Theirs by Destiny by Margo Bond Collins & Sasha Caine

Author:Margo Bond Collins & Sasha Caine [Collins, Margo Bond & Caine, Sasha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dangerous Words Publishing
Published: 2021-09-27T16:00:00+00:00

12

Alder

Evik could get us through it with his strong mandibles eventually, but my way was faster.

“Not to worry,” I repeated. “I know all this castle’s secrets.” I studied the stone wall at the back of the cell for a moment and then lifted my hands to try to feel my way. It had been a long time, but I was sure I could remember the sequence. “I just need the right combination.”

I could feel Evik’s worry at my back.

“Evik, don’t worry, my brother. We are perfectly placed to make our escape,” I tried to reassure him, even as my own mind reeled with worry. Something was wrong. I wasn’t remembering the movements correctly. The secret passage wasn’t activating.

You wanted to be in this cell? But you acted like this was the worst place to be. Evik clicked, agitated and confused.

“Clearly you’ve not read the ancient olde Earth texts about a wise rabbit named Brer and a sharp-toothed piece of land called a briar patch.” I glanced back at him and winked, knowing my words would only further confuse him and my two other companions. But I was feeling all too clever.

Or I was feeling clever, when I thought the door combination was only a touch memory away...

Once as a child, I’d made my way into the dungeon, but had been unable to remember the exact combination to exit. The lapse in recall had everything to do with witnessing a fae torture session. I could close my eyes and still picture my father and the royal guards using brutal flesh-rending magick against a prominent family.

They’d accused them of harboring fugitives.

I didn’t know what that meant as a youngling. Why would Danicka, a peaceful planet, have fugitives? As far as I knew, it had been decades since the last execution. Fae of all sizes went about their lives in a sort of orchestrated dance of activity, contributing as they should to society. Working for the greater good of the collective. Paying fealty to the monarchy.

But this family… had somehow stopped dancing. They’d angered the palace.

And the fugitives were also fae. Pixies, the smallest of us.

“You can’t sell them off like playthings and pets! Pixies are part of us! They’re fae and have rights!” The mother fae had cried out as her husband was hit yet again with a bolt of orange power. Their children were huddled in a corner, scared and hugging one another.

“It is none of your concern!” a guard had bellowed in response, slamming a magick wand into her stomach and causing her to yelp in pain.

“Who is helping you?” the king, my father, had asked quietly, his soft voice somehow ringing out over the din. I’d never seen his face like that—calm, yet holding murder in his gaze.

“Alder?” A voice pushed into my thoughts and a hand curled around my shoulder. “Are you all right?” Female. Soft, kind.

Lise.

I shook my head, trying to forget how I’d hid in the shadows of a cell watching the bloody interrogation, until my

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