managed to continue with his help.
Rags risked a glance at Tal. His arm was a mess. If they were going to stand around debating, then maybe Rags could fashion a sling for him out of the red sheet. He was about to start ripping when Tal lifted his good hand, resting it against the wall.
Rags squinted.
Was that—?
Yeah.
It wasn’t Tal behind all the glowing. There were faint carvings somewhere beneath the stone, reacting to him, pulsing, alive. Like in the fae ruins.
Rags had figured this was nothing more than a Queen-made tunnel under the palace, part of the system of dungeons and fae torture chambers Morien and the Queen had set up. But there were fae workings here, workings that couldn’t be seen unless you had fae with you to light them up.
More fucking fae mysteries. As if there weren’t enough in Rags’s life already.
Rags was still squinting when he heard a commotion from the other end of the tunnel, the opposite direction from where they’d left Morien, the mirror chamber, the other fae.
Queensguard reinforcements, had to be. Coming straight for the kids, who were out front. Unprotected.
Rags was the first to act. Two must have been distracted caring for the hurt fae, and anyway, nobody had Rags’s instincts for trouble. He scrambled forward, hands balled into aching, shaky, but still sharp-knuckled fists, ready to take the new wave of opposition on.
He met a massive silver lizard instead, a familiar face beside it.
Their missing Queensguard. Ex-Queensguard. The one who was on their side. And damn, but he looked like someone’d tried to mince his head for meat pies.
Then again, Rags couldn’t imagine that what Cab saw looked any better.
“Shit!” Rags nearly laughed with relief, arms jellying. “Did anyone know he was close?”
It was Inis’s turn to shrug. “Two was guiding One.” She peered into the semidarkness behind Cab. “And he said there were others, but I wasn’t expecting . . .”
“Here to rescue you lot.” It was a skinny redhead who spoke up, with a street accent, someone Rags could finally relate to. And there were two fae beside her, which had stopped surprising Rags somewhere around chamber of mirrors filled with dozens of little ones. They looked in marginally better shape than the recently liberated fae kids.
“Right,” he said. “Follow me, knucklebrains.”
84
Cab
They’d killed five Queensguard on their way to the sewers. Another six inside the tunnels. Most of that was Hope’s doing, if Cab was being honest. Uaine did well for herself, too.
Cab tried his best, finishing off the wounded, but he was the rear guard this time around.
With his injuries, he had to hang back. Protect Sil. Die for her if he needed to. In the meantime, he had to trust that Hope was the best person—best fae—for the hardest job.
And he was. He fought like a wildfire. So angry, there was no getting past his offense to put him on the defense. Ever. The Queensguard didn’t stand a chance.
Many of them had been stationed in the sewers, but they’d only been expecting a ragtag group of rebels, not their furious fae bodyguard.
Or One the lizard, her tail as swift and deadly as her claws. She shared some of the thrill of the fight with Cab, along with assurances that one day, they’d fight together the proper way.
Cab would have to ask her later: What way was that?
Hope finished off another pair of sentries, and One was sweeping them aside to clear the path for the others when her voice swished into Cab’s head. She was following instructions only she heard, communicating silently with the other fragments.
We’re close, darling, One said. And we don’t have much time. We’re going to need a leader. Think you’re the one?
A serpentine laugh followed that. Was that a pun?
Cab looked around, but no one else had heard it.
They ran into Rags the thief and his group barely a moment later, and Cab had stepped forward to meet them.
After that, time swelled dizzily as Cab drifted in and out of consciousness—in and out of One’s consciousness. The lilt of Einan’s husky voice sounded different, less musical, through One’s unimpressed ears.
Hush, little baby, don’t say a word, One crooned. Building up your strength. Be a good boy and take your medicine.
Cab rested, taken outside of his body so One could encourage it to heal. When he returned to himself, they were headed to Coward’s Silence.
“Been this way before,” Rags was explaining as he led the charge. Shining Talon wasn’t dogging his footsteps, so plenty had