Page 55 of The Court of Thorns and Wings

My chest constricted. I hadn’t considered that.Does it really matter? Either way, she could warn the guards. What’s the benefit of her coming through the passage to get there? She swore she wouldn’t inform anyone about this passage. She’d be doing just that if she called for the guard once I got inside with you.

Technically, she wouldn’t be informing. No words would be coming out of her mouth.

No. I couldn’t believe Eiric would do something like that to me, but convincing her to let me go had been easier than I’d expected. My certainty about her coming with us suddenly didn’t feel so certain. But there wasn’t anything I could do about it now, so I had to trust my initial instinct.Well, I can’t change anything now. We’re almost there.

As long as you unchain me first, I can make it harder for them to catch us.

The fact that he was certain that Eiric would betray us had my head dizzying.

The castle was quieter than I ever remembered it being, and after the chaos earlier, it put me even more on edge. Still, the silence made sense because half the guards had left to watch over the borders, providing another challenge we’d have to face once we got outside the walls of Caisteal Solais.

We were closing in on the door to the holding cell, and my heart pounded in my ears. This was the moment that counted. Once I entered the holding cell and unchained Tavish, there was no turning back.

I raised a hand, informing Eiric to stop. When she paused, I went to the door, pricked my finger, and pressed the lever, opening it.

Raising the lantern, I stepped inside the dark cell, and my eyes homed in on Tavish.

My stomach dropped. Dried blood covered his wrists around the handcuffs, and the chains had cut into his onyx wings, coating them with even blacker blood.

Without meaning to, I hurried to him, not being as quiet as I should.

I’m fine, sprite.Tavish’s irises lightened from stormy gray to almost silver.Especially now that you’re here with me.

All I wanted to do was heal him and kiss him, but that would have to come later.Can you fly?

He nodded, but then his irises darkened again when he glanced over my shoulder at Eiric.

After setting the lantern down, I held out the key to unlock his chains. My hands shook, making sliding the key into the hole more challenging. Just as I was about to slip the end into the slot, the key fell from my fingers and hit the hard floor with aping.

My lungs seized, and the world tilted.

“What’s going on in there?” the guard asked, confirming I’d been too loud.

I scooped up the key, gritting my teeth as I slid it into the lock and turned. The handcuffs came off, and as I moved to the lock at the base of Tavish’s wings, the moment I’d been dreading happened.

“My key. Where did it go?” the guard gasped.

As I unlocked the chains, Eiric hurried to the prison door. I watched in horror as she removed a guard key from her pocket and put it in the keyhole on this side of the door.

“They’re going to escape if we don’t work together and hurry,” Eiric said, opening the door and ripping my heart apart.

The chains from Tavish’s wings fell to the floor as he took the key and flew to Finnian.

Still, I couldn’t believe Tavish had been right. It was as if my chest had been ripped open. “How could you?”

“This is for your own good, Princess Lira,” she said and opened the door.

“How did you two get in here?” the guard asked, his mouth dropping open. Then his eyes landed on the open hidden door in the wall. “You brought me the tart to swipe the key from me.” His wide, horror-filled eyes glared at me.

I lifted my chin, refusing to feel guilty about it.

The damage was done. Now Tavish and Finnian had to get out of here.

“Foolish sunscorched.” Finnian chuckled as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “Did you really believe the princess would randomly bring you a high fae treat just for the blast of it?”

Lira, run,Tavish linked.Finnian and I will be right behind you.

You don’t know the way out through the secret passage.

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