Because there’s no other choice.
I don’t say that last part, but we all know it’s true. It hangs in the air between us as Brekken turns and walks back to his cell.
“The guards haven’t come back here yet,” Taya says. “They have to eventually, unless they plan to starve us, I guess.”
“Taya.” My voice comes out soft and anguished. “I … I’m sorry.”
She is my friend. And a Solarian. A week ago, the idea would have sounded insane. And I can still feel the place in my gut where the hatred for Solarians used to live, a hot, bitter engine driving me. But now it’s hollowed out, dried up. All I can think about is fixing this so we can find Nate.
I’ve failed both of them so badly, but at least Brekken made his own choices that led him into an underground cell. Taya had no idea what she was walking into. Yet somehow she’s still smiling at me through the bars, and suddenly all I want to do in the world is pull her out and take her somewhere safe and far away.
“Stay here for now,” I whisper instead. “I’ll try to draw the guards away, and then you and Brekken can escape.”
Another question is lined up on the tip of my tongue, but I don’t want to ask it, not now when she still looks so vulnerable. But I know I need to.
“The change,” I whisper hesitantly. “Do you think you could control it, now that you know the truth?” The beast’s claws and strength might come in handy once they have to run.
Something shutters behind her eyes. She shakes her head. “It comes out when I’m angry or scared. I’m not in the driver’s seat here.”
I think of the montage scene in every superhero movie I’ve ever seen, where her powers switch on once the hero accepts herself. I think of Dad’s advice, why give the scary thoughts so much room? But I know it’s not that easy. I know you can’t always get away from the dark things. I know how they follow you, invade every thought.
“It’s okay to be angry,” I whisper. “You’re right to be angry.”
I double back and unlock Brekken’s cell, then return to the juncture, hoping to sweet-talk the guards into skipping away for five minutes. I try for a neutral look, hoping they don’t notice my change of outfit or the missing keys, and then I realize someone else is standing in the passageway to the main part of the inn. My stomach drops.
It’s the Silver Prince.
Now that I know what he’s capable of, it’s hard to imagine a time and then I wasn’t afraid of him. My whole body reacts, skin tightening, muscles go rigid, heart kicks up into a drumroll.
The guards move to flank him as I enter the juncture. He stands tall, filling almost the whole tunnel. His pale eyes are trained on me.
“Maddie,” he says, pleasant enough, but there’s an undertone of ice in the word that shoots mirroring cold through my bones. “I see you’ve found our prisoners. And my guard’s missing keys.”
The keys are closed in my fist. My arm goes leaden. I don’t remember what standing naturally feels like, what it should look like.
“What?” I say, scrunching up my face in pretend confusion. “What do you mean?”
I don’t like the Silver Prince’s smile. It says he hears my lie, but doesn’t care, because he has me backed into a corner. Dead end.
“So, what should we do with the prisoner?” he asks.
More goose bumps rip out across my bare shoulders and arms. I walk toward the Prince and his guards—even though my instincts tell me to run the other way. If I can get out of the tunnels into the main inn, in the company of others, I can figure out some way to get the guards out of the juncture. But here there’s nothing but stone and darkness.
“I haven’t decided,” I say as I walk, trying not to blink too much, trying not to show that I’m lying. “Let me talk to Graylin and see what he thinks. I’ll let you know …”
My stream of babble dries up, because the Silver Prince moves into my path. Blocking my way out. I wish I could call back to Brekken and draw strength from his voice, but I don’t dare.
“I don’t savor the idea of putting how we deal with the soldier in the hands of another Fiorden,” the Prince says.
His tone is still light, conversational, but his eyes cut through me. I feel naked, like he can see through my skin and flesh straight to all my weakness and lies.
But I lift my chin, thinking of Brekken and Taya hidden down the tunnel behind me. If I fail in this, what will happen to them?
“Willow, then,” I say. “Is that acceptable?”
The Prince laughs, a cruel sound. “A woman rotting away here for so long she doesn’t remember what it is to be Byrnisian? No, I don’t think so.”
The hostility in his voice is less disguised now. That can’t be good. I let the hurt I feel show on my face, so that the rage doesn’t peek through. If I can’t talk my way around him, maybe I can get him to dismiss me. Convince him that I really am the child out of my depth that he apparently thinks I am.
“I don’t know what to do,” I say softly, and it’s not difficult to let the edge of tears in. “I need to talk to Graylin and Willow.”
I take a step forward, but the Prince doesn’t move out of my way.
“Excuse me,” I say, holding the Silver Prince’s gaze. Willing my eyes to communicate: I am still the Innkeeper. Let me pass.
“Madeline,” he says, a smile on his face that doesn’t make it to his voice. “You must know I can’t let you leave.”
Panic blankets my mind in cold, white fog. I try to dart forward, but two of the guards grab my arms, holding me tight enough to bruise. I kick and yank at them, but it’s immediately clear it’s no use.
“Carve another cell,” the Prince says to the guard to his right. “Throw her in—”
But then I hear the clang of metal behind me, and Brekken is out and on the Silver Prince like a whirlwind.
I’ve never seen him fight before, and it’s transfixing.
Broken glass—the lantern?—flashes in his hands as the Silver Prince’s sword comes out. Brekken swings away from him at the last moment, though, pivoting in an instant toward me and the guards.
They’re caught by surprise—blood flashes; someone cries out. Abruptly, the grip on my arms is gone and I drop, lunging out of the way as Brekken pulls one of their swords from its hilt and spins around, getting in between me and them.
“Maddie, run!” he yells, but the Silver Prince is stalking toward me, murder in his eyes.
Then I see something from the other end of the tunnel, something that makes me freeze with instinctive fear.
Taya in monster form is quick and fluid as blue fire. She bursts into the light and leaps clear over Brekken and the guards, over me, going for the Silver Prince. Her claws catch on his shoulder and he bends backward, the two remaining guards leaping out of the way. One runs for the juncture; one lunges at Taya and gets a slashed thigh for his trouble. He goes down, but then the Silver Prince is rounding on her with his sword. Taya snarls and raises a blue paw, catching the blade on her claws. Sparks light up the dark.
The spoon is lifeless, dead in my hands. Nothing happens when I try to call on the wind again. But then I remember I have more magic. The bracelet I found in the abandoned Solarian closet. It sits heavy on my wrist, but when I close my eyes and concentrate, I can feel the magic, a subtle current, but alive and dangerous.