Chapter Thirty-Four

Kadie

Moisture dripped from the ceiling, splashing with a ping against the rocks. I drew my knees to my chest. Salome had looked so pale when the guards dragged me out: her lips blue, her eyes vacant like death veiled them. I’d done it. I’d killed her.

My stomach clenched. Oh God. I’d killed her. Panic set in as I stared around the tower room dungeon that held me. They’d used magic to get me up here. There were no stairs. No windows. No way to escape. Would Etienne or the queen be able to rescue me?

“Kadie? Are you there?” Grisselle’s voice rang out in my mind.

“Yes.” I sobbed.

“You did what I asked. You truly are my sister now. Ah, to see the disbelief on her face when you stabbed her will forever be one of my happiest memories. Summer will surely fall now. They thought they were being so smart crowning a queen. They thought they could destroy us, but we showed them.”

I shut my eyes. The things I’d now done… I couldn’t help but remind myself that I’d done them to survive. That in the final moment, it had been Grisselle who’d pushed my hand and the knife into Salome. I pushed those thoughts away. I’d chosen to make this bond with Grisselle. I’d opened myself to her to save my life. Everything I’d done and everything I would do now was my fault.

“Please, come get me.”

“Soon.”

“Nevin sentenced me here. I’m never gonna leave this place if you don’t get here. Gareth was going to have me killed outright, but Nevin thinks I have information he can use. They’ll torture me.”

I dug my fingers into my palms and rested my head against the stone wall behind me. Darkness fanned out all around me. The only noises came from the dripping water and scuttle of rats. The stench of must and mildew made me gag. The only good thing was at least it wasn’t freezing up here.

“I’ll send a friend for you. We’ll break you out and leave for Winter. I won’t let anyone hurt you,” Grisselle said. “And you’re sure Salome is dead?”

“You saw me do it,” I said.

”And what of Etienne, where is he? Can he not help you?”

“I don’t know; he was still in the throne room when I went with Salome. I haven’t seen him.”

My stomach soured, and acid burned the back of my throat. What if she changed her mind and didn’t get me? What if that would turn out to have been an empty promise? I would be stuck here, every day reminded of how my mistakes had led to the death of my best friend.