Page 98 of A Kingdom of Lies

She sighed, a hitch in her breath. “Tell me of my firstborn. Tarron. Do you know if he is well? How he has fared to the years of being left in his father’s care?”

It felt as though a sharp and boiling hot needle was pierced through my chest. A part of me whispered that I should just walk away, leaving her with some hope that Tarron was in fact alive, but I couldn’t lie to her.

“He died,” I said quietly, wishing for the cave to swallow me entirely.

There was no need to tell Elinor of the details, nor did she ask.

Instead, her small, broken voice changed into one of strength and relief as she replied, “Then he has found peace, and my Lovis is no longer alone on the other side.”

CHAPTER 34

I found Jesibel at the end of the pathway which led away from Elinor’s personal cage. She had waited for me, silently beckoning for me to follow her all without pressing questions of my conversation with the captured queen. I could see from the flickering of her gaze that she was interested in what we spoke of, but not once did she ask.

The pathway to Elinor wasn’t the only one within this cavern. Jesi guided me down another until it opened up intoa barren space that sang with dripping echoes. The walls of the cave were slick with water which dribbled and steadily flowed from unseen holes within the cave wall. Bundles of green moss spread like stains across the rocks. I even noticed the odd, small white flower that thrived in the darkness.

“Scrub yourself down, it will make you feel better.” Jesibel turned her back on me. “I’ll keep watch.”

“Thank you,” I replied, finding the words being all I could manage. After my conversation with Elinor, my mind was lost and frantic.

I didn’t waste another moment with tearing the clothes from my back and standing beneath the spring of water. It was so cold; it felt like a slap to the face, making my mind alert and my body sodden. It was displeasing for only a moment. After a while I simply stood there, letting the freezing stream envelop me like a welcoming hug.

I almost forgot about Jesi’s presence until she cleared her throat in an I-am-still-waiting kind of way.

Against my wishes, I stepped free of the spring and changed, body numb and limbs almost refusing to cooperate. My dirtied clothing had been discarded at some point, leaving me to dress in a set of mismatching clothes, a tunic and trousers that did nothing but hang off my body. Although I was thankful not to smell. Lifting my arm to my nose, I was greeted with the faint musk of age, and not dirt and blood.

After I changed, I shadowed Jesi, moving through the Below like a ghost. Deep in thought, I lost myself to the conversation I had with Elinor, my body acting of its own accord and carrying me every step of the way. Jesi allowed me the silence. It was clear she wished to break it, but I was thankful she didn’t.

“I should be thankful for something to eat, but this is disgusting,” I said, perched upon a stool beside Jesi. She had brought wooden bowls filled to the rim with a dark grey slosh of what could only be described as edible mud. I couldn’t even brave a spoonful, not as the waft of something terrible offended my nostrils when I brought the spoon to my mouth.

Jesi replied with a mouthful. “It does the job. We’re not exactly overwhelmed with choice in the Below. Trust me, in a matter of weeks you’ll salivate at the thought of this gruel.”

I could hardly watch as she stuffed another spoon into her mouth, teeth dragging the food from the utensil like a wolf ripping the skin off a lamb. Defeated, I dropped the spoon back into the bowl.

“Well,” she said, swallowing hard with furrowed brows of displeasure. “If you’re going to let it go to waste, then give it to me.”

I thrust the bowl into her hand and she snatched it greedily. As her sleeve shifted, I saw the puncture upon her arm again.

“Do you know why they’re taking fey blood?”

Jesi’s expression pinched, as though the memory was as painful as the mark on her arm looked. “There is a price to pay for staying here, no matter if it is out of our control or not. Blood. They take us, without warning, drain us until we are too weak to stand. Then we are brought back here. Sometimes the letting of blood can feel as though it is without gaps. Other times they leave you here until you start to believe they have forgotten about you. Then your name is called once again, and the cycle begins.”

“The Hand, he uses the blood to change his followers,” I said, remembering the human who had wandered into Farrador. He had displayed power that didn’t belong to him. I had yet to understand how the Hand could create such a thing but understood clearly that it came from fey blood. “I’ve seen it with my own eyes. But I expected more of them – more humans with access to magic.”

Which suggested whatever the Hand was doing didn’t work. Or that was what I hoped.

“Honestly, I don’t care.” Jesi’s response surprised me. “He could bleed me dry, and I would still find it impossible to locate a fuck to give him.”

“Why?” I looked to her, studying the way her brow twitched and she nibbled at the skin of her lower lip.

“I have nothing left to care for.” She shrugged, discarding the bowl by her feet, and sitting back until her head rested against the wall of the cave. “You will soon come to learn that no one is coming for us here. The ones who do only end up locked up behind the same bars. Just like you. It has been years since I was captured, shortly after Queen Julianna…” She trailed off, wincing slightly. “After your mother died and our Court was left unprotected. We had to flee, all of us. The Icethorn magic was left uncontrolled. It was destroying everything, ruining homes and tearing families apart. We thought it was safer to make for the other Courts, but some of use ventured too far South. Durmain was not welcoming. It made us easy pickings for the Hunters who seemed to wait patiently for us to step out of our protection. No one has come since. Not the Cedarfall Court, our closest allies. I don’t see them funding a rescue.Weare forgotten. So why should I care for the Hand’s plans, when those his sights are focused on do not care for me?”

For a moment I wanted to disagree, but I soon realised Jesi was right. Not once had I heard of plans to save the fey taken by the Hunters, only the plans to avenge them. Perhaps it was because no one in Wychwood believed that they would still be living. Hell, even I had not thought of such a thing.

“They do care,” I replied weakly. “I know people who would raze every realm to find you if they believed there was a chance you still lived.”

I had seen Althea herself, Princess of the Cedarfall Court, lead parties of soldiers to infiltrate Hunter camps. First hand I had witnessed her fight for them.

“Then where are our saviours? I have lost count of the number of years I have been kept here. Some, like Elinor, have dwelled within this prison far longer. No one is coming, Robin. You may think they care, but they don’t. Every now and then a new bunch of prisoners will be brought here. They bring news of the outside world and with it, the lack of desire to rejoin it again. It would seem that we are safer in the Below than out in a world where the realms are on the cusp of war.”

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