Page 109 of Hunted in the Shadows
Far from agonizing, the process filled me with a strange, invigorating energy. The gemstone pendant around my neck seemed to pulse in time with my thudding heart. Growing bold, I stole a glance at the blazing mark. Tears filled my vision. It was perfect. It wasmine.
I turned to face Marcellus with a watery smile.Thank youdidn’t begin to cover the gratitude surging through me, the words catching when I tried to speak them.
“Don’t,” he said, brushing my tear trails away. He leaned his forehead against mine as I shook with emotion. “It’s about time someone understood your worth.”
A powerful buzz of energy filled the air, fast approaching. Every head in the room turned toward it, sensing it. I straightened to find that the woman Marcellus had sent off on an errand was returning with a satchel slung over her shoulder. I might have turned and stared at my warrior rune for hours if it weren’t for the promise of what was in that bag.
A gemstone.
The woman looked breathless as she handed the satchel off to Marcellus and bowed her head. Hushed whispers flowed around me, brimming with anticipation. My heart pounded with warmth—they knew as well as I did that I deserved this treasure. I could already imagine how it would feel to touch it—how the energy would ripple beneath my skin until the gemstone’s power sang through every muscle and nerve of my being.
“I can’t believe it,” I whispered.
I reached for the bag, every nerve in me singing. Marcellus gently caught my wrist and pulled me into an embrace. Overwhelmed, I hugged him back with as much fervor. I murmured my gratitude—the welcome, the rune, this incredible gift.
“Itwillbe yours,” he promised.
I stiffened in his arms. “When?”
“I hope you see we’re good on our word. We can give you everything you want.” He paused, his breath playing a gentle breeze on my hair. “In return for ten years.”
His arms were locked around me. The others continued murmuring to each other, and I felt their stares. The noise felt less like the loving hum of family and more like a swarm of bees.
I wriggled out of Marcellus’ hold and shook my head, schooling my expression carefully.
“I don’t understand,” I said, though I knew with mounting horror that Idid.
“I told you.” His smile was patient as ever, hands still clasped firmly on my shoulders. “We must take measures to ensure our people carry on for generations.”
The intensity of his stare made me squirm with discomfort—the mixture of desire and desperation burrowed under my skin as the reality of this afternoon crashed around me like a thunderstorm.
“I can’t agree to this,” I said weakly. Even as my longing eyes traveled to the satchel, sorrow throttled me at the realization thathe had never intended to gift me a gemstone simply for being brave and exceptional. I pushed his hands away.
He sighed, hopeful expression withering. “Sylvia, you won’t age a single day. Barrenness doesn’t take hold for at least a decade. You will still be perfectly intact—as beautiful as you are today.” He brushed my cheek tenderly—reverently. The graze of his fingertips felt like acid, and I leaned out of his reach. “You will leave Veloria just as you entered, though more powerful than you could have dreamed. It will only feel like weeks have passed.”
“I can’t—”
Marcellus made a small move to one of the gems on his rings—a painfully familiar gesture. At once, the pendant around my neck pulsed like a comforting heartbeat.
Maybe he’s right.
These people were hundreds of years old. What was ten years against that? It would be worth it for a gemstone. And perhaps… I wouldn’twantto leave in the end.
But what about—
No. I would have my children. My people. I would live among legends until the end of the time.
—my boys?
My breath caught. What would happen to Jon and Cliff? Ten years of captivity? Or would they be released tonight, glamoured into forgetting I ever existed?
The foreign, quelling thoughts tried to roar overtop my worries. Not mine. Thiswasn’t me.
Hand shaking, I reached for the pendant and closed my hand around it. I felt as though I were ripping my own heart out as I tore the cord free from my neck, but the moment it snapped, my vision became sharper. My senses surged back to life with overwhelming clarity. The other fairies cried in alarm as I tossed the pendant across the room.
“What did you do?” I whispered, suddenly feeling as though I’d been held underwater for hours. Dread coiled through my stomach. I had underestimated Marcellus. All of them. A foolish mouse in an owl’s nest.
Marcellus raised his hands in peace. “The pendant only amplified your true desires.”
