How Does It Feel?

The brown rat returns to Callie and cautions her against trying to escape. He will convince Mendax to let her go because she is different from other humans. However, Callie knows that, even if she is freed, the Unseelie Fae’s plan to destroy the human world will not change.

She escapes the cell, only to be tackled by the brown rat in his human form. It is Walter, Mendax’s brother and the guard who once tried to approach her. He tries to hide her, as she asks him about the shimmery fox who saved her. Walter bristles, claiming that the fox is a Seelie shapeshifter, as dangerous as any of the Unseelie folk. He growls at the thought of it trespassing on Unseelie territory. Walter worries that Callie’s life is now in debt to the Seelie who saved her. Callie accidentally knocks a jar off of a shelf, giving them away.

A trembling guard tells Mendax that Callie has killed the forest bog and escaped. He thinks of his mother, the Queen, who is even less compassionate than him. Mendax worries that his mother will forcefully bond him to a mate so that he can become king, which, while necessary for ascension, means relinquishing half of his powers to his mate.