Page 67 of Fae Champion

My breath rushed from me, and I placed my hand on her shoulder—too slim, too frail for the many burdens she carried. That heavy, dark gaze dragged to where my hand touched her.

I went to remove it—I’d never touched her before—but ended up leaving it. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

Turning her gaze up at me once more, she blinked back tears.

“Oh my sunshine, Pru, Primrose, what’s going on? Are you okay?” Of course, I already knew she wasn’t okay. She’d never fully be all right while under the queen’s rule. No one was safe, her especially.

Though I felt her tremble, Pru straightened her shoulders and tipped back her head; her face was moreashen than usual. “In a few hours, you’ll fight in the final of the Gladius Probatio.”

I sighed in relief. “Yeah, uh, duh. You had me really freaked out there.”

“I’m not ready to say goodbye to the only lady who’s ever wanted to be friends with me—with a goblin.”

I squeezed her shoulder—little more than flesh and bone—and dropped my hand. “Pru, we don’t need to say goodbye,” I assured her, all while hoping I wasn’t lying. “Rush won’t kill me.” I tried a smile; it felt weak. “I’ll give the competition my all, but if he still wins, then even if the queen sends me away, we’ll at least have time for proper farewells.”

Shit. My stomach churned uncomfortably. Pru was right.

“Is there no way for us to keep in touch once I’m gone?” I hastened to add.

Pru’s eyes shone with wetness again, and she shook her head. “Not from the Etherlands, not unless you have the gift.”

I laughed, the sound grating even to my own ears. “I’m notdying, Pru.” My face fell even as my eyes widened. “Fuck, am I?”

When Pru didn’t answer, I asked in a rush, “What can I do? How can I get out of it? It doesn’t seem like the magic of the Gladius Probatio’s working the way it’s supposed to. Maybe I can just leave? Escape? The guys’ll be okay.” I knew they wouldn’t be. “And you can’t be held at fault if I leave.” She would anyway. “I’llsnatch Xeno and Saffron and have Xeno shift so I can ride him out of here. Saffron’s still too young for that.”

Assuming I could find them, assuming they were alive and in any kind of state to make that flight.

Pru reached for a silver bowl filled with flower petals on the counter and sprinkled extra into the water. “The bath’s ready.”

My mind was working through the problem so rapidly that I didn’t speak as I sank into the hot water, dispersing petals in reds, whites, and violets, their beauty lost on me this morning. The water soothed the swollen and tender flesh between my legs, reminding me with a pang of all that I’d shared with Rush and how very much was left to explore between us.

I usually protested when Pru tried to wash me, but I didn’t then. “There has to be something I can do,” I rasped. “There must be.”

Pru just scrubbed.

“My father won’t let her kill me. Surely he won’t, not after he was the one who brought me here in the first place.”

Pru stiffened behind the soapy cloth.

I pressed my hand to hers, stilling her. “What is it?”

She tried to keep cleaning; I held her there.

“Come on, Pru. We’ve done the blood oath. You can tell me anything. You know I won’t tell anyone, that I can’t even if I wanted to, which I don’t.”

She flicked away my hand and continued washing, but eventually said, “Lord Sandor is dead.”

I tensed at first, but then, “Well, that’sprobably a good thing based on how he looked last night, right? He seemed like he was in a crazy amount of pain. So now he won’t feel any of that.”

But Pru’s scrubbing had turned harsh, nearly violent.

I waited. When she didn’t offer anything more: “I’m sorry about Sandor, even if he is the one who knocked me out so they could kidnap me and bring me here. If you cared about him, I’m sorry?—”

“I didn’t care about him. I didn’t know him. He only once spoke to me, and then it was to tell me to get out of his way when I was attending to Prince Saturn.”

“You were assigned to be Saturn’s goblin?” I peeked at her from under my raised arm as she rubbed away.

“I was.”

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