Page 83 of Beneath a Shattered Sky
“Stop her!”
“What?” But Caed is on his feet immediately, pulling me with him.
“Prae.” Her name is a worried gasp as he drags us towards the source of the commotion.
I stumble to keep up with him as we dodge the other gathered fae on their rugs. My heartbeat is in my throat as the sound of swords clashing pushes us both into a sprint.
Twenty-Five
Rhoswyn
“Release her!” I hiss, staring down the soldiers standing outside of Prae’s cell with an anger that’s reflected in the way Caed is bristling behind me.
These aren’t the dungeons. They’ve locked her in the holding area above, for now, but only because we caught them before they could drag her downstairs. There are only a handful of cells here, set against the dry earth wall, and they’re empty except for Prae in the middle. On my right is a narrow stairwell leading downwards, which echoes with the screams of the prisoners below us. The noise only adds to my fury and the flex of Danu’s claws in my mind.
My glamour is gone, and so is Bree’s. I’m sure the three of us look fairly imposing because the Autumn Court soldiers guarding Prae’s cell are stuttering and mumbling as they stall for time.
Prae is in the corner, her head bowed as she hugs one arm to her chest like it’s paining her.
We still don’t know what happened beyond rumours that she tried to gut Gryffin in the middle of the festival.
“I swear to Danu,” I say. “If you don’t let her out right this instant?—”
“She attacked our prince!”
“Probably for good reason,” Caed mutters, and I shoot him a look.
“She’s a trusted member of my court,” I state again. “Now open the cell and let her out, before my Guards make you.”
Everything in me screams that there is somethingwrongwith the broken posture of my friend—and sheismy friend, despite what she might’ve insisted earlier.
“Release her,” a deeper, masculine voice orders from behind me, but there’s a wheeze in Gryffin’s voice that wasn’t there before.
The soldiers finally relent, opening the dark cell in the bowels of the palace tree, and I rush past them both to kneel beside Prae. She won’t let me see her arm, and concern grows as I wonder just how bad it is. The rest of her is covered in greenish bruises from the not-so-careful treatment of the soldiers who locked her away before Caed and I could get to her, but I don’t see any other permanent damage. Her navy lipstick is smudged, as is some of the warpaint along her cheekbones, but there’s no indication that anything more happened. Certainly nothing that would make such a fierce warrior react like… this.
“Hey,” I mumble. “Let me see. Whatever it is, I can heal it. Titania will get you mended.”
“What. Did. You. Do?” Caed demands, trying his best to storm past Bree to get to the Autumn Court prince.
“What I ordered him to.” Cressida’s reply is sharp, and unforgiving in a way that makes my gut sink like a stone. “Dismissed.” She waves away the soldiers, and they retreat gratefully. “I couldn’t risk having a fae with such a dangerousgift wandering around. Especially one in regular contact with the Nicnevin. Can you imagine if you’d been withered to death in my court? It would’ve been a nightmare. It was either this, or kill him myself, and I promised his father I would keep him alive.”
I tune her ranting out, focusing on Prae, but the Fomorian has Gryffin pinned with her one good eye, and now that she’s uncurled herself a little, I can make out the arm she’s cradling.
An arm covered in blood, and opalescent, amber-gold tattoos reminiscent of…
Rage, the likes of which I’ve never felt before blazes forth.
“Did you agree?” I ask her quietly. “Did he ask you before he did this?”
Her half head shake is all I need.
Standing, I pull Danu’s power to the forefront of my mind and meet the depths of those hazel eyes.
“Pleasekneel.”
Gryffin drops like a stone.
“You mated my friend without her consent.” I stride from the cell, snatching Caed’s sword from him as I go. “Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you now.”
