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Garrick’s expression was hollow, his eyes haunted. “They love to play games like this. They forced me to come here and guard you, knowing...” He trailed off, shaking his head. “Knowing that because of your royal blood, you have my deepest loyalty, and I’d naturally want to serve you. If I try to tend to those scratches of yours” -his eyes flicked to the bandages covering the claw marks on my arm- “they will know. It’s a sick way for them to force us to not show basic kindness or companionship toward one another. A way to make us feel divided and alone and hopeless.”
I swallowed. “They’re monsters.”
“I belong to them. I belong to her.” He raked a hand through his hair, mussing the white-blond strands. “Just like you belong to him.”
My stomach clenched. “You’re engaged to Queen Nerissa?”
He flinched. “Not as if they’d ever let me rule, just as they won’t let you. She simply loves to know she owns me, her prized hunter.” Garrick’s tone turned low and guttural. Hateful. “Her dog.” His eyes flicked back to me. “She doesn’t care for my affection, only my obedience and service in tracking down whoever she needs. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t possessive. Especially now that she knows—they both know—how to control us both.”
I sucked in a breath. “You shouldn’t have done it, Garrick. You knew giving me the knife was breaking a rule. It was too recognizable, too dangerous. Why did you do it?”
His eyes were like molten gold, burning into me with an intensity that reminded me of his wolfish nature. “There’s no doubt you’re a Silverfrost, and I could tell...” He cleared his throat, clearly struggling with words. “They were...affecting your magic somehow.” I wondered if his oath to the siblings made it so he couldn’t openly speak ill of them. “As your rightful subject, my loyalty belongs to you.”
I let the proclamation warm my heart, even if I wished he’d been saying he was loyal to me for other, more sentimental reasons. “Did Nerissa poison you?” I ventured.
Garrick shook his head, pushing off the door to pace the floor. “It’s a toxin without lingering effects.” It didn’t miss my notice that he didn’t expound on what those effects were. “I don’t regret what I did.” He whirled toward me. “You need to leave. Run. I know their orders will force me to pursue you, but you’re powerful and clever. You can invade me. You’ll find a way. Anything is better than this. Forget the risks I mentioned, forget everything.”
“No.”
Garrick’s eyes widened. “You have no reason to stay.”
“I’m not leaving these people to be tormented by underworld creatures. I’m not risking that more escape into our world. There won’t be a safe corner of the earth if they overrun us.” I crossed my arms. “And I’m not leavingyou.”
Garrick stepped closer, his eyes glinting in the firelight. Earnest. Hurt. Pleading. “You owe Silverfrost nothing. You owemenothing. It’s my fault you’re here. I’m already lost, but you can still save yourself.”
Tears burned my throat. “No, Garrick. I’m going to save you too.”
He scrubbed his hand over his face, turning away and shaking his head. “I’m too far gone,” he muttered.
“I refuse to believe that,” I insisted. My hand hovered over his shoulder before I remembered his warning and dropped it. I didn’t want to see him hanging in chains again, suffering because of the siblings’ cruel need to hurt us both. “Don’t try to talk me out of what I know is right. Staying is the right thing to do. Running would only delay the inevitable, and knowing others were suffering because of me—I would never know peace again, Garrick.”
Garrick’s shoulders slumped. “I know,” he said, resigned. He turned back to me, eyes scanning my face almost reverently. “You’regood, Starlight. Pure and courageous and powerful in ways most of these fae cannot begin to fathom. Selfishly, I wish you were a little less so and would leave for my sake, but I can’t ask you to be anything less than what you are.”
My heart skipped a beat, wanting that look and those words to mean more than they did. He cared for me as a friend, as his potential queen—nothing more.
And even if thereweredeeper feelings, I told myself it didn’t matter. We both belonged to others, whether we wanted to or not. Even our own hearts weren’t free.
I glanced away so Garrick couldn’t see the heat flooding my cheeks. “Then it’s settled. You know I have to stay.” Sighing, I dared to study him again. “And you reallyareall right?”
Garrick swallowed, his smile bitter. “As all right as I can ever be.” He sighed. “You must be exhausted. That fight with...” He shook his head. “It was brutal to watch, even if I knew you would win in the end. You should get some rest.” His eyes flicked to the bed.
Discomfort squirmed in my stomach. It wasn’t the first time we’d occupied a small space, but I was far more aware of it—ofhim—than I was even before. “You need to sleep too.”
“I’ll take the chair,” he said, nodding toward where I’d left my blanket before the fire.
I opened my mouth as if to protest, though I wasn’t sure what I’d argue. It wasn’t as if we could share the bed. Surely Nerissa and Preston would know if we were in such close proximity to one another. Not to mention, that would be a different sort of torment for me to endure, longing for his touch while knowing I couldn’t and shouldn’t have it. Instead, I bit my lip and nodded.
Without anything to change into, I unlaced my boots and set them beside my bed. My leggings and tunic weren’t the cleanest after my encounter with the demon. Some of the fabric was spattered with my own dried blood, but there was no tub to bathe in this room. As I settled under the blankets, grateful we were high enough above the dungeons not to hear the prisoners or creatures residing there, I relished the warmth. Despite the earlier horrors I’d witnessed, having Garrick nearby comforted me. My eyes traced the dancing shadows cast by the glowing embers of the fire.
After a long moment, Garrick’s voice rumbled toward me. “Don’t fret too much, Starlight. At least the king and queen’s propensity to assign me as your guard is as comforting as it is tormenting,” he joked.
I blinked at his form in the dimness. “What?”
“I mean,” he continued, his voice still laced with humor, “if we must suffer, at least we don’t also have to be lonely. I’ve grown fond of your company.”
My face warmed, even if I knew it was only a friendly statement, not some declaration of love. “I’m not surprised you’d try to find some good in our circumstances, even now. Goodnight, Garrick,” I whispered.
“Goodnight.”
