Chapter 3
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Survive.
The fae male who brought me to this shining city is unconscious.
I leave him half on the bed, his booted feet dangling over the side and resting toe-first on the worn floorboards, as I peruse the room without giving him much more thought.
There’s not much here besides the bed, a small table, and a chair where I find some spare clothes in a neat pile that look like they’re probably his.
There’s a wooden trunk at the foot of the bed as well, but I leave it for now.
I have a vague recollection of this place as I look around. I don’t like that I can’t remember it properly. What happened to me here?
The fae who seems to know me somehow wanted to get here quite badly, and I hope that’s because it’s safe.
I think it must have been warded, since he’s clearly a magick-wielder of some kind, so I hope there are other magicks in place to keep our presence here a secret too. Surely he has safety measures!
I find nothing to eat or drink in the room, not even in the trunk when I do quickly rifle through it, so I’m glad I was able to bring some food with me from the overladen table after I killed that other fae who was trying to make me go with him.
He knew what I am, but I save that thought for after I’ve eaten.
I deserve that much. My body aches from the blows Maldred got in, and the apex of my thighs hurts, too, where he dug his fingers into me to the laughter and the mocking of the audience.
My jaw clenches and I try not to think about it, or how much worse that could have gone.
At least the cunts are dead.
I survived. That’s what’s most important.
I sit in the small chair next to the table in the corner and dig out the food from the bag, my stomach growling in anticipation of the first full meal that isn’t scraps that I’ve had in…a long time, I think.
I eat every single crumb, even turning the bag inside out to make sure.
Afterwards, I wonder if I should have saved some for the fae that brought me here, but I discount it. He has coin and he can travel the city safely when he wakes. He can get his own fucking supper.
I look around the room again, hoping for some sealed container of something to drink that I might have missed, but there’s nothing. I’ll need to wait for the fae to wake.
What if he doesn’t?
What if the prick is dying? How will I get to the Light Realm then?
Survive.
With a sound of annoyance, I stand and go to the bed. With some difficulty, I get the male turned over onto his back and take stock of him.
He’s dirty and unkempt, much as I was a few hours ago, I suppose.
I note that he’s alive and his breathing is steady.
He’s badly beaten, though, with one eye swollen and mostly closed and various bruises over his body from what little I can see of it.
He has no tunic, only a blood-stained gray shirt that’s half tucked into his trousers and a belt that I saw him steal off the other fae in the room—Bere, the one who seemed to own me though I don’t remember him buying me from The Barrack.
I frown at the holes in my memories, wondering what other important things I’ve forgotten, and how, but my head begins to hurt, so I stop trying to recall.
Instead I think of my escape. This fae said the one I drove a knife into in the pits would come back.
I don’t see how. I’m sure I killed him. That blade I grabbed out of its sheath at his waist went through him like a spade into steaming horseshit.
I’m quite proud of how fast I moved. Perhaps my training in the pits will be useful for my survival.
I didn’t know the fae I killed, but there was a certain satisfaction in watching him go down. Almost more than when I kicked Maldred’s knee out from under him. I grin to myself. Twice. And then the cunt got his just desserts from Fate.
My head begins to pulse and I hold it in my hands.
What have you forgotten?
I let out a harsh breath, standing and pacing the room to dispel the thoughts that seem to not be my own.
Not now!
I need to survive, which means I need my wits. I’m still in the Dark Realms and I can’t trust this fae any more than I would Ogdan or Sio, despite his vow to help me get to the Light.
But perhaps I don’t need him as much as he’d have me believe.
Eyes narrowing as I look down at him, my fingers go to his belt, the one he made sure to steal from Bere. I unbuckle it and draw it off him slowly, taking it back to the table where I go through each pouch, pocket, and purse systematically.
I find a small leather bag of gold bits, some everyday objects like gambling dice, twine, and a yellow bracelet made from some kind of cloudy crystal. It’s smooth and delicate, circular and smooth.
I’ve seen it before, haven’t I?
I stare at it, my mind trying to get somewhere. But it’s as if my memories are steppingstones in a turbulent sea and I’ve reached the end of the line.
Letting out an annoyed and weary sigh, I put my findings back in the pouches on the belt.
Should I try to put it back on the unconscious fae so that he doesn’t know I went through his things?
He might be angry if he knows. He might work some conjure on me, or beat me.
Even with Fate’s penalty, I’ll still be worse off.
I get up and, working my hands under the giant oaf, I slip the belt back around him and buckle it together. When I turn back to the table, I realize I’ve forgotten to put the yellow bracelet back.
What does the fae need this for anyway?
Survive.
I look over at him. He didn’t have a chance to go through the pouches once he took it off that other fae. He doesn’t know it was in there. It could be mine.
I pick it up and examine it. I might be able to sell it in the Light Realm. Putting it on my wrist, I find that the sleeves of the dress I’m wearing hide it nicely, or I can always tie it to the laces of the bodice and hide it beneath next to my skin. He need not know it even exists.
I walk to the casement and peek out at the small yard below. There’s a well and I wonder if I can chance going out there for water. I haven’t seen any other human slaves since we got here, bar a couple of elderly males. I don’t want to be stolen while this prick is dead to the world.
I turn away and happen to see myself in the small looking glass on the wall. I freeze, staring at the fae female in front of me, not understanding at first what I’m looking at, the dark hair and luminous violet eyes that I know they hide under their glamours.
When I move, she moves. She looks like me in many ways. But she is clearly a fae.
What is happening?
I peer down at the bracelet that’s currently around my wrist with a frown, and I slip it off. At once, I change, appearing like myself again.
My eyes widen. With this, I could be free. I could go anywhere. Do anything.
But if I was discovered pretending to be one of them, the punishment would be swift and awful. They’d make a spectacle of me, the kind that would carry tales through the human slaves to every Circle. I’d suffer much before the end.
I swallow hard, too scared of being caught to chance it.
But I could use it here. Now. Just for a bit. And keep it with me in case I have need of it should this fae try to swindle me, or not live up to his vow to take me to the Light Realm.
Something in me aches for it, some phantom sensation…as if I’ve tasted freedom before though I know that isn’t so.
It changes my appearance but not my clothes, I notice, my eyes falling on the trunk.
The clothes in it will be too big, but so long as they don’t mark me a slave, it doesn’t matter how they fit.
I divest myself of the old slave’s dress and open the trunk, finding the smallest of the clothes to be a set of black trousers and a matching shirt, tunic, and even boots that fit me so well I’d have said they were made for me.
But that’s impossible. Why would this fae have clothes for a slave girl?
They must be for some fae female he knows well.
Some odd sensation pools in my stomach, as if I don’t like the idea of him being with another, but I give myself a shake and a stern look in the mirror as a human to remind myself that slaves falling for masters never works out well for the slave.
Besides, I barely know him. I have no business feeling anything for him at all.
I put on the clothes, and even comb the tangles from my matted hair, though it takes a good while. I plait it as best I can and tie off the end before I grab the water jug from the table and leave the room.
Outside, on the high platform at the top of the wooden steps, I hesitate. What if someone can see through the bracelet’s magick? What if I’m discovered?
I breathe through the fear. Fear will not help me to survive. I go down the steps gingerly, and approach the well with caution.
But there’s no one around. The yard is deserted at least for now.
I drop the bucket down and hear a soft plop before I draw it up with the rope attached. I slosh the water into the jug before drinking deeply from the vessel. It’s clean and cold. Once I’m sated, I fill the jug up again right to the brim and take it with me to the room, careful not to spill any.
Back in the fae prick’s little bower, I wait for a few minutes, wondering when he will wake. The longer we remain here, the more likely it is that I will be caught. He will be killed for slave theft, and then I'll be worse off than I was in the pits.
Perhaps I should have left some of the food for him. The faster he recovers, the more quickly I’ll get what I want. I could go out in my disguise…buy a few things…
Survive.
I don’t second guess myself any longer. Instead, I grab the pouch of gold bits from his belt and pour some into my hand.