Opening Adar’s cell won’t be enough.
I have to get him out of the palace, out of the town. Iason is proving unpredictable, an unstable factor in the equation. Sweet and polite, angry and violent, unable to see past himself, to understand his own mistakes. Punishing Adar to hurt me.
And on top of that, everyone is ready to kill the Fae and ask questions later.
Iason is angry with me. Most likely he’s impatient to take his anger out on Adar. My guess is he will go through his day as if nothing has happened, then return to the dungeons tonight to torture my merman in peace, with no one the wiser. He’ll have all night to hurt him.
And come the morning, he can announce that he caught a dangerous Fae and take pleasure in torturing me, too.
Arranging the escape is nerve-racking.
It includes a visit to another cousin of mine.
Prince Alfred is more suspicious, even without knowing I used his name in my ploy to get Willam to help me.
“You want horses and a carriage?” he mutters with a frown. “Tonight? What in the hells for?”
“I just told you. It’s a game.”
“A game, and for that you want my horses? Unbelievable.”
Alfred isn’t into games like Willam. He’s an accomplished rider and hunter and loves his horses. He’s most often found in the royal stables—which is where I find myself now, begging for his help.
“We’re only going to take a ride out of town. Please, Alfred. Last chance to do something wild before getting married.”
“You consider a ride out of town at night to be “something wild”? Really?”
“I’m a sheltered princess, not a man like you. I don’t go hunting or for horse rides. I’m always cooped up at the palace. It would be nice if I could do this with my friends.”
“And go where?”
“Just around the town. We’d stay on the road.”
“Why not ask the stable master?”
“I don’t…” I sigh. “You don’t know what it’s like to be a girl at the palace, Alfred. You can come and tell the stable master to ready your horses because you’re going hunting or for a ride. But if I do that, he’ll say, “tell your father to come tell me himself, and besides that, who will chaperone you?” That’s what it’s like.”
“And you want to do a wild thing and ride the carriage without a chaperone. You want to get me into trouble.”
“Why? Nothing will happen. Besides, you won’t be in trouble. You’re a prince, Alfred. Nobody can touch you. I’m a princess, pretty much expendable.”
“If that were true,” he says softly, “why would they handle you so carefully?”
“Because.” I lean in, my voice as soft as his. “I’m a commodity. They don’t want to damage me before they sell me. Whereas you… you’re a buyer. Nothing can touch you.”
He blinks. I can see a war going on in his eyes. I’m telling him the truth, shoving reality into his face, and he doesn’t like it but he’s not a coward. It takes him a moment but he nods.
“Fine. Just keep my name out of this. If your fiancé finds out and goes looking for a culprit, you never talked to me.” He shrugs. “I’ll have the carriage ready by nightfall. You’d better be there to get in before someone sees it and comes asking.”
“I will be there.” I go on tiptoe and give him a quick peck on the cheek. “Thank you, cousin.”
He mumbles a curse under his breath and walks away.
Which leaves one last loose end I need to tie up before tonight.
My fiancé.
Can’t have him sniffing around as I race against time to get Adar out of here. Can’t risk running into him at any point—or being wrong about Iason waiting until tonight to unleash his anger on him.