Page 55 of The King of Frost and Shadows

I scanned the room, not seeing Lira anywhere, though I could smell her unique, alluring scent in the air. “Where is she?”

“In the bath.” He gestured to the closed door. “She needed it. I’d planned on her eating first, but when I saw the state she was in …” He trailed off. “She couldn’t handle it.”

“What do you mean?” I tensed again, ready to destroy whatever was bothering Lira. “What happened?”

“She’s upset that she hurt people.” Finnian shook his head. “She needed to relax.”

For the first time since my childhood, I felt helpless. Violence was how I solved things, but if she was upset with herself, I wasn’t sure what to do with that. “She’s a water Seelie, so the bath should help her.” She’d be able to connect with her element and hopefully regain a sense of calm even if she didn’t understand why.

“I’m hoping so. She’s been in there for a while.” Finnian frowned. “I wanted to check on her, but I didn’t want to—”

I snarled at the thought of him walking in on her naked.

“—upset you.” He snickered. “Apparently, that was a good call.”

I ignored him, stalking to the doorway, and heard a sound that shattered everything inside me.

She was crying.

“You need to go.” I pointed to the door and glared at him.

Unlike usual, he stood and marched to the door, his forehead lined with worry. “Go take care of our girl.”

I gritted my teeth at the wordourbut he left just as another sob came from the other side of the door.

I knocked on it gently and heard Lira suck in a breath like she was scared.

Something was wrong, so I didn’t ask for permission. I opened the door, and my world fell apart.

18

LIRA

Isat against the wall in the corner of the bathroom under two lamps that created the brightest area around me. There was nothing I wanted more than a bath to wash off the dirt, blood, and grime from the games, but I couldn’t bring myself to undress and climb in.

What if Eldrin came again?

After the gauntlet, guards had taken me to a regular cell that smelled like feces with the green-haired woman who’d tried to kill me. If I’d thought she hated me before, it was nothing compared to now. She blamed me for her harming Lorne.

I suspected the only reason she hadn’t attacked me was due to Finola and Torcall standing outside the cell, but that hadn’t stopped her from promising to unleash all sorts of hell during the next part of the gauntlet.

Then Finnian had come for me. Instead of his usual easy grin and flirty demeanor, he’d stood cold and rigid and demanded he be allowed to take me someplace for his own form of torture.

The guards hadn’t given him a hard time, and as soon as we’d turned a corner, Finnian’s easygoing demeanor had slid back into place. He’d brought me to Tavish’s room to bathe and eat.

All the chaos weighed on me: I’d killed a man, many people had died because I’d tried to escape, and there was the savageness of the Unseelie. Hysteria choked me, and every hair on my body stood upright, ready for yet another attack.

I might have had an easier time remaining with the green-haired girl, who I’d learned was named Rona. I deserved to be threatened and punished. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw blood spilling from the man I’d killed.

Now, in this bathroom, I swore something brushed my skin as if Eldrin were here to stab me again. I hadn’t been this frightened ever … not even when Tavish’s eyes had haunted me in my nightmares. I’d surmised that the fear I’d felt hadn’t come from Tavish but from the future that awaited me.

This hell.

A sob escaped, and I covered my mouth to hide the sound from Finnian. I didn’t want anyone to find me like this, but when my hand stuck to my mouth from the drying blood, another whimper escaped. The taste of black licorice landed on my tongue.

The door opened, and I gagged, realizing what tasted that way—Unseelie blood.

“Lira.” Tavish’s voice broke as he hurried into the bathroom. He glanced at the full steaming tub, then at me, dressed in the bloody clothes from the gauntlet and pressed against the wall like a child. “What’s wrong?”

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