Page 87 of Cursed Fae (Fae War Chronicles 2)
Her face is covered in bruises. Some purple, some black, others a fading yellow. Dried blood is crusted on her split lip, and as she moves, I take note of a limp caused by her ankle being twisted in the wrong direction. It, too, is bruised and swollen.
My hands tighten around the bars as I shove the darkness down. Now is not the time to lose my head.
“Rafferty. Why have ye’ come?” she asks. “Ye’ should be out there, fighting for us!”
A second woman inches forward. Her face is bruised as well though familiar the moment she steps fully from the shadows. “Annie,” I whisper. “You both deserved better than this.”
“Why are ye’ here?”
“Where is Taranus?”
“Gone,” Annie chokes out. “He was taken bythemnearly a week ago.”
“Ember?” I ask, already fearing the answer.
Both women share a look then shake their heads. “We haven’t seen her,” Bonny tells me. “Not since the two of ye’ escaped.”
Annie reaches through the bars. “Ye’ need to go, Raffe. If they find ye’ here.”
“Fuck that!” a woman whisper-yells from the cell behind me. “Free us first!”
“Shut yer’ damned mouth, ye’ miserable wench!” Bonny scolds. “Unless ye’ want to get us all killed.”
I turn and retrieve a torch from the wall beside Bonny and Annie’s cell. Then, I use it to peer into the cell behind me. A sick satisfaction twists in my belly when I see Lloren curled in the corner, her white gown crusted with blood.
“Lloren, my how you have fallen.”
She snarls up at me, eyes wild. “Free me, and I will help you retrieve Ember.”
“Honestly, I’m surprised to see you alive,” I retort. “Last time I saw you, Heelean had driven a blade through your gut.”
“As you have seen, I am quite resourceful.” She pulls herself up and crosses both arms. “Free me, and I will help you.”
“No.”
“Then you are condemning Ember to death.”
“As you have already done. I would be a fool to trust you, and I am no fool.”
Her lips draw back in a snarl, baring her blackening teeth. “You are making a mistake.”
“Hardly.” I turn away from her, and she rushes forward to grip the bars.
“Ye’ need to leave,” Bonny whispers loudly.
“Where is the key?”
Annie gestures to a hook on the door of the cavern. I eat up the distance with two long strides and grab the golden key. Slipping it into the lock, I free two women who used to help sneak me food when Taranus imprisoned me. Annie wraps an arm around Bonny’s waist and helps her move out of the cell.
“Free me, or I will make you pay,” Lloren warns.
Freeing her will not result in Ember’s rescue. Of that, I know. Letting this woman out will only give her the opportunity to kill me, and that is not something I can risk. Not when Ember and all of Faerie need me alive.
“No.”
She growls and raises her face to let out a blood-curdling scream.
My heart pumps, and I turn my back to Bonny. “Climb on,” I order. She does—quickly. Then, sword in hand, I bound up the stairs with Annie right behind me.