As soon as I stepped outside the throne room, I looked at the key, waiting for it to show me the way. Nothing happened.

I stared at it for a long time, and I might have felt absurd if the night before, I hadn't followed a magical light into a hidden stairwell, across a bridge, and onto a magical floating island where I drank mystery liquid to turn myself into a Fae. It seemed very plausible that a key could point me toward the door it unlocked.

But nothing happened. I raised it to my eyes and squinted at it through the lace veil. Along the key's silver bow, four arrows had been engraved, but otherwise it was a perfectly regular key.

"Come on," I muttered, rubbing my thumb over the arrows. "Where is your door?"

The metal turned so cold it nearly burned my hand, and the left arrow glowed with blue light. Sure enough, just ahead of me, was a corridor to the left, and without hesitating, I picked up my long skirts and jogged down it.

When I came to its end, I repeated the question and was rewarded with another arrow lighting up. Though I had not taken any stairs, I could tell it was leading me below ground. Windows vanished, and dirt and roots replaced the golden boughs arching overhead. A steady dripping sound joined the echo of my footsteps. Darkness clung to every nook and cranny, nearly overpowering the feeble light from put off by the sconces attached to the wall.

I hadn't expected the cells to be in a cozy, cheerful place, but with every turn, the atmosphere turned chillier and despair choked me. Not only because the bleakness of the place was overwhelming, but because I couldn't stop thinking about Calix being forced to stay in these depths. For committing no sin other than loving me.

As powerful as he was, to be kept in this place for too long would eat away at him until he was nothing more than a shell. A twilight prince, he might appear to be with his dark hair and shadow magic, but it was all an illusion. He was a creature of the heavens, with starlight in his eyes and lightning in his veins. To remain below the earth...it was pure torture.

At last, the hallway dead ended at a half rotten door, and right in front of it was a large Fae male. He might have looked like he was sleeping if not for the gouge across his throat. It started beneath one ear and ended at the other.

Swallowing bile, I nudged him out of the way without my foot, nearly retching when the change of angle revealed a hint of white through the blood and flesh. Lorcan had cut so deep he'd nearly severed the male's spine.

The door opened with only a slight protest, and it did not close fully behind me, its warped frame catching on the uneven dirt floor. I didn't bother pushing it closed since the corpse in front of it was going to alert anyone who came down here, anyway.

I stepped into a large, round room. A pitiful chandelier hung in the center with only a few stubby candles lit. Six cells lined the wall. Iron bars separated me from any prisoners, but there appeared to be only one occupied at the moment.

Calix.

He was in the middle cell. Sitting against the wall, one knee raised, with his wrist resting on the top. It was too dark to make out his features, but I could see his glittering eyes following me.

"Go away," he growled as I walked toward him. His voice was hoarse. As if he'd been yelling for hours. Chains clanked as he shifted.

His eyes closed, hiding his light from me. "Does the queen think this will work? Sending another female to me? Or perhaps is the queen beneath that veil...Come closer, Orla, and I'll snap that pretty little neck with my bare hands."

I recoiled. Not from the threat, but at how changed he was in such a short time. She had turned him into a beast.

"Calix, it's me...Luna."

Starlight blazed so brightly it blinded me as his eyes snapped open, and he surged to his feet. I wrapped my hands around the iron bars, only to rip them away at once with a scream. The sickly sweet scent of burning flesh filled my nostrils.

"You lie," Calix hissed, straining against his chains and gnashing his teeth. He was close enough for me to reach through the gaps and touch him. But I couldn't risk touching them. "Iron would not harm my mate."

"Unless she embraced her Fae heritage."

I pulled off the veil. It fluttered to the floor in a lace heap, and I smiled at him, hoping he would be pleased by what he saw.

Instead, horror replaced his anger, and he fell to his knees. "What have you done?"

"What do you mean?" I touched my face and watched as Calix's shoulders shook with quiet, anguished sobs.

He curled his fingers into the dirt on the floor. Tears made dirty rivers on his golden face, and whenever he looked at me, they fell faster. Seeing him cry hurt my heart almost as much as imagining him injured or dead did.

"Calix, stop. I did this for us. Don't you understand?"

"I understand that you bound yourself to her will," he said when he at last composed himself. There was no shine left in his eyes. "It's fine. I wanted you to choose your life and safety. I simply thought it would take you the full three days to make a decision."

Rocking back on my heels, I rolled my eyes. "Males. You're utterly stupid, you know. All of you. Human or Fae."

Calix gaped at me, utter shock momentarily stealing away his sorrow. Then his lip curled back, and a strand of filthy black hair fell into his eyes as he replied, "Good thing it's not my brain that made you scream two nights ago."

I grinned even as my cheeks turned pink. This felt like how things had been between us in the early days. Teasing and snark. I would take that over tears and heartbreak any day.

"You know I would never let her take our mating bond," I said, turning serious again. Crouching low, I peered at him through the iron bars, careful not to touch them.

"And yet you bear the countenance of a Fae female." His nostrils flared. "The scent, too. How is that possible if you didn't bind yourself to the Autumn Court?"

Quickly, I told him of the light and the journey along the Ley lines. His expression gave me no clue to what he was thinking, but I felt the turmoil in our bond. It was muffled because of his magical cuffs and all the iron, but it was unmistakable.

"And you don't know what Court it chose for you?"

"I don't. Only, I suspect it isn't the Autumn Court or else I would be upstairs participating in an orgy with Riven."

Calix's pointed ears twitched, and he ground his teeth together. "I will kill that male when I see him—"

"He's the one who gave me the key to come down here. Because Lorcan gave it to him. I think Riven has a thing for Cyra."

"Be that as it may..." Calix exhaled and rubbed his wrists. "My idiot brother. What was he thinking? Producing an offspring with another while he is mated? If anyone found out, the child would be an outcast."

"Why would they punish the child?"

"For the same reasons humans look down on children who are the result of affairs."

"Lorcan's mate might as well be dead, and perhaps it won't matter. He may not father a child, especially since Orla is also a Fae."

"Perhaps, but it's likely. Our family does not seem to have the same issues as others. Some think it's because of our Summer magic. So much of it draws from life. Winter Fae have a particularly difficult time producing offspring, which is why they would be so determined to bring Jones into the fold."

"Hence why you were studded out to the Autumn Court?"

I aimed for teasing; however, I growled the words and rage surged through me. Astonished, I covered my mouth. Calix chuckled.

"There she is." He stood. "The longer you are in that skin, the more of your human ways you will shed. There will be no more polite masking of emotions. No twinges of anything. Jealousy? More like a feral need to possess and mark me."

Heart thundering in my chest, I swallowed and threw the key into his cell. As much as I wanted to deny his words, I knew they were true. Now that he was no longer upset, and I wasn't distracted by wondering if he was okay, my Fae senses were turning toward my mate bond. And all the desire that went with it.

Calix picked up the key and tried it in the cuffs. They popped open and dropped to the floor with a dusty thud. Rolling his neck, he sighed with relief before turning to black mist.

He slipped easily between the iron bars and swirled around me, caressing my exposed skin. Panting, I closed my eyes against a wave of need, but instead of peaceful darkness, images of those black tendrils doing very naughty things flashed through my head.

"Oh, I like that," Calix whispered, becoming corporeal once more. "When you're turned on, you flush all the way to the tip of your ear."

He ran his finger over the pointed tip of my ear, and I swore as my center clenched in response. When I opened my eyes again, he stood in front of me, and there was nothing playful about him as he reached for me.

Hungrily, he kissed me, and I sank into him, willing him to devour me. It had only been two days since he last touched me, but I was starved for him. Whatever he planned to do to me, I would let him as long as it meant his hands never left my body. And then he pulled away with a shudder.

"N-no," I stuttered, reaching for him.

Calix shook his head and kept me at arm's length. "There are only two reasons I haven't pushed you against the wall and fucked you senseless yet."

"That's two reasons too many," I whimpered.

He curled a strand of my hair around his finger. "This body of yours is new and foreign, and since we didn't really get the chance to do things the way I wanted to the first time we slept together, I'm going to do it right this time."

"Calix," I said through bared teeth. "We have centuries to explore each other. Right now, I just really want to come on your cock."

"Fucking hell, Luna," he hissed, black swirling about him.

"So unless the second reason is really good, you better start unbuttoning those trousers."

Footsteps and shouts echoed down the hallway. Calix grabbed me around the waist, jerked me against his chest, and said, "The second reason is that we're about to have company."