“Heard that, did ya?” He snickered and said no more as he gripped my arm and tugged me through the long row of cells, too shadowy to see what kind of prisoners were inside.

When we reached the end of the corridor, the scarred merman took out his key again and unlocked the last cell at the very end—I didn’t feel the same sickness towards the bars of the cell. However, my body and mind were still at odds.

“Didn’t get the order to put ya in shackles,” the merman sniffed loudly. “But if ya cause trouble, I might decide to do it anyway.”

I bared my teeth in a smile. “Such kindness,” I crooned, though my heart wasn’t in it.

The merman tilted his chin to the open cell, and I stepped inside, my fists clenched at my side.

What was once a bed of seaweed and reeds had molded to slime in the poor conditions, and there was no blanket or cover to speak of. Somehow, the water felt colder in the castle’s depths, and I began to shiver.

There was no toilet, though there was a small hole in the corner with a grate over it. I briefly wondered if it was possible to escape through such a hole, but I decided to leave that thought for later.

I turned back to the bars just as Jitney swung the door shut and locked it with a smirk.

“Can you get a message to someone for me?” My chin jutted with bravery that I did not feel.

The merman’s scar stretched as his smile turned nasty. “Darling, not a soul can save you now. Lady Bloodtide has declared that you murdered her son.”

“Cormac isdead?” My hand fluttered to my chest as I stepped back in shock. Though I couldn’t pinpoint why it felt like I had received a physical blow. I didn’t even like Cormac. It must have been guilt, I decided. Though that didn’t make the pain in my chest any less.

The merman shook his head. “Might as well be, the state you returned him in. Can’t have a king that’s confined to the sick bed.”

I blinked, unable to comprehend his words. “Cormac Illfin will wake up,” I declared.

“Let’s hope so.” The merman sniffed again, and I gagged when I heard the phlegm at the back of his throat. “Because you’re stuck in here until he does.”

It wasn’t until a day passed and my stomach gave up protesting any sort of hunger that I realized how dire my situation was.

Anger warmed my blood, but not enough to keep me from shivering as I succumbed to the cold. The princelings should have defended me. It was their fault that I even went into the damn Whispering Pass to begin with, and I was the one to identify that the weaving magic had belonged to my uncle. If I had never said anything, they wouldn’t have known.

Why did I have to open my big mouth?

It seemed that I had forgotten that we weren’t friends. The princelings had used me at every turn and trotted me through the lake as if I was their willing pet. Every moment I remained in the dark, my mind had conjured up more elaborate and painful ways to hurt them.

Well, that was all moot now, it seemed. I was going to die in a cold cell in the dungeons of Tarsainn while the princelings feasted and fucked, and Cormac was attended to by healers in a warm bed.

Perhaps it would have been better if they had culled me with the others on the Frosted Sands.

The only thing that saved my life was my family name. My connection to my uncle and my mother, the mad queen.

I tried to sleep, but it was almost impossible. Ignoring the bed in the corner made of moldy and slimy reeds, I sat propped up against the wall until exhaustion and hunger claimed me.

The hole in the floor was not a viable escape. The grate was made with iron, enough to make me feel sick when I went near it and sure to burn my hands if I was brave enough to try and touch the filthy thing. I didn’t even want to think about the smell of it.

Regardless of how lonely and tenuous my time at Cruinn Castle had been, I had never been cold and hungry. If Jitney’s mention of the torturer’s chair was true, then perhaps I would be in as much pain as I had been on the High Throne.

“Maeve!” someone called my name from outside the bars as I drifted into sleep. It took a moment to realize that the voice had been real and not a dream.

My eyes blinked open, struggling to focus in the darkness.

Rainn stood outside of my cell.

Though Rainn had been the kindest to me of all of the princelings, I suspected that largely had to do with his overall pleasant nature. But he had still been there during every single wrong committed against me. He had also been highly chummy with Lady Bloodtide. He had, I suspected, spilled all manner of secrets about how our journey had gone since I had been left beaten on the Skala Beach all those days ago.

Anger roared through me anew, and I bared my teeth, flashing my canines in a gesture that the undine seldom employed. “You,” I snarled. “You left me here. You told Lady Bloodtide that I was the one that hurt Cormac!”

“Maeve!” Rainn called again, his sky-blue eyes manic in a way that gave me pause. He gripped the bars and pressed his face against them. “Are you okay? Have you eaten? I tried to find out what had happened, but the guards wouldn’t tell me. I managed to bribe one of the healers for information, but even then, they wouldn’t tell me where you were. Only that you’d been tried and found guilty.”