Page 7

Sav

T hey yanked me along, rough hands biting into my arms. I didn’t fight. Not yet. Let the idiots lead me to their lair.

A plain black door with a thick metal bar bolted across it, just a few feet into the alley, appeared to be our destination. The bolt looked far too large for humans to lift without the aid of magic.

I tried to peer over Piggy number one’s shoulder as he produced a wrench from somewhere inside his jacket and began twisting the bolts that held the metal bar in place. It came loose and, with some disappointment, I watched as the bar lifted easily.

No magic use happening here. The “iron” clattered to the ground—plastic.

My lip curled. The door swung open, revealing narrow stairs leading down into a dank room.

Iron permeated the space, and a low headache settled behind my eyes.

This was their true defense. No fae would willingly enter this place.

Piggy number two swiveled his head around, leering at me as we descended the steps and I painted a look of indifference on my face, praying to Mab I wouldn’t retch right here in front of them. He was still looking back at me when the horror of the next room came into view.

Cages of all sizes were crammed into the space, leaving very little room to stand and in almost every one was a creature.

Some were small, like the pixie I had just released, while others were so large the bars melted into flesh where it burned them.

If the smell of iron had not overpowered me, I would have noticed the acrid scent of charred fae flesh immediately.

Now, though, faced with so much misery, I forced the bile down.

Piggy two smiled at me, revealing broken craggy teeth that might have given a goblin a run for his money.

I shuddered, gaze shifting to an emaciated fae in the corner, and my heart shattered for the kelpie who had clearly been here for some time.

Kelpies were wildly powerful creatures. They could have only caught him with a bargain.

My gaze jumped cage to cage. Scorched skin, split lips, eyes dulled from pain.

Something in my chest cracked. This wasn’t new.

They’d been doing this for far longer than we’d guessed.

I searched their faces, memorizing them and making a silent promise to avenge them all.

Goblins, wilden, dryads, satyrs, nymphs, hobgoblins, and even a troll were packed into every available space.

My gaze landed on a sandy-haired satyr. “Juniper,” I breathed.

Her shining honey-colored eyes locked on mine, and I watched her mouth the word Shit. I gave an infinitesimal shake of my head, and she averted her gaze. The three piggies pulled me to the closest empty cage, grabbing a ring of iron keys from the wall and unlocking it.

“Aren’t you going to take these chains off?” I asked, shaking my leg at them.

Piggy number one scoffed.

“It’s not as if I can escape a cage. Do I really need both?”

He raised an eyebrow. “You deserve those chains, fairy lover.” He spat in my face and slammed the door, locking me in.

I leaned casually against the bars without allowing my skin to touch them. If I could continue to convince them I was human, perhaps they would eventually let me go, but I could only keep up this charade so long, sitting in a cage surrounded by iron.

They paid me no more attention as they crowded around a small table in the room’s corner.

Piggy number two opened a mini-fridge and pulled out three beers.

They sat, drinking and joking as if the sight of tortured, starving fae was commonplace.

And for them, perhaps it was. Murderous thoughts danced through my mind, and I entertained myself by picturing each one screaming, begging for his life as I scraped sinew from his bones, slowly roasting him on a spit.

“It’s no use,” a silky voice said in my ear. I knew better than to turn toward it. The pitched voice was deliberately intended to elude human detection.

“How long have you been here?” I asked, glaring at my captors.

“Three days, six hours and nine minutes,” she hissed. “And not once have we been let out of these cages. Not to pee. Not to eat. Not even when we die.”

I turned at that, staring at the wood nymph whose deep brown, bark-like eyes were cast down, gazing at the broken branches that hemmed her feet. Her forlorn expression sent a chill down my spine.

“Some have died here?” I whispered.

She raised a finger, which once would have been suffused with budding seedlings and growth, but was now brittle and dry, pointing it toward the darkest corner of the room. My hand flew to my mouth.

“It can’t be,” I stammered. “How?”

“She died the day I arrived,” the nymph breathed. I heard the sorrow in her voice.

A tear came unbidden to the corner of my eye. I had underestimated these humans. Killing the winter hag was no easy feat. Mab would raze this place to the ground—if she were still out there. But Faerie hadn’t seen her in years, and every court was crumbling without her.

The door flew open, shaking me from my thoughts and two more men stepped in, one holding a small birdcage and the other dragging a large gray-skinned urisk behind him.

His tusks, sliding between charcoal lips, were sharpened to points, and the metal at each tip gleamed wickedly in the light cutting through the inky dark from atop the stairs.

He bucked against their hold, but the iron chains around his thick arms hissed when they dug into flesh.

I scanned his leathery skin for any sign of the deadly weapons his kind wielded, and exhaled a long breath when I saw none, despair settling on my shoulders like a heavy blanket.

They set the small cage housing the pixie I’d tried to save before down beside me and I winced as she stared up at me and began to sob.

“Don’t cry,” I whispered. “We’ll get out of here.”

She turned away from me, her broken wing curling tightly against her back, and sniffled loudly for such a little creature.

My attention flew to the urisk as he struggled against the men in earnest. He wrenched one arm out of his shackle, tossing it to the ground. As he did, two sets of arms sprouted on his back, and he used them to grab two by the neck.

Piggy one shouted orders even as he gurgled in the urisk’s tight grip.

Piggy three grabbed the pitchfork leaning beside him and began jabbing it at the creature.

The urisk swatted it away with little effort as he throttled the two men he’d come in with.

He roared as Piggy One plunged a knife deep into his side and flung him at the brick lining the room.

A crack sounded before Piggy One slid down the wall, eyes fluttering closed.

Piggy Three was inching around to his blind side. “Look out!” I shouted.

The urisk whirled, knocking Piggy Three to the floor, holding fast to Piggy Two who was turning blue in his fist.

I marveled at his ability to harm the humans, wondering how he made it to Earth without making the bargain that forbade him from harming them. Perhaps he was just that strong. Was he fighting it? Could we all?

Something twinkled across the room, and my lips stretched into a grin when I spotted the sword I’d used earlier. It was out of reach, though, and I didn’t have enough magic left to do anything besides glamour the burned skin around my ankles.

The wood nymph next to me extended her arm, pushing her branches toward me. A small green bud appeared on her forearm. I held my breath as it slowly sprouted and stretched into a sapling.

Wood nymphs, who could normally raise an entire tree in a few days, found themselves severely diminished in the new world. The effort she expended now was immense and proved just how powerful she once was. The sapling had thickened into a branch, and she extended it to me through the bars.

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You cannot harm me more than they already have.” Her gaze dropped to the branches piled beneath her.

“Are you sure?” I held my breath, touched by her desire to aid me.

She nodded.

Gently, I wrapped my fingers around her forearm and bent the wood. It gave a crack and came free.

Her breath hitched, but she didn’t cry out. Sap welled from the jagged break, and with shaking fingers, she tucked a leaf from her tangled hair over the wound.

I dipped my head to her in appreciation, and turned to my bars to pry them loose, glancing up as one piggy stumbled into the wall and collapsed.

Sliding the malleable wood between iron, I wrapped it around them.

On my butt, in the dirt, I lifted both legs, resting a bare foot against the bars, wincing at the burn, and tugged.

It didn’t budge. I pulled again, straining against the pain scorching the soles of my feet and I wished for the barest moment I hadn’t tossed the shoes I was wearing earlier. The bar gave slightly, and I let out a small whoop.

Chairs and weapons flew in all directions as the urisk continued to fight his attackers, who were all standing again, but I gritted my teeth and pulled harder. The iron was truly bending and sweat trickled down my back as searing agony radiated across the pads of my feet, but I kept pulling.

A loud crack rang out, and at once everything stopped.

I looked up, loosening my hold on the branch.

The urisk released the three men he now had hold of, wrapping his arms over his middle, and all five humans looked to the stairs.

A shadow blocked the light at the top of the stairs. Heavy boots thudded loudly. Then his face emerged from darkness. Dane Clyde. He leveled his gun toward the urisk and deftly fired three more shots. The urisk dropped so quickly, those bullets could only be made of iron.

I scrambled back from the bars and tucked my branch behind me.

Dane swaggered in, shaking his head at the men struggling to climb to their feet. “I bagged that urisk for you myself. What have I told you about allowing one to free a hand?” He tsked. “If we are to win this war, we must outthink the beasts.”

The three piggies looked anywhere but at their leader, while the other two humans leaned heavily into the wall, faces pale. They picked up broken chairs and righted the table, stepping over the dead creature.

Dane turned his attention to the cages, crowding the room with his massive ego. His gaze landed on me. “What do we have here?”

“She’s a dirty fairy-loving bitch,” Piggy One spoke up.

“She’s human?” Dane asked incredulously.

“We caught her trying to free the beasts in the park.”

Dane stepped closer, staring down at me, and I lifted my chin. He inspected my unblemished skin beneath the chains around my ankles and stroked his stubbled chin. “How could you betray your own kind?”

My throat was sticky and dry, all my standard snarky replies stuck to the roof of my mouth.

Piggy One glared at me. “She let loose that goblin that clobbered Connor. Jack had to take him to get stitches.”

“Did you?” he asked me.

I squared my shoulders, meeting his gaze. “Would you treat a dog the way you’ve treated the fae?”

“A dog can be trained. And when a dog bites his master, you put him down.”

I bit my tongue so hard I tasted blood.

Dane smiled, but it was a cruel smile, full of sharp angles and teeth. “What is it then? Was he your supplier? Are you an addict?”

I could have laughed. He thought I was one of the human groupies who had become addicted to Xcess? I showed none of the signs, but perhaps in my current state…

Humans felt invincible for the short while Xcess coursed through their veins.

But it exacted a heavy toll. Most went mad within a few weeks of its continued use, and none had the power to resist its call once they had a taste for it.

Its unexpected ability to awaken the latent magic almost all people possessed to a fractional degree made them feel immortal.

But it lasted only as long as it survived in their system.

The moment it metabolized, a mundane human was all that was left, leaving an ache for the magic they didn’t have.

And I knew something about how that ache felt. It was no wonder they paid top dollar.

“I don’t do drugs.” I snapped.

“You have a fairy boyfriend, then?” He tilted his head. “Or girlfriend?”

I glared up at him. “I already told you why I was freeing them. They are alive, and no cre—animal deserves to be in a cage.”

“Come here,” he commanded and reached behind him to grab the keys from the wall. I leaned forward, careful to only allow my covered shoulder to brush the bars as I did.

He unlocked the door and held a hand out to me.

I swallowed down my revulsion, hesitating for only a second before I slid my hand into his outstretched one.

For the briefest moment, I imagined wrapping both hands around his neck and squeezing.

I imagined ramming my thumbs through both eyes and pressing until blood ran down my fingers and his screams filled my ears.

He pulled me up gently for a man who had just killed someone in cold blood and left his corpse to rot on the floor. He brought my face within inches of his own and stared deeply into my eyes.

I stared back, counting to four in my head, then I averted my gaze, careful to look in the opposite direction from the dead urisk.

He grabbed my chin, twisting my head to the left and checked my ears.

“We checked that first. You think we’re stupid?” Piggy One called out.

Dane ignored him and turned my head right for good measure.

He pushed my hair more gently this time, trailing his finger down my cheek as it dropped away.

My breath caught in an imitation of a flustered human, and my stomach turned as I smelled his pheromones, delighting in the dominance he thought he held over me.

It was a genuine effort not to roll my eyes.

“I think this one just needs a little re-education,” he said softly. “Let’s bring her upstairs and give her a proper introduction to our group.”

I did everything in my power not to turn and look at Juniper, or the nymph who had given a limb to save me as they led me, still in chains, out of the room where I belonged and into the viper’s nest.