The Hanging Gardens to which Claire was brought by order of Queen Elysia was hardly a garden at all. Perhaps at some point in its varied past it had been home to an variety of flowering plants and other fauna which hung from the rafters in ornate baskets. Now, however, it was little more than a stony husk, a mere shell of worn gray stone, cracked and crumbling in some places, entirely missing in others.

Not that it would do her any good.

Freed from the net, Claire was lead by her captures towards one of a dozen large. empty iron cages suspended a few feet off the floor.

"In," one of the fae instructed, motioning with a slender finger towards the round opening. Claire hesitated which earned her a sharp jab in the back. She stumbled forward and ducked down to crawl through the relatively small opening. Once inside, a grate was pulled down and secured in place with a large, ornate lock that looked out of place against the blackened iron.

The fae stepped back wordlessly, one of them moving to the far side of the 'garden' where he paused in front of a crank. With no small amount of effort, he began to turn the handle and Claire felt the cage beneath her jerk once, then twice, before beginning its smooth ascent upwards. The cage rose a few more feet before stopping again. Securing the chain on a hook embedded in the stone wall, the fae returned to his waiting comrades and the four of them left without so much as a backwards glance towards Claire.

The silence that followed was heavier than any Claire had experience before. She had never felt more alone in her life. Even her time spent being interrogated by Sevik didn't compare to the crushing despair that seemed to press down on her.

Alek hated her, that was the only reason she could think of that would have caused him to treat her and the situation with such obvious disregard. Even as she thought it, she couldn't believe it, she couldn't convince her heart that such a possibility even existed.

It had to be something else.

Feeling tears burn at the corners of her eyes, Claire quickly swiped at them with the back of her hand. She refused to cry. Pressing her back against the cold bars of her prison, Claire closed her eyes and did her best to ignore the chill seeping through her thin clothes to touch the skin beneath.

See where spontaneity gets you, Claire? She thought ruefully.

Despite her self deprecating thoughts, when Claire thought about all she had experienced, all the people she had met, and the friends she had made, she couldn't bring herself to regret her decision to get on that train, or her decision to stay even when Alek offered her a chance to go back.

She wasn't certain how much time had passed when she heard the approaching footsteps. Expecting to see one of her fae captors come to tell her that her execution had been moved up, she was surprised when she looked down and saw Alek staring up at her.

His upturned face was illuminated by the warmth of the late afternoon sun, but even that wasn't enough to make light of the grim expression resting there. The silence seemed to grow like a gulf between them and Claire struggled to find something to say to bridge it, something to bring him back to her.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Alek asked at last, his voice quiet.

"I.. I wanted to, but I couldn't..."

"Couldn't what? Trust me?"

"Hurt you," Claire amended, her heart aching.

Alek fell silent again and looked way. Claire wanted to reach out and touch him, but she was afraid he might pull away and she didn't think she could bare that kind of rejection from him.

"I wasn't even sure if it was true, Alek," Claire explained. "I had this weird vision and Sevik-"

"You spoke to him?" Alek interrupted.

"It wasn't like I could walk away, Alek!" Claire shot back. "Last night, when I fell from the basket, I thought I was going to get swallowed up by the shades. I opened my eyes and I was back in the cellar. Sevik was there, and I couldn't understand how I had gotten there. He told me about the infection, he said that it was going to consume me, but that he could stop it if I gave him the nutcracker."

Claire pressed closer to the bars. "He said I would be able to live a long and happy life with you if I did, otherwise the only other choices I had were to go home, back to my world, or become a monster he would control."

"Why didn't you tell me? Why would you risk your life and stay here?" Alek lifted his head, his eyes searching for hers in the growing twilight. Claire realized then that it wasn't anger that he had felt when her secret had been exposed, but fear.

"Because I would rather spend one minute with you and die happy, than spend a lifetime alone," Claire replied softly. "I don't know what will happen to me, if it will hurt, if I will remember you, or Draz, or even myself, but I know that I will live every day with regret if I were to leave now."

"Did you even consider how I might feel?" Alek replied, his voice thick with emotion.

"Of course-"

"No, Claire, no you didn't. If you had, you would have told me the moment you even suspected it might be true," Alek interrupted sharply. He paused, trying to keep his emotions from getting the better of him. When he spoke again, his voice was quiet. "I never thought you could be so selfish."

Claire felt a sudden rush of anger at the accusation. Selfish? How as her willingness to sacrifice her life for a chance to be with him, if only for a short while, selfish?

"Selfish? How is wanting to be with you selfish?" She asked in a clipped tone.

"Because as hard as it will be to let you go, I would rather you be alive and well, far away from me, than dead and gone," Alek replied, grasping at the bars with his hands. "Don't you get it, Claire? You've touched a part of me that I closed off when Sonja died, and I can't bare the thought losing you too, not when there is a chance I can save you."

Claire supposed she hadn't taken into consideration how things might be for him after she had succumbed to her affliction, but that didn't give him the right to lecture her like a child.

Rather than hold onto that annoyance, however, Claire decided to let it go.

If their time was limited, she didn't want to spend it fighting with him. Her hands dropped to where his had locked around the bars and she curled her fingers around his own.

"I'm sorry, Alek," she said softly. "I should have told you the truth, I just ... I didn't want to hurt you."

Alek sighed and he raked his long fingers through his auburn curls which seemed to burn like fire in the dying light of the sun. His eyes met hers again. "I'm sorry too."

What did he have to be sorry about?

Claire didn't get the chance to ask.

"I should not have allowed things to come to this," he continued, motioning towards the cage she was imprisoned in. "When Elysia revealed the truth, I was hurt, yes, but I was more afraid. I want nothing more than to protect you, Claire, to keep you safe and out of harm's way, but I have failed at every turn. As a result, I was worried about what Elysia might do to you if I intervened. I knew that if I took even one look at you, I wouldn't be able to stop myself from doing something reckless. I did not want more harm coming to you because of my carelessness."

Claire nodded, pressing her forehead against the bars, wishing she was anywhere else but in that case. "You haven't failed, Alek," Claire replied at last. "I feel safest when I am with you, so you haven't failed."

The silence trailed on long after her words had fallen past her lips. After what felt like an eternity, Alek's voice broke through the quiet, "I never believed you intended to betray me as Elysia suggested," he assured her.

"I know," Claire replied.

Before Alek could speak, another voice echoed across the otherwise empty room.

"Who's there?" the voice called out.

Claire assumed it belonged to one of the fae meant to guard her and keep her from escaping somehow. Alek released the bars and took a step back. By now the sun had dipped low against the horizon and the golden rays that had lit his face just minutes before were gone allowing the deepening twilight settling in its place.

"Try to get some rest, Claire," Alek whispered. "I'll be back before dawn. If I have to tear this cage apart with my bare hands to get you out, I will do it."

Claire nodded, her heart squeezing so tightly in her chest she found it difficult to breathe. As Alek melted into the growing shadows, two fae hurried into view from the opposite direction.

"What's going on?" the taller of the two demanded to know.

"We heard voices," the second said, eyeing the surrounding area suspiciously.

"No one here but me," Claire replied. "I was singing, perhaps that's what you mistook for voices?" The fae both looked skeptical and continued to search the area for a few minutes longer before concluding that Claire had either been telling the truth, or that whomever had been there was long gone. They offered her a final, cursory glance before returning to whatever post they had been manning before coming to investigate.

Claire tried to make herself comfortable on the floor of the cage. Regardless of what happened, she supposed it was best to try to get some rest before dawn. She was going to need all of the energy she could get.

Claire wasn't sure what had woken her from a restless sleep, but when she opened her eyes it was dark. Despite the light from the moon filtering in through the windows, it was difficult to make out anything more than a few feet ahead of her. Convincing herself it had been nothing, Claire tried to get comfortable again and closed her eyes.

No sooner had she begun to doze off than she heard a soft scraping sound, like metal being dragged across stone. Sitting upright, the cage swaying beneath her with the sudden movement, Claire held her breath and tried to figure out just where the sound was coming from. The sound grew louder as whatever was causing it drew closer.

"Hello?" she called out hesitantly.

The sound stopped and so did Claire's heart.

A moment later the sound began again, same as before and Claire couldn't shake the heavy feeling of foreboding that had settled over her.

"Who's there?" she called, raising her voice this time. Her hope was to attract the attention of the fae standing guard. If it had been Alek or Draz they would have made themselves known. Again, the scraping stopped and a soft, low laugh floated towards her. Her heart began to race as a sickening feeling of dread settled in the bit of her stomach.

Why weren't they coming?

A face suddenly appeared in the darkness beneath her, pale and ghostly as it seemed to float there, illuminated by the light of the moon. It took mere seconds for Claire to realize just who it was that stared up at her with that hellish gleam in his eye.

"My my, Claire," Sevik grinned wickedly. "It seems like you've gotten yourself into a spot of trouble. I hope it's nothing I've done."

As if on cue, a crippling pain flared like fire in Claire's leg, erupting from the wound that had not bothered her for days. She choked back a cry of agony, gasping for air as the pain seemed to travel up her calf, into her thigh before settling in the small of her back.

"There, there," he cooed in mock consolation, his cool fingers wrapping around her own where they gripped the bars so tightly her knuckles had turned white. "The pain will fade soon enough, I simply felt it prudent to remind you of where you stand in the scheme of things, of who is really in control here. Your time is up, Claire, what have you decided?"

"Go to hell," Claire ground out.

Sevik released the bars, gave the cage a shove which caused it to swing wildly for a moment, and then began to retreat back into the shadows. "Such a pity, Claire..."

"Stop!" Claire managed once she had regained her bearings.

"Don't worry, love," Sevik called out, his voice distant. "I'll be back for you, just as soon as I've killed everyone you hold dear."