Page 141 of Owned By the Fae
‘You could stop fighting me, Thalia. You could join me. I know the Harbinger only wants to save the fae. We have that in common. We could rule this Underhill together. We could save all the humans of the Dark Realms as well if you wanted. We could bring them here. Everyone could live in this safe fold together. They’d prosper under our guidance, darling.’
I say nothing.
‘And what of your mates?’ he asks. ‘Dane. Kallum. Grey. They could stay here with you and raise the babe.’
‘One big happy family,’ I murmur as I roll my eyes. ‘The problem with you, Varrik, is that you've always assumed I'm a fool because I'm human and that’s made you underestimate me. Fuck you. I’ll never join you.’
His hand strikes my cheek hard, and I laugh.
‘Finally going to get your hands dirty?’ I taunt, trying to anger him so that he’ll keep talking and allow the Harbinger to finish whatever it’s doing.
I hear movement, and a door at the back of the hall opens. Isbeth and five guards appear.
‘Brother,’ she murmurs. ‘I thought I could smell your foul stench from across the keep.’
‘Isbeth,’ He straightens. ‘Gods, I thought you’d be dead by now. How old you look.’
She scoffs at him. ‘We don't all steal from the Dark Realms for our own gains. Now, come quietly, and you have my word that you won’t be executed.’
Varrik laughs, and Isbeth motions for the guards to take him, but the knife on my neck skitters down to my abdomen.
I freeze, telling the Harbinger to hurry up with whatever it's doing. I struggle in Varrik’s grasp, but he's stronger. Yet another skill he siphoned from the Dark Realms.
‘Careful,’ he mocks, ‘or I'll free your precious Harbinger from this body and the babe the human carries.’
Dane
Something's wrong.My eyes snap open, and I'm sitting up. Kal and Grey are still asleep in the bed, but Lia, cuddled up next to me the last time I stirred, is no longer there. I feel the bed.
Still warm.
Heart quickening, I get up and go into the other room, checking it thoroughly as well as the other three chambers, but she's definitely not here.
Where is she?
I go back into the bedroom, a nasty feeling curling through my gut.
‘Wake up,’ I say loudly, conjuring light.
Kal and Grey startle, their eyes finding me as they waken quickly.
‘Lia’s gone.’
Kal is up and immediately dragging on his clothes. I follow suit, aware that Grey isn’t bothering to dress. He prowls the apartment instead.
‘Can you scent her?’ I ask Grey as I watch his nostrils flaring while he looks around.
‘Just a moment,’ he says. ‘My nose is better in my other form.’
He changes quickly, and I find myself looking into the eyes of the beast I haven’t yet seen. The spiked scales along his back shine in the light, and his violet eyes glow. Wisps of black smoke come off him like vapor as he raises his nose in the air and sniffs.
‘Find her,’ I say unnecessarily because he’s already heading to the closed door that leads to the hallway.
I open it, and he slips out silently, turning left and heading in the direction of the lower levels. I follow. When I turn back to make sure Kallum is with me, it’s to see him popping out of sight.
‘Stay close,’ I whisper to my now invisible friend.
The dread I’m feeling increases as we near the hall. The corridors are deserted. There aren’t even any guards up here. Why would there be? We were meant to be safe here.
