of dew and springtime disappeared, replaced with something rotten.
Evil. A slew of memories hit me: the same sick smell had peppered the air of my cell at NP, and it had grown right before the portal appeared that allowed me to escape. And there was the smell in the room, the one I thought was in my imagination, after Killian had awoken in a panic and later sank below the surface of the bath.
Then there was the crow. It was linked to Morgan, a conduit for her power that acted as her eyes and ears, and from the evidence today, her voice.
All those little signs—I should have put it together sooner.
Grasping my shoulders, she pulled me to my feet, surprising me with her strength. “You shouldn’t have been able to follow Killian. You almost ruined everything,” she whispered. “But I won’t give you another chance.”
Something cold and heavy snapped around my neck, and I shut my mouth before I could speak. I knew that weight, that barely imperceptible warning hum.
It was the collar that kept me silent at NP.
She nodded at whoever stood behind me. “I think it’s time for you to go back where you belong.”
Imogen
A low grunt sounded behind me, and I spun to find a massive creature hovering over me.
I stumbled back. He—assuming the thing was a he—seemed to have been formed from the detritus that littered the forest floor. His skin was hard, ridged like bark, and around his head was a black crown of bone or tree limbs.
With each step closer, he seemed to grow taller and wider, as if my fear and panic fed him.
He should have been slow. The ground shook with each of his steps, but there was a litheness and gracefulness to his stride. Moving so fast he blurred, he captured my wrist and yanked me toward a portal. Through the shimmery oval, I could make out the bleak exterior of Nightmare Penitentiary on the other side.
No—
Before the word had even formed on my tongue, I knew my mistake, but it was too late. Pain coursed through me, forcing me to my knees. It had only been weeks since the last time the collar had turned against me, but I’d somehow forgotten the full intensity of the fire that licked every cell in my body.
The creature wrenched me back to my feet, and that was it. He hauled me through the portal before I could even look back into Morgan’s beautiful, malevolent face. Or I could uselessly try to call for Killian one last time.
Now inside the NP gates, it occurred to me what—or who—this creature was. I’d heard rumors of a sentinel that was relegated to the lower pits of the prison. Apparently, he could also be sent to fetch escaped prisoners. Or maybe I was just lucky like that.
I wanted to laugh, but the sentinel gripped my wrist so tightly, a spasm traveled up my arm to my shoulder. I stumbled along, attempting to keep up with him, but it was no use. My body was failing me while Morgan’s voice taunted me from half a world away.
Your prince is dead. Your prince is dead.
I didn’t want to believe it. Couldn’t believe it.
Yet, my mind refused to stop replaying the memory of Killian sinking into the water over and over. He’d failed to face his greatest fear. He’d lost the trial. And he’d lost his life.
Silent sobs wracked my body as the sentinel released another deep grunt. He grabbed me under the arms and hauled me toward the nearest entrance. But I was numb to it. External pain no longer registered, my heartache superseding everything else.
I couldn’t be back here, away from Killian and Ronan and Flynn. Not when they needed me now more than ever. Not when Morgan Tauroc was still in Tuatha, undoubtedly plotting to take out Ronan and Flynn like she had Killian.
The sudden feeling of falling ripped me from my dazed state, and my side and then head met cold concrete. I sucked in a deep breath to keep myself from crying out. The collar was a noose around my neck, seeming to tighten with every breath. I wouldn’t forget it again.
Black boots stopped inches from my face, and I forced myself to look up past dark pants and a long coat to the dark-haired man with a cigarette hanging out of his perpetually scowling mouth.
The warden.
“Welcome back, banshee,” he said, lowering onto his haunches to blow smoke into my face. “I hope you enjoyed