Chapter 8

Hanna

We frantically tried the door, but it was sealed tight. Magic flared under Thorne”s fingertips, and ice ran up the door, but then it was gone.

Magic didn”t work here.

Thorne turned in a tight circle, rage rippling through his body. If I were the magician who had just trapped us, I would be terrified of Thorne. Even when he had us in a cage.

”Who are you really?” The magician demanded, his voice echoing through the dungeon. I turned, looking for him in the dim light that faded to darkness at the room”s edges. Magic seemed to work for him, given the way his voice echoed from every corner. ”You”re not Alys”s brother.”

”I am.”

”You don”t share her blood.”

Thorne”s face shuttered. ”She is my half sister.”

”The two of you don”t share any blood, imposter. Who are you truly?”

Thorne had stepped in front of me protectively, even though the voice seemed to come from nowhere, bouncing off the walls. I shoved him out of the way impatiently---or tried to, because he was a wall of muscle who didn”t move---as I stepped beside him.

Thorne”s gaze flickered to me, standing at his side, and I could”ve sworn there was a glint of satisfaction in his eyes.

Then he turned again. ”I”m Lord Thorne. Alys is my sister, and she thought you were her friend.”

”You”re doing the Snake Queen”s bidding, aren”t you?” There was an undisguisable note of fear in his voice.

Thorne scoffed under his breath.

”How did you find me?” The magician asked.

He must be as scared of the Snake Queen as anyone else.

”Alys told me how to reach you,” Thorne said. ”She thought you”d be useful. Oddly enough.”

I decided to cut to the point. ”We came here because the Snake Queen enchanted Prince Kaelan. We need your help reversing the curse.”

Thorne cut his eyes at me frantically, trying to get me to shut up. I just smiled back at him tightly. That wasn”t going to happen.

We were in a large, dark, cold room where I could barely see Thorne. Slowly, the lights rose revealing bars---and the magician who stood beyond them.

The magician was tall and slender, his tunic clinging to his broad shoulders. His black curly hair was wild around his narrow face. He would have been the kind of Fae you didn”t look at twice on the street except for the glittering, dark eyes that were as hypnotic as if they could claim a soul.

”Who are you?” I asked, not certain now if we had ended up on the doorstep of the man Alys had sent us to.

”And why would I tell you that, kitten? You came knocking on my door, babbling about the Snake Queen. She”s not exactly a popular person in our Kingdom. I would like to know who you are.” He dipped the knife he carried into a goblet, and it released a thin line of smoke that smelled strangely of fresh greenery and woodfire smoke. I stared at it, suddenly sure that the blood staining its blade was mine and Thorne’s, and that the magician had activated some spell on us.

I wasn”t going to ask if he was Ekardo when I wasn”t sure who he truly was. He might lie to us.

”Don”t make me ask again,” he said. ”Who are you?”

”I already told you,” Thorne said angrily. ”I”m Lord Thorne.”

”Not you.” The magician waved a hand dismissively. His tone was mildly scolding. ”The lady does matter too, you know.”

”No, she doesn”t.” Thorne”s voice was a low growl. I had the feeling just from looking at him that his protective impulses were driving him out of his mind. ”She”s one of my sister”s servants that I brought along with me on my quest.”

The magician raised one finger, then slowly ticked it back and forth. ”You may never get out of this dungeon. Not unless you learn to be a little more honest.”

I felt the presence behind me and whirled, only to see two servants, with pale skin and dead eyes.

I could barely respond before one of them pushed me against the bars. His strength seemed supernatural. I tried to use my magic to fight back, but it just… wasn’t there.

Thorne was closer to the magician than I was, and so he had a second more to respond.

Thorne leapt forward into the servant, who slammed into the bars without even a grunt. It was unnatural. Thorne was relentless, his fury driving him forward to deliver blow after blow though the man didn’t even raise his arms in defense. The man took every hit without any response, his eyes glazed, even as blood began to trickle from his mouth.

Thorne”s fists connected with the servant”s body, over and over, and a sickening sound of bone breaking under his fists rent the air.

Thorne landed another brutal blow, a punch across the man’s face that destroyed his orbital socket, leaving too much of his eyeball exposed, his face horrifically bloodied. I let out a cry of horror. It was one thing to kill an enemy, but this man wasn’t even fighting back.

The magician stood there, a cruel smile playing on his lips as he watched. He didn’t care if we killed his servant or not.

It was as if we were just doing his work for him.

And then I understood.

”Thorne! They”re under an enchantment. Under his command.”

The magician chuckled softly. ”She is quick.”

”You”re a monster,” I choked out.

He looked hurt, as if I should have been nicer after his compliment. ”Am I? The Snake Queen sent them to look for me. I could have killed them. This seems more merciful, doesn”t it?”

He glanced at where Thorne had the servant up against the bars and was punching him in the face over and over again. There was starting to be a lot of blood. ”Well. At least it seemed more merciful up until now.”

”Thorne, stop!” I said. ”They can”t help it, you”re hurting them.”

”If we don”t hurt them, they”ll hurt us,” Thorne said, landing another blow that rocked the servant, who swayed. His temple had burst open, but he still gripped Thorne tightly. ”I”m sure the enchantment breaks when they die.”

”You can”t just beat them to death!” I looked frantically at the magician. ”We really are who we say we are. He”s Lord Thorne. We came here for your help at Alys”s request. Thorne, show them what Alys gave you. Surely he”ll be able to identify her magic.”

Even while he was busy beating someone to death, Thorne managed to give me a judgmental, affronted look. He must not be happy that I had mentioned the enchanted items Alys had given him before we left.

”Yes, let”s do see those things,” the magician purred.

”Thorne, please,” I begged, as Thorne hit the man one more time, with a sickening crunch of bones under his fist.

Thorne abruptly stopped and stepped back, raising his hands to shoulder height. ”Hanna. This is a bad idea, the wrong time to show mercy--”

He sounded genuinely gutted, as if my pleading distressed him.

Abruptly, two more servants rushed at Thorne. The three of them successfully drove him up against the bars, pinioning his body there. I struggled to reach him, but the servant lifted me off my feet, pinning me to the wall. I let out a choked breath, barely managing to breathe through the stranglehold he had on my throat.

”Lord Thorne is absolutely right, this is the wrong time to show mercy, at least from your perspective,” the magician said blithely. ”And, truth be told, from mine. I want to know who you are, and I intend to find out.”

As the other two servants kept Thorne restrained-- barely, he kept seeming as if he would manage to break out-- they drew everything out of his pockets, scattering them item by item across the floor. Small potion bottles, miniature spellbooks, a golden cuff, all formed dark shapes across a filthy floor.

”Tell me about these things,” the magician said. ”What spells are in the books?”

”The only thing you need to know is that they come from Alys. Open them up. If you know her handwriting, you”ll see the spells are hers--”

”Oh, I know Alys by more than her handwriting,” the magician purred, and Thorne”s head snapped up, his eyes blazing with fierce light. The magician had to be a fool if he didn”t realize Thorne really was her brother. ”But that doesn”t mean that you are her brother. You could have stolen them. You could have hurt her. Killed her.”

He said all his words slightly, but his hands tightened into fists, as if he were genuinely emotional about the idea no matter how blithely he tried to speak. It made me wonder about Alys and this man.

”Alys gave me spellbooks and potions so that we could have basic magic that would work within the confines of the capital or the Snake Queen”s castle, if we must go there,” Thorne gritted. ”All are simple magic. Spells to unlock or kill or blow things up.”

”Well, you hardly seem like you need much help killing,” the magician said. ”What about the cuff? Magic tied to jewelry doesn”t unlock or kill or blow things up. It”s all communication or memory. What magic does the cuff carry?”

”It”s nothing,” Thorne said.

The magician didn”t look as if he believed that. I didn”t believe it either.

”You should understand that none of your magic will work here. Not within my dungeon... and not while you carry those wounds.” He smiled, clearly pleased with himself whatever enchantment he had managed. I cupped my hand over the wound on my arm, which I’d barely noticed, feeling the blood already growing sticky. The wound seemed to be healing with supernatural speed, but still not fast enough to matter.

One of the servants reached into his own pocket instead of Thorne”s for the first time and pulled out a tiny object so small that I couldn”t even see it at first. Was it a bean? Then it wriggled within his fingertips, and I realized it was alive. Fear gutted my stomach.

”Leave him alone!” I said, sure that I would not like what was coming next.

”Perhaps I should,” the magician agreed, sounding good humored. ”Because I don”t believe that you”re merely his sister”s servant. You sound imperious enough to be a royal and arrogant enough too.”

”Get away from her.” Thorne snarled.

Ekardo yanked back, then hatred settled across his face; he despised Thorne for scaring him.

But Thorne had cooled off, and he he went on, “You and Alys have a friendship, I believe. Nothing you”ve done so far will destroy that. My sister has a high tolerance for people beating on me.” His tone was dry. ”But if you put that truth worm into her ear, I”ll have to kill you. And then she”ll be most put out with me. Or, if you don”t want to die, you”ll kill me. And Alys will never forgive that.”

”If you really are her brother, I”ll just have to make sure Alys never knows,” the magician said.

The servant took a step toward me, and Thorne demanded, ”You used to work for the Snake Queen. What did you do for her? Were you as much her slave as these servants are yours?”

There was the quickest flash of genuine offence across the magician”s face. Then it was gone, replaced with faux amusement. ”You seem really intent on getting my attention. But Alys never mentioned she had a brother.”

”We rarely see each other,” Thorne ground out. ”But if anyone hurt her, I would kill them. And I assume she would return the favor.”

The magician waved his hand dismissively. ”It”s all right, I can make you talk anyway.”

Thorne resisted them at every turn, striking out with fierce blows, ducking their every attempt to bring him down as he moved with quick lethality. He clubbed one of them behind the ear and the servant, stunned, moved slowly after that, his every motion so many beats behind the others that he was useless to them.

Then the magician said, ”I tire of this. Put it in her ear.”

The three servants turned and stared at me. The fourth took longer, and he had to swivel his entire body with great effort, as if it were no longer quite responding to his commands.

”No,” Thorne shook his head, panting. ”I”ll take it.”

Two of the servants grasped his arms, and Thorne let them, though there was disgust written across his face. He could have resisted them.

“Thorne, no!” I shoved the servant who carried the worm toward him, and the man stumbled then continued to move relentlessly toward Thorne. “No, I’ll take it.”

Thorne winked at me. I tried to raise my magic, but nothing happened. The magician still had his capabilities, though, because I suddenly found myself pulled by unseen forced against the bars. My back slammed into them, and the magician seized my wrists, holding me hard against the unyielding metal.

Why hadn’t he done that to Thorne? Had he enjoyed watching Thorne’s resistance?

“Be good, kitten,” the magician said softly into my ear, and I yanked my head away, disgusted by how close he was now, even with the bars between us… barely. “You’ll have your turn soon enough.”

I wanted to tell him to go fuck himself, but Thorne was under his control and in danger, so I said nothing. My eyes must have flashed a warning at him though, because the magician let out a thin chuckle.

They forced the worm into Thorne’s ear. His jaw tensed, his muscles flexing as if he was in pain, but his dark eyes stared into mine as if I were his source of strength.

“Now, who are you?”

“Lord Thorne.”

“And why are you here?”

“Because my sister sent me to find you.”

“Tell me something you don’t want me to know.” The magician’s voice had become curious.

“I can’t be compelled.”

The magician’s jaw tightened. “Everyone can be compelled.”

“Not me, and not the girl,” Thorne lied. “You are wasting your time.”

“I suppose I should just kill you now then.”

“You could, but that will be embarrassing when the prince tracks you down and guts you, and my sister coaxes the thin flame of life back into your body just so he can do it again.”

“Alys, work with the crown?” The magician sounded amused. “Now I’m sure you don’t know her.”

Thorne didn’t answer, and after a moment, the magician asked, “Tell me about the magical boundaries on the border castles. The ones that protect them from the monsters.”

“I don’t know anything about it.”

“That’s bullshit if you really are a lord.”

The magician kept asking questions, and he grew more and more dissatisfied with the answers. His bony fingers tightened—unconciosuly, but still painfully—on my wrists, drawing me harder against the bars.

”Your ability to resist even the worm is incredible,” the magician said. ”Have you been tortured before?”

”Yes,” Thorne rasped. ”I spent an entire hour with you before the worm.”

The magician let out a surprised bubble of a laugh. ”Maybe you really are Alys”s brother.”

”I told you.”

”So if you really are Lord Thorne then you know how to defeat the defenses on Caer Far. Which is information for which the Snake Queen would pay quite well. She believes I owe her a debt that she intends to collect with my blood... But, everything is negotiable.” The magician gave us a thin smile that was the most chilling yet. ”Tell me all about the defenses at Caer Far.”

”Not a fucking chance,” Thorne gritted.

The magician went on asking him questions, and the worms seemed to cause him pain as he fought back and refused to answer, or lied.

A dark trickle of blood escaped Thorne”s ear and began to slide down his neck.

”What”s happening?” I cried. ”What are you doing to him?”

”He”s a stubborn asshole,” the magician said.

The servants tried to get a grip on Thorne, but his knees were buckling beneath him, and the three of them weren”t strong enough to keep him up apparently, because he fell to his knees.

He was indeed a stubborn asshole.

”Mystubborn asshole,” I gritted, correcting the magician. And no one was going to hurt him.

Thorne”s eyes rose, meeting mine.

”You genuinely seem to think you are Alys”s brother,” the magician mused. ”So dedicated to Caer Far. Strange, when I”ve never even heard of you.”

He asked him another question, and when Thorne lied, even he doubled over in pain, blood trickling from his nose now.

”Give it to me!” I cried out. I didn”t know anything that would endanger Caer Far. But I could confirm for him that we were who we said we were. Though now I questioned whether this magician would ever be willing to help us, or whether Alys had misjudged who he was. ”I”ll tell you everything you want to know!”

The magician let out a cold chuckle. ”I doubt that very much.”

Then he glanced at Thorne. He raised an eyebrow. ”He won”t live much longer though. So if you”ll take the worm, perhaps it”s best to give him a break--”

Thorne tried to fight off the servants as they poured an antidote into his ear. He almost succeeded in breaking the bottle, and as he swatted it away, the magician’s iron grip on my wrists finally relaxed.

I darted forward. I caught the bottle and as Thorne tried to fight the servants, I slipped in close to him and poured it into his ear.

He let out a cry of pain that went straight to my heart, but the next thing I knew, the worm was wiggling at the entrance of his ear canal. I ripped it out of his ear as he swayed and fell forward. The servants let him topple to the ground.

I stared at the servants, including the one who Thorne had beaten. His face was a mass of raw flesh now and he seemed not to even notice.

There were four of them. I couldn”t fight them off, as much as I wanted to run to the bars and grab the magician”s lapel and slam him into the bars and stick the worm into his own ear. But I needed to bide my time and wait to fight.

The magician’s lips parted, surely about to threaten me if I did not put the worm into my own ear, but I beat him to the punch. I thrust the worm into my own ear and then I felt it to wiggle deep into my eardrum.

The flash of white hot pain, the pressure inside my eardrum was incredibly painful. But still not as painful as seeing Thorne lay on the ground hurt and not knowing how badly.

”Ask your damned questions then,” I demanded of the magician.

”Who are you, really?”

”He really is Lord Thorne,” I answered. ”And I”m Hanna of the Isle.”

He tilted his head to one side, studying me. ”Princess Hanna of the Isle?”

”Yes.”

”Well, that changes things,” he said, and given the impression that my sister had left in the Grey and Snake kingdoms, I found that a very concerning thought.

”Another question,” he said. ”You do love Thorne, don”t you?”

I stared at him in horror. ”What kind of question is that?”

”The question of a man who always likes to understand what”s going on around me and who people are,” he said. ”We are defined by the people we love, whether we like it or not. So answer the question, Hanna.”

Ever since I had answered his question with my own question, the sense of pressure and pain in my ear had been building until it felt like a dagger being driven into my ear.

”Yes,” I gritted, pain making the world so white hot silver and bright that I couldn”t even look at Thorne to see if he was awake. ”Yes, I love him. Look at how he fought for me. Look at who he is. How could I ever resist loving Thorne?”

He smiled triumphantly. ”That wasn”t so difficult, was it? Now tell me, Princess Hanna, what are you doing in my Kingdom?”

The longer I waited to answer, the more the pain began to build, upright and hot, in my ear.