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“I’ve only seen the guards a few times since they’ve thrown me in here. Otherwise, they sound as if they’re not down here most of the time.”
She stepped even closer, this time close enough to speak into my ear if she wanted to. My words must have offered her enough reassurance to continue. “The jail was filled with servants. There’s over a dozen people locked up. I don’t know why they grabbed me, but they did, and now—” She stopped talking and looked around the cell for the first time since she was tossed inside. “What is this place?”
“I know we’re deep in the palace. Far from any wandering fae, it would seem,” I said.
Aleita nodded again and brought her hands up to her arms, rubbing them. “It’s cold.”
“You’ll get used to it, but in the meantime, there’s a cot in the corner that offers a tiny bit of comfort,” I said. “Better than the hard floor.”
Aleita didn’t say anything but moved back toward the darker parts of the cell where the cot was.
“Was Nicole one of the ones locked up?” I asked. “Gabe’s feeder?”
I moved closer to the cot so I could see Aleita better. “No, I-I don’t think so.”
I huffed a relieved breath. She was another one who could hopefully help if it came to that. Though, would she? I had trusted her, but should I have?
“Does anyone know what prompted everyone being locked up suddenly?” I asked, knowing she most likely didn’t have the answers I desperately wanted.
“I have no idea. You didn’t come back and then, hysteria,” she explained.
Her voice was quieter, tired sounding.
“You should rest.” I paused, feeling something stirring inside of me as I looked at someone else in danger. “We’ll be okay.”
I didn’t know why I said it. If it was really for her, or a reminder to myself that this wouldn’t be it.
After a few moments of silence I heard her breathing draw out into longer, deeper sighs. I sat down on the cold floor, wrapping my arms around my legs.
Chaos like servants being taken in droves would certainly be enough to keep Noah busy. So that was why he hadn’t come for me.
I leaned my head back against the stone walls, letting the chill ground me. From what Aleita said, they’d pulled her from a jail cell inside the palace to be thrown down here with no warning. Would she be the only one?
“I’m still the prince and I’ll damn well do as I please.”
Noah.
His entrance was almost as dramatic as the echoing footsteps looming down the dark corridor during his first visit, and it gave me something to smile about.
Finally.
I rose and ran over to the cell door as Noah showed up, unaccompanied and with a key in hand.
“Hi,” I breathed, rather lamely.
He didn’t respond and instead snarled under his breath, turning the key until the door finally clicked open.
He strode in, leaving the open cell door behind him. I was half tempted to make a run for it but shook the thought from my mind. This was Noah, and my trust extended to just him at the moment. Causing a problem might hurt him more than it would hurt me.
“The palace has gone mad,” he said as he ran a hand over his head. “I’m sorry it’s taking me longer than I wish to get you out. It’s like an unquenchable fervor.”
I frowned, slowly realizing that Noah was not here to bust me out if he had come in and started talking.
“What’s going on?”
He dropped his hands, looking me in the eye for the first time. I gave him a small smile, but it did nothing to eliminate the tension on his face. There were bags under his eyes and his whole body was rigid as he shifted his weight anxiously from one foot to the other.
“My mother and I have been arguing. And I’m so sorry, but Cora, you’re stuck here for now.”
