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I smiled, forcing arrogance to my face in spite of the conflict warring within me. I had killed a man—brutally, infact—and no matter that it was self-defense, I felt the stain of each death I caused upon my soul. I didn’twantto become like the Fae, killing without remorse.

The day that I did would be the day I truly lost my humanity.

He huffed, turning his attention to Imelda. “Time’s up, Witch,” he said, stepping out of the doorway and waving a hand for Imelda to step through.

She slung her pack over her shoulder, barely glancing at me as she stepped through it and disappeared into the hallway. I knew the idea was to keep her distance from me. She couldn’t claim not to care about Fallon, but I could be irrelevant to her.

It was better for her safety that way, but it did nothing to stem the hurt in my chest. My bond with Caldris had gone silent at some point during my fight to survive with Ophir, leaving me anxious. I’d only managed to keep my panic at bay with the commotion of others being in my room, not knowing who would be able to hear my thoughts. I didn’t want to give them any information that wouldn’t be safe to share inadvertently, and until I had a full lesson on all the capabilities of the Fae, I couldn’t take that chance.

But now alone, I realized how quiet it was to be trapped alone inside my head. There’d been a time when I had lived for the solitude of those moments.

Now I just craved the feeling of my mate’s annoyance grumbling away at me.

8

Caldris

The clearing of a throat woke me, and I knew before I opened my eyes who had come to torment me in my cell. My body felt weighted down, sluggish, and impossible to move. It took every bit of my energy to force my eyes to open, to stare up at the woman who could take everything from me if she wanted to.

“Where is my mate?” I asked, my voice hoarse.

Flames burned up my throat, the first hint at how long the iron had kept me unconscious. The fuzzy remnants of my dream hovered at the edges of my memory, threatening to consume me if I gave them the attention they needed. They slipped through my fingers as I forced my body to roll onto my side, pressing a palm into the stone beneath my body and trying to push to sit myself up.

“She’s in far better condition than you at the moment,” Mab said, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared down at me. She kept her distance from the iron bars, her nose wrinkling in disgust at the horrid, damp smell of death and decay that always consumed the dungeons. “Must you force me to lock you away down here? You know how much I hate being forced to subject myself to this stench.”

“Sorry to inconvenience you, my Queen,” I mumbled, dropping onto my back when my body wouldn’t cooperate.

I couldn’t force myself to sit, let alone stand. The iron had rendered me incapable of protecting my mate, as if thecage hadn’t already done that. The snake wrapped around my heart was a sufficient cage in itself, forcing me to obey Mab’s commands even when they went against everything I believed.

Estrella’s relief pulsed down the bond, her sense of me returning as I awoke. I felt her worry—her fear for me—and guilt plagued me in response. To be so separated from all parts of me must have been devastating, and I wasn’t sure I would survive it without having eyes upon her body to know that she still breathed.

“What must I do to earn your loyalty? Your mate will follow you, and I have no desire for us to be enemies. The three of us united in one cause—just think of it, Caldris,” she said, her eyes alight. It was the closest thing I’d ever seen to hope on Mab’s face, as if something she’d only dared to dream of was finally within her grasp.

“You want to see the Fae in chains,” I said, the accusation ringing between us.

She’d never kept secrets, even when I was a child. She’d been clear and straight with me and my father, putting her desires into words.

“I want to see the Fae at peace with one another. I want to return to the days of Old, where the Fae took their rightful place as Gods among men. I want our courts to coexist without strife and wars between them. I do not want the Seelie and Unseelie Courts to return to the wars that nearly ruined them before you were born. You are too young to know the horrors of that time, but I remember them like they were yesterday,” she said, the smile drifting from her face.

“You cannot imprison an entire race to ease your own fears. That makes you just as bad as the Fae who committedwar crimes in the name of their court,” I said, a cough racking its way out of my throat.

“I will do whatever I please, with or without your willing aid. Surely, you must know that you and your mate will be my weapons, regardless of what you wish for Alfheimr. Why not enjoy the luxury of standing at my side as a loyal ally? I could give the two of you the Winter Court to rule over. You could behappy. That is what I want for you,” she explained.

The words felt like the first in a long line of deceptions. Never before had she bothered to manipulate me, because she knew she could get what she wanted from me, regardless. But Estrella was another beast entirely. Her magic was fully formed and waiting within her to fight.

Mab could not wrap a snake around her heart unless Estrella owed her a debt or agreed to it in some other way, and she would need to remove the iron shackles in order to do so. Her only option to bind my mate to her will was out of reach for the moment.

Except for going through me.

“You tainted my soul with your will long ago, and I’ve lost hope of anything butHelhaimwaiting for me in the afterlife. But the soul of my mate is the most valuable thing in the world to me, and I will not aid you in condemning her to the same fate. Even your magic has boundaries, and I think it is high time for you to meet your match,” I grumbled, tossing an arm up over my head. I managed to maneuver it beneath my skull, offering myself a pillow as I turned my head to meet Mab’s annoyed stare.

“You think I would ever allow you to complete your mate bond with her so that you might become a challenge to me?” she asked.

A laugh erupted from her. It was all things cold and hollow, lacking all the warmth it should have possessed. It was so easy to forget that long ago, Mab had been the Princess of the Summer Court until the cursed gem had twisted her into this dark, cruel creature without a soul.

“I wasn’t talking about me,” I said, correcting her assumption. If I’d learned one thing about Mab in my centuries at her side, it was that she thought all men wanted power. They all wanted to use. They all wanted to be stronger than their female mate, because that was the way of males in the world.

I didn’t care if Estrella was more powerful. I didn’t care if she ruled over me, and I was the figurehead at her side. All I wanted was to stand beside her in all her glory.