Page 25 of Royal Ransom

A snicker rolled through my head.“Now is the perfect time, my boy. You’re in it deep now, aren’t you? There’s nowhere to go from here. Unless...”

“No,”I hissed back.“I am not going to be your puppet. Get lost.”

The sense of him vanished. That didn’t mean he was gone, but at least he was bowing out of the action, leaving me one less thing to worry about. He hadn’t withdrawn his help, though. My lungs had stilled as well. I existed but no longer drew on the elements to keep me alive. At least, not for the next few minutes. It was an enticement. To have all the superior strength, speed, and stamina of a vampire with almost none of the drawbacks.

It would only cost me my soul.

It was strange not to have a heartbeat or to breathe. I felt like one of the crumbling statues that lined these halls. I was acutely aware of my surroundings without the burden of breath or heartbeat. With my body under control, I could focus all my attention on the intruder’s approach.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on the sound of the voice I’d heard before. It was quiet and perfectly clear. I peeked around the armoire door, getting my first good look at the intruder.

For a Sidhe, he wasn’t very remarkable. He appeared only a handful of years older than the friends Astrid had brought home for the summer. He had soot-gray hair tied back from his face in an elaborate updo. Tall and lithe, he resembled most of theWinter Sidhe I’d seen.

His features were stereotypically pretty, but nothing noteworthy. Even I could admit that Basil was prettier, and I didn’t care for the man.

The young Sidhe stood across from an antique full-length mirror, rusted around its ornate golden frame. But the reflection didn’t belong to the faerie. Given the angle of the mirror, I couldn’t quite make out who it was. Worse, while I could tell the other voice was distinctly male, it wasn’t as clear as this kid’s.

I leaned in closer, curious as a cat with all nine lives left.

“I’m sorry I nodded off,” he said emphatically into the mirror. “But honestly, what are the odds they’d come here? This is a tangential link to Olwen, at best.”

Ah. So Janara had cast a wide dragnet this time, hoping to catch us coming from an unlikely direction. The people of Haven Hollow were many things, but predictable wasn’t one of them. If I were in a giving mood, I’d even applaud the forward-thinking this time. Her plan might well work.

“I did not take the time to speak to you only to listen to your driveling excuses, Cirro,” the booming voice declared from the reflecting glass, sounding like a distant cannon. The man speaking had to be massive. “You are to keep watch over your post until Olwen is captured or killed. No excuses.”

I felt my heart drop at that as anger took over. I had to shove it back down again.

Cirro sputtered nervously. Honestly, I’d never seen a faerie so anxious. Normally, the Winter faeries who served Janara were a cool, collected, and slimy bunch, like garden snakes or a pile of earthworms, content in their own disgusting skin. Now, this one was flailing like a fish out of water, which made for a bizarre sight.

“You are being utterly unreasonable!” Cirro said through clenched teeth. “I am only one man, and you’re on the far sideof campus! On the off chance shedoesturn up here, what is the likelihood you’ll reach me before Olwen can smash my head like a gourd?”

I heard a low, chuffing laugh from the other side of the mirror. “Are you trying to tell me that Lord Cirro can’t hold his own against an under-trained child? She’s only five decades old, you know? Only that bastard Lavant’s meddling keeps her from looking the part. He knew she needed to look respectable before the court. They wouldn’t take an infant queen seriously.”

I... hadn’t thought of that, actually. At the rate that faeries aged, Tally was still a young adult. I was technically older than she was, no matter what our appearances said. I was quite a bit older, actually. She had such a big personality that I hadn’t questioned why her form was that of an adult, not a faerie teen. I was incredibly grateful for it but also bemused.

“She’s more than a child, and you know it,” Cirro countered, regaining some of (what I assumed was) his usual poise. “She’s the daughter of two of the most powerful monarchs the court has ever seen. Even Janara only managed to usurp them through treachery. If Olwen gains even a meager grasp of her powers, she’s more than a match for youorme.”

There was a long moment of uncomfortable silence before the other side of the mirror spoke again. “While you may have a point, that doesn’t change the fact of the matter.”

“Which is?” Cirro snapped, his teeth clenched tight enough to squeeze diamonds while his crooked nose twitched impatiently. I idly wondered how his jaw could withstand the pressure.

“You have failed our queen... again.” The voice’s owner didn’t sound happy. Cirro’s face fell, accentuating the long lines on either side of his crooked mouth while his small, triangular eyes squinted into the mirror. “You don’t understand—”

“That you’re a poor excuse for a bannerman? Yes, Iunderstand that perfectly. Scour the castle hourly as ordered. Any number of enemies could have slipped through while you were slacking.”

“I am not!” Cirro protested.

“If that’s the case, I suggest you promptly locate your spine and your testicles and take somegoddamnedaction!”

The last words had some magic to them. They hit Cirro like a slap. By the time it reached me, it was only a small nudge, but still shocking enough to make me suck in a sharp breath. Though I tried to cover my mouth, I knew it was too late. Cirro must have heard me.

Even as I stood and darted for the door, my mind was racing. I’d somehow gotten turned around and landed in the night class wing. I’d moved house enough times to know that something was always left behind when a person left a place. In one house I’d moved into, I found a flat of soup in a hidden compartment in the pantry. I was hoping a vampire or demon would have more interesting goodies tucked away somewhere. I didn’t dare jump to our intended entry point; I’d essentially be shouting our plan into a megaphone for Janara to hear. Which meant I had to keep this Cirro guy from doing his job.

“One distraction coming up,” I said, rubbing my hands together. Red sparks crackled into being as Cirro’s first curse shattered like breaking ice and rained down on my head.

I sucked in a deep breath, threw myself into midair, and vanished from his view.

Chapter Sixteen

---