Frowning, he tries again. Again, my charmed jewelry holds fast. I’d enjoy his frustration if my arm wasn’t getting flayed in the process.

“What is this magic?” he growls, peering closer at the beads. All at once he jerks his head back. “The Bastard of Arestys,” he snarls, releasing my hand. “Guards!”

They enter the room.

“Why was I not informed that she wears Desmond’s magic?”

They look at each other, obviously confused. As if they would know. These guards are obviously just muscle.

“Your M-Majesty,” one of them stutters, “we weren’t aware—”

Karnon takes a menacing step forward. “Not aware?” he says. “Are you blind?”

He waits for response.

The guards shake their heads.

As the three speak, I begin to edge towards the door. My heart pounds faster and faster. This might be my one opportunity to escape.

“You brought foreign magic in here,” Karnon says. “It can be traced.”

Traced?

“Your Majesty, we had no involvement—”

But the Fauna King is done listening.

Karnon roars, slashing a clawed hand through the air. Several feet away the guards scream as each of their stomachs rip open in four long, jagged lines. Claw marks. Karnon did that with his magic.

Almost immediately blood and innards spill out from their guts.

Not wasting another second, I bolt for the door.

I never make it out.

Karnon grabs me from behind, his claws slicing into my skin as he spins me around. “We’re not done,” He whispers into my ear. He grasps my jaw, squeezing it to the point of pain. And then he breathes into me once more.

Chapter 27

I’m dying, my body rotting from the inside out.

I think a day or two has gone by since my last visit with Karnon, but I can’t be sure. All I know is that my life consists of shivering, sickening, and sleeping.

The guard I’ve dubbed Lion Tail walks by my cell every so often, banging on the iron bars with his gloved hands, taunting me. I weakly manage to flip him off, but I have no idea whether flashing someone the bird is even offensive in the Otherworld. All I know is that Lion Tail didn’t freak out at the sight like I hoped he might.

“Hey, Callypso—” Aetherial calls out.

My head rolls weakly towards her voice.

“Siren!”

“Yeah?” I croak weakly.

“Drag your bed over here,” she says.

“I don’t know if I can,” I mumble.

“You can, I know it.” She doesn’t even sound sorry, her voice commanding. Weak, but commanding.

Ugh, fae warriors are way too tough.

It takes an embarrassingly long time to move my pallet, but eventually I do just that.

“How are you holding up, siren? Still have enough movement in your limbs?”

“You had me drag my bed over here and now you ask me that?”

She gives a wheezy laugh. “I’m making polite talk. Don’t question it.”

My lips curve up slightly.

The two of us fall silent again, and my mind drifts.

“The shackles …” I finally say. “I didn’t realize how painful they must be.”

“I’ve endured worse.”

Geez.

After a moment, she adds, “We wrap cloth around the cuffs—the barrier stops most of the pain.”

But not all of it.

As I listen to her, I realize her voice is slurred, her speech much slower, like she picks her words carefully.

Losing the ability to move her mouth.

“Are you alright, Aetherial?”

She doesn’t speak for a long time.

Finally, she says, “Everything’s going. Even my mind feels foggy.”

From the little I know of her, I can tell Aetherial is too proud a creature to say that she’s not all right.

She sighs. “You know, the worst thing about this is that my wife’s going to have to see me like this.”

I don’t bother to comment. What would Des do when—if—I came back to him in a coffin?

“She’s going to take in that creepy little monster I’ll inevitably birth. I know she will, that sweet, foolish woman.”

“You’ve also seen them?” I ask.

“I was bit by one of those creatures.”

I cringe, remembering that Des had told me those children had been close to biting me as well.

Des. Just the thought of him guts me. I don’t know if I’ll ever get to see him again, hold him again, talk to him again.

“You’re married?” I ask, changing the subject and forcing my mind from the one thing that will make me go soft. Because there is no softness in this place. And if I want to hold out for as long as possible, I have to be the hardass I’ve learned to become in Des’s absence.

I hear Aetherial exhale wearily. “Yeah,” she says. After a moment, she adds, “We got married in the Night Kingdom. Technically, our marriage isn’t recognized in the Day Kingdom—relations with humans aren’t the only thing taboo here. But technically, I don’t really give a shit.”

I smile at that.

“By the way, Callypso—” she says.

“Callie,” I correct.

“Callie,” she repeats, “Just an update: I haven’t seen a human in the prison—other than you, of course.”

My heart plummets. I’ve been here days, and I’m getting weaker with each one. I’m losing my window of opportunity.