Page 82 of Only Flames Remain

I needed to find Enora.

CHAPTER 24

Sorin

Ineeded to find Enora before Aveline did.

I knew that using Enora as a diversion to buy me more time with King Eldrin and his daughter, the Princess Morwenna, had been a risk—but it had worked. The castle was buzzing with rumors of a Myrosian spy in our midst, the royal wedding completely forgotten.

For the time being, anyway.

Enora was a friend to Aveline, and I needed to find her and release her before Aveline found out what had happened. That the entire thing had been my doing.

Enora would certainly tell her. Perhaps her wrath would be assuaged by the fact that I had freed her, too. I hadn’t yet told Father or Queen Odessa about Aveline’s presence—I had only told them about Enora. She, too, was from Myros. We had no plans of using her, making her the perfect deflection.

King Mavros and Emrys had been questioning her for the last week, to no avail. She wasn’t a spy, and therefore, there was no information to glean from her. True, she was innocent, but a mere week in the Gothryn prisons was a small price to pay to buy me more time. To figure out what I was going to do about Morwenna. No harm had come to Enora.

She wasn’t being treated harshly. I made sure of it.

I took the back staircase down to the dungeons, avoiding the main thoroughfare of the castle as preparations for the ball ensued. With any luck, Enora’s name would already have been cleared as I returned to castle Stormgaard, and she could join in tonight’s festivities with everyone none the wiser of her ‘capture.’

I passed the guard at the heavy wooden door with a nod. He stepped out of my way as I descended further into the darkness. The packed dirt floor leaned a musty, damp smell to the entire corridor as I pressed forward toward the furthest cell.

I came to a stop before it as I fished for the keys in my pocket. Enora sat at the back of the cell; dirt smeared across her cheek from a week without a proper bath. Her vibrant white hair was coated in dust to the point where she almost appeared blonde.

“Come to free me, Prince?” she asked, voice mocking.

“I have, in fact,” I replied, fitting the key into the lock and listening for the click.

She inclined her head, studying me.

I opened the cell, but Enora remained perched against the back wall. Her knee was bent, her arm draped across it as she fidgeted with the laces on her boot.

“Where is Aveline?” she asked, not bothering to glance up.

A long moment passed as I waited for her to realize the door was open.

“Upstairs.”

She scoffed. “I’m not stupid, Prince.”

I cleared my throat. “I never said you were.”

She finally cast her gaze upon me, her bright blue eyes angry enough to sear straight through me.

“I am not the only fae down here. We have been talking. The guards have big mouths, you know. You put me in here yourself. For your own gain. You needed more time before you married the princess. But there is something that I know that you do not. Something that could change everything.”

My face fell. “What are you talking about?”

“You know that I am Noor’s apprentice?” she asked, toying with a golden charm laced through the string between her fingers.

I nodded. “The historian, yes. What of it?”

Enora laughed, the musical lilt filling the corridor with an eerie echo. “You should have come to see me sooner. She isn’t merely a historian. You should know that.”

I did know that. She was the castle gossip, and a skilled charm maker. She knew our histories better than anyone in Gothryn. I failed to see the point Enora was trying to make, so I waited.

Enora laughed again, her head falling back against the stone wall. “You have no idea, do you?”