Page 65 of Of Stars and Lightning
Act Two
Once upon a time, a girl forged her own path....
but realized too late that sticks, stones, and bones were all she had.
Twenty
SAWYER
SAWYER FOLLOWEDTHEguards all the way down to the dungeons.
After Sol seemed to be possessed by Loumallet himself and officially joined their hate-the-King club, the kingsmen ordered them out so they could escort Cas back into the depths of the castle.
Sol and Nina only moved aside when Sawyer declared she would go along with them.
The kingsmen warned the King would not like that.
Sawyer told them to go fuck themselves.
She trailed behind the four kingsmen all the way to the other end of the castle, utterly annoyed when Finigan joined them somewhere on the journey. The rosewood door that led to the lower levels loomed in a hidden corner, easy to miss unless one knew what they looked for.
And oh, did she.
The tepid air hit her immediately as the door opened, forcing a cough and a flood of unwelcome memories.
Cas ambled between the kingsmen, his wrists shackled in copper cuffs to suppress his magic. The four men strategically placed themselves at his every angle, as if afraid the Prince would flee, even as constricted as he was.
Uncharacteristically smart of them.
They circled down and down the groaning staircase for what seemed like forever. It spiraled into the ground below the castle and Warren’s Temple, which hovered beneath Irene’s old throne room. The cylindrical structure made Sawyer yearn for the freedom of the outdoors. She wouldn’t say she was afraid of small spaces, but the moldy walls, the dim atmosphere that seemed to only thicken the further they descended, would make anyone uneasy—even a Fire Wielder.
She let a spark of fire free at her fingertips. The kingsmen didn’t protest, surely thankful for the speck of light. But Fin scowled. “You disgrace Emberdon using your fire to light a place like this.”
“You disgrace Winderlyn with your existence, yet here you are.” Sawyer didn’t balk when his expression filled with hate.
Finally arriving at the bottom, Fin pushed the towering dungeon doors open with a shove of his shoulders.
Everything beneath the castle was interconnected through the kingdom’s ancient tunnels. The rulers before Irene, all bloodthirsty bastards, needed a place to dump their prisoners. Greta Yarrow, Irene’s great-grandmother, decided what better place to have slaves and criminals await their death than right beneath their castle?
When they were smaller, Sawyer and Nina tried to implode the place—then quickly realized the castle would tumble to the ground as a result.
Perhaps that was the reason for the morbid placement.
They walked silently into the cellar hall. Cells expanded along the entire right wall. Last time Sawyer had been down here there had only been twelve cells, albeit several people crammed into them. Now, Sawyer counted fifteen, then the kingsmen finally stopped at the sixteenth.
“In, Xanthos.” One of the men shoved him into the cell.
Or at least tried to.
“Watch it,asshole, he’s still part of the Royal court.” Sawyer stepped forward, fire sparking at her fingertips. But Cas didn’t need the back up. A single glare from him had the men stepping back with only Fin standing his ground.
“That means absolutely nothing, Sawyerlyn.” Fin gave her a once-over, dangerously slow. “You’re looking better than ever, you know. If you ever need some company??—”
Sawyer laughed. “I would rather kill myself.”
“You’re more like your mother than you know, then.”
Cas lunged at Fin. In a smooth, calculated motion, he wrapped the dangling chain between his shackles around the lead kingsman’s neck, slamming him back to his chest into an effortless hold.
