raised a pale eyebrow.
“I loathe him.”
“That is not what I observed. In fact, you seemed quite suited for each other.” From the gleam in Felicity’s eyes, I guessed she’d listened at the dungeon door to my conversations with Mikkel, perhaps spied on us for Irontooth.
“He was using me to help him escape.”
“And you were using him to gain information.”
I couldn’t deny it, but somehow his betrayal seemed worse. After all, he’d chosen me, thinking I was a vulnerable and damaged young woman he could make feel special. As handsome as he was, he’d likely felt sorry for me and believed he’d have no trouble winning my favor.
“So what should I do with our prisoner?” Irontooth asked.
“You should keep him on the island,” Felicity said.
“Send him back to Scania,” I said at the same moment.
Irontooth glanced between us and crossed his arms, his eyes narrowing.
“We have been wondering how to keep Pearl safe from the queen long term,” Felicity murmured to him. “We’ve wanted to find a good home for her. Now one has been dropped into our lap.”
“I have been safe enough here.”
Irontooth shot me a glare that warned me he was losing his patience. I bit back another remark and deferred to Felicity.
She bowed her head at me. “We’ll allow him to stay and will assure him we’ll guard his privacy . . . so long as he agrees to take Pearl home with him to Scania when he is done with his Testing.”
“No! I shall have nothing more to do with him—”
“Aye, you will,” Irontooth snarled. “Now hold your tongue, or I’ll hold it for you.”
I lifted my chin defiantly. “You know I am leaving the island by summer’s end and traveling to Warwick to rescue Ruby.”
Felicity rubbed Irontooth’s shoulder, her long fingers soothing him. “Now, Pearl, keep in mind, if you go to Scania with a prince, he’ll have a much greater chance at bargaining with the queen for Ruby than you will in sneaking in and attempting to kidnap her.”
Was that true? If he became king, would he be able to sway the queen to release Ruby into my care? And would she be safest in Scania? Mikkel may have been deceptive this past week, but I couldn’t discount his many fine qualities that would serve him well as a king. And living in Scania with Ruby would be better than subjecting her to the perils on the Isle of Outcasts or even running away to the Continent.
“Do you see the wisdom in such a plan, Pearl?” Felicity turned gentle eyes upon me.
“I do not wish to coerce him into taking me to Scania.”
“I don’t think he’ll need coercing by the time his Testing is done.” Felicity bestowed upon me a knowing smile. “I’ll wager he’ll loathe leaving you behind.”
“You’ll wager in vain.”
Felicity bent and whispered in Irontooth’s ear. At his grunts, I guessed he was agreeing to her plan. When she pulled back and looked at me again, her smile was pleased, as if she’d just solved a problem that had been worrying her for a long time.
I hadn’t realized she and Irontooth had been perplexed about my future or that they’d wanted to find a different place for me to live. Was I putting them and the other outcasts in more peril than I’d realized?
Irontooth crossed the cave floor and opened the door. “Bring me the prisoners from the dungeon!”
I made a move to leave, but he turned and blocked the way, his scowl stopping me more than his big body. “We’re not finished here, and you need to stay until we are.”
“This is for the best,” Felicity added. “You’ll see.”
I didn’t want to encounter Mikkel again, but I guessed I would have to endure one more meeting with him. After that, I would do my best to stay as far away from him as possible.
Mikkel
I didn’t resist as the man with the webbed hands, the one called Toad, pushed me to my knees in front of Irontooth. When he’d shoved me through the door a moment ago, I noticed Pearl standing in the shadows and was grateful to be on my knees so I didn’t have to see her expression.
No doubt she was gloating that she’d extracted information from me. And no doubt she’d gone straight to Irontooth with it.
The question was, what would he do to me now that he knew I was a prince?
Gregor tumbled to his knees next to me, his head bent in subservience.
Somewhere in the climb up and