Lex watched the queen leave and clenched the hand that held what had to be the biggest freaking gemstone she’d ever seen. “Did your mom really just give me a ring the size of a bird’s egg… Garrin?”
His face had gone pale. Once the queen turned the corner, he carefully placed Lex’s hand with the ring on his forearm, as though to escort her away.
But that wasn’t what he did.
Angling his body, he hid her arm from the soldiers who had maintained a steady presence behind them since the king’s summoning. Then he slipped off the ring from her finger and tucked it inside his breast pocket. “A lovely gift from my mother.” His expression held no happiness. In fact, the look on his face was so dire it sent tremors down Lex’s spine.
This man had kept her alive through freezing conditions no human could survive—and now he was scared?
They made it to Garrin’s quarters. The soldiers maneuvered on either side of the door, but they didn’t try to enter.
Garrin closed the door and gently pulled her toward the far end of the chamber. He backed her against a wall and leaned in, his forearm braced above her head, his mouth inches from her own.
Lex’s heart fluttered and her breathing turned spastic. She’d been terrified around the king, who she swore had entered her dream with that awful crown on his head. But Garrin oozed charm, even when his handsome face was stressed. No matter the danger they were in, every moment with him was seductive.
“What’s going on?” Lex couldn’t begin to imagine how powerful something had to be to scare the Dark Prince.
His head dipped even closer until his lips brushed her earlobe. “Someone wishes to track your presence in our land. The ring is charmed.”
Lex jolted. And not from Garrin’s mouth on her ear—though that was distracting. “Your mother?”
He touched his finger to her lips and shook his head slowly as though reminding her to remain quiet. “I don’t know,” he murmured. “But the ring contains magic.”
She peered up past his full lips to his crystalline eyes. How could she have ever thought them cold when they held so much warmth? “You sensed it?”
“Someone didn’t want anyone to know the ring was charmed. The magic has been masked, but it’s there,” he said quietly.
“What do we do?”
Garrin swallowed, his muscular neck bobbing in a nervous gesture she wasn’t used to seeing from him. “We get you out of here.”
“That was already the plan after what we learned about your father,” she whispered.
He shook his head slowly. “After meeting with my father and mother… I don’t know how, but they are several steps ahead of us. We must go immediately.”
She reached up and curled her hand around his arm. “Don’t you leave me,” she said.
His gaze dropped to her mouth, and he looked away. He didn’t speak for a moment, and then he said, “I’ll do whatever necessary to keep you safe.”
Lex frowned. “Garrin, I’m not kidding.”
He touched her chin, his warm gaze tracing the outlines of her face. “Em will bring clothes more suitable to your tastes,” he said quietly, though loud enough that the men stationed outside the door could hear.
She tilted her head and crossed her arms. “The clothes…? You’re very selective about what you listen to.”
He paced away and opened the door a crack, requesting for Em to come to his chamber. When he returned, he said, “I always listen to you, Lex.”
“Since when?” She let out a harsh sigh. She was able to decipher the guards’ murmurs and knew they heard her clearly too. “What are you going to do?” she whispered as softly as she could.
“Get you out.”
“By myself? Garrin,” she said.
He rubbed his brow, strain showing in his every move. “Do you trust me?”
She wanted to say “hell no,” but that would be a lie, and she couldn’t get the words past her lips. “Yes.”
“Please do as I say.” His expression was so earnest that Lex nodded. She couldn’t contradict him when he was this stressed. She wanted to go to him—hug him—but his stance was closed off, as though he were preparing for something terrible.
A moment later, Em knocked on the door with an armful of clothing. But thankfully, these looked more like the pants and long-sleeved top Lex had worn through the Land of Ice.
“Oh dear,” Em said as she helped Lex change in the dressing room. “I’ve forgotten your coat.” Her mouth twisted adorably. “Wait but a moment and I’ll return with it.”
“Thank you,” Lex said, and finished pulling on the—leather? rubber?—boots Em had given her. These things were the most comfortable shoes she’d ever worn. She needed to steal herself a pair before she returned home.
Lex walked into the main room and noted that Garrin had changed into a similar outfit.
“Better?” he asked.
“Much.”
He nodded, though his brow was furrowed as though he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. He picked up a dagger, but as he attached it to his belt, he stilled. “That is odd.”
Lex glanced down instinctively and smoothed out her top, which couldn’t have fit her better if it had been custom-made. “If you’re trying to make me comfortable, you’re failing. What’s wrong with my outfit?”
Garrin moved toward the door and opened it before any knock had sounded. And if Lex thought about it, she’d heard it too—the footfalls of several people approaching.
She wasn’t used to the things her senses picked up, but she had better adapt quickly, because the Fae who stood on the other side of the door were terrifying-looking, with glowering faces, some of them covered from head to toe in robes.
What in the what? The men were in formation, as though preparing for battle. And that couldn’t be right. Garrin’s father could have had them attacked earlier, but he hadn’t, so why now?
“Where is Zirel?” Garrin asked an extra-tall Fae with light brown hair that stood straight up on top.
“The king requests that you return to his chambers.”
Garrin’s back stiffened and he moved to the side, blocking Lex’s view of the soldiers—and their view of her. “I will attend my father in just a moment. You may leave.”
“We will escort you to the king, my prince,” the guard said.
“You misunderstand,” Garrin said pointedly, as though trying to impart wisdom. “I have one errand, and then I will go to him.”
Guards outside the door entered the room and surrounded Garrin, the air filling with something…the Fae energy Garrin and the others spoke of?
“What are you doing?” Garrin said.
The tall guard grabbed Garrin’s arm. “King’s orders.”
Lex’s heart raced. Panic she’d not felt in forever bubbled up, horrifying and familiar. “Garrin?”
He yanked his arm free, but when he raised his hand, no blue fire sparked and no ice formed.
His face crumpled in pain and multiple guards quickly surrounded him. One of the men wearing a dark auburn robe touched Garrin’s head.
He collapsed, his eyes rolling back.
“Garrin!” Lex screamed.
The soldiers and men in robes lifted him and carried him out and into the hallway.
“No!” Lex closed her eyes and called to her powers.
Absolutely nothing happened. When she looked up, Garrin and the soldiers were gone, the sound of their rapidly retreating footfalls the only thing left behind.
She jumped to her feet and ran after them, but the door slammed in her face. And it was locked from the outside.
“Let me out!” Lex banged on the door, then clutched her head, which pounded worse than when she’d woken from the Land of Ice. She sank to her knees, her mind racing.
Moments later, Em walked in as though the door hadn’t been secured.
Em appeared oblivious, looking down at something in her hands, the coat she’d promised hanging over her arm. “I found these gloves and thought you might wish to wear them in addition to… What has happened?” Em scanned Lex. “Are you all right, miss?”
Lex stumbled to her feet and grabbed Em. “They have him.”
“Who?” Em draped the coat over Lex’s shoulders, and Lex automatically slipped her arms through the sleeves.
“The prince. Palace guards took him.” She couldn’t trust anyone, but Garrin had entrusted Lex with Em. “It’s not safe for me inside the castle, and apparently, it isn’t safe for Garrin either.”
“But he is the prince. Why would he not be safe?”
Lex gripped the girl’s upper arms. “Em, will you help me?”
Em looked utterly confused. “You are certain it was palace guards who took the prince?”
“Garrin recognized them.”
Em’s gaze fell on a turned-over chair, her eyes growing wide. “Let us return to my room, where you can tell me what has happened.”
“I don’t know—”
Lex was about to say she wasn’t sure it was a good idea to show her face in the castle any longer, when the sound of heavy footsteps came from somewhere down the hall.
The soldiers might be farther away than she imagined. Or they could be right on top of them. “They can’t find me,” she said, her eyes pleading with Em’s, whom she hoped was truly on her side.
Em glanced at the door and her mouth puckered. “Guards and two alchemists. I can hear their robes brushing the stone floor. How unusual…”
“Alchemists? That’s what those monks are? Didn’t you say they’re Fae who understand magic better than anyone?”
“Among other things.” Em ushered Lex into Garrin’s bedroom.
Lex looked back. “Shouldn’t we leave before they get here? We’ll be trapped.”
“Not trapped—liberated.” Em pushed on a panel, and an invisible door opened to a hallway like the ones in the rest of the castle, with stone floors and arched ceilings, only narrower.
“What in the hell?” How did Em know about a secret chamber from Garrin’s bedroom?
She shook her head. Did she really want to know?
“Not hell, miss—a secret corridor. Come.” Em yanked on Lex’s arm, and they ran down the hallway. “Everyone knows of the passageways. We must hurry before they get here.”
“If that’s true”—Lex looked back—“what’s the purpose of using them?”
“Ages ago, they were used to pass secret messages and lovers.” Em slipped inside an empty room and pulled Lex in with her. She shut the door behind them.
“Lovers? Isn’t this a free-love castle? The king and prince have harems at their disposal.”
“The men, yes.” Em urged Lex out another door and down another long hallway. “The passageways are for the lovers of the women. This way.” They raced around several more corners until they were in what looked to be the servants’ section.
Lex caught her breath, her hand pressed to her chest. “Isn’t it forbidden for women to have lovers?”
“Oh yes, miss. But…” Em shrugged.
Lex thought Fae regimented and old-school, like Garrin. Turned out, they might be old-fashioned, but they also broke their own rules. “You Fae are pretty naughty, aren’t you?”
“Most assuredly.” Em winked and opened another door, this one to the outside.
Cold air stung Lex’s face, but the door they’d exited a second ago disappeared, smoothed over by ancient walls covered partway up with ice.
A secret portal? Only it wasn’t like the ones she’d traveled through. It had already existed… There was so much to learn about magic. “Will the soldiers find us?”
Em wrapped her arms across her chest, shivering. She still wore the gauzy gown of the court women, while Lex had on proper winter clothes and coat. “Let’s not find out. Where would you like to go?”
Lex pulled her arm out of one sleeve of her coat and held it for Em to slip into, the two of them huddling together. “I might be able to find a cottage Zirel took me to.”
“You’ve been to the village?”
“We visited an elder named Mertha.”
Em nodded as though she knew Mertha, or knew of her, and they took off, running as quickly as they could while sharing the coat.
But the farther from the castle they made it, the more disoriented Lex became.
Inside the village, the cottages all looked the same, and everything was covered in snow. The first time she made the trip, she’d had her hood pulled below her eyes, relying on Zirel to escort her to Mertha’s. Her lay of the land had consisted of what she could see from her knees and below.
Em and Lex were out in the elements now, with guards likely close behind. They wouldn’t last long before they were discovered if they didn’t find coverage soon.
“I’m sorry.” Lex glanced ahead and behind them, and shook her head. It had started to snow, the moisture dampening her hair and blurring everything. “I thought I could find it, but I’m turned around and I don’t know where we are.”
Em sent her a shivering smile. “I do. We will go to the home of my childhood. It’s not far.”
