Page 10 of Owned By the Fae
I strive for my expression to remain passive in the face of his smirk, but I’m confused. Never? Will he not want the Harbinger to kill for him again?
He looks down at my dress and quirks a brow. ‘Grith told me he was sure you’d been enslaved out there in the Wilds. Were you?’ He tips my head up to stare into my eyes. ‘Did they hurt you, Thalia?’ he asks softly.
Does he hope they did? I can’t tell.
‘No,’ I say quietly. ‘I lived a quiet life in disguise. No one even knew I was human.’
He chuckles and pats my head in mock fondness, looking almost proud of me for a moment before his countenance darkens.
‘As glad as I am to have you back, my darling, you did try to kill me,’ he says, stepping back. ‘You destroyed part of my keep and half the camp in your escape. My plans were delayed by years. Important plans, Thalia. An example needs to be set. Grith always told me I was too lenient on you, and I see now that he was right.’
He goes back to his desk and sits down. ‘It’s become clear to me that you’re much too intractable. I’ll be remedying that first and foremost. Afterward, we’ll see where we are, and I’ll decide who I’m going to pair you with.’
I blink at him. Pair me with? Grith told me he was waiting for Varrik to let him … My head swims.
Grith.
‘Don’t give me to him.’ The words are coming out of my mouth before I realize, pleading with Varrik not to let his cruel friend have me toplow. ‘He’ll?—’
‘Of course you aren’t for Grith,’ Varrik interrupts, looking surprised, but it’s telling that Varrik knows who I mean without me having to say his name.
‘Hisskill with a swordisn’t what I’m looking for in the next generation of my fold,’ Varrik continues with a condescending chuckle. ‘I’ll decide on the right one when I’m ready. But it wouldn’t be a punishment if you liked it, child. As I said, an example needs to be set. I only hope the young you bear will be less spirited than you are. Still, there’s time to get it right. You should be able to be bred for a while yet.’
I resist the urge to clutch at his lavish clothes, to fall to my knees, to vow to him that I’ll do whatever he wants if he’ll just promise not to dothis.
‘Take her to the cell.’
The words register, and my heart stutters as my blood runs cold. I stumble back.
No! Not down there!
I begin to back away, my head shaking. Varrik looks unruffled, turning away to go back into the other room to his desk. He sits down to continue writing as if I’m not even there.
Strong hands grab me, and I panic, the darkness too close to the surface. I lash out, using it for the second time in as many weeks. I’m too scared. I can’t help it. All the promises I’ve made to myself go out the window as I feel it rise up to kill everyone in this room and the hallway beyond.
But nothing happens. No power. No death. Nothing. The Harbinger’s wings really have been clipped under the binding this time. My stomach twists at the realization.
As I’m dragged away, trying desperately to make it work, I realize I can’t feel the Harbinger anymore at all. The guard who has me actually chuckles as we leave Varrik’s rooms.
‘I thought this one was meant to be strong.’
I’m pushed hard, and I trip, hitting the stone floor hard.
They grab me again and haul me to my feet. My dress rips as I’m flung ahead of them toward the door that haunts my darkest nightmares. The black stairwell in front of me goes down in a spiral into the bowels of the keep.
I struggle, clawing at the walls ineffectually as they try to get me over the threshold.
He put me down here for five days once, and I barely survived. What if he leaves me in the cell for longer this time?
I scream as they pull me into the dark, writhing and clawing with everything in me until, finally, one of them hits me hard over the back of the head, and my body goes limp.
I’m barely conscious as I’m carried down the rest of the way. The light recedes until there’s none and I know with a grim certainty that my chances of ever seeing it again just decreased to zero.
Grey
The next morning, Dane, Kal, and I find ourselves in our first lesson back at the keep. The room is exactly how I remember it, from the sunlight shining through the gleaming windows to the rows of dark wooden desks facing the slate board; its surface lightly dusted with chalk, bearing the faint outlines of today's lesson. The scent mingles with the mustiness of old books and new parchment which isn't altogether unpleasant. The otherstudents look at us curiously, which isn’t unexpected as they’re all quite a bit younger than us. Though there are none under twelve winters, I notice.
When I was first brought here, there were orphaned faelings of all ages with more appearing all the time. Varrik definitely has many more Skilled living in his fold than he did when we left, but judging from the ages, it looks as if there haven’t been many new additions saved from the Dark Realms in recent years.
