropriate, given the circumstances.” The monster wasright behind me, which explained the dread tightening my lungs.
“As you can see, your majesty, it was an…eventful journey home. But she arrived unharmed, as requested.” Solok’s cold voice crawled over me like a nest of spiders. Beside me, Ember teetered back and forth, but I couldn’t help her. We both had to tough this out.
“Indeed.” The Fae King waved his advisors away. “How are you enjoying the Citadelle?”
Another polite, mundane question I should have expected, but ended up wading through my boggy mind for a suitable answer. “Very well, thank you.”I should have learned more about the Fae King and his royal court when I’d had the chance, I should have…
“She’s scrawny, isn’t she?” His eyes narrowed. “The collar…does it work?”
I didn’t know if he was asking me or Solok, so I kept my mouth shut. I wasn’t the expert on the thing, it just so happened to be fastened around my throat.
“Perfectly, as the Oracle designed it. The iron drowns out her power. She’s no danger to anyone, and I will know where she is, at all times.” How I wanted to spin around to see his face, to see if that was true. But I couldn’t get past the roaring in my head.
I was a prisoner.
A prisoner with no power and no voice and no escape.
Why I thought life would be different here, I didn’t know.
A cloud passed in front of the sun, plunging the room into twilight, and for the first time, I glimpsed the woman seated behind the king, her silver hair gathered into an intricate arrangement, milky eyes glowing from a shadowed face.
Her blank gaze unnerved me.
As if she saw nothing—and everything—at the same time.
As if she sensed where my eyes had landed, her expression changed, and something deep within me stirred, my dormant magic reacting to her presence before she murmured softly into the king’s ear.
He leaned in. “My High Seer confirms her magic is under our control. As such great power should be.”
I looked away. Seers were an affront to the natural order of the world, trapped between life and death, never to be trusted because they owed no loyalty to the living.
The king sat back. “You did well by bringing her here, Solok. As always, you honored your oath to me.” Disgust flickered across the woman’s face, but then Solok’s boots clicked away.
My power settled; my eyes fixed on the king who held my life in the palm of his hand. “You are my guest.” His distant, empty voice echoed loudly from the stone all around us. “Enjoy the city, my palace, and my hospitality, Anaria of Varitus.”
I ducked my head, not missing the warning he hadn’t bothered to tack on.
But step one foot out of line and you are dead.
13
ANARIA
Ipeeled off my sweat-soaked dress.
“What happens next?”
I hesitated, avoiding my reflection in the mirror.
The problem with Ember’s question was I had no answer for her. I had no idea what came next. I’d expected to be pointed in some direction today, especially after meeting the king, the very person who’d dragged me to this awful place.
Enjoy the cityhad not been high on my list of possibilities.
As far as escape…I worked my fingers beneath the collar and tugged. The horrid thing didn’t budge. Until I got this off, Solok could track me. If what he said was even true.
“We do as the king says.” I opened one of the boxes stacked on the side table. Another dress, even more opulent than the one I’d stripped away. Two more boxes before I found something…less gaudy. I walked over to Ember, leaned in closer, in case anyone was listening.
