“I do.”

  “Can you tell me? That’s a fair trade, right?”

  An eyebrow cocked and they tapped their lower lip with their finger. “I suppose… yes, the Lady Kadeera is in her room, on the third floor, past the library. I hear she’s under strict observation, too.”

  “Why is she being observed?”

  “She has a knack for escaping the palace. I doubt if anyone wants her doing it again so close to the Favoring.”

  “Fav—”

  “—the greatest event of the season,” Elaith said, interrupting me before I could ask the question. “It’s the thing we are all preparing for. This time, Emerald Hall will be hosting the other Great Houses of Spring for the duration of the event. It’s going to be magnificent. So much gossip.”

  “And Kady is involved in this event?”

  “Oh, of course. She and all the other ladies of the house. Kadeera is the front runner, though—the favorite. That shouldn’t surprise anyone considering she’s the Duchess’ daughter, but she has been gone for some time and will need to catch up on her training if she wants to do well.”

  “I don’t think she wants to do well.”

  Elaith’s eyes lit up. “What’s that?”

  “I’m saying, she escaped this place because she didn’t want to take part in the Favoring, or whatever it is. She said something about not wanting to be paraded around in some pageant.”

  “Interesting…” Elaith said, trailing off. “I think that little tidbit of information deserves a reward, don’t you?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  Elaith waved their wrist, and little motes of glitter and light began to dance around the space where their hand had settled in the air. They grinned, offered me a wink, and then clicked their fingers. There was a burst of light I had to shield my eyes from, the smell of spring flowers in the air intensified, I even felt a little heat against my skin.

  A moment later, the light and heat faded, leaving only the smell of spring lingering about. “Here,” said Elaith.

  When I opened my eyes, they were already handing over a thick duvet—white, and fluffy, and inlaid with golden embroidery in the shape of leaves and flowers. It was warm when I took it. Inviting. Comfortable.

  “Wow,” I said, “How did you…?”

  “Magic,” Elaith said, their eyes as wide and as bright as their smile. “Do well, and your time here need not be miserable. It may even be comfortable.”

  They removed the large, silver dome from the plate they’d carried with them into the room. Underneath the dome and the steam rising from it was a plate of colorful, hot, flavorful looking food that instantly made my stomach rumble. Steak, it looked like, lying on a bed of strange, bright vegetables and covered in delicious, brown gravy.

  My stomach gave another angry grumble, this time adding a pinch of pain to the sensation, as if to emphasize the point.

  “You should eat,” said Elaith.

  I swallowed the large amounts of saliva building inside of my mouth. “I’m… not hungry.”

  “That can’t be true.”

  “It is.”

  Elaith’s eyes narrowed. “You’re going to have to eat eventually.”

  “If I’m hungry, I’ll eat.”

  They straightened up. “Suit yourself. If you aren’t going to eat, then sit. It’s time I taught you the ways of my people, and the rules of this house. You’re going to want to memorize them, because one misstep…” they trailed off.

  “And they’ll kill me?”

  “No one can kill you so long as you’re under Protection and Hospitality, but death isn’t the worst thing we Arcadians can deliver to those who cross us. Let’s hope you don’t learn that lesson first-hand, otherwise I’ve failed at my job, and that will look poorly on me.”

  “We can’t have that.”

  “Hey, look at you, catching on quick. I am going to turn you into a functional part of this house, one way or another.”

  More than anything they’d said until now, that had sounded like a threat, and it had made me vastly more nervous than I’d been since I’d gotten here.

  Chapter 12

  Don’t be seen.

  Don’t be heard.

  Don’t look them in the eyes.

  Don’t speak. Ever.

  Do exactly as you’re told.

  Those were the rules Elaith spent the next few hours drilling into my head. They were simple rules, but for some reason, my au pair decided they needed to really hammer those points home. They even asked me questions with obvious answers, and forced me to answer them, just to make sure I was on the level.

  I’d wanted to tell them where they could go and stick their rules a couple of times at least, but I was in no position to hurl barbs, and I knew that now. In any case, I needed to play along with all of this. Make them think I was going to be a good little servant. Nod. Smile. Pretend like I wasn’t bored to death of being told what I could and couldn’t do.

  One of those lists was way longer than the other.

  By the time Elaith was done with me, I was exhausted, my head was throbbing, and my stomach was twisting itself into an aching pretzel. The food sitting inside of the domed, silver plate called to me, turning my stomach into even tighter knots. Somehow, the food was still warm; steaming, even after all this time. I remembered Thea’s words, though. Her warning, not to eat any of the food here.

  I hadn’t seen her since the last time we spoke, and I wondered what had happened to her, but I couldn’t let that distract me from my goal.

  I had to get out.

  I couldn’t tell whether the sun was still shining outside or if night had come, but Elaith hadn’t bothered to ask me to hand over my makeshift lockpicks. Either they trusted me more than I trusted them, or I was in for some kind of elaborate trick.

  I wasn’t about to settle into living a life of washing dishes from a cold basement, though. I wanted to get back home, and I was going to try, and try, and try again even if it killed me. Seattle was a drag sometimes, but it beat whatever this place was; even with the magic.

  I still wasn’t totally convinced half of this was real, anyway.

  It was some time after Elaith had left that I decided to make my move, using the quiet and the darkness as a cover on my way out of the room and into the cellar. I couldn’t hear anything coming from the kitchen, couldn’t smell anything fresh being cooked, though the heady aroma of previously prepared meals still lingered.

  The silence deepened while I waited. Nobody came down into the cellar, nobody so much as crossed in front of the cellar door. I headed toward it, carefully moving from behind the stack of crates I’d found and crossing to the stairs. I climbed them quickly, not wanting to be caught halfway up if someone did decide to open the door.

  Nothing.

  Silence.

  The cellar door was unlocked, which seemed a little weird. I pulled it open a bit, just enough to get a glimpse into the kitchen. It was dark, completely dead save for the chirping of crickets coming from somewhere outside. Moonlight beamed in through the windows overlooking the grounds, and while I thought I could pick vaguely human shapes from the shadows outside, the kitchen itself was clear.

  “Perfect,” I whispered.

  Using the darkness and silence as cover, I moved out, past the cellar doors, and hid behind the island counter in the center of the kitchen. No one had seen me yet, and no one had heard the soft click of the cellar door as it shut. It was deathly silent, save only for the song of the crickets outside.

  Now, I had options.

  Elaith had told me Kady was somewhere inside the manor. On the third floor, past the library. Sure, that narrowed her location down a little, but the third floor of Emerald Hall was likely to be huge; a labyrinth of hallways, corners, and doors. Finding her wasn’t going to be easy.

  To get to her, I’d have to go through the door that led deeper into the building. It was the way I had been brought in, the way that led to the magic chandelier, the way past the study area, and dining room. There was nobody here, but I had no way of knowing how many people I’d encounter on my way through to the main stairs.

  From where I was crouched right now, though, I had a clear shot to the door that led out of the kitchen and into the grounds. All I had to do once I was through it was make a run for it. I’d have to figure out which way to go once I was out there, but being outside with a chance of finding freedom was better than fumbling about in the dark in here.

  Trying to find Kady was a gamble.

  Trying to make it on my own was a gamble.

  Instincts pulled me toward the outer door. I had always looked after myself first, and I’d survived some of the worst things life had thrown at me. Helping others, though, had landed me here. I had given Kady a place to stay, I’d helped Rell out of the trash, and I’d stood up for Thea, and where was I now?

  Far away from home, surrounded by freaks, and completely alone.

  It was time to start looking after myself again.

  I made my move, only to be immediately hit with a powerful migraine that sent me right back against the counter. It felt like someone had dug an icepick into the side of my skull. I saw stars, the world was swimming, and the pain was like fire. My ears were ringing, my brain throbbed, and I couldn’t move, but I wasn’t falling unconscious.

  The moment passed as suddenly as it came, then I heard a voice.

  “There you are!”

  I paused, scanning the kitchen. “Who said that?” I whispered.

  “Don’t speak, idiot. Talk in your head.”

  “Idiot?”

  “Think your words with intent, or do you want them to hear you speaking?”

  Looking around once more and seeing no one, I decided I had finally gone insane, but that I’d think my words instead of speaking them. Besides, the voice in my head kind of sounded like “Rell?”

  “The very same. Do you have any idea how hard it’s been to get a hold of you?”

  “I… don’t, no.”

  “I have been trying to reach you since we got here. Where are you?”

  “In the kitchen, I think.”

  “What are you doing in the kitchen?”

  “So, I’m rying to escape the cellar.”

  “The cellar… they must have wards set up to prevent magical communication with the people they are keeping down there.”

  “I don’t know about that, and I don’t really care. I’m trying to escape.”

  “Escape? You must be joking.”

  “I’m not. I just broke out of the cellar, and now I’m going to go through the door in the kitchen that leads to the grounds.”

  “And do what once you get there?”

  “Start running until I hit a gate, then jump it, and find a way back to Seattle.”

  “I hate to be the one to tell you, but you’re a long, long way from Seattle.”

  “Whatever, I’ll hitch-hike. I’ve done it before.”

  “Right…” a pause. “You do realize you’re not even on Earth anymore, yes? This has been explained to you by now, surely.”

  “Elaith said something about an interdimensional portal, but I don’t trust them as far as I can throw them.”

  “You spoke to one of the Fae?”

  “I spoke to a few of them. I kicked one of them in the stones, as a matter of fact.”

  Rell groaned, making a hollow, echoing sound like the inside of a cave. “I invoked the Rites of Protection and Hospitality to prevent you from being killed outright by these people, but it won’t apply if you keep kicking them in the balls. Also, don’t talk to any of them. You can’t trust them.”

  “It’s a little late for that, Rell. Anyway, following that logic, I shouldn’t trust you either.”

  “If it weren’t for me, you’d be dead by now.”

  “If it weren’t for you, I’d still be in Seattle.”

  “You don’t know that. Anyway, like it or not, we need each other. If you want to escape, you aren’t getting anywhere without me.”

  “I can see the exit right now.”

  “Sure, but do you even know what to do once you get outside?”

  “I’ll figure it out.”

  “Of course, you will. Typical human way of thinking, leap first, ask questions later. It’s going to get you killed out there. Once you hop over the fence at the end of the road, the Rite of Hospitality ends. And if the palace guards don’t kill you, the first Fae you run into out there will probably do way worse to you. Face it, you don’t know the way back home. You’ve just seen an exit and decided you can cowboy your way out of this.”

  “How do you know about cowboys?”

  “I’ve been to your world a few times. I know what a cowboy is.”

  I stared at the door to the grounds, watching the trees swaying in the night. I had never seen a more inviting darkness, a night as dangerous as it was still, and twice as beautiful. I knew I could make it all the way past those gates at the end of the driveway, and on the other side of those gates, there was freedom.

  “I can hear your thoughts, you know,” Rell said into my head.

  I paused. “Bullshit.”

  “I’ve never seen a more inviting darkness. As dangerous as it is beautiful. You’re way more pretentious in your head than when you speak aloud, you know that?”

  “Listen, you. When I find you, I’m gonna—”

  “—yes, exactly, come and find me. I know I can get you out of here. I can get us both out of here. But you need to come and get me first.”

  “What about Kady?”

  “Lady Kadeera isn’t going anywhere. She’s the most well-guarded Fae in this entire palace. You aren’t getting anywhere near her, and you’re definitely not getting her out of here, so you can drop that plan right now.”

  “And I suppose you’re in a much more convenient location.”

  “As it happens, I am.”

  “Where are you?”

  “Through the study, in the grand hall. They’ve made a… display out of me.”

  “Display?”

  “Come and get me, and you’ll see.”

  I glanced at the door to the outdoors again, feeling the pull to escape. There was a chance I could save Rell. There was a chance I could find, and maybe extract, Kady. But I couldn’t get far enough away from my own instincts.

  Moving swiftly, keeping low enough that I wouldn’t be seen over the counters, I made a dash for the outer door. As soon as I reached it, I tried the handle. Unlocked. Holy shit. The door didn’t even creak as it opened. The soft, cool breeze of the outside world touched my skin, the songs of the crickets intensified, and the scent of night flowers wrapped me up in its embrace.

  Elaith hadn’t stopped me from escaping my room, and no one had seen me get here.

  “Avery?” Rell asked.

  I ignored him and pushed the door open just enough for me to slip out and into the courtyard. I was on the far side of the building, well away from the main entrance I’d been brought in through. Beautiful faerie lights twinkled all along the paths leading around the manor; all except the one directly in front of me.

  Made sense.

  This was a service entrance. Nobody needed to see what happened around service doors.

  I shut the door quickly and slinked out into the dark, keeping my back pressed against the wall. Across the way I noticed a number of tall hedges and bushes that ran parallel to the main road leading away from the building. Taking a deep breath, I rushed out of the cover I had and made my way toward them, sprinting on as light feet as I could manage.

  I reached them quickly, and without issue. No one had seen me, and no one knew I was out here. Well, no one except Rell.

  “What do you think you’re doing?!” he hissed into my mind.

  “Escaping,” I said, keeping my breath low. I could hear fountains trickling away nearby, so I started moving toward them, running but keeping close to the hedges.

  “You’re not going to make it out of here, and I’m going to remember this.”

  “I can’t come and get you, Rell. I just can’t. Anyway, we’re supposed to be even. I don’t owe anyone anything.”

  “Well, that’s just great. Go ahead, escape. See how far you get before Arcadia herself twists your fragile human body into something monstrous.”

  “Now you’re just trying to scare me,” I said, as I turned the corner. “It’s not going to wo—"—I froze, my insides turning into blocks of ice. I had found the fountain near the path that led away from the manor, and laying eyes on it had rooted me to the spot because it wasn’t a fountain at all, but a person.

  It was a woman, tall and statuesque, her mouth open, water spouting from it like she had a hose jammed in her throat. She had her hands up behind her head in a sultry pose, her hair falling past her shoulders to cover her bare chest. The woman was completely naked from the waist up, and from the waist down? A long, beautiful mermaid tail coiled around the rock she was sitting on.

  “Oh my God…” the words fell out of my mouth. “Thea.”

  “You shouldn’t be out here,” came a deep, dark voice from behind that sent tingles all the way up my spine.

  Chapter 13

  I spun around on my heel, my heart a pounding lump in my throat. It was him. The Viscount, the Haircut, was standing right behind me, watching me, both of his hands stuffed in his pockets, a smirk on his lips.

  Smug bastard.

  “You,” I said, backing up. “What kind of sick shit did you do to her?”

  The Viscount’s eyes moved lazily past my shoulders to the woman sitting on the rock. She looked paralyzed, and there was a constant stream of water trickling out of her mouth and pooling around her feet. He examined her, then turned his attention to me again. The full weight of it was enough to make my body tremble, and not in any way that was appropriate right now.

  “You don’t like it, I suppose,” he said.

  “Like it? She’s paralyzed, and she’s got water coming out of her throat! Why won’t you stop this?”

  “Because this isn’t my artwork. It wouldn’t be proper.”