Ambrosia (Frost and Nectar Book 2)

I crept through the enormous tunnel, its walls made of mossy blue roots and floors covered with lichen. Curling black vines snaked over the rounded walls with leaves of claret. As I tiptoed over the ground, my heart was a wild beast.

Beneath the castle, my eyes adjusted to the dark, and my heart thrummed in my chest. Shadows flickered around me, dancing across the wooded tunnels like unquiet spirits.

Through the gnarled roots beneath my feet, I felt the vibrations of fae moving somewhere nearby. When I closed my eyes, I could see them: a group of soldiers moving quickly, heading right for me. Of course, the disruption I caused when I freed myself must have alerted the entire palace, though I don’t imagine they’d suspect I was choosing to go deeper into the castle itself.

I went still, and the sound of horns blared through the air—the Unseelie alarm.

I scanned the passage around me until I found a large, dark crevice in the indigo tree roots. I nestled back into the oaky fissure and called the boughs and vines to cover me, cloaking me in shadow.

As the sound of footfalls grew closer, I held my breath. Shielded by plants, I watched the group of guards thunder past me, heading for the cell where I’d buried Morgant in stone.

As soon as the soldiers disappeared around a corner, I let the vines slip away. I broke into a sprint, eager to put as much distance between myself and the cell as possible.

When I reached a narrow spiral staircase, I rushed upward. I needed light and windows to orient myself so I could figure out which way was west. But as I climbed, it didn’t take long for my muscles to start aching. I was desperately dehydrated, energized only by adrenaline.

On the first floor, the bluish tree bark melded into stone of the same color. From behind a column, I peered out into the hall. Shadows gathered beneath the towering arches of the corridor. People bustled around, moving between columns under the soaring stone vaults. On this floor, diamond-pane windows stretched to the ceiling on my left. Outside, light streamed through the red leaves, staining them with coral and gold. At the far end of the corridor, a distant pinprick of rose gold light angled through the windows.

My delirious brain snagged for a moment, trying to decide whether the sun was rising or setting. But I was pretty sure it was evening now, the light casting the ruddy flush of sunset on the cold floors. So that was west.

Twilight, when the veil between the worlds grew thin and shadows flickered between the living and the dead. Almost, I imagined, I could smell Torin’s oaky scent and hear the velvety timbre of his voice.

Loneliness carved open in my chest, the feeling so painful, I nearly lost my balance. I sucked in a deep breath and tried to sharpen my focus.

With the western light pouring in, I knew where I needed to go. But I couldn’t get to the far side of the hall with all these people bustling about. The alarms still blared, and most of these people would be hunting for the escaped prisoner.

From my hiding spot in the stairwell, I gripped the stones, scanning the hall for a route to the other side. What I needed was a diversion.

I knelt, pressing my fingertips to the arboreal floor beneath me, and closed my eyes. I envisioned the entire castle, the blue stones that seemed to rise from gnarled roots and the ruby-flecked branches that curled around it protectively, like a mother’s embrace. In my mind’s eye, I had each of the boughs mapped out. A rush of power thrummed through me as I felt the entire castle in the grip of my magic. I controlled this place now. I breathed with it.

To the north, I envisioned one of those enormous midnight limbs shifting just a little, then smashing through the windows on that side.

The castle floors shook, and the sound of shattering glass echoed through the halls.

My magic vibrated up from the tree and into my body. Distantly, I felt the vibrations of the breaking glass. With the tree’s shift, poppy-red leaves rained down outside, and the stone halls filled with the sound of commands barked in the Unseelie language, directing soldiers, I assumed, toward the tumult.

Chaos reigned, which sent a shadowy thrill through me. As anarchy gripped the castle, my own thoughts quieted.

After everything they’d done to Torin and me, a vicious part of me wanted to leave this place in ruins. I wanted to rip the tree free of the stones that burdened her, to bury the queen in a pile of rubble.

But I had to exercise restraint. My work wasn’t done here until I had Torin’s body.

I slipped back into the stairwell, leaning my head against the cool stones. Shielded in here, I tuned into the castle’s vibrations, and my heart started to race at the rhythmic marching that pounded through the stone. The oncoming footfalls of armored guards rushing closer, steel-clad bodies clanging through the halls. My breath caught. If I hesitated too long, I’d be dead.

I knelt once more and brushed my fingertips over the rough bark, letting my mind slip into the tree’s world, feeling the life it drew from the rays of the setting sun. With a rush of magic, sap surged through its veins, dripping off its leaves. I drew the boughs closer to me through the southern wall, and they smashed through the nearby tower windows, shattering glass.

When I peered out into the hallway, Mab’s soldiers were scrambling, drawing their swords as sap and glass rained down. What did they think they were going to do with their swords, kill the tree? With a curl of my lip, I summoned the tree branches to twine around the soldiers, yanking them out through the shattered windows. Their screams filled the air, along with the coppery scent of blood.

The hall was nearly clear now, but footfalls pounded up the stairs from below, coming right for me. I held my breath, and the tree breathed for me.

With my fingertips touching the floor, I compelled the tree to exhale until the air filled with pure oxygen—enough to make a man’s head spin, to make him stagger around like a drunk. When the first Unseelie soldier dragged himself up the stairs, gripping the walls, all it took was one kick to his chest to send the entire troop tumbling backward down the stairwell.

The tree exhaled my breath. Still, I was starting to feel light-headed. When I stood, euphoria clouded my mind.

Steadying myself on the doorframe, I was relieved to see the hallway was still clear. Only a single woman moved in my direction now, a little slip of a thing. She looked pale, terrified. Dressed in a delicate white dress and a flower crown, she stepped gingerly over broken glass and sap, which glittered like garnets in the flaming rays of sun. The world was a bloody and beautiful place, nowhere more so than in the Court of Sorrows.

I stepped back into the stairwell and held my breath, waiting until she was inches from the doorway.

With a flick of my wrist, red-leafed vines curled around her neck and mouth, and I dragged her into the stairwell as she kicked and bucked. A dark survival instinct unfurled within me, and I tightened them a little more around her neck until her eyes closed and her body went limp. I had no idea if I had enough control to suffocate someone while keeping her alive. But when faced with my own death, I’d take the chance on a stranger’s. When her muscles went slack, I released the vines and looked down at her with a twinge of guilt.

She looked about forty, delicate of frame, with black hair and tattoos on her cheeks. She could be someone’s mom, I supposed. Her chest still rose and fell, soothing my nerves. That was one less thing to keep me up at night if I managed to get out of here. In the stairwell, I undressed, peeling off my filthy prisoner’s clothes. With a hammering heart, I pulled on her white dress, then adjusted the flower crown on my head to hide my copper horns. I shoved her unconscious body into the corner of the stairwell and made a half-hearted attempt to cover her with my clothes. I pulled her shoes off, too, and they nearly fit, just a size or two too large.

With my new disguise, I started toward the western end of the castle. Broken glass crunched beneath my stolen shoes. I moved west toward the light, hurrying toward the Tower of Dusk.

It was only a few feet away now—

Someone grabbed me by the hair, yanking me back.

“Here she is,” he snarled in my ear. “Queen Mab has been looking for you. She wants to throw you off the tower.”

Already, a blade was at my throat, pressing against my skin.