Page 102 of Given to the Fae
BRYN
It’s been days since I’ve seen Jak and Morgan. There’s just Locke out of the trio here now and the hours are marked only by meals, the sun, and the moon. Bere’s men come and go. They bring in slaves who cry. New ones. Young ones. I ignore them all. What can I do for them when I can do nothing for myself? I stay in the pen and I don’t look at them, awaiting my fate.
I feel Locke’s eyes on me all the time no matter how many others are near, but, for the first time in two days, Bere’s men are all gone and there are no other slaves in the pen with me. We’re the only two in the barn.
‘You sent them away,’ I say quietly, rubbing my cheek.
My face continues to hurt where Kings hit me hard for trying to speak to Jak when he was leaving. My eye’s still swollen from where I hit the wall from the force of it.
And Jak never even looked back at me even though he must have heard the strike and my wail of anguish.
At least a sword went through Kings’ boot right after.
‘Yes,’ Locke says quietly.
‘Because you’re taking me to the arena to be sold.’
‘Yes.’
I clench my eyes shut. ‘Was there ever really a deal?’
‘No,’ he replies, his tone dull and his face shuttered. ‘I just needed to tell Bere my version of what happened to Warrior before you could.’
‘I see. So, that’s why you’re telling me the truth now? Because it doesn’t matter anymore?’
‘Yes. Morgan and Jak are... Well, they’re gone. It’s just me.’
‘Why did you make them go?’
‘They weren’t needed here any longer.’
I move away from him without another word and hear him leave a moment later. I’m thankfully left alone because tears seep from my eyes however much I will them not to. They run down my cheeks and after a while I stop wiping them away.
At least I won’t last long once I’m sold this last time.
I rest my head on the cold stone wall. Day turns to night again. Bere’s men come and go. Someone throws some food into my pen, which I eat only because they’ll bother me if I don’t.
The next morning, two females are led into the paddock. I ignore them and their attempts to talk to me. They stop trying by midday.
Two more are brought not long after and their incessant low chatter when the guards are around annoys me, so I try not to listen.
I feel more and more uncomfortable as the day progresses and by the evening, my skin is hot and flushed, and I can’t sit still.
I realize with horror that this was how I felt in that cavern, and I huddle into myself, trying not to touch my own sensitive skin. I want to rip the course dress off, it feels so scratchy, and I long for the cool touch of Jak’s fingers when he helped me before.
But he’s not here.
I desperately search the barn, but there’s only one of the new guards I don’t know. I stand on wobbly legs and stagger to the trough in the other corner, splashing the cold water on me, trying to alleviate the heat.
‘What are you doing, slave?’
The guard is walking over and I’m terrified that I’m going to beg him to fuck me.
I don’t answer him.
I feel his ire and I know by his purposeful steps that he’s going to come into the paddock to make an example of me in front of the others so they all know not to trifle with Bere and his men.
The paddock opens, but before he’s done anything, a scythe on a hook falls and slices him across his back.
