Page 63 of Owned By the Fae
I hold out my hand, but I give him a questioning look. ‘But Varrik …’
‘I’ve told him I seeded you.’ His eyes darken, and his jaw tightens. ‘And he’s ordered me to ensure I do at least twice a day until you’re with child or the time he’s allotted runs out.’
I look away. I’d naively thought it would be done once, and then they’d wait and see, but I should have known it wouldn’t be so easy.
‘I’m sorry,’ I say, and his brow furrows.
‘What for?’
‘Because it’s me. Because … Fiana.’
He lets out a long breath. ‘Orders are orders. Fiana will understand.’
Kallum scoffs and tries to cover it with a cough, earning him a scowl from Dane.
‘I will bring you the tea in the mornings. You will drink it.’
I nod, agreeing wholeheartedly but also a bit confused. ‘I thought you’d do what he told you,’ I say quietly. ‘Orders are orders?’
‘Yes, well. It turns out I draw the line at breeding an unwilling female and having my get used as a fae lord’s weapon.’
‘Glad you’ve found one you won’t cross,’ I say dryly, drinking the bitter tea down in one and then handing him the bottle.
I see the ghost of a smile as he takes it, his fingers grazing mine and making me very aware that he’ll be doing what he did earlier to me again later today.
‘What happens to me when I don’t get bred by you within the allotted time, though, and Varrik has me staked in the hall for all the males to use?’
Kallum sits at the table hard. ‘What?’ he growls.
‘To increase the chances of success. Are you surprised that there wouldn’t be a sting in the tail of his edict?’ I regard Kal with a sad smile. ‘If I’m not with child by the next moon, he’s already said that that’s what he’ll do. A punishment for me for not being bred in a timely fashion, and, at the same time, he’s likely to get what he wants after I’ve been mounted a few dozen times.’
I look away, anger rising in me at the injustice. At my vulnerability. I promised myself that I’d never allow him to make me feel this way again, but like all my vows, it’s been broken and stamped into dust underfoot.
‘Why does he want this?’ Kallum asks. ‘You’re his ultimate weapon. How much use will you be growing round with child? You won’t be able to keep going through the Breach.’
At my and Dane’s blank looks, he rolls his eyes. ‘Didn’t you read all of Healer’s Reyn’s little book in Rondorai? Pregnanthumans usually lose the babe if they travel the rings more than once during pregnancy.’
‘He doesn’t want me to kill,’ I say, ‘At least, not on the same scale as he used to. He says I’m too intractable.’ I feel my body tensing in fury. ‘He’s been … unable to make more of me his way, so this is his next experiment. He thinks a child borne of me will have the power I do.’ I stare at the table. ‘If it does, he’ll use me as a broodmare to sire as many as he can to add to his army.’
Dane shakes his head. ‘What nonsense,’ he laughs, and my eyes narrow.
I’d forgotten he can’t hear a bad word spoken about his idol. Not even now. I idly wonder what it would take to break the spell. Varrik slitting Fiana’s throat, perhaps.
Fingers crossed.
‘This plan would take years. He’ll be too old to enjoy the fruits of his labor.’
I frown at him and then at Kal. They both look like they’re in agreement with each other as if this makes sense. Could it be possible that neither of them knows the other truth about Varrik? Surely not. It’s the worst-kept secret in the keep!
‘How old do you think Varrik is?’ I ask, watching them closely.
They glance at each other. ‘He looks between forty and fifty years,’ Dane guesses, and Kal nods.
I shake my head. ‘He’s older than that,’ I mutter, wondering how they haven’t heard.
But I suppose until recently, they’d only seen Varrik from afar. They’d never really spent time in the keep. They hadn’t been inside Varrik’s inner circle. They might have heard the odd rumor, but not the stories that were considered common knowledge within these walls.
‘Older?’ Dane asks, pouring himself a drink of water. ‘How much older? What do you mean?’
