Page 2 of Given to the Fae
‘What would you have me do, my lord?’ I demure.
‘I would have you stand there by the wall and wait with your back toward your master. You’re getting a whipping, girl.’
My lips curve into a slight sneer I can’t quite repress. This riddled, oafish troll thinks he’smymaster just because Ogdan gave him work?
Ha!
I’m not stupid enough to scoff aloud, but I almost hope he does get the chance to throw a whip around. His comeuppance will be well deserved and it’ll be more than the simple hangnail or toe scrape he’ll get for pulling my hair. The only problem, though, is that Ogdan will be upset that his new employee is injured, and he’ll definitely take it out on one of the others.
My thoughts muddle as the troll turns me forcefully and pushes me to the wall hard enough for my forehead to bang against the wood with a loud knock. I wince and, from the corner of my eye, I see him take a horsewhip from the hook on the outside of the second stall.
I let out a slow breath as my eyes turn toward the door again just in time to feel the burning bite of the whip. My back arches and I hiss as my fingers scratch at the wall. But I don’t scream.
‘What the fuck are you DOING?’
There’s a scuffle behind me and I turn to see one of the others, Ogdan’s right hand, an orc named Sio, rip the whip out of the troll’s hand and throw it at his head.
‘Did no one warn you?’
The troll splutters. ‘I was told to be harsh with them! I was giving this one a much-deserved punishment! What areyoudoing?’
Sio’s hand runs through his greasy, dark blue hair. ‘I’m likely saving your life, you halfwit!’
He points at the troll, jabbing him in his chest hard. ‘I don’t do it for you! There are few enough of us on this fucking rock as it is. We lose another and the slaves will begin plotting escapes because they know we won’t be able to watch them all at once.’
The troll stares down at the finger that’s embedded in his fatty chest and shakes his head uncomprehendingly.
‘This one is off-limits,’ Sio growls. ‘Don’t touch her. Don’t speak to her. Don’t even look at her.’
‘Why not? She’s just some human female. No different from the others.
Sio glances at me and scoffs at the troll. ‘Nay. This oneisdifferent. She’s Kismet. Fate Touched.’
The troll looks at Sio for a moment and then throws back his head with a thundering roar of laughter.
‘You joke with me because I am new,’ he guffaws, ‘but I’m not so wet behind the ears as that!’
‘You’d do well to heed me.’ Sio lets out a long breath. ‘I don’t joke. If you caused the female pain, you’ll find out soon enough that I speak the truth.’
‘Enough!’ the troll laughs. ‘A human is a human. How can she be Fate Touched? Her kind are barely evolved enough to have dragged themselves up from the mud of creation.’
Sio grunts. ‘Two bulls, a human crone, and countless men in Ogdan’s ranks would disagree, though only a handful remain here to tell their tales.’
‘I put a gouge in her back,’ the troll announces, throwing his arms in the air and turning in a slow circle. ‘So where is my punishment, then?’ He makes a sound of derision and turns away to leave the barn. ‘I have humans to keep in line. That’s the job I was hired for. I don’t have time for this?—’
The door of the next stall flies off its hinges, cutting off the troll’s words. It hits him so hard that he’s half thrown across the stable. He lands in a heap on the floor and the massive black horse that kicked it down bursts out, rearing over him while he cowers, and striking him with his hooves in the middle of his bulbous stomach.
The troll screams and the horse bolts through the door that Sio left open, leaving the fat cunt rolling around on the floor, clutching his body while he moans in pain.
I also see that he’s pissed himself. My master indeed. The fleas on him have a higher claim.
Sio closes his eyes and sighs. ‘Fucking fool.’
He glances over at me. ‘Ogdan isn’t going to like this.’
‘I tried to stop him,’ I whisper, my eyes turning genuinely pleading as I keep my eyes on the orc’s black boots. ‘I promise you I did. Please tell him that.’
‘Fuck!’ Sio mutters, ignoring my plea. ‘He’ll be in the infirmary for ages. Why did no one tell him about you?’ He lets out a sound of frustration. ‘Go. Tell the healer about this idiot and then go to Ogdan’s and wait for me there.’
