potatoes at my feet.
But as I looked around, my heart sank. There must have been hundreds of cells, stacked like honeycombs in a beehive, in this dungeon. How were we to know which one belonged to Breena?
“I hear her,” said Kian, as if in answer to my unspoken question. “She says she's being held this way.”
“You hear her? What do you mean?”
“I mean what I say,” Kian strode forth, making a left at the next turning. “Breena says to turn left here, then the next right, then two more lefts, then another right. She's scared – but she's not hurt.” He allowed himself to relax his stiff posture. “That's good.”
I gaped at Kian. I'd heard of couples in Feyland being able to communicate telepathically – but only as a result of a great bond, a great love. A week earlier Breena had called to me – but now Kian was the one she called. The familiar inner ache started up again.
But there was no time for me to dwell. We had reached the room, only to find that the door flew open on its own. What looked like a key clattered to the floor.
And she stood before us – pale and wan from her captivity, but strong-jawed and more beautiful than ever.
The woman we both loved.
Breena.
Chapter 10
“ I t's us!” Kian said.
“You found me!” Breena's eyes went to Kian first. Apparently she recognized him – even with our pixie glamour, his bright blue eyes shone like beacons from his now-withered face. “I knew you would.” She turned to me. “And Logan!” She embraced me briefly, and out of the corner of my eye I could see Kian stiffen. “I was so worried about you – about both of you! Delano's angry; I didn't know if he'd come after either of you to get revenge on me, because I refused to...” She shook her head, beautiful fine strands of hair coming loose into her face. “Never mind. We have to get out of here.”
She took our hands, which were beginning to look less pixie-like by the second as the glamour started to wear off, and we ran down the corridor.
“Stop!” a voice called, and we froze. “What do you think you're doing?”
Kian and I exchanged glances.
“Just taking the Princess upstairs to see His Highness, my good man,” I cut in. “He wants to have another chat with her.”
“He's awful keen on chatting,” Kian added.
Breena, picking up on our cues, immediately began to feign a quite convincing resistance to us as we mock-dragged her along, even going so far as to stamp on my toe.
“Come along now, Princess,” I said. “His Majesty wants to see you immediately!”
“Quiet, prisoner!” Kian joined in.
“Right,” the prison guard said, “go on ahead! As you were...”
It was lucky for us he didn't peer any closer. Kian was rapidly becoming more Fey-like by the second, and I imagined my lupine genes were starting to become apparent as the pixie ugliness wore off.
“Nice work, guys,” Breena squeezed both our hands before loudly protesting about what filthy, unwashed, treacherous blackguards we were for the benefit of the guards.
The rest happened in a blur. We were in the Great Hall, passing almost unnoticed through a sea of pixie guards, and then suddenly somebody called out “escape!” and the alarm was sounded. Suddenly all was chaos. Swords were flashing in our faces; pixies were leering at us, crying their foul battle-cries as they charged forth towards us.
“Breena!” My heart almost stopped. Kian and I could defend ourselves – we had spent years being trained in the art of fighting – but Breena had been given no such luxury. How was she supposed to defend herself against a sea of pixie fighters? “Get behind me – it's safer that way. Kian and I will fight them off.” My heart sank – how were we ever going to fight off this many pixies?
To my surprise, Breena grabbed a sword from the belt of one of the pixies, brandishing it with skill that left me breathless. “Kian taught me how to use it,” she said, before charging at a