Page 3 of Owned By the Fae
‘How long were you out there in the Wilds before you were captured?’ His eyes crinkle. ‘Was it before or after the laws changed? Were you whipped and beaten half to death in thestreet or given to a bull to be bred? Are your scars on your back or on your stomach, hmm? Perhaps both, eh?’
He stops in front of me, and I don’t look away. Lesson number two was never to show him fear. It excites him and makes him more frenzied and unpredictable. Better the vicious fae I know.
‘I think I’d like to see for myself,’ he says, eyes not leaving mine. ‘After all, you are mine to … What’s it called these days?’ His lips curl upwards into a smile that makes my stomach churn. ‘Disciplineandreleaseas I see fit.’
Bile rises in my throat.
No. Varrik wouldn’t …
His hands are at the collar of my dress before I register what he’s doing, and he rips it in two with a violent wrench that has me almost crying out in fear.
Almost.
But I stay quiet. This will go faster and easier for me if I don’t fight. Instead, I consider his choice of words and what hedoesn’tsay. I’m not owned by him. Varrik may have given me to Grith for safekeeping, but I doubt he’ll allow him free reign over me even after all this time.
Varrik has plans and an endgame. I don’t know what either of them is, but I’m still important enough to be needed for them, or else he’d have written me off as lost long ago ... or killed me as soon as he saw me come out of that cave.
The tattered pieces of the dress fall to the floor, and Grith’s eyes dip, taking in my breasts.
‘My, my, we have grown up, haven’t we, Little Lia?’
His name for me makes my stomach revolt further, and I only barely keep whatever’s left in it down.
‘Varrik will be pleased.’ He grazes one of my nipples with his knuckle and grins when it hardens under his touch.
‘As responsive as always,’ he murmurs as if my nipple tightening means something other than the fact that this room is freezing cold.
I wish he’d get to the inevitable beating. I know he won’t rape me. He’ll save that first for another time. A special occasion if Varrik allows it.
‘I’d so enjoy you.’ He lets out a small sigh. ‘Alas, you have a different destiny than being my toy.’
I can’t help the tiny sigh of relief that’s released from me, and I’m glad that he doesn’t notice it.
He’s too busy staring at my chest. He pinches both my nipples between his fingers hard and laughs at the squeak of pain I can’t contain. But he lets go quickly, and while I’m still reeling from his painful touch, the first open-handed smack has me thudding into the wall behind me.
At least we’re back in the realms of predictability.
‘All this time ... did you think you’d been successful? Did you think I was dead?’ he growls. ‘Did you thinkVarrik was?’
He laughs loudly, and it echoes around the room as he hits me again, sending me to the hard grey floor.
‘As if you could, little human. You’re nothing compared to a fae, are you? Even with your powerful skill, once you’re bound, all you are is a pretty body. The rest of the Dark Realms have the right of it, I think. Labor and breeding are all a human female is good for.’
I say nothing, trying to retreat into my head where the pain doesn’t register so acutely. But after seven years as a menacing she-troll who was rarely even spoken to sharply, let alone beaten, I’m out of practice.
‘Where did they find you?’ he continues.
I wonder at his question in the back of my mind while I try to deal with the pain. Haven’t The Cunty Betrayers told the story of how we were all stuck in Alcana for years? Internally,I roll my eyes. Perhaps they’ll pretend they were searching the Wilds all this time and got lucky one day. I suppose it would be embarrassing for them if they revealed that they’d been trapped in a city and that I’d been under their noses for so long without them having an inkling I was there.
The vicious kick to my stomach sidelines my thoughts, and I let out a groan. The first real sound of pain I’ve given him since the beating started.
How he revels in it. He loves it as much as I remember. I can practically see his dick hardening in his breeches even though Varrik has clearly told him I’m not for him to use.
The darkness inside is practically clawing at my defenses. The need to let go is almost impossible not to give in to, but I hold on. I made a vow that I’d never use it. I broke it to save Grey, but I won’t again.
I can’t.
Even though I can feel it curling through my thoughts, making me want to retaliate.
