Another day, another chair.

At least I was alive… for now. I reached out with my senses. My eyes were closed, but nothing covered them. My body was numb from the neck down. There was a dull pressure about my chest, wrists and ankles.

Is that rope?

Something was in the air—the earthy smell of fresh potatoes, the tang of salted fish, the smoke of burning torches. The sound of leather soles scrapping on gravel told me I wasn't alone.

"Is he awake?"

A rough hand grabbed me by the hair and snapped my head back. My eyes flitted open to see Kateen's blonde handmaiden from the party, her pretty face fixed with a pleasant smile. She wore a different white dress, as beautiful and expensive as the last.

"Yes, Lady Kateen. He’s awake."

"About time. I'm not rude enough to interrupt beauty sleep."

A storm of white cloth came into view out of the corner of my eye. Kateen walked forward in a voluminous white dress and settled on a cushioned chair across from me. Next to her stood the redheaded handmaiden, Anissa, and one of her men with my cane tucked in his belt.

I scanned the room. I was in the middle of a warehouse with stacked boxes of supplies. More men in long brown coats stood guard, holding torches that provided most of the light. The rest of the light came from large windows on the second story of the building.

"I'm sorry. Am I boring you?"

I turned back to Kateen. She looked as imperious as a queen on her throne.

"All you had to do was sign my contract. Now look at you: paralyzed, bleeding out and tied to a chair."

I smiled.

"I admit, it hasn't been my day."

"That rock joint poison was worth every coin. It was hard to get, you know, even for someone with my connections. Now. Enough small talk. Tell me everything you know about the Briggs' operations."

"What?"

"Play dumb all you want. The Briggs family have been trying to insert themselves into my territory for years."

She turned up her nose.

"They intimidate my business partners. Attack my trade routes. All to peddle their weapons. Now they sent you. A smooth-talking elf to turn the mining cartels and Sanctifier Guild against me."

"I don’t know what you're talking about."

"Please. Save your lies for those Dahlgeshi rats or that whore of an Inquisitor. Tell me the truth, and your death will be mostly painless."

“Mostly?”

“My Clarice has needs, and what kind of mother would I be if I didn’t indulge her? Chicken, cats, and dogs—all suitable subjects for her playtime, but people are her favourite playmates.”

I glanced up at the handmaiden and met eyes devoid of humanity, empathy and remorse. I shivered.

Is this what Sin wanted me to become?

“So, elf. Will you tell me the truth?”

That's the one thing I couldn't do.

"Clarice."

The handmaiden punched me hard across the mouth, pulled her arm back and punched me two more times.

I stifled a laugh.

This was nothing compared to the Red Room.

"Clarice, stop. I have another idea. Anissa."

Anissa stepped forward with a bowed head, pulling black iron pliers from the bag slung over her shoulder.

"Before I was Lady Kateen, I had a beautiful baby girl. She died from the flux. But where one door closed, others opened. I became a wet nurse for a noblewoman's twins. It was the most rewarding experience in my life, seeing those young ones grow up. And then they started teething. The new teeth made their gums sore, and it made them bite down during breastfeeding. I hated it. It made me wish... they didn't have teeth."

Clarice's eyes lit up as Anissa handed her the pliers.

“It’s a shame. You had a pretty smile.”

Spirits below!

I needed to stall. I needed to do something!

"Alright! Fine! I'll tell you everything—anything you want to know."

"Clarice..."

"Yes, Lady Kateen."

"Take a few of his teeth for wasting my time."

My eyes went wide. Clarice shoved the cool metal into my mouth. The pliers clamped around my front tooth. She licked her lips, preparing to twist.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“No! Wait! No! Stop-”

PAP!

Clarice's head jerked to the side. The pliers in her hand fell to the ground, followed by her limp body.

"Clarice! Your dress."

PAP!

One of the guards crumpled to the floor. A rock bounced to a stop at my feet; a thin layer of transparent ice covered it.

Isla, you are a genius.

"Enemy attack!"

The guards ducked behind boxes for cover. Anissa ducked in front of me.

This was my chance.

I tried to will my dagger into my hand. No luck. I needed to be carrying my short sword for that to work.

PAP!

A guard peeking his head from behind a stack of boxes collapsed. His torch dropped over the boxes, setting them alit.

Lady Kateen stood tall among the chaos, staring into the shadows of the warehouse behind me.

"Eric?"

"Yes, Lady Kateen," the man beside her said.

"Be a dear and take the elf hostage."

"Of course, ma'am."

The guard carrying my cane slinked forward and turned my chair around to face the darkness. He twisted out my dagger and held it across my neck—the dull pressure of my cane pressed against my forearm.

If I could just grab it…

"I'll give you to the count of three. Come out with your hands raised, or Eric slits this elf's throat. One!"

I narrowed my eyes, looking for movement in the shadows outside the torchlight. There were only motes of dust drifting in stray beams of sunlight from the second-story windows.

"Two!"

"Wait! Wait."

The dust swirled as a slight figure in a navy-blue cloak walked out from behind a stack of crates. Isla stopped just outside the torchlight, her hands raised. In one hand, she held a small rock. In the other, she held a patch of leather tied to two lengths of braided string.

It was a good cover. A sling could send rocks flying with enough speed and force to knock out a grown man, but she wasn't using that sling. She was using her ability to create and control water to wrap the rocks in ice and propel them at the speed of an arrow.

"Oh my, aren't you precious? You look like my little girl all grown up. Don’t tell me you’re here to save this… this… elf?”

"That 'half-elf' has a name."

Kateen sighed.

"A girl like you could do so much better than him. Look how he abuses you. When was the last time you had a good night's sleep? Food that filled your belly? If you were one of my girls, I would treat you right. Like the princess you were always meant to be."

Isla's face darkened at the word princess, or maybe it was the surroundings getting darker. A thin haze of smoke clogged the air from the wooden boxes caught aflame. The sound of shuffling feet on my right told me Anissa had run for cover near Kateen. Two guards ran over to my left and hoisted Clarice away.

"So, will you become my daughter?"

"I'd rather die than go with you."

"A pity. Eric, kill the elf."

My numb fingers fumbled for the cane tucked in Eric's belt. My pinky found the wooden shaft. I willed the dagger out of Eric's hand into my right in a reverse grip. Isla slipped back into the shadows. A rock whistled past my head, smacking Eric on his forehead as he looked down at his empty hand. I jerked my head to the left, knocking my chair over to make myself a harder target for the crossbow bolts. I sawed at the rope binding my wrists with clumsy hands. Behind me, the shouts of guards and crackling flames filled the warehouse. More rocks flew out of the shadows. They whistled through the air, creating pained grunts and thuds from bodies falling behind me.

The warehouse's front doors creaked open. I cut through the rope around my wrists, shutting my eyes as sunlight bathed the inside of the building. Frantic footsteps ran up to me. I cracked my eyes open to see Isla crouching beside me.

"Are you OK?!"

"No! Here!"

I rolled my shoulder, making my arm flop in front of me. Isla took the dagger held loose in my hand and cut through the bindings around my chest and ankles. I turned to the front doors. They were wide enough to fit a wagon, but only one thing blocked the entrance: Kateen.

She stared as the warehouse's interior burned, a serene calm on her face. That stare settled on us as a guard pulled her from the entrance.

"Can you walk?" Isla asked.

"I can crawl."

"Good enough. We need to get to the back of the warehouse. I made a hole to sneak in."

She took my cane off Eric's unconscious body.

"When were you going to tell me you had an enchanted weapon?"

"When you asked."

Isla let out a huff, sheathing the dagger into the top of the cane.

"We need to hurry."

I struggled to my knees. Isla ducked under my right arm and lifted me to my feet.

"Why are you so heavy?!"

"Why are you so weak?"

We hobbled by stacked crates as black smoke wreathed the top of the warehouse. The smell of cooking potatoes and dried meat assaulted my nose. A black border narrowed around my vision. It was one thing to die—another to die hungry. We collapsed in front of Isla’s opening at the back of the warehouse. It was too small. I wouldn’t fit.

"I think I'm bleeding out."

"Hold on!"

Isla knelt at the hole, pulling out the spare dagger on her belt.

"I don't have much will left."

Water beads condensed on the dagger's blade and drifted to its edge. They formed saw-like teeth that cycled around the blade with blurring speed.

The dagger sank into the wooden wall like butter as Isla carved around the smaller hole.

As the entrance widened, my vision narrowed.

"I'm not going to make it."

"Fine! I'll tell you.”

"Tell me what?"

"I'm the firstborn child of Roderick Luskaine."

Roderick Luskaine?

"Wait... The King?!"

The warehouse's roof creaked and buckled.

Isla finished cutting through the wall.

"Castille!"

"I'm here!"

Castille grabbed me by the jacket and pulled me through the makeshift exit. Isla crawled through behind me, carrying my cane—just as the warehouse collapsed.

"What took you?"

"I had a few complications."

Castille frowned.

"His leg... he's bleeding out."

"Thank you for noticing," I said, flitting in and out of consciousness.

"Can you do anything, Isla?"

"I'm not great at healing on a good day, and right now… Wait-"

She unfastened the belt sash around my wounded leg, feeling the lump on one end.

"Are these coins?"

"Isla!"

"Right!"

She took out her dagger. Water condensed around the blade and crystallized. She pressed the flat of the cold, blunted blade against my wound and wrapped my sash around it.

"Good enough. Let's go!"

Castille lifted me in a bridal carry, running through an alley into the street where her and Isla's horses waited.

I turned my head back to the warehouse. The fire was spreading to the neighbouring buildings. Kateen's men would have their hands full putting it out.

It all looked so far away—at the end of a long tunnel, fading to black.

A princess. Isla was a princess.

Of course, she was.