by Emma Hamm
Ella chuckled quietly. “That’s normal. Portal travel is not like any other kind.”
“I can teleport,” he said through gritted teeth.
“It’s not quite like teleporting either.”
“What can you tell me about this place?”
She shook her head. “Not much. None of us know where we are. Only that this is somewhere beyond the city and that it used to be some rich man’s estate.”
“A building?” Jasper gestured around them. “This is a cave.”
“Malachi has a new Illusionist working for him. Originally, Malachi had cast this spell. The control changed when he lost the magic and hired a new Illusionist. Now it is a cave because his current ‘employee’ thought it would be more appropriate. It used to be the inside of a building, but he did not want us to have any clues where we were.”
“He traded up powers I’m guessing?”
She winced. “Something like that.”
“What does he have now?”
“Hag, if he’s still using the power of the last person he killed here.”
“A Hag. Great,” he muttered. They were not particularly powerful creatures, but they were capable of seeing glimpses of the future. Not to mention that they couldn’t be lied to. It was a natural trait their species used to their advantage. Any lie uttered in the presence of a Hag would turn the speaker’s tongue against them. Usually, they would choke to death.
“It could be worse,” Ella said.
“How so?”
“We could be dead.”
Jasper looked around. Though it appeared to be the inside of a cave, he could easily believe it was all an illusion. “I don’t think you can really say we aren’t dead yet.”
“My heart still beats.”
“Funny how people use that as a measure of life.”
When she didn’t respond immediately, he turned to meet her frustrated gaze. She pursed her lips. “You never told me your name.”
“Jasper.”
“Bluebell.”
Ella inclined her head. “It’s nice to meet you, Jasper.”
“And Bluebell,” the Fairy said forcefully. The tension at the back of his eyeballs suggested she might actually get angry if he didn’t introduce her to the Unicorn.
“And Bluebell, the Fairy,” he begrudgingly added.
Her smile tightened the skin around Ella’s eyes into faint crow’s feet. “It’s very nice to meet you as well, Bluebell. Is that not a female Fairy name?”
There it was. The truth that always astonished people. He rubbed the back of his neck and blew out a breath. “Yeah. Yeah, it is.”
“Your creature is not the same sex as you?”
“Unusual, I know.” Jasper shrugged. “I think she’s the unlucky one. Stuck in a male body isn’t easy for such a little thing.”
“And such a large male body.” Ella looked him up and down with a frown. “Perhaps she is lucky to have you as her protector.”
A snort echoed in his mind. “I don’t need a protector.”
“She doesn’t need a protector.” Jasper omitted the Fairy’s sarcastic tone. “She needs a father. Or a keeper. I’d put her in a cage if she were in front of me.”
“You would not!”
He could almost feel the Fairy buzzing around in his skull, and he grinned. She was so easy to rile. Most jokes were lost on the Fae as they could not understand the concept of lying. They considered every word to be truth. After all this time, she ought to know when he was teasing.
Ella grinned then. He was nearly blinded by the sheer beauty revealed in the simple act. Even covered in mud, she was intimidating. Such beauty was rare and should not have been wasted on the likes of him.
Her smile did not waver even as he flinched back. “I doubt you would put her in a cage, Jasper. It is good to have someone who is willing to speak to me.”
“Be that man or Fae?”
“Man or Fae,” she agreed as she shifted. Her ripped pants flashed glimpses of delicately long limbs.
Jasper was so caught up in the sight that he forgot to hold his tongue. “How did you end up here?”
The words hung between them like electricity. The air crackled with the weight of the question and the pain it could so easily cause. She lifted her gaze to meet his once more.
“I wasn’t allowed outside on my own, but my guards were unable to protect me from Malachi’s men. I was lucky he was interested in me,” she shivered. “What the Hellhound did to my guards will haunt my nightmares for a very long time.”
“How did he find out you existed?”
“I’m still not sure the answer to that question. We were careful. So careful.”
“I would think you’d have to be.” He couldn’t imagine having a Unicorn in his family. That was asking for trouble.
Unicorns were naturally unable to defend themselves. They were innocent beyond reproach and were carefully guarded. Their horns could not only heal but also bring people back from the dead. Legends said Unicorns were used to keep the last Dark Fae king alive for centuries.
Jasper usually did not put much weight on such rumors. But as he looked at the glistening horn protruding from her forehead, he couldn’t help but wonder.
“Yes, it is true,” she murmured.
He winced. “Was it so obvious I was wondering?”
“It’s always obvious,” she said with a soft smile. “There is not a person I have encountered who has not wondered what I am capable of.”
“Your guards must have been very talented men to keep you hidden for so long.”
“They were good men to the very end.”
They fell silent for a few moments as he lost himself in the dark stories she had told. She shouldn’t be here, Jasper thought with a ferocity that startled even himself. She should be somewhere safe with someone taking care of her.
“That’s a Unicorn for you,” Bluebell said with a dreamy sigh.
His response was to arch a golden brow.
“They can’t help it; it’s part of their natural defenses. Everyone wants to take care of them. Or did you not know that?”
He shook his head.
She tsked. “Fairies should know these things. Unicorns were our friends long ago. They were soft and sweet and didn’t mind when we rode on their tails.” Again, she sighed. “Those were the days when they would still be our friends no matter what mischief we caused. They helped us.”
The last thing he needed was his little Fairy deciding this was the time for him to fall in love. Jasper shook himself hard and hoped the Fae would rattle between his eyes. Unlikely, considering they shared a body, but a man could dream.
Clanging echoed down the lines of cages. Jasper frowned as he peered into the darkness. He hadn’t expected to hear metal hitting metal, but the thought of someone attempting to escape warmed his blood.
He leapt to his feet and pressed as close to the bars as he could without pain. There was movement at the far edge of the darkness, although he could not make out the shape. The shadows swirled as though stirred by multiple people.
“Sit back down.” Ella’s voice was urgent. “You don’t want them to know how strong you are.”
“Them?”
“Malachi’s men.”
He glanced over his shoulder to see Ella shiver. She had shuffled back into her corner and curled back into a ball.
“I fear no man,” he argued.
“You would be foolish to not fear them.”
“I have heard those words before, and I have never fallen prey to them.”
Nor would he ever. Jasper was not capable of fear, so he liked to tell himself. He was strong and he would never allow another person that kind of control over him.
No one other than Lyra, he corrected himself. He remembered all too well his panic when Wolfgang had used her as a human shield.
Dwelling on such memories would not help him now. He needed to focus.
Three figures emerged from the shadows. A thin, weaselly man
to the right banged a metal pipe against the bars. Shapeshifter was Jasper’s best guess, considering the man’s form seemed to constantly warp. A tall, strong woman stood next to the Shapeshifter, her arms nearly as large as Jasper’s. Fangs poked out from her bottom lip and claws tipped her hands. But it was the hungry glint in her eyes that truly told him what she was. She was most certainly the Hellhound.
Behind them trailed a hulking Troll. Jasper was surprised that Malachi would bother to hire a Troll. They weren’t usually intelligent creatures, and were easily distracted. Strength was their only useful quality. Jasper would have used them for construction rather than as a guard.
Each of the guards wore matching scowls. There was an edge to them that spoke of violence. Jasper did not want to know how they had come about such darkness.
He watched as the Shapeshifter reached between the bars and yanked one of the prisoners towards him. The Mermaid yelped and failed to catch herself before the iron burned her skin. Jasper listened to her whimpers as he forced his muscles to relax and his mind to calm.
He knew the feeling well. Every time he fought, he willed his blood pressure down. He was not a Berserker. Smart men fought with everything they had, that included their smarts. Emotions had no place in battle.
A slow simmer of rage threatened to distract him, and honor made him want to cave in the Shapeshifter’s skull.
The three minions reached him. They seemed surprised that a prisoner was staring at them so boldly. Even more so since he was standing on his own two feet.
“This one’s still feisty.” The Shapeshifter had a nasally voice that grated the ears.
“Perhaps he needs to be reminded that he’s in a cage,” the Hellhound replied.
She reached for him, her first mistake. Her fingernails were caked with dried blood, her second mistake. But the third and final mistake was that she looked towards the Unicorn and smiled.
She had no right to terrorize the people here. He would make certain she learned that lesson.
Launching himself forward, he grabbed onto her hand and twisted the fingers back. Her doglike yelp was music to Jasper’s ears as he snapped the fragile bones in her hands. He pulled and pressed her ugly face against the heated bars.
Leaning close, he snarled, “Perhaps you need to be reminded who is in the cage.”
The woman screamed as her face sizzled. The reprieve was short-lived as the Troll reached above them, palmed Jasper’s head, and shoved hard.
Jasper’s shoulder took most of the impact as he struck the ground. The air rattled from his lungs in a great whoosh. He hated getting the wind knocked out of him. He hated all of this, but there was nothing he could do. In the end, the Hellhound was right.
He was the one in the cage.
Breathing heavily, he stared at the ground instead of the three laughing creatures on the other side of the bars.
Jasper heard the soft rustling sound of Ella pushing herself farther away from the trio. She made a quiet, distressed noise, and then they moved on. He heard them jangling the bar against the other cages and the animal like noises the sound caused.
“I’m sorry, Jasper,” Bluebell murmured.
“It’s not your fault,” he replied as he tried to gather his dignity around himself like the edges of a tattered cape.
“I should have helped somehow. I don’t know how to help! I never know how to help.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Bluebell. You did what you could.”
It didn’t matter that what she’d done was next to nothing. She had helped him the only way she knew how. Words. At least that was something.
He rolled to his side to look towards Ella whose haunted gaze met his.
“You all right?” he asked.
“I’m alive.”
“As am I.”
There weren’t any other words to be shared between two captives seated at Death’s dinner table. He wished there was a way for him to help. He wished a lot of things. In the end, his wishes didn’t matter.
“Ella?”
“Yes?”
“I’m going to get us out of here.”
“No one has ever managed that, Jasper.”
His knuckles cracked as he pressed his fists against the ground. “I’m going to get us out of here.”
2
Gravel dug into his side and the persistent sound of dripping water drove him mad. Worse, he didn’t know what time it was. He didn’t know what day it was.
He didn’t know how long he had been gone.
Jasper licked his dry lips. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been provided water. Food was scarce here, or so it seemed. The prisoners were rarely tended, and the “gifts” of water and food were barely enough to keep them alive. The Mermaid was the first he saw taken. More prisoners were dragged off every day, from cages he could not see.
He ached for water. Clean, cold water trickling down his throat and cooling his heated flesh. Water — beautiful water, like the delicate little Siren who had forgotten him.
She couldn’t remember him, or she would have been here. Lyra would fight tooth and nail to return him to her side. Memories of the many battles they had fought side by side played in his mind’s eye until he could see her standing before him. And yet, he was in a dank, dark cell. Alone.
“Jasper?”
The croaking voice pierced through his consciousness. Not so alone after all.
He rolled over to glance at the Unicorn who still remained porcelain smooth. “Yes?”
“Do you think they forgot about us?”
“I hope not.”
He did not know the answer to that question. Jasper had no sense of day or night. It was always dark in this illusion of a cave. He might have been here for a week or for months on end. He would have no way of marking time apart from the cycle of meals and water, but even that had no regularity.
Ella winced as she shifted. “I need water.”
“Me too.”
She laughed. It was an ugly, grating sound. “And your escape plan? Have you thought of it yet?”
“No,” he muttered. “I’m going to save that as a surprise for you.”
“A surprise?”
“Can’t have you knowing all my tricks. When you least expect it, we’ll be breaking out of here.”
She rolled to face him, her skin pale but not yet sallow. “Where will you go?”
“Home,” he said quietly. “I’ve got a family waiting for me. Friends, a job, a life that I enjoy immensely.”
“That sounds lovely. I’m not sure where I will go. Likely into hiding again.”
“Hiding?”
She seemed to draw back into the shadows at his question. Jasper was confused by her reaction. Perhaps he had struck a cord in the fragile creature who was always hunted. The horn growing out of her forehead was more precious than any other material on this planet.
Her voice cracked as she spoke, “Tell me about your family and drive away these blasted shadows.”
Now that was something he could do. Jasper settled himself closer to her and ignored the heat of the bars pressing against his skin. The pain did not distract him as it might have at the beginning of his capture. Maybe he was becoming immune to the effects of iron. Or maybe he was so used to the acidic burn that he didn’t notice how much it hurt.
“They are a strange bunch, but I’m pleased to have found them. There’s Burke, a Dream Walker who just met the love of his life.” He did not explain what Wren was. The walls had ears, especially here. “And then there’s Lyra.”
“Your voice changed when you said her name.”
Bluebell snorted. “Of course it did. Foolish man.”
He knew there was no love lost between his Fairy and Lyra. They had never gotten along particularly well, for reasons Jasper did not understand. It likely all started with the Fairy, who had instantly disliked the Siren from the moment they first met.
“I’m not surprised it changed. I’ve been in love with her my en
tire life,” Jasper mumbled.
“Oh.” Ella sighed. “That’s so lovely. Tell me about her.”
“She’s a Siren. We met when we were children, staring into the window of a jewelry store. She wanted to steal something but didn’t feel it was right, so I stole it for her.”
“You grew up on the streets?”
“Oh, no. I grew up on a farm.” The streets had come after that. After the rolling green hills, the quietly snuffling horses, and the neverending sunshine. “I had to travel into the city to sell our produce with my family. Lyra and I ended up living on the streets together though, when we were older.”
“She must be lovely,” Ella whispered.
Jasper snorted. “Lyra is the most obnoxious person I have ever met in my life. She’s insensitive, she’s impulsive, and she doesn’t know when to stop pushing. But she makes me laugh on a regular basis.”
“I suppose that’s all anyone wants from a partner.”
“Oh, she wasn’t my partner. She’s someone else’s, actually.”
The memory stung. He comprehended some of what Lyra told him on the eve of battle. Yet, Jasper would always love her because it was safer that way. Lyra had always been it for him and, in a way, she was his shield against the world. She had loved Jasper in her own way, but that didn’t excuse her actions. She had run off with a man who was half dead and who appeared to care very little about her.
Except Wolfgang had given up his humanity to help her. To save her. Even Jasper’s jealous mind understood that meant something.
“She’s with someone else?” Ella’s voice cut through his musing.
He hesitated for a brief moment before begrudgingly responding, “Yes. A good man.”
As much as it pained him to admit it, it was true. Lyra deserved the world on a platter. She had found one of the few men in existence who might be able to give it to her.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Ella said.
“He’s better for her anyways.” He glanced towards her and winked. “Perhaps it shall be you and I who find love in this prison.”
“Oh, I don’t think so.”
“Really?” Jasper asked while the sting of bruised pride ached in his chest.
