Chapter 7

SEVEN

Cassia

I open my eyes, and I see darkness: the complete absence of light. I hold my hands in front of my face and still see nothing. I feel around the space I'm standing in, and my hands hit a cold, hard surface.

What? Where the hell am I?

It's bizarre and unsettling. I can't orient myself with my surroundings. Walking with my hands in front of me, I either feel nothing or hit a cold, hard surface again. And then there's the smell. The stench of something rotting fills the cold air. It's a smell unlike anything I've smelled before, but it instantly reminds me of death.

Which is oh so comforting.

It's eerily quiet too. It's like being sealed in a tomb. The second the thought enters my mind, I shiver. Wherever I am, thoughts like that won't help.

Then some unknown light source again comes at the edge of my vision, and gray shapes separate from one another in the darkness. I'm definitely underground given the fact that the walls, ceiling, and floor are made of dirt. "Where am I?" I whisper. My feet move me forward through the dim space, trying to make sense of it all.

Pain radiates through my body unexpectedly, and I gasp into the darkness. I want to reach for the pain, but it's nowhere. Nothing on me hurts. It's an intangible pain, yet sharp, aching, and throbbing all at the same time. It pulls on me, propelling me forward, deeper into the darkness… a tether to some unknown source.

I keep walking, letting the pain lead the way until I turn a corner and gasp at what I see. Everywhere I look, beneath the light of a lone torch, there are caskets open to reveal decaying bodies: men and women, young and old, fae and human alike. There's no delineation between the caskets. They're all equal in death.

My whole body trembles as I make my way past it all. The cold air stabs into my skin until I'm shivering so much that my teeth chatter. The pain presses me forward. There's nothing in front of me except darkness, but I keep going.

The feeling inside of me intensifies as the corner of the room comes into view. There's something in that corner that I need to get to. My body tells me that much, and I can't ignore the feeling. I quicken my pace, my feet hitting the dusty ground faster and faster until I see him .

Big, strong Sulien lies curled up in a ball on the ground. His body doesn't move. I don't even detect the rise and fall of his chest. A heaviness weighs down on me and tears sting my eyes.

Keep going. You have to know. But I stop short of reaching him, scared of what I'll discover when I get to him. I can't lose him. Even though he pisses me off. Even though I don't know where we stand.

There's just something between us. Something more than a shared history, more than the secret we share. Something inside of me resonates with something inside of him. I don't understand it. I haven't wanted to admit it. But the feeling is there.

What if someone has killed him? What if he's gone and I never got to tell him?

I take a shaky step forward. Suddenly, I can hear his raspy breathing. I can see the rise and fall of his body, and my chest aches, knowing that he's alive, but in what condition? His breathing sounds like gravel crunching.

Which can't be good, even though I'm no healer, I know that much.

I move closer to him, and now I see that he's covered in blood. Not one inch of the skin I see is free from it. Shit. He's been badly beaten. But by who?

Glancing around, feeling a shiver roll up my spine, I see nothing. Though logic says they couldn't have gotten far since the wounds look fresh. Are they going to come back for more?

If they do, I'll be ready for them.

"Prince Sulien?" I whisper.

There's nothing. Just the horrible sound of his unnatural breathing.

"Prince Sulien?" I say louder. "I'm here."

"No," he mutters, but he doesn't sound right.

My heart aches. "It's Cassia."

"Not here. In my head," he says.

I drop to my knees and reach for his arm, but when my fingers touch his skin, he hisses in pain. Jerking my hand back, I try to think. I need to touch him. To check him over. I need… to know if he's all right.

We'll try this another way. "Everything is alright. I'm here now. I'm going to take care of you." I run a finger along his cheek, and he cries out in pain again.

I jerk my hand away. The last thing I want to do is hurt him more.

He's not all right.

So, what can I do? Even if I see his wounds, I won't be able to heal him. He's too heavy to carry out of here, even if I knew where to go.

Tears form in my eyes. No matter what, I have to do something. But first, I need to find a way to help him, to bring him back to me.

I try to hold my sobs back, but as I lay down next to him, they escape. My Sulien. He's hurt. Someone hurt my prince.

"The barrier," he mumbles.

Barrier? Does he even know what he's saying? "The barrier is fine. You're fine. You're right here with me."

"I can't. Too weak," he gasps, like it's taking all he has inside of him to speak. Like each word is causing him pure agony.

He makes a sound like he's holding back a sob, and I can't handle it. I can't handle seeing him in pain like this.

My crying fills the chamber we're in.

His body tenses. "No, Cassia, no." His hand rests on mine around his waist… like he's trying to comfort… me?

I turn in his arms and lightly touch his face. "I'm okay."

His hand is there, brushing my tears away. "Never cry. Not with me."

He shouldn't be comforting me. Why is he comforting me when he's the one so badly injured? This man makes no sense to me .

"What happened?" I whisper, bracing myself. "Who hurt you?"

Someone I'm going to kill for doing this to him.

He takes a shaky breath. "The Keeper of Death."

I don't know who that is, but I press on. "Why? Why would she do that?"

He seems to struggle for a long moment before his voice comes out soft and weak. "She's trying to break us. She's working us day and night, so we can't protect our kingdom from the iron demons. She craves war and death." His voice is raspy, and his breathing is labored. He takes a pause, gasping for air. "I'm not strong enough to keep the barrier up." He tries to hold his head up, but he can't.

The barrier. The most important thing the royal fae do. "The others can handle it."

"No." He seems even more desperate. "We were separated. She's hurting them too. I can feel them weakening. If we fall, the barrier falls." He slumps forward.

I hold him closer, gently rubbing my face against his. "Stay strong. I'm going to fix this."

"It doesn't matter. None of it matters. You rejected us, the deal was sealed, and now we're bound to the Keeper of Death forever." His eyes close.

"Sulien, look at me!" I plead. "I'm going to fix this. I swear I am!"

His bloodied hand trembles as he reaches up to touch my cheek before it falls to the ground with a thud. I grab his hand and hold it tightly, hoping that he keeps fighting. He can't give up. He has to keep going. We have to be together and figure things out between us.

I think I could love the princes, if they just gave me time .

We lay together, holding hands. As time passes, Sulien's body relaxes against mine, curling against me. I'm going to get him out of this, I swear I will, no matter what it costs me.