By the time I came to, a short while later, shore was clearly in sight and the sadness in me had hardened into a dark, gnarled knot of rage.

I’d made mistakes…so many along the way, the worst of which was trusting him, and close on its tail was not realizing that this whole elaborate plot was about far more than ransom. But I wasn’t dead yet, and I was going to make him fight me every step of the way.

So when the boat finally rode the wave onto the shore and Mathias stepped out and told me to follow him, I crossed my arms and legs and glared defiantly back at him. “No,” I said, lifting my chin in the air.

He rolled his eyes, leaned into the boat, and grabbed my arm. He hauled me to my feet and dragged me over the edge, where I stumbled and fell to my knees on the sand. Then, I proceeded to make him half drag me up the shore to the dense foliage of shrubbery and trees, the likes of which I had never seen before.

Where the hell were we?

He yanked me to my feet and took my shoulders. Then he shook me roughly. “You can walk on your own or I can make this a lot more unpleasant. It matters to me not.”

As thoughts of Eryk and the others flickered through my mind, of their fear when they awoke, of their helplessness as they imagined the consequences for their families, I couldn’t help it. I spat in his face.

It was a reflex more than an intentional act of defiance. One I regretted almost instantly.

As he ran a hand over his face to wipe my spit away, I could feel the rage building inside him. “Fine,” he said, his voice shaking with barely checked fury. “We’ll do it your way.”

He used the chain of my iron collar to bind my wrists. I fought him, but he overpowered me, and soon I couldn’t move my hands. He bent over and wrapped his arms around my legs, then hoisted me over his shoulder so that my head was hanging down his back.

“Put me down!” I shrieked, kicking my legs.

“You already had your chance to walk yourself,” Mathias said as he began stepping over the mossy forest floor.

I screamed, pounding his back with my fists, using the iron chains to try to inflict as much damage as possible. He continued walking, his grip tightening around my legs, as if I was nothing more than an inconvenience.

Eventually, I had to submit or risk wasting all my energy reserves, hanging limp in his arms as he pushed forward.

I stared at the ground at Mathias’s heels as he stepped over tree branches and twigs and leaves that were shaped like tears. It became increasingly difficult to keep my eyes open as the pressure in my head intensified. Darkness began to creep in around the edges of my vision. It had been more than twenty-four hours since I’d eaten or drank anything, and hanging upside down for this long was taking its toll.

I hit Mathias’s back weakly and tried to speak, but words failed me. It was getting harder to breathe. I slapped at his back, becoming desperate. When he ignored me, I fell still, and soon found that I was embracing the encroaching darkness. I came back to full awareness with Mathias standing over me, slapping my cheeks. He wasn’t gentle about it, either. I snarled and took a swipe at him, which he dodged by simply leaning backwards and tugging my chain away from his body, jerking me to the side.

“I thought I had simply gotten lucky that you had stopped talking,” Mathias said. “Should’ve known you passed out. You’re from weak stock.”

He shrugged and got to his feet, pulling the chain up with him. I was forced to stand if I wanted to breathe. I was still unsteady on my feet, and the forest around me tipped and spun for several seconds until the ringing in my ears died down. “Are you going to walk yourself now, or shall we repeat the same process as before?”

“I can walk,” I said quickly. I needed my wits right now, and the blood rushing to my head wasn’t going to help.

“Good,” he said, turning from me and stepping lightly over the forest floor.

Try as I might, I was completely incapable of simply falling into line behind him. I walked slowly, forcing him to yank me forward by the neck several times. I could see that our trek was taking its toll on him, as well. Little beads of sweat popped out on his forehead, and his blonde hair was falling loose from the blue tie that secured it at the nape of his neck.

We had been walking for hours by the time the sun went down, and he paused to take a long drink from the water bladder he had packed.

His expression dared me to ask for a sip, and I closed my mouth shut with a snap, despite the gnawing thirst that had my throat raging with fire. He wouldn’t give me any regardless. I knew this as surely as I knew my own name, and I refused to give him the satisfaction of denying me.

My feet ached, as did my legs, and the iron collar had left a bruise all the way around my neck. I was sure that in some places I was bleeding, too. I could smell the copper tinge in the air.

The sky turned a purple, and then a smudged gray, as we continued through the forest. I rolled my ankle but bit back my yelp of pain and hobbled along behind Mathias, who finally slowed with an irritated sigh. He pushed me down to my knees and wrapped my chain around the trunk of a tree. He then went about setting up a fire a few feet from where I sat.

Once it was blazing before us, he opened his pack and withdrew a loaf of bread and an apple. He took a massive bite of the bread and regarded me coolly. “Hungry, Princess?” The nickname was a slur in his mouth and I wondered if it had always been, and how I’d missed that.

I shook my head. “Nope.” But then my stomach growled, betraying how famished I was.

Mathias chuckled and proceeded to eat in front of me.

When he was done eating, he lay down on his back and clasped his hands behind his head.

“You’re a curious creature, Iris of Ironhaven. I will give you that. You have those boys back on the ship wrapped around your little finger. And that speech you gave about my father the other night, really scrambled their brains.”

“Scrambled? More like slapped some sense into them,” I muttered, “unlike you.”

“Sense?” Mathias laughed. “I’m the only one here with any sense. Your sister stole her throne, and all of Ironhaven was willing to bow down to her. She committed the highest form of treason, and she will be punished by my brother, I assure you. If I can convince him to let you live that long, I’ll try to secure you a front row seat to the show.”

I did not indulge him with a response. Instead, I stared into the flames and tried to think of less troubling things. My thoughts instantly wandered to the men on the ship. Did they go ashore to Little Kingdom to see if anyone had spotted me with a tall blonde man in a blue cloak? Had they set sail already, heading in the entirely wrong direction?

“Do not dwell on those cowards,” Mathias spat, “they are beyond your reach now.”

“They’re not cowards.”

“They are weak, blind men. Their duty was to capture you and bring you in, and they were paid well for the job. I told my brother it would be best to trust only family, but he’d insisted that they were far and wide known to be the best warriors and seamen around. That, with the right additional incentives, they wouldn’t dare fail him.” He bit out a short laugh. “Luckily, I’d convinced him to let me go along to keep an eye on them, or they’d have ruined everything.”

“Do they know who you are?”

“No. For the past few months, as this plot was conceived, I posed as just another hired mercenary with a family member at risk. We kept my true identity from them, as well as the true reason for your kidnapping, in case we were captured and questioned. And I wanted to keep things as friendly with you as possible so that I could earn your trust. Use you to learn about the strength of your sister’s army.”

I could only be grateful that I hadn’t told him much, but that I’d fallen so easily in line made me furious with myself.

“All will be right again as soon as my brother becomes King.”

I stared at him malevolently. “He has no claim to that throne. Your father was responsible for the deaths of thousands of little girls to secure his ill-gotten seat.”

“In the pursuit of one,” Mathias said, holding a single finger in the air. The fire danced across his features, making his eyes look like glowing orange orbs. “And now we have her by the Achilles heel.”

“Your father is twisted. Evil, and your brother won’t be any different. Simpleminded, pathetic men, the lot of you. So small and ignorant that the only way you can convince yourself you’re worthy of anything is to steal it.”

“Silence,” he hissed.

“Why?” I demanded with a hard laugh that scraped against my bone-dry throat. “Because I’m right? Because you can’t control me? Screw you. Bring me to your false King. Let me look into the eyes of the man who will die as soon as he sets foot in Ironhaven.”

Mathias leaned in close--close enough that I could smell his breath and feel the heat coming off his body. “I will. Keep up the brave talk, Iris. You and I both know this all ends with your screams ringing in my ears.”

I prayed that he was wrong. I prayed that when my moment did come, and when I was face to face with death, that I would hold my ground and stare death in the eye. And if my death came by way of Mathias Du Monde, I was going to take him down with me.

 

Sleep came much later in starts and stops. And at dawn, we continued our journey.

We didn’t speak, which I was thankful for, but the silence meant I had no distraction from my thoughts, which were growing darker with each and every step. It was beginning to feel very real that I would never see Anaya or my home again. That I would never hear Titus’s roaring laugh, or feel Eryk’s knowing touch, or catch a glimpse of Dimitri’s devilish smile. That truth broke my soul, and as we arrived at the edge of the forest, I was feeling raw and beaten down.

I found myself staring out across an open field of golden grass, knee high and swaying gently in the late morning breeze. On the other side of the field was a great walled city. A magnificent place, that was for certain, but also foreboding. The walls were high and flat, with only small windows placed strategically--openings for archers or cannons.

The gates, made of iron and stretching high overhead, opened slowly for us when we approached.

Mathias tugged me through the gate and I found myself walking a wide cobblestone street. It was lined in shops and merchant wagons spilling over with produce and fine cloths. People emerged from shop fronts to congregate along the edges of the street. Not a soul stepped onto the cobblestone. It remained empty, save for Mathias and I.

I searched their faces. Some scared and hopeless looking, some angry and full of bitterness. They reminded me of the way the people of Ironhaven had been under Sebastian’s rule.

I resisted as Mathias pulled me closer to his side. He glared at me and tugged again, this time more forcefully. I stumbled forward but started laughing.

“Get yourself under control, woman,” Mathias hissed.

Try as I might, I was powerless to stop the laughter. It rose up out of me and spilled out onto the cobblestone as we continued walking. The sound drew more people from their homes and shops as the road began inclining upwards.

“You’re pathetic,” I said, loud enough for everyone to hear. “You think these people will continue to follow a Du Monde? I can see it on their faces, Mathias. They know cruelty when they see it. It’s only a matter of time before--”

Mathias stopped walking and yanked me hard enough to stumble. Then he surged ahead, dragging me behind him. His grip was painfully tight, but I ignored it and continued to laugh. People met my eye on the street, and I waved at them.

If I was walking to my death, I was going to do it my way.

“My name is Iris,” I called at the top of my lungs, “and I am sister to the one true Queen of Ironhaven. Du Monde is just another false King. Whatever becomes of me, go now, to our lands, and live free, under the protection of a fair and gentle ruler.”

Whispers broke out amongst the people.

“Silence!” Mathias hissed.

“I won’t be silent!” I yelled. “You serve a false King! You serve a King who seeks to destroy and murder, not build and improve. Whatever he tells you, don’t believe him!” I yelled to the gathering crowd. “Remember my name. I am Iris of Ironhaven.”

This continued all the way up the winding cobblestone street. Mathias’s face was bright red with rage. I’m sure mine was red, too, from all the yelling I had been doing. My throat ached with it, but damn, if felt good.

When we rounded a bend at the top of the hill, Mathias suddenly dropped to one knee, jerking me down to the cobblestone beside him. I fell rather than knelt, and when I looked up to see what had gotten into him, I found myself looking up at a raised platform adorned with several men wearing shiny metal armor and helmets. In their midst, sat a pale-skinned blonde man. He was quite beautiful, that much was true, and quite familiar.

Preston Du Monde. Sebastian Du Monde’s eldest son was a sight to behold.

He was dressed in regal clothing of red and black. The crest on his chest was sewn in gold thread. His hair was long and hung just past his shoulders, his face all sharp angles and planes. But it was his icy stare, full of hatred and a chilling ruthlessness, that eclipsed the rest.

And yet, I was not afraid.

“Rise,” Du Monde said, raising his hands to encourage Mathias to get to his feet.

He stood, pulling me up with him, and cleared his throat.

“My King,” Mathias began, “I have returned from my journey with your prize. Behold, Iris of Ironhaven, alive and well.”

Preston’s eyes trailed over me dubiously. “You are sure this is she?”

“It’s true, she bears no resemblance to her sister, Anaya,” Mathias said. “I wondered the same thing when I first saw her. But I swear on my life, Brother, this is she.”

Preston’s gaze held mine and I glared knives into him.

He chuckled and nodded. “I believe you, now, Mathias. She is a brash bitch, just like the other. Where, may I ask, are your comrades?”

“They could not uphold their end of the bargain. They hatched a plan to escape with her. Cowards, my King. I care not to waste our time or breath with words of their betrayal.”

The elder Du Monde made a thoughtful sound in the back of his throat. “They will be dealt with accordingly, in due time. And you, Mathias, will be rewarded for your unwavering loyalty. Now, please, step forward so I can have a better look at my prize.”

“For you, my King.” Mathias put his hand between my shoulder blades and pushed me forwards.

I rolled my eyes. For all of his tough talk, Mathias was nothing but a kiss ass. A suck up. How had I not seen through him? It was true, I never formed a connection with him as I had the others, but to have trusted his intentions made me feel foolish beyond belief.

Preston rose from his seat. He was taller than his father had been. I lifted my chin. His eyes fell to the bruising around my neck. Aware of our audience, I made a mental vow to stand my ground and show him I was not afraid. If their goal was to use me to get to Anaya, I had some confidence that my life, if not my well-being and comfort, had value. If ever I was going to kick up a fuss, it was now, when they couldn’t afford to kill me.

“You are taller than your father,” I said, “but you share the same eyes.”

“Yes,” Preston said, descending the stairs to join us on the cobblestone. “My father and I bore a striking resemblance. I inherited many great things from him, and I intend on reclaiming his land that your sister stole from him.”

“Oh, please,” I said, “spare us the lies.” I straightened to my full height and gritted my teeth. “You can make whatever preparations you want to, Du Monde,” I spat his name, “but no matter what you do, you will not win back Ironhaven. Its people will not give it up, especially to vermin like you. You will die, like your father did, at the hands of his broken and ill-treated people, and then buried in an unmarked grave. No one will remember your name or your deeds, because you are insignificant. A mockery.”

Preston’s hand twitched like he wanted to strike me, but the murmurs of the crowd had him pasting on a smile. “Guards, bring her to the dungeons. Mathias, come with me. We have much to discuss.”

“Yes, my King,” Mathias said as he handed my chain to one of Du Monde’s guards.

The guard coiled it around his fist and gave me a smug look.

“Let’s go find a nice comfortable spot for you to lay that pretty head of yours, shall we?”