Page 35 of Owned By the Fae
I'm taken along the corridors, but instead of the study near the great hall as usual, I'm brought to Varrik’s smaller office that’s close to his bed chamber. It’s a far more intimate settingthat puts me on edge because the fae lord is at his worst behind closed doors. There's a desk in front of one wall, and the stone hearth has a fire burning in it.
I step closer to it, warming my shivering body.
I’m so busy basking in the heat of the room that, at first, I don’t notice that there's a grey orc in the middle of the floor on his knees in chains. His once fine clothes are marred with rips and dirt, and his hair is matted. The many earrings his kind wear seem to have been ripped from his lobes, leaving them ragged and bloody. He looks half dead already, but I know that he couldn’t have been at the keep long because I didn't see him in the dungeon with me.
Varrik is sat behind his desk, scribbling on parchment as if he’s too busy to tear himself away even for an execution.
I already know that’s what I’m here for. I belatedly see that Ryon is in the corner playing with some toys, ignoring the adults in the room completely. He looks well, and I take heart that Varrik isn’t making him suffer. But it’s up to me to make sure it stays that way.
I glance at the prisoner. Varrik is going to make me kill him. I know it. This is a test to check that I can stillperformfor him. It’s also to see if I'll be a good little Harbinger and do as I’m told.
‘Ah, Lia,’ he says jovially as if I'm not here to kill for him to save a boy from being tortured in front of me.
‘This orc is our enemy,’ he begins.
I almost roll my eyes at him. Does he think I'm that stupid? It's been a long time since I took anything he says at face value.
‘Let me guess,’ I say before I can think the better of it. ‘He’s a slaver who hates humans. He eats babes for dinner and picks his teeth with their bones while he defiles their mothers.’
Varrik raises a brow. ‘Actually, he reneged on a business deal and sold something I’d already paid him for to a higher bidder,’he drawls, his candor surprising me. ‘But take your pick, my dear. Whatever helps you to get it done.’
His eyes flick to the boy in case I missed him. ‘But the result better be the same no matter what you tell yourself, little human.’
I stand silently behind the orc who's on his knees with his head bent. He’s not even fighting. Can I really just kill him for no reason at all?
‘A problem?’ Varrik asks when he notes the hesitation in my countenance. His eyes narrow. ‘Ryon, come here.’
I flinch. ‘No.’
‘Then you’ll do your job, Thalia.’
I nod jerkily and feel the weight of the binding lift off me. I can breathe properly for the first time in days. I know that it's not really gone. It’s only hovering above me. It'll snap back down if I don't do what he wants … and at the very moment I have finished what he brought me here to do.
I walk around the room slowly, letting the Harbinger revel in its temporary freedom. Varrik watches me with a piercing gaze. He knows that he has to keep a very close eye on me, or it will try and kill him as well, though I have no doubt he’s made himself as safe as possible. He’s probably behind a protective conjure of some sort knowing him. I stare down at the prisoner, whose tired black eyes regard me with resigned fear.
I glance at the little boy, who's still not paying attention to anything else in the room, and then at Varrik, who gives me an impatient tut and then rolls his eyes.
‘Don’t worry. The boy can't see or hear anything that's happening. You won’t destroy his little mind.’
I scoff. This faeling will never have any idea of the lengths Varrik would have gone to to make this happen, to force me to do what he wants. If Varrik endures, little Ryon will grow up in the fold. He’ll love the fae lord with all his heart, just like all theothers, never realizing that Varrik doesn’t care about anyone but himself.
‘You're his Harbinger,’ the orc says.
I turn my attention back to him and nod.
He snorts softly. ‘I will be missed, you know,’ he rasps, looking at Varrik. ‘Whatever you think you’re going to achieve by killing me, you won’t. The box is already gone, and you’ll never find it.’ He grins. ‘So fuck you, you fae cunt.’
Varrik gives an uncharacteristic smirk. ‘I already had one of my agents locate it,’ he sneers. ‘You lose.’
He waves a finger at me.
‘I'm sorry,’ I whisper, and I let go.
The Harbinger is filled with elation, and so am I. The orc falls to the floor. It’s over almost too fast, but its disappointment swiftly gives way to glee. I vaguely hear two other thuds, and my eyes immediately cut to Varrik and the boy, but they’re still standing.
I turn on my heel. The two guards who brought me here are dead by the wall, and I feel the Harbinger’s satisfaction that it was able to take at least a little revenge at the same time. The binding crashes back over me, making me crumple to my knees.
‘What was that?’ Varrik snarls.
