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“Yes, yes there’s a plan. Malachi gave me strict instructions.”
“What did he tell you?”
Adeline’s mind went somewhere else, digging for the instructions that Mal had given her. Her eyes were wide with panic, but she fought to stay calm. “The dungeons!” she snapped back to the present time. In two seconds, she transformed from a frazzled girl to a fae on a mission. She grabbed my wrist and began pulling me to her bedroom door “Let’s go.”
I pulled against her, but her fae strength was no match for me. “What?”
“We have to stay in the dungeons until Malachi comes to get us”
“Are you kidding? We’ll be sitting ducks down there!”
“It’s the safest place for us,” she argued. “The chances of anyone making it far enough to find us in there are slim.”
My mind spun in circles. I wasn’t helpless. I wasn’t about to sit in the dungeon and wait for the Paragon to find me. I was to blame for this attack. I was to blame for the Paragon coming here.
I owed it to Mal to fight, even if he wanted me to hide.
But there was another person who could help us. Who could help me.
And in order to find her, I had to get to the dungeons.
“Fine,” I said. “Let’s go.”
I let Adeline drag me under the castle. I had never seen the halls so busy, bustling with both fae men and women shuffling in opposite directions. The men rushed outside, and the women ran in a panic.
A wave of pity fell over me. They were fae, they were powerful. I had spent my entire life thinking they were indestructible. But at last, they too had something to fear. They too could be helpless against their opponents.
When we got to the entrance of the dungeons, the guards were waiting for us. “Malachi’s orders,” Adeline spoke. “The castle is being attacked. Today.”
The guard’s face didn’t change as he stepped aside, letting us in. “Thank you,” Adeline muttered, and then she was pulling me into the dark underground tunnels.
I followed silently behind her until we got to the fork in the long halls. Esther was to the right. But Adeline began pulling me left. “Stop,” I halted. “Adeline, wait.”
She stopped and spun to face me. “What?”
“Esther is this way,” I pointed to the right. “We have to tell her what’s going on. She can help us, Adeline.”
“No way,” she argued. “Mal will kill us if we even speak to her.”
“Mal can’t see past his anger. Esther is a witch, and we’re being attacked by the Paragon. We can’t just leave her chained down here Adeline, that makes no sense!”
Her nostrils flared as she debated the options. I knew she would see my side. Esther might be the only person in this entire kingdom with the knowledge to fight another witch, and if what I had heard about the Paragon so far was true, they would bring witches with them to fight.
Malachi was strong. But could he defeat them all?
“If we get caught,” she started, “I’m blaming you.”
“I’m totally fine with that.” I turned on my heels and began rushing toward Esther’s cell. It had been so long since I had been down here last. I hadn’t realized just how long these halls really were.
We walked and walked and walked. “Are you sure it’s this way?” Adeline asked me. “These tunnels really creep me out.”
My senses tingled with every step. We were close. We had to be. “I think it’s–”
“I knew you would be coming for me,” Esther’s voice muttered through the halls. Adeline and I followed that voice, rounding one last corner and finding Esther in her cell.
“You can see the future now?” I asked.
Esther was sitting in that same dark corner, yet she looked ten years older.
