Page 42 of Given to the Fae
‘Jak. Warrior. Go do a little hunting, will you? We need meat for tomorrow, and you’re more likely to get something now that the sun has set.
Jak looks a bit confused but then shrugs. Warrior’s already up, clearly excited by the prospect of making another creature suffer at his hand.
When they leave, Locke gives it a little while before he gets up and saunters over to me.
I can’t help but look up at him in fear.
Perhaps I will be beaten after all. Or perhaps it’s time for him to release me again.
Why does my body heat at the thought?
He sighs, sinking down on his haunches, looking grim.
‘Are you going to put her by the fire, or not?’ Morgan snarls from behind me and I jump, my head turning to find that he’s snuck up from the other side of the tree.
My mouth opens in surprise. Put me by the fire?
Locke looks irritated, but he unlocks the collar and sets me free.
‘This place isn’t like a town. If you run here, girl, you’ll be eaten by some Dark Realm creature, or sucked into a bog,’ he warns me darkly. ‘Stay close.’
I nod, wrapping my arms around myself as I start to shiver anew in the wind.
Morgan ushers me to the fire and sits down across it from me.
‘Why didn’t you tell us you were wet?’ Locke asks, sounding annoyed.
They’re angry at me because I didn't let them know I wascold? I shake my head and cast a look at Morgan. Why do they not understand? They’re flesh traders...aren’t they?
‘I’m a slave,’ I say slowly, as if they’re simple.
Both stare at me like I’m speaking in tongues.
‘Being cold doesn’t matter. Being warm doesn’t matter. Being hungry doesn’t matter,’ I say with a shrug. ‘If it isn’t going to kill me, it doesn’t matter. Not to masters.’
Morgan gives Locke a look I don’t understand.
‘So, Warrior simply rode with you all day and didn’t notice your shivering?’
I shrug. ‘He likely noticed, but he was wrapped in his oilskin. I wasn’t making him cold and wet, so why would he care? Why wouldyou?’
I sigh, trying to explain when they look at me as if I’m the oddity. ‘Does a horse or a cow tell you it’s cold? Would you care if it was so long as it wasn’t going to die and lose your coin?’
‘No,’ Locke says quietly.
‘It’s the same.’
Again a look passes between them, and Morgan looks frustrated.
‘Don’t do anything. It isn’t your place,’ Locke says cryptically to Morgan.
The giant’s eyes narrow. ‘Then whose is it?’
Locke doesn’t answer him. Instead, he gives me an assessing look. ‘I’ll give you a blanket and let you sleep by the fire.’
‘Thank you, my lord.’
‘Tomorrow, you ride with Jak, not Warrior.’
