Page 29 of Kingdom of Faewood

That was it.

Blue paint covered the walls, similar in shade to my wrinkled gown, and the window overlooked the main street below, a street much larger than the narrow back alley we’d arrived by.

It was still early, the sun hadn’t set yet, but Jax waved toward the bed. “Rest. We won’t be staying more than one night. Bowan?”

His friend stepped forward, and a rush of Bowan’s magic cascaded around me. My glamour disappeared, my gown appearing once more.

I swung toward them, a million questions on my lips, but Bowan and Jax were already in the hall, and Jax was closing the door behind them.

“Wait!”

The sound of the bolt sliding into place followed.

I rushed to the door and immediately tried to disengage the lock, but a pulse of magic flowed over my hand, and the lockfroze. He’d used a spell to solidify it.

“Bastard!” I pounded on the door. “Let me out of here!”

“My name’s Jax, not Bastard. Now, rest. I mean it.” Jax’s command penetrated the door, but his voice was muffled. “This is your one and only opportunity, Elowen. Don’t make me regret this. We won’t be stopping again.”

Faint footsteps reached my ears from the other side. I pounded on the door again. “Jax! Let me out!”

But if he heard me, he didn’t care.

Seething, I swung back around and glowered at my newest cage.

Music thumped from below,along with rowdy singing and laughing. Jax and his friends hadn’t returned, which meant they were either standing silently in the hall, were in one of their rooms, or perhaps were even back downstairs in the salopas enjoying a few more pints with the locals and other fae staying at this inn. The Goddess only knew.

Wherever they went, they weren’t here, and since it’d beenhourssince Jax had locked me in this chamber, I had no idea when he would be returning.

And, as I’d come to learn, the Dark Raider had not only spelled the door, but he’d also spelled the windows. He must have done that when he first retrieved the keys, and the rest of us had been waiting in the back alley. Or maybe his magic was so powerful that it flowed throughout the room on his way out, sealing every entry and exit point within this chamber. Whatever the case, he’d caged me completely.

Yet he didn’t know I knew several counterspells for such an event.

Or, that I’d been waiting for the right time to use them...

Joke’s on you, Dark Raider.

I waited until the sun set, just so it wouldn’t be entirely visible what I was doing, and I didn’t put my efforts into the door. That would be the most obvious path of escape, and I worried Jax or his friends would see me in the hall.

Instead, once the sun cast only a dim glow through the streets, I concentrated on the window.

I whispered the most universal spell my tutors had taught me as a child for such an event, and no sooner had the unlocking spell left my lips—my magic rising just enough to wield it—a shimmer appeared around the window’s seal.

Jax’s sealing spell evaporated.

“Not so powerful now, are you?” I whispered, gloating inwardly that it’d been so easy.

I couldn’t take all the credit, though. Guardian Alleron had hired multiple tutors when I’d been young, not scrimping on my education since he sought to impress the wealthy in the realm, who were always supremely educated.

I’d been taught well as a child, and since Guardian Alleron was always on the lookout for someone trying to steal his things, I’d also been instructed from a young age on how to wield the intricate spells to disarm locking mechanisms. And now, that training had come in handy.

I grinned, then grabbed the fireplace poker and wedged it under the window, cracking the paint in the process. I didn’tstop, not even when the old wooden frame creaked in protest at being breached. Paint flecked off its rim, but after putting more of my weight into it, the pane squeaked up half an arm’s length.

I swallowed my squeal of glee. “Thank you, tutors.”

Fresh air swirled around me, and another hoot of laughter came from the salopas below. On the street outside, several fae ambled into the inn’s salopas or wandered by on an evening stroll.

I carefully laid the poker on the floor, then focused my attention on the shop across the lane.

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