they ambushed us with it. Made Flynn and me fight each other.
Oh, gods. And I’d thought the Riddle-Makers were barbaric.
He...beat you?
Ronan smiled, his blue eyes flashing with warmth. I let him. Flynn should be king, not me, and I had to come after you. I lost, my power was restored, and I came here. It was an easy choice.
Was he saying he’d chosen me over being king of Tuatha Dé Danann?
My heart cracked wide open, and for the first time since he’d appeared in the warden’s office, I really saw Ronan. I saw the man who sacrificed for the people he loved. And I was one of those people. I could feel it, could see it in his gaze.
I threw my arms around his neck. I love you, Ronan. I wished I could say the words out loud, but that would have to wait.
He brushed warm lips over mine. “I love you too, little one. So much,” he said in that soft, raspy voice I adored. But, right now, we have to go.
The scent of freshly fallen leaves filled the cell as Ronan lifted one hand from my shoulder, gesturing in the air. I’d seen him do this before, right before he summoned a portal.
But it didn’t appear.
He did it again. This time, I breathed in lavender and lily of the valley, but no portal followed.
It’s not working. My magic won’t work in here.
I touched my collar. They must have known or suspected. My collar is different too. But there had to be a way out of here.
A small squeak sounded at my feet, and I glanced down. It was the mouse. My little hero from before. Twitching its whiskers at me, it went to the door and stopped. It scurried back, ran over the toe of Ronan’s boot, and then went back to the door again.
What the hell? Ronan studied the mouse. Is that the same mouse from the infirmary the day you escaped?
Yes. The sight of the mouse’s glittering eyes made me smile. He’s a helper mouse. We just need to listen to him.
Listen to the mouse. Of course. But he grinned. Before we go running around, though... He placed his hand on my side, where he’d healed me. Are you better?
I nodded.
Was that from the tournament?
The warden, I answered without thinking. From the darkening of his face, I’d said the wrong thing. It was clear that Ronan’s priorities had shifted from escape to revenge. Later. I touched his face, angling it toward mine when he seemed ready to bore a hole through the door with his eyes.
At our feet, the mouse squeaked again as if he was saying, “Let’s get on with this.”
Something inside the door clicked and it swung open. Did you do that?
Ronan gave a curt nod and grabbed my hand. He peered around the corner, pulling me closer. It’s clear.
He dragged me behind him. I almost giggled. We were following a mouse through Nightmare Penitentiary.
Every time I second-guessed our plan of action, the little thing would stop and twitch his nose at me. He was definitely more than a run-of-the-mill prison mouse. He was too aware.
Maybe he was someone’s pet, or like the magical creatures in Tuatha, was someone’s partner.
The thought had me stumbling. I remembered the shadow of the crow over the sky during the tournament. I had to tell Ronan about Morgan.
The mouse smooshed his body beneath the edge of a door and Ronan moved to follow. Wait. I held tight to his hand, pulling him to a stop. Morgan Tauroc is the one who has been taunting Killian. She’s the one who set me up. She’s behind all of it.
A quick breath of lavender later, the door opened. I followed him, waiting for some kind of response. He didn’t look back at me; instead, he followed the mouse as it descended the stairs. His voice, when it echoed in my mind, caused me to shiver. She’ll die for what she’s done.
I didn’t push him for more. From the terse response, he was barely holding himself together.
The air changed the lower we went. It became heavier, colder. And it smelled different.
The mouse chirped, leapt to the final step as if directing us, then jumped back up to crawl over Ronan’s boot before he disappeared in a hole in the wall.
Are we supposed to follow? Maybe it was some kind of secret passage?
No. Ronan trailed his hands along the wall in front of us. It was dark, so he used touch to find