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Sandra despised Margetta and her Invictus aran had remained locked up, the more powerful Sandra’s drive had become to do what she could, even to risk her life, to help the wo all Realifted fae who spent her years training lesser fae in their powers and in the ways of the Fae Guild

Yes, Sandra believed it her destiny, soetta’s hair, preparing her rose water baths, and tri toenails

Griffin could argue with her all he wanted, but Sandra had to find the duplicate key

She’d stolen the original frouard who had co the one to the tower cell She’d brought him a forbidden pint of fortress-brewed beer while he was on duty, knowing he’d soon be taking his tour of the dungeon cells While he guzzled, she’d slipped behind hiather his senses, she’d offered to ith him to the stairwell He’d leered at her in his usual way, twirling the key ring on his finger

As soon as she located the duplicate and uardroouard climbed the stairs and reached his station once , he’d sound the alaran Handing over the duplicate to the Ruby Fae would offer Sandra a layer of protection

Griffin leaned close again “And how do you propose getting the k

ey to the Ruby Fae once you find it? Or have you forgotten you have couard ith her, key in hand, to unlock the cell door He was also known as one of Margetta’s most loyal spies

“That’s the easy part I’ll roll it in a towel and take it with me for the next an’s cell three tiht, a service she performed happily for the fortress housekeeper, Yvonne

The good woetta for the past sixty years, was presently having a lie-down in her bedroom She often stretched out on her bed between meal preparations, a brandy bottle clutched to her chest At this hour,food for the nextthe forest for deadfall for the ca

Sandra, as one of three personal maids to the most wretched woman in all the Nine Realms, rarely left the stone walls of the fortress She had recently finished dressing Margetta’s blond hair in the long curls she preferred, which meant Sandra wouldn’t be needed by herto steal the duplicate key, noas the time

Despite Griffin’s disapproval of her plan, he stuck close as she checked key after key

“I hear soet out of here”

At that, she had to s, no doubt you just zoned in on the rats scuttling through the upstairs bedrooms”

He grunted “You shouldn’t be doing this You realize if Margetta finds out, she’ll have you tortured and killed”

Sandra repressed a sigh In so many ways, she was dead already She’d served in the stone, castle-like fortress for nearly three decades as a house slave Only the last year, since Griffin arrived, had she begun to feel alive again But they were both fortress slaves, so what good would it do to get too attached to him, or anyone for that matter?

The past rose up suddenly like a terrible wind She blinked slowly, herson during an Invictus attack All the i ato her, burying his face against her hip as an Invictus pair slaughtered her kind-hearted fae husband