Faint orange light glows from outside a hole in the door barely large enough for me to stick my hand through. I tried reaching for the lock or handle but felt nothing but stone.
“No sense fightin’ it, lass,” a voice as brittle as dry twigs says from somewhere on the other side.
Apparently, I’m not down here on my own after all.
“They’ll drain you of every last drop of sunlight before they put you in with the others,” the voice goes on.
“What others?”
When the owner of the voice chuckles, I have a feeling I don’t want to know.
Is this the end for me? Will I ever see daylight again? And Senan…
Will he believe I abandoned him? Even if he learns of my fate, there is no way he will be able to save me now. Not when they have irrefutable proof that I killed the guard.
I sink onto the damp floor and draw my knees to my chest. Perhaps I deserve this punishment. I took another man’s life. How could I think there wouldn’t be consequences?
A slot at the base of the door opens, and a ceramic plate and cup slide in. The slot closes with a sharpbang. My throat is so dry, I don’t care that the water inside the cup reeks of sulfur. I drink deep, the liquid sloshing in my empty belly.
I’m about to take a bite of the crusty roll when something crawls across my finger. Maggots have made their home in the bread. I screech, throwing the dry chunk against the far wall. The maggot may have fallen, but I can still feel it crawling over my skin.
If I am to die, I hope Senan learns that I didn’t abandon him. I hope he knows how much I loved him and doesn’t blame himself for what happened to me. Perhaps he will find some semblance of happiness in Nimbiss. He deserves to be happy.
Something scrapes on the other side of the door. The hinges creak as the barrier eases open. A shirtless guard stalks inside and shoves a hood over my head. Coarse rope bites into my wrists when he binds my hands behind my back. The sharp point of what I assume is a dagger digs into my spine, and the guard growls for me to start moving.
Two steps in, my shoulder collides with the doorframe. After a short walk, my slippers slam into something solid, and I pitch forward. Strong hands catch me, keeping me upright.
“If you don’t slow down or take off this hood, I’m going to end up falling and breaking my neck.” Perhaps that is the point. If Idie, they won’t have to feed or house me until the trial. A win-win for everyone except me.
My captor huffs a laugh but thankfully slows his pace. I still stumble like a newborn Pegasus but manage to keep my feet beneath me.
“Where are you going with that one?” someone shouts from behind us.
“The king wants to have a little chat with her,” the man behind me says.
What fate awaits me at the castle? Will I see Senan?
“Careful,” a different man says. “Looks like she has spent a good deal of time in the sun.”
Why should that matter when I have no wings? Perhaps they don’t realize I’m no longer Scathian.
“I can handle her,” my escort assures him.
The cloying, sulfur-laced air from inside the pit slowly fades, replaced with a rank breeze smelling of death. My steps falter, my slippers finding no purchase in what feels like sand. The sand becomes more solid, and the stench becomes a cool, misty breeze.
The sharp object prodding me forward suddenly vanishes, and I’m being lifted off my feet into someone’s arms. I feel each pump of the man’s wings as we climb into the sky. I know better than to hope for mercy from the king after he ordered my exile. This is it. The beginning of the end.
Eventually, we slow, and it feels like we’re circling. When we land and he sets me down, the ground beneath my feet doesn’t feel smooth, like marble, but rather bumpy and uneven, like cobblestones.
An authoritative voice tells me to hold still. There is something familiar in its timbre, but I can’t put my finger on it. For some reason, he starts sawing at my bindings. The ropes fallaway, and the man rips off my hood. I blink against the dull gray light, expecting to see a castle.
Instead, I’m staring at a sign hanging from rusted hinges above a black door.
The Nag’s Head
My breathing catches. The inn where I’m supposed to meet Senan. Does that mean?—
I whirl, but the man who saved me isn’t my prince.