Page 26 of The Lord of the Labyrinth

“Guinevere was real?” Kate’s heartbeat jolted with excitement. “You mean Guinevere as in KingArthurand Guinevere?”

Patch grumbled. “Of course I do, who else? Have you not been listening to a word I’ve said? Things here arereal. You must stop thinking like a mortal, Kate of the Winslows.”

“It’s just Kate Winslow.” She wasn’t sure why she was correcting him. She kind of liked being Kate of the Winslows. It sounded... epic, like she was up to the challenge of the labyrinth. And God knew she needed some fun added to this whole nightmare of a deadly labyrinth.

He stuck his tongue out at her before continuing. “You are inourrealm. You need to think like a Fae if you mean to make it to the center of the labyrinth.”

“So thereisa way to the center. You said there wasn’t, but now you say it’s possible.” She couldn’t stop the grin that curved her lips.

Patch adjusted his bag on his shoulder and let out a weary sigh.

“Is that heavy? I’d be happy to carry it for you,” she offered. It did seem to hurt his shoulder.

He halted, a little reluctant, before he held out the bag to her.

“But you’d better not run off with it, girl,” he shot her a warning glare beneath his dark, bushy brows.

The bag was heavy, but she had strong shoulders thanks to being a member of the swim team in high school, so she swung the bag up and let it rest on her shoulder.

“Nothing is impossible here, but if anything came close... it would be the labyrinth. Lord Arun is the only one who knows the way through it without magic. He allows his soldiers and any others in his realm safe passage so they can reach the dark woods and the Black Hills, but that won’t help you.”

“Why not?”

“Because he sends them on the Fae roads.”

“What are the Fae roads?”

“Pathways on the wind. Only the Shining Ones can create them. And as the strongest of the Fae here, Lord Arun is the only one who can counteract the enchantments above the labyrinth to create the Fae roads for the dark Fae to travel when we need to.”

“Patch, I thought Roan created the labyrinth. He said it was his. Why doesn’t he simply undo the enchantments to let his soldiers travel through it?” She and Patch walked together as the sun sank lower and lower into the sky until it was almost beneath the tops of the ivy-covered walls.

They took another turn in the walls covered in greenery, and Kate kept her right hand slightly lifted toward the outside wall so she wouldn’t lose her way.

“No one knows who created the labyrinth. It simply appeared here one day, and only Lord Arun was able to find a way through it. It wasn’t always so... big. In its early years, it was smaller, simpler, but it’s changed and grown over the centuries. Many others from the Twilight Court in the early days believed they could find their way to the center, andtheywere never seen again.” The kobold looked up at her.

“I know Lord Arun has your little brother an’ all, but why would you care to leave our realm? You might find that what he desires, you desire too. The pixies say that those who are loved by the Shining Ones are blessed with pleasures untold.”

“If the pleasures are untold, then how can the pixies tell you about them?” Kate smirked when Patch frowned at her clever twist of his words.

“You don’t want to be the lover of the king? Foolish, that’s what I said when I first saw you, girl. Foolish.”

“It’s not foolish to want to be free to make my own choices, Patch.” Kate bit her lip, searching for the right words. “Ever since my mom died, I’ve been told what to do and what was expected of me. This was the year that was supposed to change. I was going to college to be free,reallyfree. But being here, a slave to Roan’s desires, that’s worse than being at home. At least at home I could go back to the dorms and escape.” Here she would be in a gilded cage, and yes, dammit she liked the way Roan kissed, but that didn’t give him the right to just...ownher.

She curled her hands into fists. The raw pain from the rope had faded, and the red spots from the thorns were almost gone, both healing much faster than she ever expected. It was a small relief.

Patch chuckled ruefully. “No one ever escapes being controlled by others. That’s life. Someone is always above you giving orders. What you can control is how you react. Take me, for example. I have three brothers, Grim, Gull, and Pinch. We kobolds are born to mine and quest for treasure, but I didn’t want to spend my life underground. So I carry the gems my brothers find to a spot where folks from the palace treasury will collect them. I’m free in the open air and not beneath the dark earth with my brothers. Got to be clever, eh?” He tapped his temple.

“Yes,” Kate murmured. “We’ve got to be clever.”

She had been clever sneaking out of Roan’s rooms. And by the look on his face when she’d seen him waiting below, he had found it amusing. Of course, he’d nearly kissed the life out of her, then carried her off like some barbarian warlord. A flush of heat rolled through her as she remembered the way he’d held her so possessively, as if she weighed nothing, and the way his blue eyes had swept over her face. She’d sworn she’d seen affection beneath the cool exterior of his expression. But he couldn’tlikeher. He didn’t even know her. She was just a possession to him, and all she did was run away from him. Wouldn’t that make him furious with her?

With an inner frown, she pushed thoughts of Roan away and studied the sky. The sun was overhead now, and she noted the changing shadows. They were starting to lean in the opposite direction.

As they turned a corner, a beautiful waterfall appeared out of the rock wall, framed on either side by ivy. It poured into a vast pool lined with shallow stones. Lily pads as wide as Kate was tall covered the surface. The crystalline water coming down out of the rocks looked cold. Kate licked her dry lips and started toward the water.

Patch snatched her wrist, halting her. “Drink from the waterfall itself,notthe pool.”

“Why?”

---