Page 60 of Given to the Fae
‘I...can’t reach the soap,’ she says.
I turn to face her, not looking at anywhere lower than her face, and I grab the nearby pot filled with a paste. As I hand it to her, her fingers brush mine.
She looks up at me. ‘Warrior said... He said that Locke knew what was happening, where he’d brought me and why.’
I shake my head. ‘That’s not true. When we woke, you and he were gone. We didn’t know where the cunt had taken you.’
‘Then how did you know where I was?’
I glance at the door. ‘Locke. He’s a?—’
‘A mage. Yes, I know. He’s used his power on me.’
I nod, my lips thinning. ‘Well, he has some spell he can put on a person. It makes it so he can always find them. He had one on Warrior, thank the gods.’
She nods and begins to wash. I look away, sitting on the bed as she scrubs at herself. I notice the discarded dress on the floor, and my lip curls at it. I don’t want to see her in that thing. I don’t want it anywhere near her.
I grab it and thrust it under the bed where it can’t be seen any longer, and then I unlace my pack and delve into it, pulling out one of my white, long-sleeved undershirts. I scrutinize it and decide it will be long enough to protect her modesty. There’s certainly more to it than the rags she was wearing when she was in The Barrack.
I glance at her. She’s still scrubbing her skin, a look of focus on her face. Her flesh is red raw.
I go to her without thinking, and I take the rough sponge from her hand. She looks up at me and the hopelessness I see in her eyes devastates me.
‘Here.’
I take the jug from the side and rinse the soap from her. Then, I pick up a bath sheet, made for one as large as I. She stands and I wrap her in it, picking her out of the bath easily, and setting her down beside the bed. I dry her and turn as I hold the shirt out.
‘Where’s my dress?’ she asks in a small voice.
‘We’ll get you something else to wear. Until then, put this on.’
She takes it after a moment and puts it over her head. When I turn around, I’m not prepared for how seeing her in my clothes makes me feel, and what it does to me.
I snarl at myself internally. After what happened to her this morning, I shouldn’t be feeling anything likethat. It isn’t right.
I urge her to kneel on the bed with her back to me, which she does without question. And it occurs to me that she’d never have turned her back voluntarily on Warrior, which makes me feel a little better about being in here with her. She doesn’t think of me as she did him, and she doesn’t seem fearful of me, or uncomfortable.
I dry her hair gently with the sheet, and then I get my comb. I get the tangles out of her hair while it’s wet and I plait it loosely. When I peek up at her, our eyes meet in the reflection of the looking glass.
She has an odd expression on her face, as if she’s trying to decide something.
‘What is it?’ I ask.
‘I... Why are you so kind to me?’
I don’t say anything, not sure what Locke will decide we can reveal to her. Perhaps he’ll be adamant that we tell her nothing at all. I hope not, though. It’s becoming more and moreimportant to me that she knows I’m not one of these cruel masters, nor a flesh merchant.
‘What will your price be, I wonder,’ she mutters almost to herself, and then looks away with a pained expression that I wish I could banish from her countenance forever.
Still, I don’t answer. What promises can I make to her? None. And why would she believe me? I didn’t even keep her safe when I said I would.
‘Come,’ I say, holding out my hand to her.
She takes it and I help her off the bed, seeing that my shirt comes almost to her knees. Gods, she’s tiny compared to me. I try not to like the sight.
In the main room, both Locke and Jak are drinking wine. I give Jak a look, but he just shakes his head.
‘After this morning...’ he mutters and leaves it at that.
