Although she wasn’t sure what she was going to do, Lily knew there wasn’t long to figure it out. Torquil’s wound wouldn’t stop oozing blood, and he was drifting in and out of consciousness. Creed appeared to have no permanent damage, but she’d learned many years ago that internal bleeding wasn’t always obvious. Violet was uninjured so far, and Lily was . . . being threatened with marriage. That wasn’t going to happen, not as long as she had any breath left in her.
In the world Lily had known until now, marriages could be dissolved. Divorces were possible, and if that was a problem for some reason, she knew that Daidí would happily remove any unwanted husband in a more permanent way. Unfortunately, Lily suspected that marriage to a Seelie prince, one who lived for a virtual eternity and presumably couldn’t be killed without massive consequences, was a bit more complicated. She simply could not, would not, allow herself to be forcibly wed—especially to Nacton.
Her only fae advisor was not of much use currently, and Violet and Creed looked to her for answers. So that left Lily to figure out what to do. First problems first. She needed everyone alive.
Torquil was flat on his back with a handful of moss clutched to his wound. Violet squatted at his side with a pile of moss that she’d collected. There had been precious little of it, but Lily had coaxed it into growing larger for their purposes.
“Well?”
Violet looked up at her and shook her head. “It’s not slowing at all. If he keeps bleeding—”
“So stop the bleeding,” Torquil interrupted in a broken voice. “You’re fire. You can stop it for me.”
“You want me to . . . burn you?”
“To cauterize the wound. It makes sense,” Lily told her gently.
Violet gaped at her. “So I can burn the good faery, but not the ones who attacked us? What kind of plan is—”
“The only one we have.” Torquil opened his eyes and looked at her. “I know you mean me no harm, Violet Lamb, and I need your help.”
He pressed the moss tighter to his side. It was already thick with blood; the dirt turned to red mud and dripped down to pool on the ground beside Torquil.
“Will you help me?” he asked her softly.
Lily considered telling Violet what she suspected of their true relationship, but she wasn’t sure if that would help Violet or make her more hesitant to do what he was asking.
Torquil looked at her and shook his head once. Did he somehow know what she was contemplating?
“What?” Violet said. “I saw that. What was it? What aren’t you telling me?”
“Can you do it or do I need to try to grow the moss again?” Lily snapped.
Violet didn’t reply. She looked over at Creed, who was trying to push to his feet. He stumbled toward them.
“Please, Vi. I need you to do this,” Lily said.
“I’m so sorry,” Violet whispered. Then she brought both hands down on Torquil’s bloodied side. With one hand, she jerked the moss away, and with the other, she cupped fire onto his flesh.
Torquil screamed, a horrible raw sound that was more animal than Lily had thought a voice could be, and then he passed out. Violet turned away and vomited as soon as she pulled her hand away.
Creed lifted her with his good arm and pulled her to his side.
Lily couldn’t look at them though, couldn’t stand seeing Creed hobble away on his broken leg or Violet sobbing after searing a wound. Torquil’s skin was sizzling like meat on a grill, and Lily had to pull moisture from the air to cool and wash it. She couldn’t draw as much as she wanted because they would need water to drink if they were left here too long, but she washed the blood away so that she could see that the gash was closed, and then she covered it with clean moss and earth to sooth the ache.
Once she’d done all she could, she walked over to Violet and said, “Thank you.”
Violet wiped her mouth. “What didn’t he want you to say?”
“It’s not my—”
“I did as you and he asked,” Violet cut her off harshly. “Tell me, LilyDark.”
“Look at him carefully, Vi,” Creed interjected, as he leaned against the wall. “He was there on the night we were all made.”
Violet stared at him and then glanced at the fae she’d just burned. It didn’t take but a heartbeat for her to see it, but she still objected. “He’s not . . .” She pursed her lips, not able to utter the lie now that she saw it. “What affinity?”
“Fire,” Lily said quietly.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean anything,” Violet said, but her gaze was fixed on Torquil. It wouldn’t take long for her to admit the truth.
Lily looked at Creed. He shook his head.
“She’ll be fine,” Creed murmured as Violet walked back over to Torquil and sat at his side.
“Assuming we walk away from this.”
“Yes. Assuming that.” Creed stroked her cheek with his fingertips.
Lily exhaled loudly. “You seem fine with this . . . Honestly, between you and Zeph, I’m starting to feel like it’s odd not to be okay with dying.” She scowled at Creed. “We’re getting out of here.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Creed said lightly. “What do we do then?”
At that, Lily’s burst of confidence fled. “I don’t know. We’re unarmed. Torquil is . . . I just don’t know.” She met Creed’s eyes and confessed, “I don’t know what to do.”
Creed reached out for her hand and squeezed it. He didn’t offer empty words. He simply held on to her hand.
After a moment, Lily squeezed back and said, “Come on.”
They walked over to Violet, who was still staring at the seemingly unconscious fae. She glanced up at them briefly. “He looks our age. It’s weird to think of my mom and—”
“As I understand it, children aren’t to think of their parents mating,” Torquil said, eyes still closed.
Lily let out a relieved sigh that he was alert. She crouched down and checked the bright red wound. The burned skin was warm, but there was no new blood.
“So, you’re my father?” Violet prompted.
Torquil opened his eyes. “I believe so. The queen . . . gave me reason to think that I am. I thought it best not to mention it before you—”
“Burned you?” Violet shrugged. “If you don’t die, we can fight about it. Then you can buy me a pony or something.”
“A pony?” Torquil glanced at Lily and Creed. “Is this a human custom? Like the goat?”
Before they could answer, Violet said, “So since Dad isn’t bleeding out, what do you say we get out of here?”
“Nacton and Calder are full fae who have trained longer than you’ve lived, and I am . . . unwell,” Torquil objected. “You are not a match for them on your own.”
Violet simply stared at Lily and waited. They needed a plan. Unfortunately, Lily hadn’t come up with one—and she had no idea how long they had before their captors came back.
“Vi’s right. If we stay, you’ll die. All of you.” Lily pulled her hair back into a twist. “Our options are escape, die trying, or die by not trying.”
“Easy choices, as far as I’m concerned.” Creed looked at her. “I pledged myself to you once, Lily. I can say it again if you need, but the reality is that if you need me to buy you time to escape, I’ll gladly do so.” He gestured to Torquil. “I won’t have him or Vi doing it.”
“Back up, boy.” Violet’s temper finally sparked, setting off a mini light show in the dark cavern. “One of us can set fires to idiots, and one of us sings pretty songs. Guess which is more useful?”