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Crickets sing loudly in the night, drowning out the whimpers of some poor sap locked in a cage.I wouldn’t want to be that guy. My nose sniffs as I wipe away a stray tear trailing down my cheek.Yup… Definitely not that guy.
Cuffs rub the skin around my wrists raw, made out of the same metal that the creature’s collars are from. Somehow, they’ve drained every ounce of magic from my person. Someone rattles the cage door at my back, and I nearly pee myself, skittering to the opposite side. My eyes lock onto the worst creature of them all. Kai’s brother. He smirks at me, dropping a canteen of water and bread through the bars.
“Eat up, peasant.”
“Ha ha. Very funny.” I reach for the bread, using both my hands since a damn chain link connects them.
“If it makes you feel any better, our grandfather doesn’t plan to kill you,” he says, leaning against the bars.
Grandfather…Oh shit. The mustache. He thinks I’m Kai.
“Pardon me, but I don’t wish to be chatty with my mortal enemy.” I tear off a bite of bread and force it down. Whoever baked this should be fired. Or maybe I’m just used to Clamara and her sister’s food. They’re damn good at what they do, and always top off the baskets they’d leave by my door with one of my favorite cookies.
“You’ve never met me. How can we be enemies?”
He looks at me over his shoulder, as if he’s guarding my cage.
“You tried to kill my soon-to-be wife and best friend…”Well, that was awkward to say.“I think that’s reason enough.”
The sound of a woman screaming tears through the camp, and creatures run toward the wood line to get a better look at the commotion.
“Hey! Looky who I found!” A man yells, shoving a frail woman to the ground. Her snow-white hair is matted, and a muzzle has been strapped around her head as if she’s known to bite and they’re getting ready to visit the vet. What’s left of her clothes hang on by threads, barely clinging to the figure of her body. Harsh blue eyes glare at the men crowding around her like a freak show as she struggles to break her hands free from whatever they’ve used to restrain them behind her. “The king will be pleased. This bitch has been missing for weeks.”
Asmodeus pushes off the cage, slowly stepping toward them until he stands in front of the woman, no older than Alice. He reaches down, latching a thick hand around her arm, and hoists her to her feet.
“I suppose you’ll have company tonight, brother. A prince and a princess locked inside a rickety cage… Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke.”
Princess?One of the High King’s daughters? Why would they treat her like this if she’s royalty?
Asmodeus drags the female version of Hannibal Lecter toward me, opening the cage long enough to shove her inside the tight space, and securing it again with a large padlock. There’s barely enough room for us both to sit without touching. Her iridescent blue eyes flick over me as she breathes heavily into the mask.
My head shifts in her direction and she coils up, her limbs shaking as she tries to curl into the corner, desperate to put as much space as possible between us.
“Relax, doll. I’m not going to hurt you… So, what brings you to my humble abode?” I ask, gesturing to the four feet wide cage we sit in.
She blinks at me but otherwise doesn’t move or respond. But she blinked and little as it may be, it’s a step in the right direction. “M’kay… Well, would you like some terrible water? Some even worse bread? I could help you take off the…” I trail off, pointing at my face so she knows I’m meaning the mask thing.
The woman stares at me for a long moment before wiggling to spin around. Her hands are cuffed with thick metal, but the strap to undo the mask is relatively easy. I undo the two belts holding it across her face and set the white leather mask aside.
Slowly, she flexes her jaw, turning back to face me. Her skin is pale, but deep red marks mar where the mask sat, cutting into the bridge of her nose. “I’m sorry they did this to you. If I could, I’d kick that asshole in the nuts. He looked like he deserves it.”
Her face stays expressionless as her eyes jostle between mine. “Why are you using magic to appear like someone else?” Her voice is soft and powerful, each word rolling off her tongue with pure grace.
“That would be a long story, but I’m curious how you knew.”
“I’m immune to magic, so I can see the…stickers?But I can also see a shadow of the face you’re wearing.”Her eyebrows draw together as she peers at me in the dim light.
“You’re a princess, right?” She nods, tearing her intense stare from me and looking through the bars of our cage at the crowd of monsters and men, shuffling about the camp. “Why would they lock you up?”
“My father tried to sell me off to a madman who passed his test. I chose to live and ran. I take it you’re one of the prisoners they captured during their battle near the boundary?”
“Yes… I’m Finn. That’s my real name, anyway.” Tearing off half of the bread, I hand it to her, only to think better of it. Her hands are secured behind her back. She won’t be able to eat on her own. Instead, I pull off a bite-sized piece and hold it out. “Here.”
“Eva,” she says, leaning forward and watching my face intently as if it’ll give away my secrets. “My name is Eva.” She’s careful to only touch the bread with her teeth, then leans back to chew. Her throat rolls as she swallows. “Who are you pretending to be?”
“Malikai Morningstar, Prince of Hell.”
Her eyes bounce up, but she doesn’t say anything. Instead, she accepts the next bite of bread I offer her, and patiently awaits another as we split it. Asmodeus cuts across the camp, heading toward us with a ring of keys in hand.
