I let my head fall forward. Thank you.
“That is enough.” Faolin’s angry voice echoed off the walls.
“It is not enough until she tells us what we want to know,” Bauchan shot back.
Dimly, I was aware of someone touching the manacles. There was a click, and then the fire receded from my body, leaving me a hollow burned-out husk.
“If she has not spoken by now, she won’t,” Korrigan said. Was that a note of admiration in his voice?
I lifted my head to look at him, but he wore the same serious expression as before. My gaze moved to Faolin, who looked as furious as I’d ever seen him.
“Are you okay?” Faolin asked me.
I tried to shrug, but my body from the neck down did not want to move for me. “Ask me in an hour,” I slurred.
The room started to tilt, and Faolin caught me as I fell sideways off the chair. He picked me up and carried me into the cell where he laid me on the sleeping pallet. I heard Bauchan and Korrigan arguing, but it sounded like a long way off.
“You never cease to amaze me,” Faolin said in a low voice.
I gave him a crooked smile. “I knew you liked me.”
He huffed a laugh. “Rest. I will be outside.”
The door clicked shut. I tried to concentrate on the conversation in the other room, but my head felt like it was full of cotton. I guess that happened when you were cooked from the inside out by drakkan fire.
I hadn’t lain there long when the din of voices on the other side of the door rose suddenly, and a very pissed-off Lukas demanded, “Where is she?”
The door to the cell flew open. There was no time to worry about how angry he was before he was standing over me, his furious eyes taking me in.
“Lukas,” I rasped.
He sat beside me and brushed away the damp hair plastered to my face. “I’m so sorry, Jesse. What they did to you was unforgiveable.”
“She was caught committing a crime against Faerie and refuses to confess. She deserves much worse than what she received,” Bauchan said from somewhere behind him.
“Get him out of here,” Lukas barked over his shoulder.
“I will leave, but I will be back,” Bauchan said coldly. “Seelie will demand justice even if you do not.”
Lukas turned back to me. “Do you trust me, Jesse?”
“With my life,” I whispered.
His thumb stroked my jaw. “Then you have to tell me what you were doing out there so I can defend you against these false charges.”
“They’re not all false,” I said hoarsely. “I did use a glamour to hide myself, but I swear on my life that I did nothing wrong. I would never do anything to hurt you or Faerie.”
“I believe you, but my father and Queen Anwyn won’t be satisfied with your word,” he warned. “She is already demanding that you be banished.”
I tried to get up, but he pressed me back gently. “I will never let that happen.”
Faolin appeared behind Lukas. “Father and Bauchan have gone to speak with the king and queen. There are guards posted in the hallway, but we are alone in here for now.”
“By alone, he means all of us,” Conlan called from the outer room.
“They will return soon,” Faolin told us. His meaning was clear. We didn’t have long to talk.
“Can I sit up?” I asked Lukas, whose hand was still on my chest.
He stood and helped me to a sitting position. I was still weak from the dannakin, but it felt better to be upright. The first thing I saw was Conlan, Faris, Kerr, and Iian standing outside the cell, looking as serious as I’d ever seen them. I didn’t need any of them to tell me how much trouble I was in.
“It’s the goddess stone,” Faolin said, drawing all eyes to him. “You used it to cloak yourself in the temple. It’s why you refused to answer Bauchan’s last question.”
I folded my hands in my lap. “Yes.”
“Is the stone preventing you from telling us why you were there?” he asked.
I started to say no and stopped. Until that moment, I’d assumed Aedhna had put some kind of glamour on me, but she didn’t need one. I had a vague recollection of her touching the stone in my hair the first time we met in the temple.
“Jesse?” Lukas pressed.
“Yes, it is.” I met his confused eyes. “I never wanted to keep this a secret from you, but I couldn’t say anything. Please, believe me.”
He took my hand in his. “I do.”
I let out a breath as a weight lifted from my chest. As long as I had his trust, I could get through this.
“Faolin said Gus flew you to the island. How did that happen?” Lukas asked. “Does it have anything to do with the first time he did it?”
“Yes.”
Faolin moved closer. “How many times have you flown with the drakkan?”
I avoided his sharp gaze. “A few.”
Conlan whistled. “From bounty hunter to drakkan rider.”
“Let’s discuss the drakkan later.” Lukas tugged on my hand to make me look at him. “My father and Queen Anwyn will demand answers from you. Can you tell us anything we can use in your defense?”
“Nothing that will satisfy them,” I replied.
He sighed. “Then there is only one thing for us to do. We have to tell my father about the goddess stone. He’ll understand your reluctance to share such a secret with Seelie, and he will believe you meant no harm to Faerie. Aedhna would not bestow her blessing on someone unworthy of it.
“I agree,” Faolin said. “You are the first goddess-blessed faerie. The king will never banish you.”
I looked between him and Lukas. “What about Queen Anwyn? She won’t let this go.”
Lukas squeezed my hand. “Let us worry about her.”
A loud rap sounded on the outer door, and Kerr went to answer it. He came back frowning. “Vaerik, your father has requested you join them. Bauchan and the queen are demanding that “the prisoner” not get special treatment.” He looked at me. “Sorry, Jesse.”
“She is in a cell, and they used the dannakin on her,” Faris growled, sounding angrier than I’d ever heard him. “How is that special treatment?”
Kerr shook his head. “The king has ordered us all to leave the cells. The guards will remain outside.”
Dread coiled in my stomach at the thought of being alone in a cell below ground. The king might not banish me, but he could keep me locked up down here for days or weeks.
Lukas wrapped me in his arms. “I’ll be back after I speak to my father. It may take a few hours to get him alone if he’s with the queen.”
I nodded against his chest, not trusting myself to speak.
He tilted my face up to his and kissed me so sweetly it made my chest ache. Without words he told me he loved me and promised that everything would be okay. I didn’t want to let him go, but I dropped my arms to my sides when he stood. The sooner he left, the sooner he could return.
Faolin shut the cell door behind them, and the click of the lock replayed in my head for several minutes after they’d gone. It wasn’t until it stopped that I remembered the vital piece of information I’d forgotten to tell them. I had to let the king know what I’d seen and overheard at the temple. Seelie was going to try to steal the ke’tain again, and I was the only one who knew about it.