I should have seen it coming. I should have known she wouldn’t settle for me staying with Aven if we both played the parts flawlessly. And I wasn’t convinced we had. I was no actress, and even if Aven was a thousand miles beyond me in skill, he was too nervous about this, too dedicated to reassuring me. Marassa must have seen through him.
Nobody spoke as we continued, and the halls grew dimmer, the candles and chandeliers spaced further apart. The arches sparser. The guards’ grips on me were iron-tight. I didn’t fight them. I didn’t fall limp and force them to drag me. I didn’t doubt something worse would happen if I did.
Then we started down a narrow staircase, the first I’d seen in the Eyes. The arches disappeared and the candlelight was so meager the world turned into little more than faint, flickering shadows. The air became too cold for summer, sending goosebumps all over me, and the scent of illness and damp earth filled my nose. One guard dropped my arm and went first down the staircase, while the other pushed me ahead so I walked between them, Marassa taking the rear.
Deeper into the mountain, I knew. Nowhere else could be this dark and cold.
I couldn’t go into the mountain. Everything in me screamed I needed to go back, and the odds be damned. If it would get me killed on the spot it’d be better than whatever was down there. I felt something lurking, like a creature watching and waiting to pounce.
My feet bolted on their own; I spun and ran past the guard behind me, up two stone steps. I was one below Marassa when fingers clamped around my arm and wrenched me back. A pained noise that was more animal than human burst from me, but I felt nothing before I hit the stone steps. And kept going. The stone cut into me again and again, the edges and walls of the stairwell striking my head, and I was sure I’d lose consciousness before I stopped. My limbs were a tangle and my senses a blur of shock and confusion and then I hit flat ground with a force that felt like every bone in my body breaking.
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. I laid there and watched the shadows and stars in my vision dance and spin. From far away, something dragged me up—I didn’t make it to my feet, only to my knees, but the force pulled me away without a word—and every inch of me shrieked in pain. I might have been crying or bleeding, but I couldn’t tell. And then the hands let go and I slumped to the floor, and there were distant scraping and clinking sounds I couldn’t make sense of.
My senses cleared in time to tell that something cold and metallic was clamped around each wrist. The rattling of chains and a few distant voices that were silenced promptly. Before me, candlelight caught on Marassa’s beautiful face, the stone mask replaced by something dark that twisted her features. She stood proudly before me, the guards now out of my line of sight, and by the lantern she held I could see the uneven walls and rows of chains and shackles and bars. Some held murky figures, most frighteningly motionless and quiet. A prison.
“I’m going to ask you once, Hania,” she said. “What brought you here?”
I must have bitten my tongue during the fall because it ached and a metallic taste filled my mouth. I spit the blood out and forced my voice to cooperate. “I told you, he did.”
“You have your own world. Why are you in ours?”
“I was looking for something.”
“What?” I couldn’t tell her. She’d hold it over me, use it against me. Dangle Tobin’s life before me like a treat for a dog, or worse. So, I said nothing, just stared up at her and put all the hatred and fury I felt toward her Court into my gaze.
She graced me with another cruel smile. “Very well. I would prefer to hear it from your own lips, but I don’t need to.” She leaned a fraction closer and lowered her voice. The sound of it sent ice through me, sharper and deeper than the cold of the mountain prison. “Aven’s scent masks it, but it’s there all the same. Your brother, friend, lover, I don’t know, but the details don’t matter. He will pay Lenairen’s debts in full. And for your foolish little mission to save him you will pay the debts of your kind for the damage you’ve done to my Court and people. I wish you a pleasant night, Hania.”
With that, she strode away, and in seconds the glow of her lantern vanished, leaving me shaking in a darkness so deep I wondered if I could ever claw my way out of it.
There was no sense of time. Nothing but the endless darkness and the occasional clanking of chains or soft moan from the other prisoners. Nobody spoke. The cold and damp seeped into me within the first hours. My wrists burned where the metal scraped against them with every movement, and my shoulders ached from the pressure. I passed the time attempting to take stock of my injuries. I was sure the wounds on my back had been ripped open again. My face felt swollen and bruised. Every breath sent enough painful stabbing through me I thought maybe a rib had cracked.
Nobody brought food or water. Nobody came to tend to my wounds. Nobody even came to check that anybody down here was alive. I didn’t know when night fell or the sun rose, only when the chill turned to a more bone-deep cold and then softened again. My throat and mouth grew so dry I was sure I started to imagine the sound of trickling water from somewhere. My stomach twisted with gnawing hunger.
I sat. And waited. There was nothing more to do. No more fight. Not right now. But Moray would come, or Aven would manage some order to free me, or something. If I waited long enough.
Marassa had said a night or two in the dark. I didn’t know if that had been an accurate description of how long she intended to keep me here or not. But I knew that if she or the guards were the ones to come get me what would happen next was not going to be a pleasant.
I judged the time as best as I could between fitful dozing, but I’d lost track when footsteps echoed through the blackness. I heard the faint creaking of movement as the other prisoners dragged themselves to attention, a terrible kind of anticipation filling the air. My heart jumped when flickering light shone on the stone walls, making me squint but a welcome sight nonetheless. My eyes burned as they adjusted to it, and by time they had I could see a shadowy figure passing through the center hall of the prison. Male, tall, lean, clad in black with a shock of dark hair. I hauled myself to my feet, even as every muscle protested, and my breath caught.
Please, gods—
I didn’t get through before the light destroyed my slim hope. Smooth skin a few shades too dark to be Aven, broader shoulders. When he glanced in my direction I saw a face far more beautiful, so unexpected in this terrible place that a fresh wave of shock ran through me.
Aven was handsome. Very much so. But this man was beyond—his face was too stunning, almost unsettling and eerie. I couldn’t look away, and I found myself staring into eyes that held every green of moss and forest lakes and living water and the raw danger of a wild animal.
My breath quickened looking at him and my instincts screamed to get away. But I was chained and he was taking a casual step toward me, and my legs trembled.
“There you are,” he murmured in a voice like a song.
“What are you?” I breathed. He moved with such exact, fluid grace, so inhuman. Not unlike everybody here but still unnerving to see. A sense of power like the entire ocean clung to his presence. Even the light was affected by him, shifting almost to gray around him, like soft moonlight.
“You don’t know?” His voice betrayed nothing, but one corner of his mouth quirked upwards the slightest, some amusement at my ignorance.
The shock faded a bit, indignity replacing it. “How would I? I know almost nothing about your world. In case you’ve forgotten to notice, I’m human.” The smallest edge of irritation crept into my tone and I fought it off. They all wanted to laugh at the clueless human and I wanted to yell at him for it, but I had no idea what he could do or why he was here. So I took a breath and forced my repeated question to come out politely. “What are you?”
He ran one finger down the grimy wall of my cell and inspected it, cocking his head. As he did, he began humming, so soft at first I wasn’t sure I really heard it, but the sound grew louder. The melod
y was slow, smooth, growing and echoing in my head until I could do nothing but listen to it. It was a song like the ocean, like the wind, sweet and stormy and exotic. In the first seconds of it, I wondered how it was an answer but then it drove all thought from my head. It didn’t matter whether it was an answer or not, I wanted to keep listening.
Then my knees buckled, my legs too weak and dazed to hold me. The impact when I hit the floor jolted the realization into me at the same instant he stopped. My head cleared, the lovely, foggy admiration replaced by cold terror. I scrambled up, tripping over the chains in my hurry.
“Get out,” I gasped, feeling my back hit the wall opposite him. “Now.”
“You’re not in any position to be ordering me about, now, are you?”
“You’re a siren.”
He smirked. “Smart girl. Now keep that up and pay attention.”
“I don’t care what a siren has to say, get out.” Despite the brave words my voice shook. I kept against the wall; I couldn’t avoid being cornered, not here, but I could stay as far from him as possible. As if a simple distance of a couple yards would prevent him from killing me if he chose. Aven’s warning echoed loud and clear in my mind.
“Look.” The siren stepped toward me again and I flinched. “You and I both know that if I wanted to hurt you it’d be done already. A few words, a bit of song, and I’d be able to make you do anything I wanted. But I haven’t. Do you think there might be a reason?”
Of course there was. But I didn’t like any of the potential reasons I could think of. I decided not to suggest them and asked, “Who are you?”
“Always with the most boring questions, you humans,” he muttered but answered after a brief pause. “Call me Raeth.”
“Is that your name?”
His eyes flashed. “Does it matter?”
Yes. In this world every scrap of knowledge I could get mattered. A siren like him, sleek and elegant and radiating power—a siren like him had standing. And you never knew when knowing the name of somebody like that could be an advantage. If Aven’s hands were tied, Raeth’s might not be. So, I forced myself to meet him halfway and nodded. “Of course it does.”
I half expected him to kill me or enchant me or leave and decide I didn’t need to hear why he’d come to me. But the shadow of a possible smile that had played on his lips before came out in full force—not a comforting, warm smile, but one closer to something a shark might give a meek fish. “Like I said, smart girl. It is. Tiraethsi, actually. A pleasure.” He inclined his head. It was trivial, but a startling gesture.
I forced myself to relax a fraction, though I didn’t take my eyes off him. “Hania.”
“I know. The Court gossips.” He turned away, strolling along the wall separating me from the next prisoner as if exploring the tiny space. The strange light danced across him, and where it hit bare skin revealed tiny scales for an instant before he moved away. “You are the…whatever you are, of our queen’s new plaything. And you’ve come to free him, I presume.”
“I have.”
“Do you think you can manage it?” A pit in my insides said no, I couldn’t. I had no hope of standing up to people like this. Just looking at Raeth made my legs watery with fear; I couldn’t win out against his queen. The siren must have understood my answer in my expression, because he nodded. “I thought not. That’s why I’m here.”
“Why you’re here?”
“To help.”
I stared, disbelieving. Why would a siren want to help me? Unless he meant to give me some sort of false hope, get me close to saving Tobin to make crushing me all the sweeter. A sick game? “Why should I trust you?”
“Because you’ll die if you don’t,” he said. “When they fetch you they’ll give you a choice: execution or service. Choose service.”
I knew that already, but I didn’t say so. “Will they come get me?” I asked.
“Well, our queen has bigger plans for you than letting you rot away here.”
Of course she did. That wasn’t a comforting thought, but at least it meant maybe I had a second chance. I forced a nod. “What then?”
“That’s all you have to do for now. And be polite.”
“What kind of service is it?” Being in Aven’s ‘service’ had been my only hope of anything bearable here, and I had a feeling that ship had sailed.
Raeth’s inscrutable half-smile ticked into place again, and he said, “I’ll take care of that part, don’t worry.” He turned to go, the illusion of moonlight trailing after him.
“Why?” I called, unable to help myself. “Why would you want to help me?”
He turned to me. “Why are you here, Hania?”
“To save my brother.” That had been answered already.
He replied with some raw and silky sincerity in his voice that hadn’t been there before. “Maybe I have people to save, too.” And he started off again. “Or,” he added, glancing back over his shoulder with nothing but wicked amusement in his eyes, “maybe I like stirring up trouble. Who can say?”
And before I could think of how to respond he vanished into the starry shadows.
The cold deepened and faded again before there was any change in the dark. Thirst and hunger consumed me, my muscles shaky and weak, and my head swam, creating half-real illusions out of the nothing around me. Looming shapes and faces I couldn’t quite make out and knew were my imagination searching for anything to see. I slept when exhaustion dragged me away, but, though I had no clock to go by, it always felt like it had been mere minutes by time I woke, usually to the feeling of leering eyes and the brush of claws against my skin.
Nothing was out there in that deep darkness. Nothing but the other people trapped here, who didn’t move or speak more than I did. Nothing to hurt me but my own mind. But the longer my imprisonment wore on the surer I was that there must be.
How Aven had stood fifty years of being bound without losing his sanity I couldn’t begin to guess.
At some point, light woke me from pain-riddled sleep, but the two men passed by me and unchained a limp form on the opposite wall. Somebody begged hoarsely for a bite of stale bread as they dragged the thin corpse past and was silenced by a sound like metal striking flesh. A whimper slipped from me and all eyes turned to me. I lowered my gaze and pressed against the cold stone wall as they moved on. The light went with them.
I kept quiet and waited. Dozed. Curled in on myself, begging my aching muscles and twisting stomach to let me rest. Begging Aven or Moray to arrive and help me. Begging even Raeth to return to let me out.
Raeth, whoever he was. Whatever he wanted from me. I didn’t want to trust a single word from anybody else in this Court, but his voice echoed every time I closed my eyes. Sure and melodic. Cryptic and brutal. He’d given me the same advice as Aven, and I didn’t know what to make of it. It had to mean he wanted me to survive, didn’t it?
But why?
Another set of footsteps and blinding lantern-light interrupted my thoughts, and I stared dully at the guard before me. Only one, who gave me no greeting but a faint sneer and reached above me to loosen my chains. A spear slanted across his back, its tip bright and sharp. He didn’t bother wielding it—I was human, after all, and far from a threat—but it was a warning nonetheless.
The chains fell and I slumped against the wall with a sigh of relief. They hadn’t held my arms taut, but they made every movement scrape against my wrists, and I knew the skin was bloody and raw. Before I’d savored more than a second of it, the guard snatched a chain and yanked, taking my arm with it. I bit down on a hiss of pain and shoved my feet beneath me. My legs trembled and buckled when I tried to stand. He didn’t care; he pulled me forward without a pause, leaving me to stagger and stumble behind him.
Up the narrow staircase, the guard setting an unforgiving pace with no regard for my weak and damaged body. I was panting—vision blurred with pain and the sudden light I’d grown so unaccustomed to—by the time we reached the halls of the Eyes, but he didn’t s
o much as pause at the top. My entire body shook, and I let my head fall, eyes on the floor, unable to hold it up any longer. I didn’t watch where we were going, just followed. Every sound felt like an explosion after the quiet of the prison, and the mountain air was so clean, so devoid of the stench of illness and filth and decay, that it stung my nose.
The hallways widened and then we passed through another door. My mind spun in search of a way to escape but found none. I needed rest and food and then maybe I would be able to think clearly.
Our footsteps echoed tenfold, and I forced my head up to survey the room. It must have been the throne room; it was more exquisite than what I’d already seen, a long, grand hall to fit the masses of noble onlookers to the High Court’s public business. Curtains hung on either side, a rich blue that looked soft to the touch, paired with carved pillars and spirals of gold. All the lushness and perfection of royalty with the exotic depths of the ocean. A throne room fitting for a tidespeople’s queen. A dais on the far end held four occupied seats, but otherwise the room was empty and silent. The kind of silent that made my skin crawl with anticipation.
The guard dragged me forward by one arm, the ruined skin of my wrist shrieking at the metal digging into it. My bruised knees protested as they were slammed into the marble floor, one rough hand shoving at the back of my neck, and I sucked in a sharp breath to keep from making a sound. But despite the sudden flash of pain, despite the weakness eating at every inch of me, I kept my chin up and my eyes on the dais. On the four figures watching from it.
Marassa sat above the others, tall and fierce. Her face was a mask of ice. To her right sat Aven, every muscle tensed and eyes fixed on me. But he didn’t get up—not yet, not here. Parts to play, he’d said, and this was his. For now.
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