The dungeon is worse than the Lair, though. By far. Rats have taken up residence in the mess of straw piled in one corner, their tiny claws scratching at the stone. And there’s the awful stench—like perhaps the royal sewers empty nearby. This far inside the mountain, they might.
I try to think of other things, like counting the time in the dripping of distant water and the intermittent echo of footsteps. The guard changing, I assume. But they do not come to bait me, as I guessed they would. The Briar King’s Vila pet must be considered too dangerous. And there are no other prisoners close by.
There’s nothing to do but think and sleep. But sleep is as far from me as one of the realms across the Carthegean Sea. Instead, every conceivable thought burrows into my brain like the rats into the straw. How long before Tarkin starts to use me? He’s been planning this invasion for some time. I was just the missing piece. The secret weapon he didn’t even realize that he had. Until the duke. I curse myself again for my idiocy. I should have known this day would come. How many Etherian lives will I take? How many of Tarkin’s enemies will I put down? My skin itches, as if it is already covered in their blood.
Every time I close my eyes, there’s Aurora. The sound of her voice when she asked if I was using her to take over Briar. The look on her face when I had her father in my thrall. It had been as if she was seeing me for the first time.
I rest my forehead against the gritty iron bars of my cell. I must get to her. Explain—
What? A savage voice tears through me. That I didn’t take her father’s gold in return for curses? That I wasn’t lying to her every time we met, making it easy for the Briar King to steal her throne and raze her realm?
Unbidden, a new image of Aurora seems to emerge in the darkness. Her kneeling and looking up at me like I’m a fallen star come to earth. Her skin gloved in moonlight. The taste of her mouth on mine. Our limbs tangled together in sleep. Tears burn down my cheeks as I crumple to the filthy ground. That night was my one slice of happiness. I’ll never have another.
* * *
—
The sound of metal screeching against metal jerks my eyelids open. For a moment, I’m lost in the suffocating blackness, the place between waking and sleeping, and I don’t understand why my back aches and I’m freezing and my head feels filled with lead.
And then it all comes careening back.
I’m on my feet as fast as my sore body will let me move. Rough stone nicks my palms as I wedge myself into a corner.
“Alyce.”
My brain must be addled. I’m hallucinating. Because I know that voice. And it can’t possibly be her. My cell door opens with a squeal and a cloaked figure slips inside. Another behind it. My eyes begin to adjust in the gloom.
“Laurel?”
She tugs her hood down around her shoulders, polished black skin drinking the light of her lantern flame. My arms are around her before she can answer.
“What are you doing here? How did you—”
The second figure registers. My veins flash fire and ice.
“Hello, Alyce.”
I let go of Laurel.
“Aurora.” Her name on my lips is a tenuous, fragile thing. But once I’ve spoken, everything else pours out in a fury. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I never wanted to make the curses.” I choke on a sob. “I didn’t realize. I just needed a way out of Briar. Of my life here. The whole world was closing in and I— I…”
She stays me with a raised hand. “I’ve had time to think. And I remembered what you said. About being at the mercy of someone who has the power to take everything.”
Shame scalds down my throat. I’d been harsh with her that day.
“I don’t forgive what you did.” The fractures on my heart expand. “But I know my father. And I know you likely had little choice in the matter.” She pauses. And her next words are so soft I almost miss them. “You did have a choice, though.”
I clench my teeth against the truth that crackles between us.
“I know.”
Now she will turn and go—leave me to the mercy of the Briar King. But then, “I want a new beginning for us. For Briar. One in which choices like that don’t exist at all.”
Hope wriggles in my chest. “You mean you still…”
She steps impossibly nearer. One hand cups the back of my neck. Her thumb trails my jawline. “Of course I do.” Her lips brush mine and I am reeling. “This is the only thing I’m sure of. You aren’t the Dark Grace. Not anymore. You’re Alyce.”