Page 45 of Owned By the Fae
She cries out, clearly in pain, an arm hugging her middle and agony evident on her features.
‘What the fuck?’ I snarl, easing her back down slowly. Her hand in mine goes slack as she slips back into unconsciousness.
I saw her body. There's nothing there. My eyes widen.
‘No …’ I mutter disbelievingly.
I wrack my brain for the conjure to reveal truth hidden by magick, muttering the words with a flick of my wrist as soon as I remember them.
I step away from her, my mouth falling open as I finally see what’s real. One of her eyes is swollen shut. There are burns down her arms, her skin covered in injuries, old and new. I cover my mouth with my hand, almost not able to comprehend what I'm seeing. My stomach lurches.
‘Who did this?’ I snarl, angry beyond measure, but her eyes remain closed.
I pull in a deep breath as I take hold of the edges of the bath sheet. I don’t want to look, but I need to. I open it, and I have to look away for a moment to recover before my eyes can return to her to take it in. I can see barely an inch of untouched pink skin. The rest of her is marred with bruises, scrapes, more burns, and whip marks. She’s been beaten more than once. It looks like a healer has been at her, but the work is quick and shoddy.
Unsanctioned.
I know some healing conjures, but nowhere near enough to fix this. I catalogue it all though it pains me to. If it happened inthe keep, it means Varrik knows about it, so it stands to reason he has ensured that she is not healed.
This is her punishment.
I sit down hard in the chair at the realization.
What he's done to her is a far cry from what I had assumed would happen. I'd thought perhaps some missed meals, that she’d be locked in a room, forced to sleep on the floor. Something to cause a bit of discomfort. But not this. I'd never have thought Varrik would ...
It was easy to call for him when I realized we were so close, that we’d somehow been brought all the way to the fourth circle in one trip. My loyalty is to him, but I also truly thought she’d be safer here than out in the Wilds.
My thoughts begin to unravel, and I push them away. Now's not the time.
What am I going to do with her? The thought of taking her back now for Varrik to keep torturing her makes my stomach twist.
I take her hand in mine. ‘I'm sorry,’ I whisper. ‘I didn't know.’
I hear a noise from behind me, and I turn to find Kal staring at me and at her, his fury impossible to miss.
‘You should be at the arena,’ I mutter without malice. A part of me is glad one of the others is back after all.
‘If I was, would I have found her here later, or would you have taken her back to the keep before Grey and I ever knew she was here?’
I don’t answer him, and I hear his sharp intake of breath as he steps closer, taking in her injuries. He moves the sheet as well and I see his jaw clench.
‘Fucking Varrik!’
He turns on me. ‘You knew he would do this,’ he accuses.
I shake my head. ‘No. I never thought … when I called for him … I never thought he'd do this. I knew he was angry about thekeep, but I thought … he values the Harbinger. I didn't think he'd hurt her. Not like this.’
‘What are we going to do with her? We can't give her back to him.’
I close my eyes and shake my head. ‘We can't keep her here. We can't leave, and where could we hide her from him in the fold?’
‘Weneedto hide her!’ he says loudly.
I ward the room for sound. ‘Where?!’ I shout. ‘Where could we possibly conceal her here? Where would he not find her?’
Kal doesn’t have an answer.
I pace the room.
