Page 21 of Great Falls Protector
“What do you want?” I whisper. There has to be something if Zake has waited.
Halting a pace away from me, Zake opens the door of the same utility closet I thought my sanctuary moments earlier. “Get in, wench.”
I shake my head, the only thing I seem able to make my body do.
Fae. You’re fae,my mind whispers.Stronger than him, faster than him.But it does no good. My limbs may as well be filled with sand.
With an annoyed grunt, Zake snatches the front of my dress uniform and shoves me into the small room. Taking a lit candle from one of the hallway’s many holders, he joins me a moment later, shutting the door behind him. The scents of wax and dust fill my lungs again, but only for a moment before morphing to something else entirely. Hay. A stable. A man’s stale breath.
My whole body begins to shake, a faint ringing in my ears making Zake’s voice sound low and distant, coming at me from all directions at once. Every fiber in my body tenses with the knowledge that there is no escape. Not from his temper. Never.
“I gave you everything, Leralynn.” Zake’s words hang thick with anger. “Home. Food. Protection. I indulged your wavering mind, waited for years and years for the maidenhead that I earned. I offered you a future so far beyond your sorry strain that you should have been begging to lick my boots and my cock. And what did you do instead?” Zake’s hand grips the nape of my neck, squeezing the muscles painfully. “You betrayed me. Stole from me.”
“No.” The words come in a pitiful voice that feels like it belongs to someone else. Every breath brings hay and manure, the slow clomp of boots down the aisle, creaking stable hinges. I try to stop breathing altogether, but dizziness descends quickly. I’m alone, as I’ve always been. A worthless orphan who would have starved if not for Zake’s charity. Who might starve still. “I didn’t steal anything,” I breathe, desperate for the man to believe me. Not that truth is much of a defense. My hands rise toward my ears, shielding my head for all the good it will do. Zake is too strong to defend against, even if I was stupid enough to try. “I never steal.”
“You fooled those fae messengers that I’d waited my whole life for into handing my birthright over to you.” Zake’s voice thunders, and he takes several calming breaths before speaking again. “I will punish you for that first. Take it quietly, and I shall grant you a second chance you don’t deserve. Explain how you did it—conning both the fae into thinking you were me and the dimwits here into believing you a human lady—and I’ll let you go. We’ll consider the books closed. The debts paid. A better deal than you deserve.”
I can’t move. Can’t escape, no matter how much I try to tell myself that things are different now. Because they aren’t.
His hand still on my neck, Zake twists me around to press my face into the wall. The sound of his belt pulling free of the loops fills my ears, mixing with the small puffs of his breath and the blood racing in my ears. The acrid scent of the man’s sweat wraps around my throat. Choking me. The stone walls and dusty supply shelves around me have disappeared entirely, making way for a narrow wooden stall, its back wall hard against my skin. One of the boards is unfinished, its rough surface leaving splinters in my cheek. Hay crackles under my bare feet, which are nipped red with cold. I’ve outgrown my old boots, and Zake hasn’t spent the money on a new pair.
With the flick of a knife, Zake nicks the top of my tunic, splitting the fabric open down my back. I have time for a single breath before the whistle of leather cuts the air, the sound slicing into my gut even before the strap lands on my shoulders, cutting right across the spine.
Pain explodes across my back, and I buck despite knowing it’s a mistake.
“You know better,” Zake barks into my ear. “Be still. Stubbornness and disrespect will only make it worse for you.”
Another lash cuts my skin. A third.
I can feel my insides growing small and cold. Silent. My mind traveling to a different place as always. A babbling stream, a mossy bank—
“What did you give them, wench?” Zake demands.
“Nothing.” My words are choked, my heart racing so fast that my head swims. I can already tell from the sound of Zake’s voice and the first strikes that this will be the worst beating yet. That I will spend a week unable to move, blood turning my pee red, the brush of a shirt against my skin a torture. But I will move anyway, saddling Zake’s horses and mucking his stalls because if I don’t, he’ll make it worse still.
“Don’t lie to me, damn you. What did you give the fae for the immortality I was due?”
“There are fae somewhere handing out immortality?” A familiar male voice enters the conversation, the slight tinge of amusement in it hiding a simmering fury. When my head turns toward the sound, I see a large emerald-eyed male, unruly red hair falling over his face as he steps inside the small stable Zake holds me in.
My eyes widen. Over my racing heart, the stable morphs back to the large closet it is, clearing the way for a yet more frightening present. Zake knows Tye is fae, while Tye himself does not. And the amulet burned into Tye’s flesh is ready to kill him to keep the secret.
“Run, Tye,” I yell even as the belt lands again. “Go. Now!”
19
Lera
Instead of heeding my order, Tye prowls toward Zake.
My heart pounds. Gathering my body together is an effort of will, my limbs shaking with the mix of pain and fear. “Tye, please.” I make the words sound strong, though I know that the moment Tye is gone, Zake will hurt me worse than ever. “Go.”
Tye’s hand circles into a fist, his sharply angled face pale, his eyes glinting with murder.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Zake says, his knife back in his hand, the blade now pressing against the base of my ear. “Touch me, and I’ll sever the wench’s pointed little ear. What do you think the dimwits here will make of it? How will the mobs sway when they realize you two fae have been hiding among them all this time?”
Tye stumbles at Zake’s words, his eyes glazing for one horrible moment.
“Fortunately, I am a man of business,” Zake drawls. “Tell me, you fae bastard, how much is your secret worth to you?”
