Shadows moved across the cell as though moonlight came in through the tiny window across the narrow room from my cell, but I still knew we were deep underground. Too deep for even the roots of trees to find me without great magic. Magic that I'd depleted badly and couldn't exercise.

The holding cells smelled of mildew and blood and sweat, the combination of which made me gag if I breathed it in too deeply. Yes, to end my life this way would be acceptable to my aunt and the covens.

Just as I began to wonder if I should give myself over to the despair that threatened to crush me, the door to the outer room swung open slowly, an inch at a time, until I found myself staring at the darkness beyond. “Hello?”

"Hello, Princess," a tiny, high voice squeaked. I squinted, but no one was in the doorway. "I am here, your majesty." The impatient voice was almost in my ear, and I jumped back to see a tiny Fae, no taller than my index finger, flitting where I'd been standing.

She wore a shimmering dress that reminded me of Tryst's magical party creations, and a crown that wouldn't have slid over my pinky, embellished with diamond dust and a ruby the size of a splinter. I curtsied to her, and she smiled, her tiny rosebud mouth opening to reveal tiny pointed teeth. When she inclined her head in return, the ruby trembled, and I realized it was a tiny drop of red liquid…blood?

"The broker told us you would free the pixies and the small folk from the bowels of the beast," she pouted, her black eyes never leaving mine. Two more winklet, tiny pixies, and guardians of the wisp joined their queen as she hovered in front of me, their wings moving faster than hummingbirds'. "You are not the hero we were led to believe."

I scoffed and nodded. “No, I suppose I am not. What kind of a hero gets herself and her friends caught?”

“It matters not to me that you are caught. You must save the Fae below before they are consumed.”

The shadows moving across the wall stilled as I felt her magic push around and through me in hot, angry waves. The bars wavered and disappeared making me blink fast to clear my eyes. Fuck. No High Fae could’ve done that.

“Are you waiting for a litter to carry you out on?” The tiny queen’s shrill voice cut through my stupor.

She pointed at my feet, and the floor got so hot I jumped out of the cell to escape it. "That was unnecessary, Majesty. I simply was not aware of the magic the little people controlled."

“Of course not. If you giants knew, we would’ve been forced to war long ago, and there would be no Fae left.”

“And how am I to repay this kindness?”

She snorted rudely and her attending guards tittered behind their tiny hands. “You cannot. However, this is no kindness. We cannot free our people from depths. You can, and it was promised to us.”

“I will go quickly, then. You wouldn’t happen to have a gun or sword for me, would you?”

The queen scowled at me and flew out of the room without another word, her guards motioning for me to follow. Down a narrow hall was the guard room. The winklet queen hovered just outside it, peering in the small window.

“Your gun is in there. If you need a human weapon, I do not think you can save our folk. But, we were told a mongrel would save us, and you are that, are you not?”

I was high Fae enough to bristle at the word ‘mongrel,' but I clamped my lips together. I slipped in the door, bashing the lone guard over the head with a round shield before he could call out, and knocking him to the floor, unconscious. I should be ashamed that these fools caught me at all, it’s so easy to best them. Arrogant idiots.

The tiny queen waited for me as I searched the armory for a strong short sword that wasn't too heavy. I kept the shield and grabbed the bundle they'd taken from me when they threw me in my cage. She commanded me to hurry and led me down another series of corridors, none of which were familiar to me. They were far narrower than the main palace, and we crossed paths with no one, leading me to believe they were meant only for the wee folk, and the high Fae never traversed them.

"You must go to the pit and save my people. They are small and will be consumed before the king sees the evil that is done there." She waved a tiny hand, and an opening appeared in the wall, the wolfpack's clearing on the other side.

“That is not the pit.”

“And you cannot save the Fae without the aid of your people. Use their strength. Be worthy of the royal blood in your veins.” Tiny hands pushed me harder than I would’ve expected, and I stumbled through the opening and almost into the bonfire, scaring several shifters off their seats.

The opening simply wasn’t there anymore. To the pack, I’d simply appeared out of thin air, and the question on everyone’s lips wasn’t how I’d done it, but why I’d left the others behind.