Page 49 of Kiss of Smoke

I tried again, but the moonstone ring didn’t respond.

That was fine. Everything was fine, because I had an emerald ring that would bring the tree roots down to me to lift me out of here.

I soaked up the magic in the emerald, planted my hands against the dirt wall of my cell and reached out.

Silence. I’d never heard a silence like that from nature before.

I made myself take several deep breaths to keep calm as I withdrew my hands. Something out there had to be dampening my magic.

What would Robin do?

He would check the bars of the cell. They were the only metal blocking my way; perhaps they could be kicked outwards from the earth walls and provide me with a small door to slip through.

I got to my feet, my knees and thighs shaking. Fuck, it had hurt to fall that far. I wondered if the height of the vertical tunnel was actually meant to kill the unfortunate Fae who stepped through the illusion.

Then I wrapped my hands firmly around the bars of the cell, ready to rattle them and loosen them.

Almost immediately I threw myself backwards, gasping as quietly as possible while tears of pain ran down my cheeks. I cradled my hands against my chest, my palms and fingers burning like fire.

The bars of the cell were pure cold iron.

I held out my shaking hands to the lamplight, finding the tell-tale shiny red skin of cold iron burns striped across my palms.

“Okay,” I breathed. Robin, Jack, and Gwyn would not let cold iron and artifacts get the better of them if they were in this situation. I could do no less.

Time to try a Gwyn tactic.

I backed up as far as I could go—which wasn’t far, giving me maybe a foot and a half of clearance—I raised one leg and kicked one of the bars with my boot as hard as I could.

Several kicks later, I’d accomplished nothing but making a lot of noise. The bars didn’t so much as wobble.

I paused, catching my breath as I slumped against the wall, and a laugh rang out in the corridor.

“That was pretty amusing, Bri.”

A cold lump formed in my gut. Very few people called me Bri—the twins did, and one other person had…

Ioin came strolling up the corridor, stopping to the side of the lamp so he wouldn’t cast me in shadow. He twirled a cold iron chain around his fingers, smiling at me.

Had I really thought he was attractive once? Now I could happily stomp my boot into his face repeatedly, crushing that smug smirk out of existence forever.

“Yeah, really amusing.” I looked him up and down, mustering as much scorn as a prisoner could possibly muster. “I know you made your loser tendencies very clear towards the end of our relationship, but I didn’t see you sinking low enough to join the Unstained Souls.”

Ioin tucked one of his hands in his jacket pocket, still twirling that chain in the other. “‘Relationship’…that implies caring on both ends. You’re a nymph, Bri. You did what you were good for.”

Shame burned high on my cheekbones. I should never have slept with him. And now I knew for sure that he’d read the manifesto of the Souls, had probably thought of those pages while we were together…

I gritted my teeth. I was going to kill Ioin the moment he gave me an opening.

“So what now? Are you going to leave me in here to rot, like her?” I nodded towards the dead nereid.

Ioin glanced at her, expressionless. Like she was literal trash, and I’d just pointed out an empty soda cup instead of a once-living being. “She served her purpose, too. Wasn’t as much fun as you dryads, though.”

The rage in my gut had gone from smoldering embers to a full-fledged inferno.

“But we’ve got orders.” Ioin’s smugness had gone, leaving an empty, cruel petulance behind. “I wanted to teach you a lesson about interfering with our plans, but you’re pretty lucky. Someone in high places likes you. That’s the only reason we didn’t come back to finish what we started—although God knows you deserve it for what you did to them.”

“Did to who?” I glared at him, hoping he could feel the full force of my hatred.

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