4. AURORA #2
My face goes hot. Okay, so the girl-power thing was a massive, embarrassing failure. Lesson learned. Shut up and stay in the cage, Aurora.
“That’ll do. Get out of here,” Taliesin grunts.
“Fine.” Layla turns on her heel and marches out.
“She’s lovely. Your people clearly adore you,” I snark, though I’m struggling to keep my eyes off the tray. The smell of the food is actually making my mouth water, and my stomach lets out a loud, traitorous rumble that fills the silence.
Kill me now.
Taliesin picks up the tray, his face tightening and his hand clutching his side as he moves. He places it on the floor in front of the bars. “There you go, Princess. A meal fit for royalty.”
He straightens up with a groan. His whole right flank is black with bruising.
Not my problem. He’s the one who chose to jump into a fight. I didn’t ask him to.
And there is absolutely zero reason for my own chest to feel tight when I see him wincing.
I grab the plastic mug first, gulping down the lukewarm coffee before snatching the sandwich through the bars. Peanut butter and jelly.
As Taliesin eats his food, he leans back against the small table and crosses his arms. The movement makes him wince, but he hides it quickly. “Time to go over the Digger ground rules, Princess. I’m not fighting another German Hulk just because you can’t keep your mouth shut.”
“Scared?” I ask, because apparently, I have a death wish and can’t stop baiting him.
He just rolls his eyes, the brief flash of amusement dying out and being replaced by a flat, hard stare that makes me want to shrink into the corner.
“Rule number one: you are under my protection, which means you’re an extension of me.
But if you disrespect the other Diggers, they’re going to want blood.
And I’ll be the one who has to hand it to them.
Rule number two: Stay at the back of your cage when I’m not here.
However tightly I run this ship, there’s always going to be some asshole who wants to stick a shiv in your perky Elite tits, just to see you bleed. ”
The stale bread of my sandwich sticks to the roof of my mouth. I force it down with the last of the lukewarm coffee. “So, what you’re saying is you don’t actually have control over your little gang.”
“My ‘little gang,’ as you put it, has lived its whole life under the designer heels of women like you. We’re the dregs of society even down here in the sub-levels.” Taliesin’s voice turns colder. “The Guild has the upper levels; light, space, and actual education. We get to unclog their toilets.”
A horrified realization hits me, and my gaze darts to the rust-stained metal monstrosity in the corner of my cage.
“Am I supposed to use… that… in front of you?” My voice sounds way more pathetic than I intended.
“I’ll get you a sheet to hang,” he replies through a mouthful of his own sandwich.
A sheet? It’s better than nothing, but the thought of it makes my skin crawl.
“And if you behave,” he adds, leaning in just enough that I can get a tiny whiff of that pine scent again, “I’ll let you use the actual toilet block once a day. I don’t particularly want my house stinking of your high-class shit.”
“Delightful,” I snap, wrapping my Drakeward ice around me like a blanket. “I’ll be sure to put it in my five-star review of this hellhole.”
“Yeah, yeah. Listen, Princess, this is how the system works,” he says, sounding like I’m boring him.
Fucker. “The Guild has to play nice because my people run the plumbing, the incinerators, and the air filtration. It’s hot and dirty as hell down here, but it gives us leverage—we control their basic needs. ”
I tilt my head, giving him my best unimpressed stare. “Hmm. Sounds like you’re trying to put lipstick on a pig.”
He stands and moves toward the bars. We’re only a couple of feet apart. This close I can see the golden-bronze flecks in his rapidly narrowing eyes. “Rule number three: keep that smart mouth shut. Stay quiet, stay put, and do exactly what I tell you.”
As he stares me down I lift my chin. “I don’t really have an option about the staying put part, do I, asshole?” Catching flies with honey has never been my MO, and being locked in a dog pen doesn’t exactly improve my mood. But I need him, for now.
“Fine,” I say, leaning back into the shadows and crossing my arms over my chest. I make sure to look like he’s the one being boring now. “Rules temporarily accepted. But don’t get used to it.”
He lets out a soft, mocking sneer. “Like you had a choice, Princess.”
Gods. If he were within reach, I’d kick him right in the balls and laugh while he crumpled. It would be the perfect finale for the last twenty-four hours.
“And I want a pillow,” I yell at him.
Taliesin scoffs, rolling his eyes as if I’m the most demanding person he’s ever met. He reaches down and scoops up the coffee-soaked, smelly gray jumpsuit Layla brought in earlier. With a flick of his wrist, he tosses the damp bundle through the bars. The stinking fabric hits me right in the face.
“Pillows are for people who earn them,” he grunts. “Get changed. You’re a Digger now. Welcome to the family and all that bullshit.”