If all works as Ellian says it will, getting the cure will be easy enough. From there, I should race home to the Heliana’s light, as urgently as if I’m answering the bells. My heart tears in two. The moment I have the cure, I will go, and I will go alone. Which means I’ll have to leave three of the most important people in my life behind, and I will never see any of them again.

32

CALLEN

A clang of metal shocks me out of a shallow sleep. A soldier sets down three bowls of steaming stew between the bars of the cell. Hunks of bread are precariously dipped in each.

“Eat,” the human says.

It takes me a moment for it to hit me that I understand him—yet another human who knows our words. How many more are there?

“Someone’s betrayed us,” I whisper once the soldier has left. “There is no other way a human could learn our language to that extent.”

“Let’s … think,” my commander replies. “And eat. If we get the chance to escape, we’ll need the energy to do it.”

The food is so hot it nearly burns my tongue, but I’m so desperate for food and the small comfort of a meal that I shovel it all down, anyway. The meat of the stew is tender and richly flavored, while the grains below it provide more than enough bulk to keep me satiated. It’s delicious, and I’m scraping my bowl within minutes. Reaching for the jug of water that was left in the cell, I take a deep drink. I focus on the water. I focus on feeling refreshed for the first time in days.

I’ll focus on anything so long as it isn’t her.

Across from me, Ox sets his bowl down half-eaten. The skin at his wrists is broken and bright red from pulling at our bonds on the way to Ramsgate, but his hands have stopped trembling. He has to be thinking of a way out, as I am now.

“The humans who found us weren’t entirely afraid of us, and they didn’t hurt us,” I say, leaning my head back against the unforgiving stone of the cell. “And now they are giving us food.”

“They want us alive, and healthy,” says Sethran.

“Somehow that’s worse than wanting us dead,” I reply.

“We have to consider all options,” Ox mutters. “They may be listening now. We can’t take chances. Just act.”

Footsteps sound from the door that leads to the street. We get to our feet as it opens. A group of soldiers trudges down. One of them unlocks the cell door and comes over to me while the other points a gun at my head. I bare my teeth and spit on the human’s cheek as he pulls me forward by the iron chains binding my wrist.