Twenty-Two

ELLIS

I'd done it. I'd reunited with Eve, but at what cost? It had taken days of begging on my knees to that bastard king, telling him all I knew regarding the fae descendants back in the human realm, and promising everything I didn't have. And yet no matter how much he'd threatened me, I had held back telling him the one detail of my dreams that would be the final nail in Eve's coffin.

Now that I'd been reunited with her, we would find a way to escape this manor, and get home somehow. We'd wait until nightfall and sneak outside into the woods, and then …

My plotting faded as Eve's hand tightened around mine. I blinked furiously, the fae guards in my mind dissolving into the fae guards of the prison who stood before me. The armor and the superior smirks were the same, at least.

They led us down a stone hallway. There were no lights or torches, just a long hallway with individual cells on either side. Some were empty, some had a fae or a human; some had several fae or a mix of species. A green-skinned fae leaned out through the iron bars of his cage, eyes narrowed at Eve. I growled at him and he spat in my face.

A guard snarled at the prisoner and the fae fell back as if seized by an invisible force. He fell to the ground, twitching.

None of the other prisoners dared to glance at Eve after that.

"In." The human unlocked the large iron cage with an equally large iron key, pointing at me then inside. Seeing no alternative, I went inside.

The door slammed shut behind me.

"Wait! No! Eve—"

"Shut up. She'll be in the cell next to you. Kind of us, isn't it?" a guard sneered.

Eve shot me a helpless look as they shoved her into the cell next to me. The walls were nothing but iron grates, so I could still see her. I reached my fingers between the grate before I realized what I was doing, my hands seeking hers.

She flinched away.

I froze.

"Eve. Please," I began.

The guards laughed and left, their footsteps fading down the hallway.

"Eve," I said again, willing her to understand.

"You're angry with me," she whispered back, her back against the grate to me, but her fingers clinging desperately to mine.

"I was … surprised to learn about Alihandro," I replied rather lamely. How could I even express what I'd given up for her? What I'd bargained and negotiated away to save her from the touch of others, only to realize she'd given herself away willingly? Not that there was anything wrong with that. It was her life, and her body.

"But I'm not angry. Not about that. We both took comfort and release where we could. Yes?"

She nodded, sniffing.

I longed for her to understand. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her, but the words wouldn't come. Exhaustion flooded my body as I relaxed my back against the bars, both of us nearly touching if it weren't for the inches of iron separating us. Our hands rested back to back as well.

I took it as a win when she didn't pull away as I rested my hand near hers.

"I am glad you found a fae who was kind to you. I also found someone who was kind to me," I admitted, hoping some of my story might help her understand.

She shifted behind me, and I imagined her drawing up her legs underneath her body. Eve did that when she was getting comfortable and ready to listen. Taking that as a positive sign, I took a deep breath and told her what I'd been up to the past few days, reliving memories I wished I could bury.