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I cringe, remembering that Des had told me those children had been close to biting me as well.

Des. Just the thought of him guts me. I don’t know if I’ll ever get to see him again, hold him again, talk to him again.

“You’re married?” I ask, changing the subject and forcing my mind from the one thing that will make me go soft. Because there is no softness in this place. And if I want to hold out for as long as possible, I have to be the hardass I’ve learned to become in Des’s absence.

I hear Aetherial exhale wearily. “Yeah,” she says. After a moment, she adds, “We got married in the Night Kingdom. Technically, our marriage isn’t recognized in the Day Kingdom—relations with humans aren’t the only thing taboo here. But technically, I don’t really give a shit.”

I smile at that.

“By the way, Callypso—” she says.

“Callie,” I correct.

“Callie,” she repeats, “Just an update: I haven’t seen a human in the prison—other than you, of course.”

My heart plummets. I’ve been here days, and I’m getting weaker with each one. I’m losing my window of opportunity.

I stare down at my bracelet, twisting it around my wrist. Not all hope is lost. If I understood Karnon correctly, Des might be able to track my magic.

But if he could, wouldn’t he have shown up already?

“Callie?” Aetherial interrupts my thoughts.

“Yeah?”

“No one gets magically impregnated here.”

Her meaning doesn’t register at first, but when it does …

My eyes close at that. At what she’s not saying. Strong Aetherial immobilized, powerless to stop what happened to her.

“It was Karnon?”

“The devil himself,” she affirms.

I don’t have words. It’s happened to me before, it might very well happen to me again, and somewhere between it all, you’d think I’d have something to say, but I don’t. Not for brave Aetherial.

She clears her throat the best she can. “Just thought you should know.”

I swallow. “Thank you for warning me,” I whisper, my voice hoarse.

But I’m not sure I’m better off knowing what happened to her, what awaits me.

Sometimes knowing is just another kind of hell.

It’s not working.

Whatever venom Karnon’s trying to feed me isn’t taking.

I huddle in the corner of my cage, my body covered with a sheen of sweat. My entire body shakes violently. From my best guess, it’s been nearly a week since I arrived. I’ve gone through two more of the Fauna King’s ministrations, and each time my body rejects his poisoned magic, he gets more and more frustrated.

He hasn’t touched me yet. Perhaps the monster doesn’t like victims who fight back. Though I doubt at this point I’d present much of a challenge to Karnon; I’m too weak to do much on my own. Despite my sorry state, I’m not being dragged under by his magic, not like the other women here.

A horrible sort of malaise is settling into my bones. It feels like the magic will either do Karnon’s bidding, or I will cease to exist. And so far, it’s not doing Karnon’s bidding.

I’d assumed that all fae magic worked on humans. After all, the Bargainer could use his magic on me. But perhaps my assumptions were wrong. Perhaps there are some limits to fae magic. Perhaps being a human right about now is a good thing.

Although, it’s hard to call the state I’m in a good thing. I lay listlessly on the pallet, my dress hanging loosely on me. Now the guards simply carry me to Karnon’s chambers without a fight. There’s no more small talk.