She patted his arm. “I’m sorry you have to be here for this, but it must be done.”
“But –”
“You know I would do anything for Seelie, don’t you?” She stroked his hair as a mother would, and a ball of anger formed in my chest. She had no right to touch him like that. It was one of a million things she had stolen from my mother – our mother.
Rhys nodded, but his eyes were still troubled when he looked at me.
“Then you have to trust me on this.” Queen Anwyn stood, and he did the same. Taking his arm, she walked him to the door. “Do not worry about Jesse. I promise when all of this is over, she will go home to Unseelie.”
She lowered her voice and said something to him I couldn’t hear. Then she ushered him out of the room and shut the door before he could say another word. Her mouth was pressed into a thin line when she turned back to us.
“Bayard was supposed to keep him away until I summoned him home,” she said tightly.
Bauchan eased his hold on my shoulder. “Rhys’s guards are as loyal to him as yours are to you. They will not go against him when he wishes to do something unless it puts his life in danger.”
Something in his voice told me this was a discussion he and the queen had had before, and her answering pout said she was not happy about it. At least, it answered a question I’d had about whether or not Rhys’s guards were in on her plot.
She went to a side table and poured herself a glass of juice. “It complicates things, but we will proceed as planned. Take her back to the tower for now.”
I said nothing as I stood, and Bauchan took hold of the chain between my wrists. He pulled me to the door like I was a dog on a leash. I should be glad the chain was on my hands and not around my neck. He’d most likely take perverse pleasure in leading me through the palace that way.
“Jesse,” Queen Anwyn called as we reached the door.
I looked back and met her brittle eyes.
Her smile was more of a sneer. “You have earned a brief reprieve while I deal with this. You should use that time to rethink whether you want to cooperate or have Bauchan extract what we want from you. The choice should be an easy one.”
When I didn’t respond, her mouth tightened, and she looked at Bauchan. “Have Aibel give her another taste of the dannakin. We would not want our guest to get too comfortable.”
* * *
I shivered and curled myself into a tight ball on the pallet that stunk of old sweat and urine. The sun had gone down less than an hour ago, and already it was freezing in the room. It was going to be a long, miserable night.
My teeth chattered so hard they hurt. Desperately, I reached up and plucked the goddess stone from my hair. It had helped me create powerful glamours. I should be able to use it to keep myself from freezing to death.
Holding it in my fist, I imagined a warm bubble around me, as I did for the glamour. The stone grew warm in my hand and then…nothing. I tried again with the same result. Then I attempted a glamour to see if I could do that, at least. Nothing.
I sank down onto the pallet, defeated. Either the stone didn’t work here for some reason, or I was too weak from the two hours of the dannakin I’d endured earlier. I should be thankful that my clothes were dry because I had avoided the humiliation of wetting myself this time.
My stomach rumbled painfully, adding to my discomfort. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten, and I couldn’t tell if my weakness was from hunger or cold. I smacked my cracked lips together and tried to swallow, but my mouth and throat were too dry. I didn’t know what was worse: the bitter cold or the extreme thirst.
I was so wrapped up in my misery that I didn’t hear the door open or notice I was no longer alone until my visitor spoke.
“Jesse.” Rhys’s voice was harsher than I’d ever heard from him.
I lifted my head sluggishly to peer at his outline in the doorway. I saw movement, and then a laevik crystal filled the room with light. I put a hand up to shield my eyes after being in almost complete darkness. It took a moment to realize he wasn’t alone. Bayard must have entered ahead of him and another of his guards stood behind him.
“Rhys,” I croaked and dissolved in a fit of coughing that caused my parched throat to burn.
“Water,” he ordered briskly.
A few seconds later, a flask touched my lips, and I drank like someone who had been lost in the desert. The water hit my empty stomach, and I immediately retched it back up onto the floor. It soaked into Rhys’s pant legs as he knelt beside me, but he didn’t seem to notice it as he lifted my hair out of my face. His hand grazed my cheek, and he swore.
“Kaelen, get some blankets and a clean pallet,” he said, laying the back of his warm hand against my icy cheek.
“The queen will not be pleased if we interfere with her prisoner,” his guard replied.
Rhys looked over his shoulder. “I will handle my mother.” Anger laced his voice when he looked at me again. “They put her up here without heat or a blanket. Even the tarrans are covered with a blanket on cold nights.”
Bayard came to stand behind the prince. He wore his normal hard expression, but for the first time, I didn’t think it was directed at me. I was probably hallucinating from hunger and cold.
“Oh, Jesse, how did you come to this?” Rhys asked softly.
It felt like forever since I’d heard a kind voice in this horrible place, and a tear leaked out to drip onto his hand. He wiped it away tenderly and whispered, “It will be okay.”
Kaelen wasn’t gone long before he returned with a new pallet and several soft wooly blankets. Rhys picked me up and sat me on the new pallet, and Kaelen wrapped the blankets around me.
“T-thanks,” I said through chattering teeth, already feeling my body getting warmer under the thick blankets.
Rhys held the water flask out to me, and I took it with shaking hands. This time I sipped it, letting the water soothe my throat and quench my thirst.
“Here.” Bayard took the flask from me and pressed something else into my shackled hands. It was warm and wrapped in cloth, and when I opened it, I wanted to cry at the sight of the meat pastry.
“Eat it slowly,” he ordered when I started to take a large bite. I remembered throwing up when I drank too fast, and I took a tiny bite, chewing it well before I swallowed. My empty stomach growled so loudly at the first food I’d had in days that it sounded like a wild animal was hiding under the blankets with me.
“Is that better?” Rhys asked when my stomach finally stopped making noises.
I nodded and continued to eat, half expecting Bauchan to burst through the door at any second and snatch the food from my hands. I needed all the nourishment I could get to help me stay strong for whatever Queen Anwyn had in store for me.
Rhys sat beside me. The expressions on his guards’ faces said they weren’t happy about their prince sitting on the floor, but they said nothing.
“Jesse,” he began kindly. “How did this happen? No matter what my mother says, I cannot believe you would ever steal the ke’tain.”
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. “I wouldn’t.”
“Why are they saying you were caught trying to take it?” he asked. When I didn’t answer, he said, “I want to help you, but you need to trust me.”