Page 33 of Court of Lies and Deceit

Before I can even finish the thought, a blast of water hits me in the chest. It slams into me with such force that I fly backwards, crashing into Draven who was trying to straighten from my earlier shove. Air explodes from my lungs as my unprotected back hits his firm chest and the hard dragon scale armor that covers it. Since Draven was already off balance, the hit makes both of us crash down on the ground in a heap of limbs.

Shaking my head to clear it, I try to blink my surroundings back into focus and scramble off Draven at the same time.

My stomach lurches as someone grabs me by the arm and hauls me off Draven’s chest. I just barely have time to see Alistair being hauled off Isera in a similar manner, both of them on the ground, before I’m shoved down on my knees so hard that my teeth rattle.

A moment later, cold steel is pressed against my throat. I still.

“Don’t,” someone warns from a few steps behind me to the right.

Since there is a sword across my throat, I can’t turn my head fully, but from the corner of my eye, I can see Draven on one knee, as if he had been about to get to his feet. Two Unseelie fae soldiers are standing behind him, and one of them is pressing a sword to his throat as well.

When I shift my gaze back, I find that the rest of our companions are in similar positions.

And suddenly, the street is dead silent.

People who look like normal civilians have cracked open windows all along the street, and they are watching us with a mixture of curiosity, confusion, and anticipation on their faces.

Footsteps echo between the pale stone buildings, coming from the direction of the palace. And even though I’ve barely spent any time with the guy, I already know who it is before he even reaches us. The simultaneously lazy and commanding footsteps give him away.

“This is how you would repay me?” Orion Nightbane demands, his voice echoing across the whole street as he strides around our captured group so that he is standing in front of us.

He is wearing the same dark blue and black garments that he wore when we left him in the throne room a few minutes ago, and his dark blue hair lies neatly down his back. As if the winditself wouldn’t dare to rustle a single strand of hair on his royal head.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Orion?” Draven growls back at him. “We had a?—”

Before he can finish the sentence, the second soldier behind him shoves a gag into his mouth. I barely have time to even open my mouth before they do the same to me. Isera almost bites the finger off one of her captors, but with a sword to her throat, she can’t do much else as she and the rest of our friends are gagged tightly as well.

The Unseelie King watches us all with a wicked glint in his eyes. I snarl a curse at him through the fabric of the gag, but it only comes out as garbled mumbling. And it makes the soldier behind me press his sword harder against my throat. I glare at Orion but make no other attempt to speak.

Once all of us have been firmly gagged, Orion continues speaking. And just like before, he talks loudly enough for the entire street to overhear.

“We had a deal,” the Unseelie King declares. “I allowed my healer to save Selena’s life in exchange for information about the Icehearts. I helped you, and you repay me by trying to weaken my court.”

I draw back, staring at him in confusion.

“Don’t look so shocked,” he continues, and spreads his arms wide to indicate the city around us. “This ismycourt. I have eyes everywhere. And I know that you murdered one of my people last night. Several guards even saw you do it.”

My mind spins as I try to figure out what in Mabona’s name is going on.

“Danzo Wolfstalker was a high-ranking member of my court and an asset to this city,” Orion says, stabbing an accusatory hand in our direction. “And you sought to undermine me, undermine us all, by killing him.”

The expression that descends on his dangerously beautiful face is so cold and cruel that I would have shivered if I wasn’t so angry. Instead, I glare back at him, my eyes blazing with rage. He is the one who told us to assassinate that guy. We upheld our end of the bargain, and Draven said that Unseelie fae always honor the deals they make. So why the hell is this backstabber arresting us for it now?

That ruthless expression remains on Orion’s face as he stares us all down. “You betrayed my hospitality.”

A few of the soldiers start putting on thick gloves before pulling out something that clanks metallically.

My stomach drops as I watch them approach us with iron manacles.

The Unseelie King flashes us a cruel smile.

“Let me show you what we do to traitors in the Unseelie Court.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Strength drains from my body like water through a sieve. I want to pace across the dark stone floor or slam my fists against the iron bars of our cell or murder the guards who have now fled up the steps to escape Draven’s wrath. But with a massive iron manacle around my ankle, and a thick iron chain locked to that manacle and then secured to yet another iron ring in the floor, all I can do is to sit there on the ground and lean my back against the cold stone wall behind me.

Next to me, Isera and Alistair are doing the same. With the iron suppressing our magic and draining our strength, just standing up would be a challenge.

---