Twenty-Four

EVE

There was more to Hayida than met the eye. I was sure of it.

And not just obvious magickal skills. He had that intangible sort of power that you couldn't outright identify and put your finger on. I saw it in the way the other prisoners kept notice of him but also kept clear of him. Even the guards and their gazes, as they shifted from prisoner to prisoner, skipped right over Hayida as if it would be rude of them to stare at him. Plus, he gave out an aura of a figure of authority, regardless of his status as a prisoner.

Not to mention the overall resemblance to Fennis and Ellis.

He looks like the king Fennis wishes he was, I thought wryly.

Either way, if Ellis and I were going to survive this, we needed him on our side. I didn't care what it took.

I reached out toward him.

"Hey. I wasn't done." Hayida went still, turning around so fast I didn't actually see him do so. One moment he was facing away from me, and the next his eyes went roving up and down my body while one hand held out his pipe as he puffed thoughtfully.

My lips pursed in irritation. Unlike Shyllon and Alihandro, who I at least felt had cared for me somewhat, even if one of them turned out to be a narcissistic lapdog to the king, I could feel that Hayida was different. There were no allegiances, and no need to please or pacify. He simply was.

He didn't give a shit about me or Ellis. Or maybe even anything, including himself.

Hayida wasn't attractive in the conventional sense, like Shyllon, Alihandro, Ellis, and even Gregory had been once upon a time. His face was ageless, as was typical of the fae, but his mismatched eyes and gritty exterior were as intriguing as his attitude was off-putting. His hair was black and long, just like Fennis.

Would I fuck him for protection for Ellis and I?

Didn't you just give Ellis a hard time about Fallon?

I told my brain to shut up. This wasn't any time for logic and common sense.

And I wasn't sure what the answer would be. I hoped I wouldn't have to find out just how far I'd go to bargain for favors.

"Were you raised in a barn?" Hayida asked abruptly, blowing another smoke out toward me while glaring at my outstretched hand with disdain.

I drew it back, wondering how he knew. "Well, sort of. My estate was a farm, and—"

Hayida pressed his fingers down to his thumb, and my lips shut with his fingertips. "Never mind. What will make you go away, since I can't do what I would like."

"And what would you like to do?" I asked before I could help myself.

"Tie you to a roasting spike and slowly turn it over a large fire," he answered nonchalantly, picking a stray leaf off his shoulder.

My lips parted in shock. Surely he was joking.

"I'd like answers," I prompted instead, but he only groaned.

"No wonder they picked you. Fine. What do you want to know?" He puffed excessively on the pipe, the only outward sign I was irritating him.

Picked me? I shook my head. "Tell me about the society here. I don't understand it. Humans are slaves, but they are cared for and content. And yet, there is talk of rebellion."

Hayida waved one hand dismissively in front of his face. Faint scars and traces of old injuries ran up and down his wrists, and even between his fingers.

"The royals and the ruling class are out of touch and do not understand what the common fae values. Most of them are half-bloods anyway, and those that aren't still work hand in hand with humans every day. Slavery only gets enforced in the pleasure houses and at court. It's a meaningless word that's more of a mindset than a reality for a majority of the kingdom."

I buried my hands in the fabric of my dress to warm them. Though the sun was creeping high in the pink-hued sky, the chill was still more than was comfortable. At least I couldn't see my breath steaming in front of my face any longer.

"You seem well-informed for someone who's been in prison for centuries," I remarked.

His answering smirk was vicious.

"The time is coming, Princess. It is soon. Now, why don't you go rescue your boyfriend?"

I whipped around just in time to see a man punch Ellis in the face as his two friends held him down. He and his friends looked human, but the surrounding fae only laughed and egged him on.

"You think you can come in here and strut around like you own the place? There's an order to things. You're the bottom rung!"

The man saw me coming, a small twitch of his head in my direction the only clue. Cleary, he decided I wasn't a threat. That was a mistake he wouldn't make again. Especially after I kneed him directly in the groin and left him in a wheezing, gasping pile on the ground.

"You want some next?" I snarled to the two holding Ellis's hands behind his back, whipping around so quickly the braid in my hair smacked painfully against my shoulder.

They gave each other indignant looks, stepping forward to take me on next. One man with dirty blond hair saw the wound on my neck and froze, grabbing onto his partner's arm and hissing in his ear to stop. He tugged his buddy away, leaving the ringleader on the ground, coughing his balls up.

I was so busy basking in my victory that I didn't see the fae with golden skin sneak up behind me. "You little whore. Think you're so high and mighty? You can't fight all of us. Show us your dance from the pleasure house!"

Hands descended around me as the crowd moved in, and once again I was back at the pleasure house before Shyllon had intervened, alone and at the mercy of the drunk crowd.

A frightened whimper left my throat as I was unable to act, transported back to the same feeling of helplessness.

There was a roar of fury and hot wind blasted over my head, scorching the few stray hairs sticking up. The smell of charred flesh filled the air, along with horrific screaming. Four figures were down, so burned and charred, I couldn't tell if they were human or fae.

"Ellis!" I rushed to his side as he'd fallen to one knee, his handcuffs bright red like liquid fire. My hand reached forward toward him.

"Don't!"

An unseen force snatched my hand out of the air and threw it backward, the unexpected magick screwing up my balance as I toppled over. Hayida marched toward us, pissed.

"They've been here less than an hour, and this shit is already old," he grumbled darkly. "Everyone listen up!"

I swore every head in the yard turned toward him and absolute silence descended.

"You all see them, yeah?" Hayida challenged, baring his fangs. "You know what that means?"

Blank looks and stunned faces stared back at him.

"Well?" he grit out, an odd pressure in the air pressing down all around us.

"Yessir."

"Yes'm."

"Yes, Hayida."

Grumbles from all the prisoners rang out, petulant but subservient.

"No more problems," Hayida growled.

"No more problems," they all chanted back, though Strumo's glare was still mutinous.

A few prisoners inched forward toward the smoking bodies that were still breathing.

Hayida growled. "Leave them."

They changed direction abruptly, as though helping the fallen had never once crossed their mind.

At Hayida's rumbling and posturing, the entire yard cleared a wide berth around us.

Hayida held a hand out to Ellis, and I noted the hot cuffs had gone back to their previous black color.

"I hate throwing around my weight like that, but I have less patience for bullshit at my age," he spat out.

I gave him a weak smile, and Ellis winced.

"Just be glad you came on a rest day. Tomorrow training starts anew," Hayida remarked, tucking his pipe away somewhere in the tunic he wore.

"Training? For what?" Ellis asked, brows furrowed.

Hayida laughed, but it was a rough sound full of scorn and mockery. Memories of Peri filled my mind, and the horror stories she'd told us around the campfire about how they'd been trained in prison for the Royal Hunt. Ellis had been out for most of it, dealing with withdrawal symptoms, so he'd missed it.

"The next Hunt, of course. It's never too early to weed out the competition, after all." His mismatched eyes flicked to Ellis. "Assu vu nu mang pa nourr."

Ellis blanched. "Po?"

The sound of the fae language flowing effortlessly from his lips did something to me. Something sinfully delicious.

Focus, Eve. Gods above.

Hayida's nostrils flared.

"It's no skin off my back if she does or doesn't."

"The stories are true, then?" Ellis pressed. "The prophecy … What does that mean for me?"

Hayida gazed at Ellis thoughtfully, both of them locked together as if they'd forgotten I was there to begin with.

"You knew this day was coming. You saw it a long time ago. You heard whispers of its coming your entire life. Don't balk now. I balked once and now I'm here."

Hayida slapped his knee, laughing uproariously.

Ellis's eyes narrowed, his hands curling into fists. "I don't balk."

Hayida's eyes flashed as he stood, leaning over Ellis with his impressive height for the first time.

"You've done nothing but balk your entire life, little elfe. Don't do it now when it finally matters. That was my mistake. There are no prophecies—only the choices we make in life."

A horn sounded above us and the prisoners as one shuffled into one large line, ready to trudge back through the gates. It was hard to miss how deliberately everyone ignored us. And Hayida.

I lined up behind the cryptic fae, and Ellis brought up the rear. As the line puttered toward the gate slowly, he leaned down and whispered into my ear, "Hayida is the one in charge of the rebellion. He has to be."

Before I could snap something back about how he should focus on how the old fae had saved our asses, Hayida himself whipped around, fangs flashing. He winked once with his gold eye at us, then turned back around as though nothing had happened.

Urgh, we were definitely going to die here.

Inside the iron gate and down the hallway, prisoners peeled off one by one back to their cells until it was just the three of us left at the end of the line. We stared into the empty stone of Ellis and my cell.

"Where is your cell?" I asked Hayida as the guards none-so-gently prodded Ellis and I through our cell door and slammed the iron gate behind us, locking it by slamming down the latch. The four guards converged on Hayida with their staffs drawn.

"My cell? I don't think I've ever seen it," Hayida remarked lightly, unconcerned as the guards raised their staffs.

Hayida chuckled darkly. "I'm never conscious for it."

The staffs came down, striking his body. Purple magick flared around him, and with horror I realized the staffs were feeding off of Hayida's power, the source of magick for the staffs. When I could open my eyes again, the fae guards and Hayida were gone, leaving Ellis, me, and an empty cell.

"Eve. I—"

"I don't want to talk right now, Ellis."

I slumped down in my cell, turning my back to him as I sat on the hard stone that served as my bed. Pulling my knees up to my chest, I tried to conserve whatever warmth still lingered in my cell. The temperature would plummet as soon as night fell.

"Eve, please I—"

"What did Hayida say to you in the yard?" I demanded instead. I was tired of games and tired of being talked about like I wasn't there. It reminded me of how my father used to talk above me and around me as if I were a possession to be managed.

"He said not to let you eat the food, but I don't understand why he thinks I control that." He paused. "You have eaten since we've been here, yes?"

I snorted. We've been trapped in the fae realm for about a week. I'd be dead if I hadn't eaten yet!

"Don't be ridiculous. Of course I've eaten. I wouldn't be up and walking around if I hadn't. There's no truth to any of those stupid fairytales," I finished, resting my chin on my knees.

None of it was real. It couldn't be. The fae were different from us, but they weren't gods. They were cruel and kind just like humans.

"Eve … it … I just wanted you to know. It was awful what Fallon did. I didn't like it at first, even though eventually I did. And I don't care if you had fun with Alihandro. It's ok. I … I love you."

My hands curled into fists as I balled them under my dress, pressing them into my inner thighs to steal warmth from that part of my body. I wanted to reassure him back, but I felt like a used out blanket, constantly stretched thin and worn out. I'd loved him for a long time now, even when he'd thought himself unlovable. It had taken death games and stupid fae to help him realize it, and I'd take it in whatever form it came in.

"I know, Ellis. I love you, too. And I get it. Mostly. I won't pretend to understand completely, but I believe you thought it was the right thing to do. And I'm sorry that she … that she did that," I ended. I'd always been awful at expressing myself verbally.

The silence stretched between us like a chasm, until he cracked a rare grin at me. It felt like a peace offering we'd climbed a mountain for.

"We're both pretty bad at this royalty thing. Maybe it's best we're both here," I offered, despair threatening to overcome me. I turned and faced Ellis on my bench, suddenly afraid to be alone.

Ellis crouched down against the bars that separated our spaces, pressing his body into the iron.

"We're trying, Eve. That's more that can be said for most kings and queens." His face screwed up as if he was in pain.

I slid off the bench and down next to him on the ground, the cold seeping into my legs as we twined our fingers together around the bars.

"What is it?" I whispered to him.

His head bent forward, dark curls obscuring his face.

"Something's going to happen soon. I don't know what it is, but I've seen snippets of it—mere flashes, but my magick can feel it, and it's left me anxious."

"You saw it? Like in a dream?" I asked. It had been a while since Ellis had mentioned his dreams. Hadn't he mentioned before he'd seen me in them? I wondered if it had anything to do with the prophecy Calten had told me.

"It's murkier than that. I've seen clearly before—snippets of my family, you, but this is different. This is an all-encompassing sense of change and catastrophe racing straight toward us. I don't think there's anything I can do to stop it."

My fingers squeezed his.

"There's nothing we can really do," I said.

His head lifted, an expression of defiance looking back at me. "We can get close to Hayida. We can learn his secrets and trade them to the king to get out of here. Or at the very least, get you out of here."

I opened my mouth to argue with him, then closed it as he glared at me, nostrils flared.

"How is Hayida supposed to lead a rebel operation from a prison cell?" I argued instead. "He seems too much of an obvious choice."

Ellis's lips pursed. "Perhaps that's why it is a sneaky choice. He's so obvious, he's not obvious."

I blinked. "I don't—"

"Even if he isn't the head rebel, he must know a lot about something! He's been here too long not to know anything!" Ellis sounded desperate, clutching onto anything.

I didn't have the heart to say what I truly thought: that if Hayida had any information that was important, wouldn't the slave king have extracted it a long time ago?

"We'll stick with Hayida" is what I said instead, curling my hand around his as much as I could.

What other choice did we have?