Page 71 of The Jester

“Do you think it was Kayan’s magic?” I ask gently, arm draped around her shoulders.

“I don’t know.” Her reply is tight and restrained. She doesn’t trust me anymore. I broke it, which means I need to fix it and fast.

“Alana, I’m sorry I lied. I will do anything to make it up to you.”

I stroke her shoulder and kiss her forehead. Despite what just happened between us, I still feel as if she is turning away from me.

And now more than ever, I know I need to bring her back.

“You can’t make it up to me, Finn. You can hammer nails into a fence but when you take the nails out, the holes are still there.”

I think about her words and the meaning solidifies like iron in my gut. “If I broke us, I’ll never forgive myself.”

Sitting up, she reaches for a glass of water, takes a sip and then pinches the bridge of her nose as if she’s trying to think. “I still want to free the others,” she says. “If you want to make it up to me, if you want to start making it up to me, you’ll help me figure out how to do that.”

I inhale sharply and accept the glass from her, taking a long drink of my own. “Alana, I know exactly how,” I say, my voice filled with conviction. “But you have to trust me.”

She frowns at me. “What do you mean?”

I stand up and extend my hand to her. “Get dressed. There’s something I need to show you.”

Alana dresses in silence. She is lost in thought, but I know as soon as she sees the whole picture, she will forget what Eldrion told her. She’ll forget my lies, and understand why I had to do it.

I lead her out of the room and we navigate through the castle’s winding corridors until we reach the kitchens.

The sights and noises, Shadowkind still clearing up after the banquet, are overwhelming. Alana blinks at the clattering of pots and pans, but I keep hold of her hand and lead her towards the back.

When we reach the pantry, I usher her inside and close the door behind us. It is cool in here, and dark. In the corner, there is a pile of old grain sacks. I tug them aside to reveal a concealed hatch in the floor.

“What is that?” Alana tilts her head.

I tap on the hatch with my foot, three times, quick succession. Then I lift it open.

Alana peers down into the darkness of the opening.

“Ladies first.” I hold out my hand. Alana hesitates, but then visibly pushes back her shoulders, swipes her hair back and ties it at the base of her neck. Swinging herself down onto the top rail of the dark staircase, she disappears.

This is it.

The moment Alana Leafborne joins the fight.

Chapter Thirty-Two

ALANA

Ishouldn’t trust him. He lied to me. Worse than that; he worked with Eldrion.

I know these things, and yet I also know that when I’m with him I do not feel even the slightest flicker of malice. When I’m around Eldrion, my entire body reacts to him. I feel the evil seeping from his pores even with my gates slammed shut.

Finn has never made me feel that way.

So, I follow him when he leads me to a secret trapdoor at the back of the kitchens.

We descend into the darkness beneath the door, taking shaky steps down, down, down until it becomes pitch-dark.

But then there is light again. Flickering torchlight.

My feet meet with solid ground. Not stone, but soil, compacted. It smells damp here. Like earth, and life, and home. Thoughts of the Leafborne forests flood into my mind, but they disappear abruptly when the flickering candlelight illuminates several faces in the dark.

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