Must please Master. Must make this right.
He floated in the middle of the room, golden eyes glowing, shadows draping him like a cloak. Dark wisps made up his body, covering his arms, legs, torso, and shrouding his face so that his features were wrapped in an inky black.
“Find her,” Master said in a deadly voice. “Or it will be the last thing you do. You forget I can snuff you out, take the life of you and your body.”
Where to go. Master must tell me. Where. Where.
“Her weakness,” Master murmured. “Find her weakness and that will lead you to her.”
A warm hand found mine.
Master’s voice grew distorted, his words broken and distant.
Skin so soft, hand squeezing mine, drawing me from this darkness.
No. Information. Important. Need more. Must stay and listen to Master.
The hand was so inviting, the touch sizzling through me. Then the hand pulled away, cold seeping into me.
I wanted it back. I wanted its warmth and comfort.
But Master . . .
No, the hand. That soft skin. That touch I craved. I went toward it, leaving the darkness and entering the light.
My eyes fluttered open, and Poppy stood there, looking down at me. Which should’ve been impossible. She couldn’t be here in this cage. With me. It was a dream, the most lovely dream, one that replaced the darkness I’d just felt. Something about shadows and... I shook my head, unable to remember now.
“Just slap him,” Driscoll said from behind Poppy. “He still looks out of it.”
So not a dream after all. I blinked a few times, sitting up straighter. “What in the bloody waters are you all doing here?” I demanded.
Driscoll nodded his head at me. “Oh, we just thought it would be lovely to visit the infamous sky prison.”
Leoni started pacing, the wind howling and rattling the cage. “They won’t keep us in here forever,” she said. “We’ll have an audience with the king, get to explain ourselves. He’ll recognize Loch, and we can vouch for you, Poppy. We can tell him you’re the princess. He won’t throw you in prison if the prince of the water court is on your side.”
Poppy bit her thumbnail. “Except now he thinks I’ve murdered his wife.”
“What?” I asked. “What in the spirits below happened since I got arrested last night?”
Tears sprang to Poppy’s eyes, and I came to a stand, not even thinking as I grabbed her arms and rubbed them up and down in a slow, gentle motion. “Hey, what happened?”
“My mother,” she choked out. “She—” She couldn’t get the words out before breaking into sobs again.
Leoni stepped forward. “The queen of the sky court is dead.”
“A shadow killed her,” Driscoll said. “We think it was here for Poppy.”
No. A shadow here? In the sky court? This was so much worse than we’d thought. I crushed Poppy to my chest. “I’m so sorry.”
Tears trickled down her cheeks, dampening my black silk shirt that I’d worn to the ball last night.
She pushed herself out of my arms. “The king is going to think I did it. My mother was the love of his life, and you speaking on my behalf won’t save me from his wrath.”
“But it’s our best chance at getting out of here.” Leoni’s gaze flicked to my chest. “We don’t have time to waste, Prince Lochlan.”
There was an edge to her voice that I understood all too well. I didn’t have time to waste, not when the blue lines were stretching ever closer to my heart. But everything had changed now. Poppy was in even more danger, and I would not take her near the shadow court when it was all but confirmed the shadow king wanted her.
“No,” I said, and Leoni looked up toward the sky like she might be asking the spirits for assistance in murdering me. “If there’s any chance Poppy could be arrested going before the king on my behalf, I won’t risk it.”
