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CHAPTER FORTY

A broad smile spread across my lips as I eyed the startled Raincarver who was staring at me like she’d just seen a ghost.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the enemy of my enemy,” I purred, and her lips parted in what was nothing less than utter shock.

“But you’re dead,” she accused.

“Really? How did I die? Was it heroic? A tale to be sung over fireplaces for all of time, my name painted among the stars themselves in honour of my epic exit from this world?”

“I…well, no. It was a really dull, nothing death. You were just gone. Everyone else who was left in those caverns was dead. I saw the bodies. I saw your friends…”

She trailed off as the smile fell from my face, and my moment of unexpected excitement at meeting her here of all places slipped away to nothing while my grief raised its ugly head once more.

“My death was a lie of convenience,” I admitted because she’d seen me now anyway, so what was the point in lying to her about it?

I supposed I really should have been lunging for her, wrapping my hands around her throat and choking the life from her to protect the secret Prince Dragor had made me swear to keep, but where was the gain in that?

Pyros had already figured out that I was alive anyway.

For all I knew, word of my continued good health would be spreading across The Waning Lands already, causing celebrations and commiserations alike - depending on what land the Fae hearing of it hailed from.

“Convenient for who?” Everest asked.

I hesitated, but only for a moment. I’d had no one else to talk to for weeks, and my initial assessment of her arrival in this cage was the truth. She was no more of a friend to Pyros than I was.

“When my prince discovered that I was alive, he gave me a task to fulfil, and the fact that the whole world happened to think I was dead was as good a cover as any.”

“But how did you end up away from the Keep and back with your people?” Everest asked.

I considered my answer. She knew about the archways after all, but I had been confident she hadn’t figured out how far they were able to transport you, let alone that one of them had been able to deposit me right back in Stormfell.

I couldn’t tell her that, but I supposed it didn’t hurt for her to know that I had used one of them to escape the Keep.

“I made it through an archway which spat me out in the snow. From there, I decided to head back to Stormfell rather than return to my training. I had other things I felt were more pressing,” I said finally.

Not a lie but not the whole truth of it either.

If she got the impression that I was referencing the snow outside of Never Keep and had used my air magic to make my way across the sea and return home, then that was her mistake.

“And when you got back, your fancy Prince Dragor decided to keep up the lie of your demise and use you as a secret spy or something?”

“Yes, something like that,” I agreed vaguely.

“Because no one would ever recognise you?” Everest deadpanned, arching a disbelieving brow.

I breathed a laugh. “My face and reputation do precede me, but sketches and rumours tend to add details that reality lacks. I coloured my hair for a time, but the pink always returns and my time in this cell has reverted it to my natural colour. Aside from that, I was travelling away from populated areas for the most part and Succubuses aren’t so rare that they’re unheard of.

Then again, they clearly figured out my true identity, so perhaps you’re right in thinking I was a poor choice for the task.

It wasn’t like I wished to accept it anyway. ”

“So why did you?” she blurted, moving to sit on my cot beside me, and I arched a brow at her presumption. There weren’t many Fae who would willingly choose to come so close to me without my allure reeling them in.

“Perhaps I don’t know a lot about the way you do things in Cascada but surely even your ragged bunch of ruffians follow a chain of command. Have you never been given an order you didn’t wish to follow?” I asked.

“Oh please, don’t start with the ‘ragged’ bullshit. Cascada has put Stormfell on their ass more times than I can count during this war. Our armada is the greatest in all the seas, our cavalry is-”

“I’m going to stop you there because I really don’t think there’s any point in the two of us getting embroiled into a dick measuring contest on behalf of our sovereign lands. We’re both a little far from home at the moment for it to matter anyway.”

Everest pouted, glancing out through the cell bars at the lavish room which surrounded the cage we’d been placed in.

“Well, I suppose we can at least agree that Pyros is a shithole,” she said firmly, glaring at the wide fireplace where flames flickered merrily as if it had personally offended her.

“Oh yes,” I agreed. “The prisons in Stormfell are far finer. We hold balls for the prisoners every night with a feast included, of course. Here, they only change the sheets once a week. It’s practically a hovel.”

Everest barked a laugh, plumping up my pillow as if testing it for softness.

“Okay, so maybe they do have nicer prisons here. But that’s hardly a boast when their people are all self-serving, annoyingly tall, disgustingly muscular assholes with weirdly strong jawlines and the personality of a tree and the stubbornness of a stupid old ball of moss clinging to a rooftop in a storm. ”

“That’s…very specific and seems to reference one particular Flamebringer above the rest. Though if you’re certain it’s a common trait among all of their people, then who am I to argue?” I taunted and she huffed, sweeping her tangled mane of hair back over her shoulders.

“If you must know, I am referring to a specific Flamebringer,” she admitted bitterly.

“The one who kidnapped me and dragged me all the way here like a sack of potatoes just because he believes I can win this stupid-” She cut herself off, glancing at me before looking away and winding her arms around her legs.

The desire to hide the truth from me coloured the air, replacing the need to escape this cage which had been consuming her up until that point.

Everest was so passionate that her wants could easily have restored my magic a dozen times a day if I spent enough time in her company.

Not that that served me much while my hands remained cuffed.

I’d be lucky to keep my sanity for much longer at this rate. Fae went mad if they were cut off from their magic for too long, and I’d already been stuck like this for weeks.

I drummed my fingers against the edge of my bed, wondering what she might be hiding.

“Want to swap truths?” I offered, and she glanced at me warily.

“What kind of truths?” she asked cautiously.

“Small truths first,” I offered. “Then we can decide if we want to build up to any big ones.”

Everest considered my words. “Fine. Tell me what happened back at the Keep after you shoved me through that archway. You saved me that day, and don’t go trying to pretend you didn’t do it on purpose. When I found out that you, Moraine, Cayde and Dalia were dead, I-”

“Don’t say his name in the same breath as theirs,” I growled, and her lips parted in surprise at the menace in my tone, her muscles tensing in anticipation of the violence she could clearly see simmering in my eyes.

“I hated that you were dead,” she said finally, and my brows pinched at the admission.

“I know we aren’t, well, anything. And I know that we only spent time with one another because of the secrets we were trying to unfurl.

But we got to know each other in that time, at least a little, and I’d like to think we came to respect one another. ”

I nodded in silent agreement of her assessment and she went on.

“I felt like you deserved a better death than that, you know? You were the fucking Sky Witch. You deserved to go out in battle and glory, standing alone on a field against a thousand warriors and killing half of them before you were overwhelmed, causing a victory for Stormfell by sacrificing yourself, that kind of thing.”

“You’re rather fond of fanciful ideas, aren’t you?” I teased.

She smiled. “I just think you deserved that much. You’re a legend.

You built that reputation for yourself, you earned it in a hundred ways if half the stories I’ve heard whispered in taverns and around campfires about you are true.

And I’m going to be a legend too, so I know what kind of end I’d want, that’s all. ”

I could feel her desire to boast, some secret touching her lips which she really wanted to let spill free of them.

I caught hold of that desire, having every intention to tug on it and make her offer up her truth to me but for some reason, I didn’t do it.

“Well, now I’ll get the honour of a public spectacle at least. I’m expecting them to haul me out of this cell at any given moment and drag me to the biggest amphitheatre they’ve got so that all of Cinder Vale can watch them butcher me for sport.”

Everest wrinkled her nose at that suggestion. “They’ve said they plan on that for you?”

“They haven’t denied it,” I replied. “And it’s what I’d do if I were to capture Derrick Longclaw or Luna Furfiend or Earl Tarlord or Sirus Whitetoes or Seamus Vonsnuff or even your sweet father for that matter.

Anyone who has earned a reputation for prowess on the battlefield from a land other than my own basically. ”

“My father isn’t all that impressive,” Everest sneered, her hatred of him painted all over her face. “I’d be a far better catch, and I’d put on a show when I died too. I’d sing a song while you carved out my heart or dance a jig while you burned me at the stake.”