Page 114 of House of the Raven
He moves his head from side to side. “That, I believe. You took your time to answer, which means…” he snaps his fingers. “I know, you two kissed.”
How does he always do this? I can never keep any secrets from him.
“Yep, that’s it.” He nods, satisfied. “How was it? As good as I suspect?”
“Just be quiet, Jago, and take me to her.”
“Fine.”
“Was it hard to find her?” I ask, wishing to change the conversation.
“Very. She’s a slippery one. You didn’t tell me she is pretty.”
I huff. Of course, he would say that. “She would sell your soul to Bodhránghealach for a copper, and she would use her beauty to lure you there.”
He shrugs. “She didn’t seem all that bad.”
“Are you saying that because she batted her lashes your way?”
“Maybe.”
Jago leads me to go to a section of the palace I haven’t visited in a long time. When I was little, I made it my goal to explore every corner of Nido, whether or not I was allowed. The four dungeons located at each cardinal point of the lower level fell into theout-of-limitscategory, but I managed to get as far as the iron door of the west wing cells, which is where we are now.
Two guards stand at either side. They bow their heads and let us pass. Only a few years back, they would have dragged me back upstairs.
A dank smell welcomes us. A jangling sound of jewelry that I recognize comes from one of the cells to the right. I turn that way and find Esmeralda pacing. When she sees me, she stops mid-step.
“Hello, Romani girl,” I say.
She lowers her eyes sheepishly, looking as innocent as a dove.
“You thought you could get away with betraying me?” I demand.
She mumbles something.
“Speak up. I know you aren’t shy.” Anger makes my words as sharp as daggers.
“I’m sorry, Princess Valeria,” Esmeralda says.
“You knew who I was from the beginning.” The recrimination comes out before I can stop it, and so does the hurt in my voice.
She nods.
“Is anything sacred to the likes of you?”
Her emerald eyes snap up to mine. “The likes of me?”
“Now, that’s the fire I’m used to.”
“We wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for people like you,” she shoots back. “And what is so bad about me anyway? That I have no money to feed my sick mother while you live in a fortress palace and lack for nothing?”
“I would have helped you.”
“Like you helped us before?”
I have no comeback for that. While Mother was alive, she ran the charities and did work for the poor. She always made sure Amira and I helped. I loved it, loved spending time with her doing things for people in need. But after she died, I lost my taste for the task because it reminded me of her absence.
“You even hate your own kind,” she spits. “The fae suffer as much as we do.”
