Page 26

Zoey

After lunch, I make my way to the far end of the courtyard where Isla and Elijah are waiting for me at our chessboard. A few of the pawns are only partially finished, but that doesn’t stop Isla from putting the pieces in place to start a game.

She nods for me to sit across from her, which I do.

Elijah sits on the bench at the side of the board. He glances at one of the bishops carved by Jake, which is the most jagged of all the finished pieces.

My stomach drops at the sight of it.

“I’ll be generous and let you go first,” Isla says to me, keeping her gaze level with mine.

Even though she’s only thirteen, it is generous of her, since she’s apparently some kind of chess prodigy.

I choose a random pawn to slide forward, since it’s impossible to focus on strategy when all I can see are my memories of Jake’s body, Matt wasting away at the hand of the queen, and the possessiveness swirling in Aerix’s eyes during our confrontation in his quarters. And it’s not like I can strategize from only one move, anyway.

“It’s not right, you know,” Isla says as she moves her first pawn. “What happened to Jake.”

“No,” I agree. “It’s not.”

Elijah sighs and leans back. “In my three years here, I’ve never seen anything like that,” he says. “Normally, they’re sent to the barns when the royals are done with them. We never see them again. But this…”

“Is unacceptable,” Isla finishes sharply, looking to me to make my next move.

“There’s nothing we can do to stop it,” Elijah says, his voice flat as he leans back on the bench. “We can only lay low and avoid their attention.”

So we don’t end up like Jake.

None of us say it.

But we all know we’re thinking it.

We play in silence for a few minutes, and I watch as Isla wipes piece after piece of mine from the board.

“Laying low around here isn’t the best choice for all of us,” she says as she takes another one of my pawns. “After all, some of us have opportunities that the rest of us don’t.”

My hand freezes over my queen. “What are you getting at?” I ask, already suspecting her answer .

“Aerix has a weakness for you,” she says, and she studies the board, as if she’s trying to predict my next move.

She likely already has predicted my next move.

“If he’s weak, he sure has an interesting way of showing it.” I scoff and move my rook instead—which I always called a castle before Isla corrected me during our first day of whittling—and glance back over at the central fountain.

Jake’s mutilated corpse flashes through my mind again.

No.

I don’t want to think about it.

So I refocus on the board, noting the locations of each chess piece.

I read once that the brain can only think one thought at a time. Which means if I run through the position of each piece, I can’t also think about the fact that Jake was murdered by the frustratingly irresistible fae prince who kidnapped me and flew me away while Sapphire and Riven were fighting for their lives against a horde of water zombies.

What if they didn’t survive the fight? What if they’ve been dead the entire time I’ve been here?

What if I never get back home?

I curse internally, since I’m doing a terrible job at regulating my thoughts .

“Aerix killed for you.” Isla snaps me out of it and lifts her queen, positioning it dangerously close to my king. “He was angry that Jake touched you. He emotionally reacted. And that makes him weak.”

“You’re probably the only person on the planet who would call Aerix weak ,” I say as I make my next move, even though my heart races as I wonder if she’s come to the same conclusion I have about the next move that would be best for me to take.

“The point is,” she continues as she puts me in check, “he’s different with you. And that gives you power.”

I move my king out of danger, but it’s a temporary solution at best.

As Isla contemplates her next move, I glance at Aurora, who’s sitting at the fountain near the courtyard’s edge, per usual. Her gaze is fixed on the book in her lap, but I know she’s listening. After our chat in the garden, I suspect she listens to a lot more than it initially appears.

Then, my attention shifts across the courtyard, to Henry.

He’s lounging in the shade of a tree, his eyes locked on Malakai’s girls as they play a game of cards. The way he stares at them—hungry, cold, and predatory—makes my stomach churn.

They don’t seem to notice. Or maybe they’ve just learned to ignore it .

“Henry’s at it again,” I mutter, nodding in his direction.

Isla follows my gaze, her lip curling. “Creepy bastard,” she says, and her choice words catch me off guard, given her young age. “You’d think the queen would have done something about him by now. I have a hard time imagining that she’d tolerate one of her pets looking at other girls like that.”

“Actually, she encourages it,” Elijah says. “Henry’s antics amuse her.”

“Creep,” Isla repeats as she makes her move, and I’m not sure if she’s talking about Henry, or about the queen.

Probably both of them.

I capture her castle and glance at Henry again with a growing sense of unease. But he’s either ignoring me, or he doesn’t care.

Ideally, he’s scared of me after Jake turned up dead this morning. Although, I doubt it. Henry doesn’t seem like the type who scares easily—if ever.

Five moves later, Isla lays her king down on the board and loudly announces her checkmate.

“I’ll get you back next time,” I tell her—even though that would take a miracle—and then I look over at Elijah. “Your turn to get annihilated.”

Before he can reply, Katerina moves toward us, her presence startling in its quietness. Her golden hair glimmers in the moonlight, and she carries herself with the same calculated grace that all of Malakai’s girls seem to share. She doesn’t speak—she never does—but her piercing gaze locks onto mine, then flicks toward the chessboard.

“You want to play?” I ask, glancing between her and the board.

She nods, and there’s something haunted in her deep blue eyes—something that makes me wonder what scarred her so much that she no longer speaks.

Isla raises an eyebrow and exchanges a look with Elijah. “Well, this just got interesting,” she says, setting her king right side up and standing.

Elijah lingers a moment longer, curiosity written all over his face. “We’ll leave you to it,” he says. “Good luck.”

I return my attention to Katerina as she slides into the seat across from me and starts setting up the pieces with quick, precise movements.

When she’s done, she motions for me to go first, and I take her up on it by moving my first pawn.

I hold my own for longer than I did against Isla. But eventually, Katerina takes my king with a quiet grace that somehow makes the defeat sting less, giving me a close-lipped, challenging smile.

Point taken.

I have a lot to learn around here.

“Wow.” I sit back, bringing my hair over my shoulder. I’ve been wearing it down since the braid incident with the king, and it’s starting to get on my nerves. “That was impressive.”

Katerina doesn’t react to the compliment. Instead, she looks around the courtyard, her gaze sharp as it sweeps over the nearby tables.

Once she’s certain no one’s watching, she reaches into the pocket of her dress, pulls out a folded piece of paper, and slips it across the chessboard as she moves to clean up the pieces.

My heart pounds as I take it, careful to also make it look like I’m moving the pieces back into place.

Her eyes meet mine for a fleeting moment. Then, without warning, she stands and walks away.

I glance around, making sure no one’s paying attention, and unfold the note under the table.

The handwriting inside is neat but hurried.

Going back to my suite. Come see me in twenty minutes. Bring no one.