“It’s no excuse to go grave robbing.”

  “I’m not excusing her. She wasn’t always like this. The house has prospered under her leadership, but lately, ever since Kadeera started disappearing to the human world, she has been different. Out of sorts. I suppose that lends weight to Vito’s claim that she stole his mother’s necklace. Were she in the right frame of mind, I don’t think she would’ve stooped as low.”

  I took a deep breath, then exhaled. “You know what this means for me, right?”

  Silvan didn’t reply, he just looked at me.

  “She’s not sending me back home,” I continued. “Ever. I’m going to be stuck here, either trapped in some basement, away from everyone and everything, or she’s going to make me pretend to be her daughter forever.”

  “Maybe Kadeera will return.”

  “Even if she did, Invidia won’t send me back. Especially once she finds out I gave away her favorite necklace.” I shook my head. “I didn’t ask for any of this, Silvan. I shouldn’t be here.”

  Silvan slowly stood, then walked over to where I was sitting. “I’m sorry, Avery,” he said.

  I looked up at him, finding his eyes. “Sorry? For what?”

  “For bringing you here. It was a mistake.”

  “You were only doing your duty. I probably wouldn’t have done the same in your situation, because I generally dislike authority and being told what to do, but I understand why you did what you did.”

  “I did not know who you were, then. I did not know what you had inside you.”

  “What do I have inside me?”

  He extended a hand, and I took it and stood with him. “You have an inner fire that’s rare to find, if anyone ever does find it. I don’t think anyone has ever truly seen you before, but I do. I see you, Avery. Your spirit, your drive, you light. Had we met here, under normal circumstances, I would have spared not a single moment in pursuing you.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Pursuing me, huh? And what does that mean?”

  “Exactly what it sounds like. I wish I had known then what I know about you now. I would not have stolen you to this place… I would’ve done my best to spare you from Invidia’s plans.”

  I frowned. “Plans? What are you talking about?”

  Silvan looked away, as if he couldn’t stand to look me in the eyes. “I’m sorry, Avery. I haven’t been honest with you, and I think it may be too late.”

  “Wait… what?”

  CHAPTER 16

  I’m sorry.

  He said, I’m sorry.

  My heart raced inside of my chest. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but I was sure the room was about to start spinning. For the first time in a long time, I was afraid. Truly afraid. Something was happening, or going to happen, or had happened and I was moments away from finding out about it.

  I could feel it coming.

  “What do you mean?” I asked again, pushing.

  Silvan shook his head. “Avery… when I tell you what I have to tell you, it’s possible you’ll see me in a different light.”

  “What light is that?”

  “I want you to understand, I was only doing my duty to my house. If I could go back in time and change things, I would, but my hands are tied.”

  “Silvan, you’re starting to scare me.”

  He inhaled, then exhaled. “I’m about to break a promise I made to Invidia, and to fate itself. This may well seal my destiny, it may bring untold peril into my life, but after tonight, after what you’ve told me about Invidia, I don’t think I can keep that promise any longer.”

  I pulled my hands away from his. “Just say it, Silvan.”

  “When I came to the human world in search of Kadeera, that wasn’t my only mission. I was also ordered to look for you.”

  “Me?”

  “Yes. Our scouts had told us Kadeera was living with a mortal, with you. My orders were to find her and bring her back, and to bring you with her as well. Invidia must have suspected Kadeera would attempt to flee again, she may even have known Kadeera would attempt to swap places with you, if given a chance. I didn’t know any of these things.”

  I walked around him and moved toward the window. “Wait, wait. You’re telling me that since the beginning, you had orders to bring me in? But you were about to kill me when we first met.”

  “Theatrics.”

  “Theatrics? Did you only pretend like you wanted to kill me?”

  “I did.”

  “And what if I had continued to refuse?”

  “I would have disabled you, rendered you unconscious, and brought you here regardless. You would have woken up in the same room I brought you to, no matter the situation.”

  “No, the only reason why you didn’t kill me was because Rell invoked the Fae Rites of Hospitality. You were going to kill me.”

  “I was lucky he landed in your lap, and even luckier he knew enough about the Rites to invoke them. It could not have worked out better.”

  “For you, you mean.”

  He nodded. “For me. And for that, I’m sorry. I did not want to deceive you, or imprison you, but I had—”

  “—orders, I know. You aren’t the first person to have done something shitty because you were ordered to do so. Humans use that excuse all the time.”

  “So, you understand?”

  “No, I don’t fucking understand. You lied to me. All this time, you’ve lied to me. Do you even know what the hell Invidia wants with me?”

  “I don’t.”

  “You didn’t think to question her when she asked you to kidnap a human and bring her here?”

  “It’s not my place.”

  I scowled at him. “I never took you for the kind of man to blindly do what he’s told. That’s not strength, it’s weakness. You’re weak, Silvan.”

  Silvan squared up to me. “Do not mistake my loyalty for weakness,” he snarled.

  “What are you going to do, Viscount? Are you going to throw me in the cellar again?”

  “I did not have to tell you any of this, Avery. I am already breaking my bond with Fate itself to do so.”

  “Yeah, you’ve said that, and I still don’t care. This is my life we’re talking about. You kidnapped me and brought me here because your superior told you to. Now some whackjob Fae I thought was my friend has stolen my life and forced me to trade places with her. Even worse than all that, I’ve got to compete in this stupid Fae trial to try to impress a woman who won’t lift a finger to help me, like ever. Do you have any idea what kind of a situation I’m in?”

  “I know what it’s like to be bound by circumstances.”

  “Don’t talk circles around me,” I hissed, “And don’t lie to me again. You did what you did because you liked your job. It’s now, now that things are a little upside down, now that you’re starting to question your place here, starting to question your boss’s mental integrity.”

  “You cannot tell me you have never been in a similar situation before.”

  “I have, plenty of times, but I learned to ask questions a long time ago, which in Fae years is probably just minutes. How you haven’t learned to do that yet is just totally nuts.”

  Silvan took a deep breath in through the nose. “I should have told you sooner. I know that now. But I am trying to do the right thing by telling you, by breaking my word.”

  “I’m glad I mean more to you than your own word,” I said, “But your confession isn’t meant to make me feel better, it’s meant to make yourself feel better.”

  “Maybe that’s so, but it doesn’t change the fact that I have told you the truth about what happened. I don’t know why Invidia wants you here. I was not in a position to ask. I know it had something to do with the Favoring.”

  “The Favoring?”

  “Yes. This is not a place for humans, Avery. I cannot see another reason for her wanting you here except if it had something to do with the Favoring.”

  I shook my head. “Alright, fine. So, you were just doing your job when you brought me here, and now you want to do the right thing by telling me. Do you know how you can really help me? How you can really do the right thing?”

  “Avery—”

  “—send me home.”

  “That’s not as easy as you think.”

  “Isn’t it? Can’t you just open a portal to the human world? Or let me guess, you lied about that, too.”

  He sighed. “If I open a portal and send you back to Earth, Invidia will know, and she will come after you relentlessly.”

  “Not if you stop her.”

  “I can’t. I wish it were different, but I can’t.”

  “So, when all of this is over, and Invidia does with me whatever the hell she wants to do, you’re just going to watch it all happen?”

  “I’m trying to find another solution to the problem.”

  “There is no other solution, Silvan. You are the only one I know who has the power to send me home, and you’re not going to do it because Invidia won’t let you.”

  “I just told you, it’s more complicated than that. Do you want to spend the rest of your life running from her?”

  “Not exactly, but I also don’t want to spend it locked away in some Fae prison cell, whether it’s got pretty wallpaper and a fancy bed in it or not.”

  “Avery,” he said, softening his tone a little. “I don’t know what Invidia is up to. I don’t know why she wants you for the Favoring, or what she expects will happen when it’s over. But I can tell you, I am trying to find a solution to your situation. You just need to trust me.”

  “Trust you?” I scoffed. “You kidnapped me and lied about it. You could’ve told me at any time—before or after I risked my life to save yours—but you didn’t. You waited until after I was almost killed. How am I ever going to trust another word you say?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know. But you’ve changed me. I’m not the same man I was.”

  “Really? Well, I’m not the same woman I was, and maybe we’ve both got shitty habits we’d be better off without, but you and the rest of your people are devious, and I hate it.”

  “Avery, I’m trying to make things right.”

  “You aren’t trying hard enough. And I don’t need you to make things right for me; I’ll fend for myself and find my own way out of this dump. Kady was able to do it, so I can, too.”

  “You know that’s not true. Kadeera is Fae. This world isn’t constantly trying to kill or possess her.”

  “I’ll figure something out, but I need you to get out of my way first.”

  “I don’t want you to leave.”

  “And I don’t want to stay, so I’ll ask again—once. Get out of my way, Silvan.”

  Silvan paused for a moment, then stepped aside. Quietly I headed for the door to his room. I could care less if someone was out there, if I was about to get arrested by guards. They needed me to take part in the Favoring, and as long as that thing was still running, they weren’t going to do more than lock me away in my room.

  What was different there?

  As I reached the door, Silvan called out. “What are you going to do?”

  I stopped with my hand on the handle. “No one expects me to win the Favoring, do they?” I asked, without turning my head.

  “You have come up in the rankings lately… but no. Isolde is expected to win tomorrow.”

  “I’m going to beat her ass into the dirt,” I said, “Then I’m going to get myself the hell out of this place, no matter what.”

  “If you would just wait for me to—”

  “—I’m done waiting. I’m done with Arcadia. I’m done with the Fae. I want to go home, Silvan. Home.”

  My voice broke a little toward the end, but I tried to keep it from showing. I didn’t want him to know he had hurt me. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of guilt, if he was even capable of feeling something as complicated as guilt.

  He had told me he had broken a promise made to Invidia and to Fate by telling me about what had been planned for me. I didn’t know what that meant for him, but if it was going to cause him suffering, then… crap. I didn’t want him to suffer. Not really. But he had hurt me, he had lied to me, just like everyone else in this house had.

  This place was toxic.

  These people were toxic.

  I wasn’t going to survive another week here. I needed to get out. If he wasn’t going to help me, if Invidia wasn’t going to help me, then I was going to finally help myself. I should have done it a long time ago, I should have stood up for myself a long time ago, but I had let myself be taken advantage of, and I had sworn a long time ago I would not let that happen again.

  “Please, don’t get yourself killed,” Silvan said, “Invidia will not hesitate.”

  “Invidia needs me,” I said, “As long as she does, she can’t touch me. I’m going to use that to my advantage.”

  “When the Favoring is done, one way or another, that will change.”

  “Not unless Kady comes back. I’m her daughter, remember?”

  I stepped through the door and out of his room. Surprisingly, there was no guard there to stop me, or question me. I simply made my way from his room to mine, where Rell was waiting. Well, he was asleep, and there was no illusion of me lying in my bed, snoring.

  “Can’t trust him to do anything,” I said, softly, as I got ready for bed and slipped into my sheets.

  Tomorrow was going to be a new day.

  There was going to be a trial, the last trial, and I was going to win it, and then I was going to get out of this place. I didn’t know how, but there had to be a way out of here, and I was determined to find it.

  CHAPTER 17

  I was going into the trial blind. In all the excitement last night, Elaith hadn’t had much time to prepare me for what was coming next, what was going to be the last trial of the Favoring. Unlike most other times, Elaith wasn’t sent up to my room to escort me to the trial grounds—they were guards.

  Rell had hidden under my bed when they knocked, and I had decided to wear a green scarf around my neck to try and mask the fact that I no longer had Kady’s necklace. It was the best I could’ve done, considering it was gone. With any luck, Invidia wouldn’t notice. Or maybe when she did, it would be too late for her to do anything about it openly. After the trial, well, all bets were off, but if I won… then maybe I would get a pass from her.

  Who am I kidding? That bitch hates me.

  Walking through the house under armed escort, I was a little surprised to find the hallways a little larger, a little less choked, than they had been last night. There were just as many people moving about; servants with trays, maids polishing surfaces, squires running errands for their lords and nobles. But nobody was bashing into anybody else, and it felt like you could take a breath without directly inhaling someone else’s.

  The house had grown, thanks to me, you’re welcome. I wasn’t going to get any praise for it, though. I hadn’t even been invited to stick around for the after party yesterday. I had been force fed as quickly as possible, paraded around for a half-a-heartbeat, and sent back to my room. The Fae really were a bunch of charmers.

  The next surprise waiting for me was waiting in the grand hall under the main house. I was brought down the large staircase and then ushered through the tunnel that led to the biggest room in Emerald Hall.

  Already there were Fae all over the place, chatting and clamoring as I approached the main doors into the grand hall. Once I got inside, I saw them all arranged in a circle around a large opening in the middle of the grand hall, directly beneath a gorgeous, crystal skylight up above. In the center of the opening was some kind of scaffold tall enough to reach the skylight itself, and near it were my other three competitors.

  They were tied to wooden poles many times taller than they were.

  Petal waggled her fingers at me and smiled. “Hello, Kadeera,” she said as I approached the pole that was clearly meant for me.

  “Hi…” I said, as I suspiciously eyed the pole. “What’s, uh, all this about?”

  “The final trial, silly. Didn’t you prepare?”

  “Yeah, I mean, of course I did.”

  Petal beamed. “Exciting, isn’t it?”

  “I guess so. I would’ve preferred to sleep in today, though.”

  She giggled. “You’re silly. Good luck today!”

  “Yeah, you too.”

  One of the guards that had escorted me into the room grabbed my hand. I yanked it out of his grip and closed it into a fist. “What do you think you’re doing?” I snarled.

  “I have to tie you up,” the guard growled.

  I eyed him up and down. “Next time, get my permission before touching me, or you’ll regret it.”

  The guard seemed stoic in the way he looked at me through his helmet. He simply extended a hand with some rope around it, the gesture meant to get me to turn around. Sighing, I turned around and walked closer to the pole. With my hands on either side of it, the guard started to bind them together until I couldn’t separate them or get away from the pole.

  “You almost look like you enjoyed that,” came Rell’s voice, beaming into my mind.

  “Jesus, Rell. You scared the crap out of me,” I thought. “I forgot you could do this.”

  “I know, I know. You missed it.”

  “I didn’t miss it, I just forgot. It’s not normal for humans to talk telepathically.”

  “That’s because you have tiny brains. Anyway, how are you holding up?”

  “I’m fine. Where are you?”

  “Watching in the Astral. The entire court looks like it’s in that room right now—Invidia, the nobles from the other houses, even Thea.”

  “Any sign of the Viscount?”

  “Nope. Oh, wow. Most of them are already placing bets—that was fast.”

  “I feel like a prized pig about to be paraded around for their amusement.”

  “That’s basically what’s about to happen, but it’s not something you’ve never done before. You’ll do great.”

  “You got any insight I can use?”

  “No, but I’ll stick around to help you out from the safety of your bedroom.”