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Warden shrugs. “Get used to it. I have.” He turns and trots down the path into the river valley.

I suspect, other than the tiniest shred of dignity remaining in me, there is nothing left to lose in doing as Warden suggests. ButI have everything to gain if there’s even a hint of a possibility the wild plan might help me get Alice back and lift the curse.

Getting her back in my arms is my only aim, the only mission, the only end point in all of this. The Faerie thought they could take my life. They were wrong. If they think they can take my mate, then I have to bring the battle to their door.

And it appears I need a monstrous army to do it.

ALICE

Time is like molasses here. It does what it wants. The sun rises and sets to no rhythm at all, making the view outside look like a CCTV picture, flickering with life but far removed from what living actually is.

Although I suppose the Faerie live down there somewhere. Sound doesn’t carry, and there is a vague cheesy smell which wafts in occasionally. Yes, the Faerie smell of cheese. It would be funny if I hadn’t found out they were the ones who caused the mass deaths of humans beyond the veil in order to ensure our everlasting loyalty.

As if loyalty means anything to a Faerie. From what little I’ve witnessed in the queen’s court, it’s kill or be killed.

I put my hand on my stomach. It feels more rounded than it did when I arrived. It’s certainly the case I’ve not had a period since the first one when I arrived in the Yeavering. Although I know stress can also stop periods too, but even if I am stressed, this seems unlikely.

There are no mirrors in my room, so it’s not possible to look at myself. All I have to go on is how I feel, coupled with nausea which rolls through my stomach whenever it feels like it, there isa distinct chance both Fenrother and the queen have made the correct assumption.

I am pregnant.

I flop onto the bed. The chain which binds me allows a truncated semi-circle of movement from one side of the room to the other and stretches long enough to allow me to use the toilet.

I get to bathe once a day. A bath appears in the centre of the room filled with lukewarm water. The Faerie might smell of old gorgonzola, but it seems they don’t want a stinking human in their midst.

I stare at the ceiling, one which is covered in a mural of flowers, which open and close magically depending on whether it’s light or dark outside. It’s simple magic, pretty, innocuous, and I can’t understand why the Faerie would enchant such a small thing while systematically killing off half the population of the world beyond the veil.

“You like?” a small voice says at the end of the bed.

I raise myself up on my elbows to look at the tiny crystalline creature.

Turns out the Duegar are absolutely beautiful. Far more like a fairy, like the illustrations I’ve seen in books, than the Faerie themselves. The Duegar are part translucent, or rather they look like they’re made from glass, making it hard to see their features as they move around. They have small, delicate, translucent wings which emit a small chime when they flutter.

Here in the Faerie hills, they are unable to maintain their complete invisibility by order of the queen. Here they are servants, doing everything the Faerie do not want to do or create. As it turns out, the Faerie are inherently lazy. Even if they have magic, they prefer someone else to do things for them.

“The ceiling?” I point upwards. “I can’t understand why the Faerie would decorate a cell.”

“They did not. We did,” the Duegar at the end of my bed says. “You are to birth, are you not?”

My hand goes to my abdomen once again. “From what I’m told, yes.”

“We want you to be comfortable in your confinement,” she says as two more translucent Duegar appear, one each carrying a platter of food.

“And well fed, apparently.” I laugh. “There’s no way I can eat all of that. I don’t feel great.”

The Duegar cocks her head on one side, then looks at one of the others. He puts his platter on the bed and sidles away.

“I am Abbe,” she says. “This is Cedric.” She jerks her thumb at the Duegar closest to me. “This is Heard.”

Heard instantly disappears.

“Thank you for all you’ve done for me. I really appreciate it,” I say, blinking swiftly at the missing Duegar and wondering where the hell he went.

“It’s not like you have much of an option,” Cedric says, his glass-like hand running over the magical chain which links my wrist to the wall.

“True.” I shrug. “Same goes for giving birth here.”

Cedric and Abbe look at each other. “The father is the Wyrm?”