Page 67 of The Fae Menagerie
Safe, my ass. She'd given the orders to set the fucking thing loose, I would bet her castle on it. I would have bet my rooms, but they were filling up with water. Before long, everything I owned would be ruined.
We had twelve hours. That was roughly ten inches per hour. After four hours, it would be forty inches deep in my enclosure. Not quite over my head when seated, but close. I wouldn't be able to breathe for the last half-hour of viewing, give or take a few minutes. That would be scary enough for Parker.
"Can you stand?" I asked.
He carefully set his foot down in the inch of water now accumulated and pushed himself to his feet with a grunt. I whispered a silent prayer of thanks to the gods. If Grandmotherhad adjusted the viewing spell, we were both goners. I could hold my breath for up to an hour, but after that … I didn't want to focus on what might happen.
"When it gets too deep, I want you to stand." I saw his flash of concern and shook my head. "Don't worry about me. I can hold my breath until the bell rings."
"What if the bell doesn't ring?"
"She's not trying to kill me," I reminded him.
"Why is she trying to kill me, again?" He looked skeptical.
"I defied her by accidentally meeting my fated mate."
"You haven't claimed me." He hugged his arms to his chest. "I haven't claimed you."
From his heated gaze, he was daring me to speak my claim aloud, to admit I loved him. I couldn't, not with Grandmother just outside the enclosure walls, waiting with her pixie retinue and the rest of our court. They wanted me to fail at this, the same way I'd failed to improve their station when I'd refused Prince Drummond's marriage proposal.
"You are my fated, and unlike her own fated, she will have a much easier time getting rid of you."
"Where are they going?" Parker asked, pointing.
Dark clouds hovered to the south, and Prince Drummond's eyes were closed. He'd once mentioned he could unleash his shadows to call a storm. Was he doing that now, for me?
"Anthousai hate storms." Knowing my fickle people, always ready for entertainment, they would return to watch us drown, even in a hurricane. I dreaded reaching the upper boundary of my enclosure's magic. What if the barrier that protected the glass, kept us away from the hanging lights, and repelled the weather also held us in?
The water was up to my ankles now, where my feet were stuck to the floor. I could move them closer together or furtherapart, but if I tried to raise them, even to cross my legs, I would fail.
"The cuddlebugs left, too." Parker sounded sad.
"Not willingly," I said, pointing to where two redcaps led Horace's daughter Calista away by her arms. "They want to help us."
"We'll never find the coin, now," Parker said. "When all this water spills over … at least Horace will be all right, if the water backs up into his enclosure."
I nodded. Cuddlebugs were semi-aquatic creatures. "You're worried about Horace, at a time like this?" I asked.
"You told me I didn't need to worry about you, so yes."
I was concerned enough for both of us. As the water seeped closer to my knees, I feared it. Water was not my friend. I remembered a time when I was young, the thick arms of my father holding me under as I squirmed and shook, trying to break free.
We were light fae, the anthousai, but we demonstrated some dark tendencies. I'd repressed that memory, too willing to forgive and forget after he was gone, but now …
"The books." Parker curled against my side, tucking himself under my arm.
"She'll probably replace them." My grandmother loved to read as much as I did. She was the reason I kept such an extensive library. I wondered if these rooms would return to my home once I was free of this place, or if they would vanish, leaving me to find a new dwelling on the outside.
Mother had called this my day of reckoning. I dared to hope that meant I would return home at the end of it. My home would be drastically changed, either way. The water would ruin everything, not only my books. I was ready for new furniture after all this time, but I would miss my bedding most of all. And would my wasp killer survive hours of soaking?
No matter what happened to my material possessions, the most important occupant in my enclosure was still here with me. The strange sensation of danger hadn't washed over me yet, but when the coin's directive kicked in, I hoped I could act fast enough. I needed to keep Parker alive.
Parker inhaled sharply and pulled his feet closer toward the back of his thighs. The water was now level with the top of the couch. I could feel it seeping through the hard foam cushion, into the seat of my garment.
Parker must have felt it, too. He hopped to his feet on the couch seat, trying to stay dry as long as possible.
"I don't like this," he muttered. "Are you going to be all right?"
