Thirty-Three

ELLIS

We traveled for three days, not speaking much, and only stopping to eat and rest. Feyanna had gone silent, keeping her distance from Eve but shooting me glances with those moon eyes of hers. The rain finally stopped, but the skies continued to churn about us. Back toward the city, there was still an angry red, the storm there continuing to rage on.

In the morning, we encountered an unlikely group of fellow travelers.

"Annie! Oh my god! Thazel!"

Eve screamed and cried, running to throw her arms around two girls who dropped their supplies and hugged her back. All of them cried and laughed through their tears.

Feyanna eyed everyone warily.

"Ok, we get it. Keep it moving, girls."

An effeminate man clapped his hands at them all, a small satchel over his shoulder. He was covered in black soot.

"Calten? Is that you?"

He gave a small pirouette. "This is my new war look. Not the best, we'll have to keep workshopping it. Think Marcell can help?"

I had no idea who or what he was talking about, but Eve laughed. That made me immediately like this man.

"Where is Shyllon?" Eve asked, fear lacing her voice.

The man's flippant exterior cracked, pain and sorrow leaking through.

"No. NO!"

Calten caught her as she fell, both of them collapsing into each other. "Babe, I'm sorry. I did everything I could. They came for all the mansions and burned them. They didn't have any direction, no purpose. He got trapped.… " The man's voice broke, and Eve wrapped her arms around him.

"The head rebel needs to be punished for this," insisted Annie, wiping her eyes. "This is a war. This is senseless slaughter with no end in sight. People are rioting and looking, killing and raping. At least the king kept order!"

The other girl nodded tearfully, but I was too tired.

Too sick.

"What's she doing here?" The other woman pointed aggressively at the fae princess, her features twisting with anger.

Feyanna tensed beside me.

My hand came down protectively on her shoulder before I even realized I was doing it.

"She's homeless and a victim, like you," I bit out tersely.

"She doesn't know the meaning of the word," Annie sneered, stepping forward. "But I'd love to introduce her—"

Eve stood with Calten, both of them wiping their faces.

"Stop it!" Eve cried out. "We're better than this. We're more than Lord Trenton, murdering children. We're better than the fae who think death games will be good for politics! We have to work together, don't you see?"

Annie turned from Eve, gesturing to Calten and the other woman. "Let us keep traveling. There's a foul smell in the air."

The group moved on without us, traveling north.

The more I thought about it, the more sentient the weather seemed.

I didn't know what to make of it. I was too exhausted to do anything but keep moving. The goal of the mountain ahead of us was the only thing that mattered. Get to the barrier and get home.

I'd sleep and reflect on strange fae females when I was dead. Ha.

Yet, Feyanna never complained throughout the trip. She kept up admirably, though it was likely that had to do with her fae blood than her being in any kind of outstanding shape. And yet, the fourth morning of our journey found Feyanna looking alert and bright for a princess who'd spent the night outdoors. The reason soon became clear.

"The barrier is up there," Feyanna said softly, pointing with one hand to the top of the mountain.

Eve whipped around and stared.

It took me a moment to figure out why: she'd spoken in perfect common tongue. She spoke in the language of Eve and me.

It was the first time Feyanna had spoken all morning as we'd awoken to a dead fire, shivering in the brutal fae air, and she'd spoken in our language. By accident, or design?

Eve jerked and stared at her, shivering in the brutal morning cold. "You knew where the barrier was this entire time?"

I stared as well. How long had Feyanna been playing with us?

Feyanna's face froze in fear, her mouth parting.

"I … That's where you're going. Was I wrong to assume that? Everyone knows where the barrier is. It is a major landmark." She spoke in fae again, so I repeated that back to Eve, who glowered.

The mountain that jutted up in front of us was intimidating and large with angry points and sharp cliffs that curled around—not unlike claws from a monster of my childhood. The claws were similar to my father's hands after I'd gotten caught putting snakes in my brother's bed or he'd found another one of my stashes of drink.

Eve's gaze followed Feyanna's finger, her mouth pursed in a line before she spoke. "I'm not going anywhere until she explains why she's been pretending this whole time to not understand me."

A valid point that I didn't bother translating to Feyanna because she didn't need me to translate, did she? I found myself more frequently not bothering to translate at all between the two women anyway, who kept themselves on either side of me this entire trip as though they were two sisters squabbling over the last bit of honey and bread.

Wait, was I the honey or the bread in that scenario?

"I'd also like an explanation," I said to Feyanna. She hadn't been the one who'd taken advantage of me like Fallon had, but I remembered the disapproving expression on her face before it happened. She'd known, and not done anything to stop it. That meant she'd lied once, and now twice.

And she'd likely lie again.

She said, "The portal—"

I cut across Feyanna, tired of the bullshit.

"Speak so Eve can understand you," I insisted, rather unkindly.

Her eyes watered, but I was over the little game. "You screwed up. Own it or we're not taking another step."

Her scared little princess routine dropped from her face as if someone had smacked it off.

"Fine," she bit off shortly. "Portal is at the top."

Eve's eyes narrowed. "Don't be ridiculous," she said to Feyanna. "Surely, we can't climb that. There must be another way to go, or she wouldn't insist we go this way, would she?"

Feyanna eyed Eve warily like she had been for the entire three days it had taken to get to the base of the mountain. Now I knew it was likely because she feared her secret being found out.

"Why did you lie?" I asked.

Feyanna sniffed. "Why does anyone lie? The fae court is surrounded by lies. I keep my cards and skills close to my chest to stay out of my father's notice."

"So you're saying you played the role of the dumb sister on purpose?" Eve questioned, her voice sharp.

Feyanna rolled her eyes and turned away toward the mountain.

"Can you climb that?" I asked Feyanna dubiously, brows furrowing. Confused, her gaze went to the peak of the cragged rocks and then back to me.

"It is hollow. There is a catacomb of sorts, and stairs. How would we ever bring the new slaves in and structure the games if we couldn't get up?" She trailed off, possibly realizing how crass and unfeeling her tone was.

My hands balled into fists at my side. I could feel sympathy for Feyanna all I wanted, and even forget we were on opposite sides of this conflict of fae and man, despite my half-blood status. But mentioning death games and rampant slavery with such a casual air made it all come crashing back down. This was a game for her and her society, mere entertainment.

We were not the same.

My anger dissolved as quickly as it took for Eve's hand to slip into mine, drawing my attention to a dark hollow at the base of the cave. A small square of red fabric stuck out, an oddity among the black and gray rocks.

"I think it's hollow. Perhaps there's a way up from the inside?" she asked.

This damn language barrier between Feyanna and Eve guaranteed me to have every conversation twice between the two of them. I swallowed my frustrations.

"Yes, it appears so," I grit out instead, my patience waning.

Eve squeezed my hand hard, but her gaze was on the mountain. I knew that squeeze intimately. She was wary and not of the mountain.

I gave Feyanna my most disarming smile. "Why don't you lead then, since you are much more familiar with all of this than I am?"

Her lips thinned but that was the only outside sign of displeasure she made, quickly turning so that her torn, borrowed cloak fluttered around her ankles.

I returned the squeeze to Eve's hand and followed as Feyanna disappeared into the black crack in the mountain's side.

"I don't trust her. She—"

"I know," I whispered back to Eve. "Something isn't right. I feel it, too."

But we had no choice, did we? Besides, what could one princess do against the two of us? I felt confident that between Eve and I, we could handle Feyanna.

Into the darkness we went.

I was glad I had Eve's hand. The darkness was absolute, but strangely, it was warmer under the mountain than it was outside. Feyanna's footsteps echoed loudly ahead of us, the only reason I didn't call out for her to wait for us.

Though there were other sounds, too..

A mild background humming thrummed all around us. It was as if the very mountain itself were alive and buzzing. Scuffling and muffled thumps echoed all around me, but I tried to block it out and focus on Feyanna's boots hitting the hard rock.

Whispers erupted in my head, moving outward and around with a maddening dizziness that left me unable to tell if they were real or not.

The queen approaches. The one who will burn it down. The one who will break it all.

I'd heard these voices before.

Normally, they only appeared in the dreams that haunted my sleep, the same dreams that had driven my obsession and addiction to drinking. I'd thought myself crazy until Viana had admitted to hearing the same voices in the dark quiet of her own room at night.

I stopped, Eve's grip on my hand the only thing tethering me to reality. "Ellis. What's wrong?"

She couldn't know. I'd already let slip too much. If she thought me mad, would she desert me entirely? Would she go home without me? She could rule the Northern Realm without me. I was still angry and hurt that she betrayed us, but she was a strong ruler. No one needed a mad king. No one needed a pathetic, addicted drunkard as a husband.

Let alone a father.

A choked sound left me before I could help it, my knees weak, mourning a future snatched away before I'd even allowed myself the luxury to contemplate it.

I thought of the other ‘half-breeds' back home. I wondered if their magick had settled at all. Or perhaps they were all dead, and there would be nothing to return to but death and bleached bones.

My fear tasted like ash in my mouth.

"Ellis. Please." Eve's voice was on the outskirts of my panic, a small white bird trying to land on crashing waves in the middle of a storm.

Even if I returned and everything was well, what then? I could not control the raging tempest inside of me. My magick was out of control and I did not have the confidence to take it in hand, no matter what Feyanna said.

Would any child I have bear the same burden?

I remembered the fear in Eve's eyes. She was afraid of my magick.

I couldn't hurt her. I couldn't hurt an innocent child.

Footsteps paused in front of us, then approached rapidly. I felt a presence stir in front of me, and I knew even in the pitch black it was Feyanna.

"Take me and the others with you. I will help you conquer the madness," she whispered though there was no need. Eve wouldn't know what she said whether she screamed or sang. My free hand reached out toward Feyanna, and she gripped it with a fierce strength.

Eve tensed next to me, taking half a step forward but going no further, waiting for me.

Always waiting for me.

"S-she wants to take her people with us home. In return, she will help control my magick. And everyone else's," I added in wildly. Because that would be a condition of Feyanna going with us—she would have to help the others, not just me. Viana, Lyra and Lily, the three brothers … everyone.

Eve tensed against me, but didn't protest. She simply kept my hand in hers and walked me forward. Feyanna's grip broke from mine and she took quick steps to get in front of Eve.

The voices remained distant in my mind as long as I focused on the pressure of Eve's hand in mine. But as the tunnel's passage ascended in a tight spiral, more voices and sounds joined until it was a cacophony in my mind. I closed my eyes and kept walking.

"Ellis. There are people here. Many people. I can hear them." Eve's voice whispered against my temple, a hint of fear.

My eyes snapped open as Feyanna put a hand on my lower magick, magick pushing through both of us, igniting a line of torches up and down every twisting catacomb.

Dozens of eyes glittered at me from the darkness. Hundreds, perhaps.

Eve gasped next to me.

And I didn't blame her. Faces and figures came out of the darkness at us, curious, but not threatening. Men. Women. Fae. Children. I recognized people here and there: Ranc, one of the overseers we'd first met, who had fed us and welcomed us to the fae realm. A few fae wore remnants of guard uniforms. Just how many people had been secretly against Fennis's rule?

They pressed in from all angles. But their focus wasn't on me. Hell, it wasn't even on their princess. It was on Eve.

Eve's breaths hitched with anxiety, her fingers curling into fists reflexively at her side.

"Seems odd that no one acknowledges their princess, don't you think?" Eve said to no one in particular, her tone clipped as it echoed off the surrounding rock.

Feyanna watched Eve warily, one eyebrow raised in challenge.

Eyes followed Eve and me, curious but not afraid. But Feyanna? There was recognition in the way their eyes slid right past her—speaking to a familiarity that froze the blood in my veins.

They knew something about Feyanna that we didn't.

"These people know her." Eve's voice rose in pitch as she spun around in a circle, her braid flying behind her in the dim light cast by the torches. "And not just as their princess. Half of them at least, I'd say."

"Take us to the barrier, now," I demanded of Feyanna, feeling uneasy and trapped in such a small space.

The fae princess smirked at me and led on. As we walked, they followed. I tried not to drown as the voice in my head rose again like a wave sucking me in and pulling me under.