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These pricks wouldn’t keep her locked inside this room ever again, as if she were a doll to be toyed with. Nava was a keeper of life and a magic-wielder, mate to the prince of the Dark Ones. She wouldn’t be caged again.
The heat of her fury made her skin tighten and then loosen, and Nava transferred quickly in the air, heading toward the sliver of air beneath the door.
She hit a hard wall that prevented her exit.
It was transparent to the naked eye—which was why she’d missed it when she first entered. It had to be a spell that was triggered by the door closing. Otherwise, she would have felt it.
Hard air formed an invisible bubble, sealing off every crevice of the room. Now that Nava had hit it, she could see the markings of finely woven magic, crafted with tight black threads. Like a spider egg.
She couldn’t allow this.
For the next several hours, she attempted to leave through every nook and cranny that appeared big enough for air to weave past. But the king had hermetically sealed the room from the inside.
Tremors raced through her as she reached for her dagger’s pommel, gripping it so tight she lost the feeling in her fingers. Not that it did her any good here. “If you don’t let me out, Eris, and take me to Arkimedes right now, I will kill you.”
There was promise in her voice. She wasn’t bluffing.
A cry tore past her lips. How stupid was she not to have seen this coming the moment the king appeared somewhat friendly in the ports?
It all made sense now. He’d let Arkimedes, Devon, and her roam around his city while the sentinels made sure neither Arkimedes nor Nava left the kingdom. Meanwhile, he’d crafted the perfect spell to keep her trapped in here.
Silence descended upon the room as she allowed her body to collapse against the smooth surface of the wall and onto the cold floor. She pressed her head to her knees and let her tired mind drift.
“It’s not personal, madam,” Eris said in a cautious tone, as if he didn’t want to be overheard. “If I let you go, the king would kill me, and I would be a disgrace to my family. So you understand my predicament…”
She wanted to tell him that he’d lied to her, but then again, if she recalled every word he’d used carefully, he’d only told her she would get to see Arkimedes later.
Not at a specific time. Later could mean an hour from now or two years.
“You can’t keep me away from him,” she said, her voice trembling. “I told you, we heal better when we are together. You’re harming your kingdom by keeping us apart.”
Perhaps she could talk some sense into this fae?
“He is next door, madam, so you’re very close.” If Eris meant to make her feel better, he failed miserably. “The healers are with him, and the prince will survive,” he continued, undeterred by her silence.
Sniffling, Nava wiped her face with the filthy sleeve of her coat. There was no use in crying. Tears wouldn’t help her or Ark.
No, she had to come up with a better plan.
She focused on the webs of the king’s spell right outside the balcony. Beyond it, the brown bodies of her bees crawled over the outside of the door, trying to get to her.
Unlike the last time she’d been locked in here, Nava now knew what her role in this family was. She was the future queen, and the gardens belonged to her. The plants outside had welcomed her. The castle had even restored her power.
It was as if it had known she was about to become a prisoner and wanted her to understand that she wasn’t out of options. Slowly, she rose, the numbness in her body dissipating as she approached the doors and peered at her insects outside. There were so many of them she couldn’t count them all.
Nava pressed her hand to the cool glass, and the threads of magic that were woven onto the surface reached toward her. The sensation was unfamiliar but welcoming, the same low voice that had whispered to her when she first arrived.
When Nava arrived here, a maid had told her the castle provided what people needed, as though it was alive. And right now, a whispering voice welcomed her home. Home?
Nava shut her eyes and focused on the strings of power that surrounded her. They were similar to the magic webs she often saw draped over plants, and that was something she could work with. She tugged on the soulmate bond but met only silence. Arkimedes was alive but sleeping.
But her connection to him would hopefully help her. I can’t be a prisoner in my own home, she thought. If the castle was indeed a sentient being connected to Arkimedes, then it should hear her.
The glass trembled under her touch, and the bees accumulated where her hand rested, although they remained outside. More and more swarmed, so many that they obscured the bright daylight outside.
If you’re the castle and you’re happy that I’m here, then let me know, she thought, encouraged by the answering vibrations. The walls could hear her.
Once, when Leela had been fixing her hair, she’d spoken ill of the old queen. The room had gone cold and dark that time. Leela had been afraid to speak of Arkimedes’s mother, as if the king had forbidden it. But now Nava wondered… Had the reaction been the castle all along?
