Imprisoned Heir Read online

  The prison guard raised his trident higher and pumped it backward, firing off magic toward Frost. At the very last moment, another attack rocked the transport, allowing Frost to shift out of the way of the magic.

  Instead, the magic hit the coral wall of the transport, lodging itself so deep that water trickled in from the hole. The guards knocked into each other.

  “Way to go!” Frost cried. She lifted one leg up on the bench close to her and tried to break the iron cuffs. “Let us go so we can help you fight off the attack!”

  The guard who’d shot magic at Frost ordered the other guard to go back into the front to steer the transport. He did so, pushing around a console made of coral, shells, and a tentacle steering column.

  “No. Sit down,” the guard still with us commanded. “And don’t try to escape. We’re too deep for you to make it to the surface.”

  “All the more reason to let us help you,” Frost sang, as if it were the most obvious choice. She swished her foot for emphasis through the now three inches of freezing cold water at the bottom of the transport. Titus had now perched on one of the benches to avoid the water, a tight expression twisting his brows.

  The guard opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by the transport’s hatch being torn open. Several intruders breached the transport, all sea fae men in bright blue uniforms and with black masks over their faces. Our prison guard fought with the first who came through, lighting up the entire cabin with sea fae magic that bounced off the coral walls.

  Frost shuffled backward out of the way and slammed right into me, sending us flying backward. Titus’s warm form stopped our fall, but it took some awkward work to get everyone standing again.

  “If they don’t want our help, we should escape.” Embers burned once more in Titus’s eyes. His magic burned beneath the surface of his scales that glowed like a winter campfire.

  I spun on him. “Didn’t you hear them? We’re too deep. We won’t make it to the surface.”

  Titus seethed, lurching forward, as more sea fae rebels boarded the transport. For the moment, they seemed more occupied with the prison guards than us. “Use your magic, sea fae.”

  I stepped as close to him as I could so there would be no mistaking my next words. “I told you that I don’t have it right now.” I spun and held up the iron-infused cuffs as best I could. I couldn’t see the damage the cuffs had done, but the metal had rubbed raw against my skin. Every motion brought new anguish, and every minute we spent inside the transport had weakness preying on me from the iron.

  Dax’s tall, muscular form came before me so that I was stuck between him and the dragon shifter. “You are powerful, Nyx. And in your element. If any one of us can escape, it’s you.”

  Titus rammed his shoulder against mine. “You take me with you.”

  Panic spiraled with frustration as I met Dax’s eyes. “I’m not taking anyone with me because I can’t. Now back the fuck off, both of you! Especially you.” I held Dax’s glare. This entire trip, he’d been looking at me as if he knew me. I’d never seen him before in my life.

  Frost cried out, tearing my attention away from the men. The rebels had entered our portion of the transport and Frost was fighting them as best she could. She kicked at their shins and ducked, only to come back up and manage to bring her bound hands down on one man’s head. Frost slammed her knee into his face at the same time.

  “A little help, guys!” Frost cried.

  As if the three of us, bound as we were with our hands behind our backs, could assist. Why hadn’t her hands been bound behind her, anyway? It seemed like a giant oversight to me.

  Dax shuffled past me, giving me a lingering glance of seriousness that sent shivers down my spine. “You have the power. Use it.”

  Another few rebels piled in. In the front of the transport, the sea fae prison guards were able to fight off the rebels much more easily, but the rebels’ numbers kept growing. Dax ran up and headbutted one Frost had cornered.

  I spared Titus a glance as the rest of them fought. “I don’t have my magic.”

  His lips curled into a snarl. “Fine.” Titus barreled past me, heading for the front of the transport.

  I followed, weaving in and out of the attacks like water through rapids. As I passed some of the rebels, one, a female with long, braided red hair, grabbed my arm. She brought up her free hand, full of magic, and was about to slam it into me when something made her freeze. Her green eyes went wide.

  “You…” she whispered.

  My eyebrows furrowed, but before I could respond or question what the rebel meant, one of the prison guards stabbed her through with his trident. He knocked me out of the way and into one coral wall of the transport. Stars danced along the edges of my vision. I struggled to stay conscious this time, breathing through the darkness closing in until it had disappeared completely.

  You’re not coming out again, Eos. Not so soon.

  In the focus, something wet slicked my fingers. I couldn’t see it, but the sensation of water flowing over my fingertips had me convinced. Dax had been right. My power was still reachable, somehow, through the iron-infused cuffs.

  Hope bloomed with me as I backed into a corner. Beside me, Titus had used the distraction of the rebel attack to begin attempting to work the controls of the transport. Meanwhile, everyone else was engaged in battle.

  Truth be told, I hadn’t used my magic in a few months. I preferred stealth and thievery to the same magic that had seen my family so separated from the rest of the sea fae kingdom. But the pull of it right now, even though it seemed far away thanks to these iron-infused cuffs, was like a siren’s call bringing me home.

  With my back to the wall, I watched the fight happening before me. I willed my water magic to usher swift, short strokes against the cuffs. I put as much fae magic behind the motions as I could. I didn’t need a ton of magic to get out of these cuffs, just enough and used correctly to break them. Already, the cuffs bent beneath the small bursts of my magic.

  “Hey!” one of the prison guards shouted. He’d stopped fighting and now stalked his way toward me. “I told you all to sit down!” He ripped me from the wall by my shoulder, his eyes bulging wide as he saw my magic.

  I lifted my arm up as best I could and threw the magic toward his eyes. Water splashed his face and I thought of the warm sun burning him. He cried out in agony.

  Dax appeared beside me. “Nice shot.” He winked.

  I shuddered and slunk away. Why was he acting as if he knew me so intimately?

  “Think you can steer this thing better than fire-head over there?” Frost asked as she kneed another rebel in the head. About five had boarded the transport, but between the two prison guards and what the rest of us had been able to contribute, Frost had the last rebel reeling on the coral floor.

  “Don’t even think about it.”

  Frost turned and found the second prison guard with his trident pointed right at her head. She gave an exasperated sigh and raised her bound hands before her. “Fine, I surrender.”

  “I don’t.” Titus growled. He took the tentacle steering column and maneuvered the transport sharply away from the attached rebel ship. Metal and coral creaked and tore as our vessel broke off and water poured in.

  The sea fae guard raised his hands and froze over the hole with ice. He glared at the three of us in back with him the entire time. No one dared to make a move—either to help the guard, or to attack.

  With the leak plugged, the guard stomped his trident on the orange coral floor of the transport. The ends of the trident glowed, as did our iron-infused cuffs. A brilliant light blinded me for a moment before the searing pain began anew at my wrists.

  I fell to my knees, Frost and Dax with me. Ahead, Titus’s frozen form dropped to the ground with a heavy thud.

  The guard kicked Titus out of the way and lifted his friend off the ground. My water magic had scarred his face, which bled from where the magic had burned his skin, but he seemed otherwise unfazed.

&nbs
p; “Get the shifter in back and lock them up again,” the guard with the trident said. “We’re almost to the prison.”

  6

  Nyx

  The Atlantis Institute for Dangerous Criminals. I’d heard plenty about it over the years, but now that the coral transport had docked and the guards were readying to unload us, a pit of dread settled in my stomach. There were so many rumors about this place. That it was inescapable. Brutal. That no one came out alive. The most curious of these rumors was that the prison was haunted. Not by ghosts, but by a monster so horrifying, most dared not speak its name.

  I wasn’t sure how much I believed the Deep One was real. I’d always considered it another child’s story you told to keep the little ones in line and home by dark. Especially from Cornwall, where we’d be safe from such a creature.

  Now, I wasn’t so sure.

  The transport jolted to one side. Metal gears ground as the docking mechanisms locked us in place.

  “About time,” one of the sea fae guards said as they opened up the coral wall separating us. “You’re all lucky there was only a single attack.”

  “Lucky enough to spend our lives in prison,” Frost said dryly. “Seems legit.”

  I wanted to ask if helping the guards fight off the rebels would give us any extra points, but I doubted it. They’d probably lie to their superiors and say the two of them had managed to fight of half a dozen rebels on their own. It was better than admitting the truth.

  The guard sent Frost a withering look. “Silence from here on out would suit you well. This way.”

  I pulled in a deep breath as the guard’s partner opened up the side of the transport. I’d known I was headed for Atlantis for days now. But as soon as I crossed the threshold into the prison, there’d be no turning back. Or escape.

  I’d been sentenced for life. In the same outfit I’d worn to do the crime, nonetheless.

  Three more prison guards entered the transport, filling what little space remained. One by one, they dragged us off by our handcuffs. I bit my lip to keep from crying out as the infused iron dug deeper into my wrists. The guards yanked me backward. If it weren’t for their presence behind me, I’d probably have fallen to the turquoise stone ground.

  By being cuffed this way, I also couldn’t see what lay ahead. Fear and dread chilled me to the bone, especially when Frost’s eyes widened. I caught her curious, wide-eyed glance over the shoulder of the prison guard pulling her along as she mouthed, “Shit.”

  Great. Not good.

  And the worst part about all of this? I still didn’t know why Eos had killed those two specific sea fae nobles. Maybe if I knew, I could be more empathetic to her cause. Instead, I felt betrayed and enraged. Because serving time for her crime meant my sister was running out of time she simply didn’t have.

  Cyra. The thought of my sister’s pale, sweat-slicked sickly face, framed by inky black veins, was the last image I had of her.

  The guard yanked me forward again, snapping me from my thoughts. I watched as the prison was revealed to me in what felt like slow motion. We walked through an entry archway made from sea stone and metal. Iron would make sense in a prison that held other creatures as well as their own fae, but I wondered if that would affect the guards. I felt the iron’s presence even now, coming at me from all sides thanks to the iron-infused cuffs.

  The gates had seashells on either side, branded against the gold-tipped, iron-wrought posts for protection. Ocean rose beyond the transport docks, an endless night this far down. In the distance, whales and other large fish swam about, minding their own business. The view was quickly muddled the farther away from the docks we walked by magical shielding that surrounded the prison. It served as both containment to keep prisoners in, and also as a way to keep water out. Although sea fae could breathe underwater, no one else could without the help of spells. Spells one would be hard-pressed to find in a prison.

  This area of the Atlantis Institute for Dangerous Criminals wasn’t large at all. After walking for a few minutes, I could already see the ocean on the other side. My brow furrowed. The prison must have been tall then, rather than wide. Like a spire. Which made sense because from every story I’d been told, the prison was a portion of the ancient city that had once served as the sea fae kingdom’s home.

  I gulped. The deeper into the ocean one went, the more dangerous it became. Every child in my home knew that.

  Sure enough, the prison guards dragged us through a doorway and into the only building on this level. As we passed through the archway, a cold sensation washed through me. My teeth clattered. My nipples hardened beneath my thin shirt as a harsh chill made me shudder. Gods, what I wouldn’t give to be able to wrap my arms around myself right now. For both warmth and coverage.

  Into the building we went, not stopping until the guard who had me placed us inside a circle of runes. My eyebrows rose, a hint of familiarity poking at my mind. I knew from experience, somehow, that these runes were for teleportation. But I’d never seen them before in my life.

  Eos.

  Gods dammit, Eos.

  I didn’t regret attempting to make a magic deal in order to save my sister. But I did regret that doing so had ended with Eos inside my body, doing things against my will. I didn’t even know who Eos was—or had been, before she’d lost her soul.

  “Hang on tight,” the guard said, his breath warm on the back of my neck.

  As if I had a choice.

  The runes of the circle lit up and magic pulled on my body. A flash of light filled the space, so bright I had to close my eyes. When they reopened, we were in a new space, a tight corridor made from the same turquoise sea stone as the exterior of the prison.

  The guard grunted and yanked me with him, pulling me into a narrow, windowless room made entirely of stone, except for the door, which was most definitely iron. The guard avoided touching the door with his free hand, although his eyes tightened as he opened it, threw me inside, and shut it again.

  I stumbled to catch myself and not fall flat on my face, which ended with me slamming face-first into the wall on the other end of the thirty-foot-long room.

  So the prison would subject their own guards to the effects of iron. What monsters.

  I spun around and faced the door as a coppery taste filled my mouth. Already injured and we’re barely in the prison. Any signs of weakness wouldn’t help me in the slightest to survive.

  A few minutes later, the door opened again and Frost was thrown inside, crying out as her bare arm slid against the iron door. Dax and Titus followed, and although they were not affected by the iron, both looked not the least bit pleased to be manhandled into the prison.

  A few prison guards trailed in behind Dax and Titus. With hard eyes and locked jaws, they wore the steel grey and blue colors of the sea fae kingdom along with light armor from the shoulders down. Each carried a stick already lit with lightning that crackled from both ends, except for one guard who carried a metal briefcase.

  This guard stood taller than the rest. His white-blond hair had been braided intricately and thrown over his broad, muscular shoulders. His striking blue eyes lit the hard planes of his face, his fair skin clear and his jaw chiseled. This man looked like a Greek statue of old, like the others that had been made to emulate our fae ancestors.

  Something about the way he moved as though gliding on water captured my attention. Many of the sea fae moved with this grace, but he in particular seemed familiar. I stepped closer, my eyes trained on him, as if the harder I looked, the more information I’d uncover about him. That was when the recognition hit.

  This was the same sea fae who I’d watched mourn the dead nobles Eos had killed. The same fae who’s heart I’d inadvertently broken thanks to Eos surfacing and committing murder.

  My heart leapt into my throat as his jaw set hard and he slammed the briefcase on the only table in the room. The echo of metal on stone rang throughout the space.

  He clicked the briefcase open. “Strip,” he said. “You w
ill be marked.”

  I swallowed hard, my attention fully on him. In fact, it felt as if there were no one else in this room except he and I. Like nothing existed outside of this moment. It was as if magic had wrapped us up in a bubble of time and space, freezing the moment.

  Strip. His command echoed in my mind. He couldn’t be serious.

  “Now,” he said when I didn’t move. It briefly occurred to me that no one else had, either. “Strip now, or I’ll do it for you.”

  I swallowed hard. I might be okay with that.

  My own thoughts surprised me. This was so not the time for finding a prison guard attractive! But I couldn’t help it. Something about the graceful way with which he moved clashed with the harsh, commanding tone of his voice. It made me want to do whatever he demanded and to do it without question.

  He waved his hands and the iron cuffs around my wrists clicked open and fell to the ground. So did the others’ cuffs. At the same time, a wave of magic washed through the room, a weakness spell. My legs shook, my eyelids drooping with fatigue.

  So this was how they’d control us. By taking away our magic and ensuring we’d be too exhausted to try getting it back.

  Titus roared and charged the guard with the briefcase anyway. The guard was quicker, shoving the stick lit with lightning right into Titus’s side. The dragon shifter froze and seized in place before falling to the ground.

  The prison guard sneered and kicked Titus to the side. “Would anyone else like to try?” He turned to me with an evil glint in his gaze. “You, perhaps?”

  My mouth fell open. How could a man so gorgeous be so cruel? How could his magic thrum across the room and wash over my body like a beautiful melody while his eyes held such contempt?

  Panic flitted in my chest. I didn’t belong here. I hadn’t committed any crimes. In fact, I’d lived my entire life on the surface in Cornwall. Would it help to plead my innocence again?

  Even then, the moment our eyes met, my breath hitched and I realized I never wanted to be anywhere this man wasn’t. It was hard to look away from him—no, impossible. His gaze roamed down my body before he reeled back and slammed the lightning stick into the wall behind him. Sparks jumped off and spread throughout the room. Some landed on my arm and I jumped. The sparks stung.