I felt like I rubbed my skin raw trying to take all of the blood from my hair and my skin.

I didn't even know I was still covered in that fae's blood.

The bathroom was not as large as the ones in Blackdown Keep but had the basics. There were clean towels, a small tub and a small shower. It was still beautiful with what I thought was marble throughout.

I stared at my reflection in the mirror after the shower, still unbelieving at the stranger staring back at me. Even as I ran a hand through my hair and watched the silver strands through my fingers I couldn't believe it was actually mine.

I could still see myself staring back in reflection but couldn't. My face was flawless. Previously, I could see my pores and acne scars from my teenage years but now, it was all smoothed away. It looked like my skin had been airbrushed for a magazine cover. My skin color evened out throughout my features, no more tan line from the time I was out in the sun with a T-shirt on.

It was very disorienting.

I ignored the reflection staring back at me and turned my attention to the black dress propped on the corner of the room.

I groaned. I was so done playing dress up, I was ready to go home.

I needed to come up with a plan. I needed to leave as soon as I could. I searched the drawers and found nothing. All of the small drawers in the counter were empty save for some towels.

Instantly, I knew what to do.

I ran to the window and started to look for a lock, handle, anything. Somehow, I was able to open it, making an opening large enough for me to fit through.

I quickly put the dress on since it was the only thing available and started ripping the towels into large strips and tying them together. I walked over to the window and was suddenly stopped.

Robyn appeared in front of me arms crossed, a devious smile on his face. "My dear, did you really think I would leave you alone?"

My stomach turned. The fact that he had seen me at my most vulnerable made my skin crawl.

He laughed. "It's nothing I've never seen before."

Nostrils flaring, I opened my mouth to start a slew of curses and insults.

He only grabbed my hand. "Time for breakfast."

Instantly, I was in a wooden, intricately carved chair in a beautiful dining room. There were large windows all around and oversized open doors that led to a balcony.

I made my move, running towards the open doors when, again, Robyn appeared in front of me.

This time, he grabbed my face. His nails dug into my cheeks. "You are really trying my patience." He sounded like he really was restraining himself. "Do something like this again and I will put you in a cell without any food."

He pushed me away with such force I stumbled back a couple of steps.

When I wouldn't move, he pointed to the chair. His voice was venomous and left absolutely no room for argument. "Sit. Down."

As soon as he snapped his fingers, my body moved and I thrust itself into the chair.

As soon as I was in the chair, the overwhelming feeling of being taken over disappeared and I was free again to look around.

Azazeal was standing near the chair, still as immovable as a statue watching every movement.

I didn't cringe under his gaze. I knew that he wouldn't do me any harm.

I knew I had to kill time somehow. I needed to give Damien enough time to find me.

I wondered if staying in Robyn's good graces would help me buy time.

I hoped it would.

Even if I had to do what he said, it didn't mean I couldn't show my displeasure from it.

The black thick fabric of the dress billowed around me, making me have to push it down on my lap to sit comfortably.

I cleared my throat as he approached with a plate in his hand. "Any chance I could actually wear something I'm comfortable in?"

He ignored me and placed the plate in front of me with a silver cover over it. He pulled the cover off and my stomach turned, making me look away.

He cocked his head in confusion. "Human food not to your liking?"

I pushed the plate of eggs and bacon away. "I don't eat any of this."

"Ah," he exclaimed with realization. "Of course, how silly of me. You light fae take no comfort from this kind of food."

He waved his hand over the plate and the eggs and bacon were replaced with fruits and oatmeal.

The smell of the warm brown sugar and oats wafted towards me.

"Better?"

My stomach growled in response making him smile.

He walked away and I gingerly touched the food in front of me. Deeming it safe, I started to eat it watching him all the while.

The silence was deafening with only the clatter of utensils on the plates to keep us company.

It was unsettling.

The dining room we were in was small compared to the rooms I had seen in Damien's castle but no less glamorous. The large table could easily fit twenty people and Robyn currently sat at the other end leaving me completely alone at the other.

I looked around for anything I could use as a weapon and found a small butter knife next to my plate. As soon as I grabbed it, it flew out of my hand and into Robyn's waiting hand. "You won't be needing that."

I sighed in frustration. "What do you even want with me?"

He looked up from his plate, the incredible blue instantly recognizable even with all the space between us. "I just want what's mine."

I scoffed. "I'm not anyone's."

He laughed. "I Marked you, dear, ancient magic begs to differ."

I shook my head. "I am no one. Nothing special. What do you need me for?"

His lip twitched upward as his eyes looked up from the plate in front of him. "You are going to help me get my throne back."

My eyes narrowed. "It's not yours. It doesn't belong to you."

He laughed. "Is that what you've been told? Please, tell me, child, what else have you heard?"

"You're a murderer. You slaughtered the light fae."

He chewed on his food noisily. "Not all of them." He gestured towards me. "Obviously."

I felt a sharp pain in my chest. "So it's true? You're responsible for that?"

He shrugged. "They killed my wife. They deserved it."

I shook my head. "Not an entire race."

He sighed. "It was actually quite easy, there were so little of them left. My Guard didn't question me, they just executed."

My chest was tight. "Even the children?"

He pointed at me with a fork with skewered sausage on it. "Though your parents, whoever they were, were smart. They bound your magic and hid you in the human world to protect you. I don't know who did it but they were quite powerful. More powerful than the Magister."

I shook my head. "No. My parents are human."

He ignored me.

"Did you hear me?" I was almost hysterical. "My parents are human!"

He instantly appeared in front of me, casually sitting on the table next to my plate, close enough to touch. "You," he pointed at me again with the same fork. "Weren't born human, when your powers were bound, you were human."

I batted the fork away from my face making it fall on the floor and drop all the food on it.

He sighed, exasperated. "I do not like wasting food but I'll forgive it this one time."

"What," I almost spat, "do you want with me?"

He smiled. "Emylin, you are the last of your kind. That means you carry all of the magic of your kind with you, encased in that small body of yours. With you beside me, I will be invincible. No one will ever question my claim to the throne. We will lay waste to my enemies. Including your Damien."

I grit my teeth. "Over my dead body."

He sighed. "Hopefully it won't come to that. You are a big part of my plan. You will help me. Even if it is against your will." He smiled. "I already have men on the inside. The Magister did help, dropping the defenses, allowing Azazeal to come to your room, even giving me the potion that unbound your magic. He's a very simple man, that one, he just wants his children back."

My head was swimming with the information. The Magister was behind him getting inside the Keep. I tried to keep the conversation going, wanting as much information as he was willing to share. "His children?"

He shrugged. "He has an affinity for human children. He loves to experiment on them. Azazeal was one of them once. When Warren took his favorite play things away, well, he didn't really like that. He was easy to convince to join me. I just have to give him human children again. He's very obedient if you just give him what he asks."

I couldn't hide the disgust on my face. "You're sick."

"The man is efficient. He asks for so little."

I shook my head. "Damien will find me, you know."

He frowned. "Do you think so? I think he's awfully busy at the moment." He paused. "Do you hear that?"

He was silent for a moment and when I couldn't take it, I asked, "What are you even talking about?"

He pressed his finger to his lips. "There," he whispered. "Can't you hear it?"

I strained to listen to what he was talking about and faintly, I heard it. A sweet sound cleared through the morning. Bells were ringing from far away.

They were coming from the balcony.

I stood from the table and walked to the large doors straining still to hear them.

We were in the middle of a forest but high on a mountain. Large, oversized trees crowded the landscape but in the distance, I recognized the small dark speck cradled by the river around it. Blackdown Keep was menacing. It was much taller than anything else around it, dwarfing the buildings around it.

The sweet music of the bells was coming from it, their song being carried in the breeze towards us. I frowned, what did it mean?

"You see, I'm not worried about my nephew finding us anytime soon. He's too busy getting married."

I turned to Robyn. "What?"

He gestured toward the large city at the end of the horizon. "He was stupid enough to fall for the Blood Moon ruse from the Magister. As if getting married would secure his reign, how naive." He scoffed. "At least it kept him distracted long enough to take you and my throne right from under his nose."

Robyn smiled. "Those are wedding bells. He and his fake queen were just married."

I couldn't speak, I felt as if my heart was just ripped out.

Damien was married. He went through with the wedding while I was still kidnapped?

I wasn't even gone a day.

Did he even care?

I could hear the blood rushing to my ears as Robyn spoke.

"The same fake queen that tried to poison you,"he gloated. "The girl thought that she would finally be rid of you and have my nephew all to herself. I didn't even have to plant that idea. The hate was already there."

I could hide the tears that broke. Damien left me. He abandoned me. He left me to marry a woman who hated me enough to try to kill me.

Robyn chuckled. "The Magister gave her the potion that eventually unbound you." He scoffed. "She thought it was regular fae wine, poisonous to humans. How beautiful hate is."

He placed his hands on my shoulders as I looked on in despair. "He left you again just like he did when he found her. It's just the two of us again, my dear."

My hands balled into fists and without meaning to, my hand moved on its own towards Robyn.

He caught my wrist like he had before. He tsked. "I believe your lessons in manners begins today."

Instantly, I fell back, dirt softening the fall.

I wasn't anywhere I recognized. It was a small dirty cell with a small cot in the corner and a bucket. There was nothing else in the small dark room, illuminated only by a small torch in the corner.

I took a deep breath and started screaming for help as loud as I could.

My scream echoed around my ears.

I ran to the only door in the room and started pulling and pushing but it didn't give.

I sank to the floor, sniffling.

So much for staying in his good graces.

In the distance, I could still hear the bells.