Chapter 8
Inej was plastered against the door, her ear to the wood, listening, and though she could hear Manu and Jalall talking, she couldn’t make out any of the words. She sighed and gave up. They were talking about her. She was sure of it. But what was being said was harder to determine.
The vial of poison lay under the mattress where she had left it.
It was the first thing she had rushed to find upon entering.
Thankfully, it hadn’t been discovered when the linens were changed.
That didn’t help her current situation, though.
Sure, she had the poison, but what good did it do if they sent her away and she was unable to use it?
She would be escorted out of the city in a few hours. She had nowhere to go. While she could return to Belanore or even travel to Rannora, she had come to rid Shecrish of Manu. She had to remain. Somehow, someway.
She walked to the bed and sat on the edge.
Manu was nothing like she had pictured. The fact that he, as well as Jalall, had been kind took her aback.
They kidnapped humans from all over the plateau.
It stood to reason they would bring her to their home under the guise of helping her, but to send her on her way afterward? That didn’t make sense.
Unless…this wasn’t Manu’s base of operations.
Perhaps no one here knew about his duplicity.
Maybe he could maintain the illusion of a benevolent leader to his people while he destroyed lives elsewhere.
He didn’t intend to send her away. He would pretend to take her, but intended to do with her as he had done with Krata and however many others he had abducted.
If that happened, she would never get close enough to kill him—at least not with the poison.
She had no weapons, and the chances of her finding one outside the mountain were unlikely.
That meant she needed to remain where she was.
But how? Being so close to someone who had so little regard for someone’s life was unnerving, especially after being such a hero and saving her. Just thinking about it made her sick to her stomach.
She had decided to end Manu’s life when she took the mission.
Her anger got her to agree. Yet she had never killed anyone before.
Agreeing to it and doing it weren’t remotely the same.
Now that she had met him, spoken to him, it seemed an impossible feat.
The subtle plan of pouring the poison into his glass seemed too easy.
What she wanted to do was launch herself across the table and hit him while demanding to know where Krata was.
Then there was Jalall. They were very close, which meant he had to be in on it, too.
If she succeeded in snuffing out Manu’s life, would Jalall take his place?
It was something to consider. Perhaps she could remove both of them before she was discovered.
None of that would matter if she couldn’t find a way to stay put, however.
A soft knock sounded on the door. Her head jerked toward it as she jumped to her feet, her heart hammering.
“Inej?” Jalall’s voice called through the panel.
Her feet were wooden blocks as she made her way to the door, fully aware of how precarious her position was as a human among elves. They could take her tonight, and no one would be the wiser.
Or maybe everyone in the city knew and simply wouldn’t care.
She slowly opened the door to see the Mountain Elf standing in the middle of the hall. It was a courtesy she hadn’t expected, and it was disconcerting.
“Your herbs,” he said, holding up a glass.
She stuck her arm out and accepted the water and herbs, all the while waiting for him to shove open the door or yank her out. He did neither.
“The house is locked, but you are free to roam the inside,” Jalall told her. “My door is at the end of the hall, should you need anything.”
“I’ve not known an elf to be so fearful of a human.”
He pointed to his left. “The kitchen is that way, should you get hungry. Help yourself to whatever you find.”
Her jab to see his reaction fell flat. Of course, he wasn’t afraid of her. He had magic, where she had none. She was the scared one, and they both knew it. She was locked in the house because they didn’t want her to get out.
“Sleep well,” he replied before walking away.
Inej closed the door and flipped the lock. She carried the water back to the bed. They were freely giving her something—twice now—that cost more than she made in a year. She might feel fine, but why not take the opportunity to ensure that she was completely healed from her trek and fall?
She quickly drained the water. This time, she was more aware of the slightly bitter taste.
The elves’ magic, as well as their easy access to the enchanted herbs and even the Star Elves who could heal others, made them a far more advanced race than hers.
She wondered if humans had outnumbered them at one time, and the elves had used their power to subjugate them.
Not that it mattered. Nothing would topple the elves.
Her encounters with them had always been brief.
Even working for Gita, she and Krata didn’t interact with her outside of a few words.
It wasn’t until Krata’s disappearance that things had changed.
Inej hadn’t wanted to talk about it. It had been Gita who had coerced it out of her.
And Inej was glad she had because then she had gotten the answers she needed.
And found a purpose.
The elves were too afraid of Manu to do anything, but she could. Inej didn’t want to be a hero. She wasn’t doing this for fame or glory. She was doing it for a girl who had befriended her and stayed around, even when Inej hadn’t wanted her.
There was no bringing Krata back—or any of the others who had been taken.
It was bad enough that humans lived in fear of the discrimination and racism that ran rampant every day.
Now, there was the added threat of being snatched and taken to who knew where, with who knew what being done to them. It was too much.
Inej removed her clothes, laying them out at the end of the bed.
She turned off all the lights except the small lamp beside the bed.
Only then did she slip naked between the sheets.
The mattress was soft, cradling her as if it had been designed specifically for her.
She had never slept on anything so luxurious.
She turned onto her side, her head cushioned by a plump pillow.
Her eyes grew heavy. Finally, she gave in and allowed them to close.
Her thoughts, however, didn’t turn off. An image of Manu as he knelt beside her in the snow filled her mind.
If she hadn’t known who he was, she would have been grateful for his help.
After all, what kind of elf showed one side of himself to others while giving in to a darker side in private? A monster, that’s who.
A monster she had to get close to. One who needed to trust her so she could find a way into his life. That could happen in many ways, but there was one true way to get him to lower his guard, and that was in bed.
Inej had never used sex against someone before.
She’d never needed to. When her body yearned for release, burned for that kind of connection, she went looking for the right man.
One who wanted a single night. Someone who wouldn’t ask too many questions.
A person who would erase all her thoughts for a short time until they went their separate ways.
Those men weren’t easy to find. Sometimes, she would search for days before finding one. But when she did, it was worth it.
That wouldn’t be how it was with Manu. He might hold some of the attributes she enjoyed, but his true identity marred anything she might find enjoyable.
She could fake it, though. Females of all races had been doing that since the dawn of time.
It would be worth giving him access to her body if she could end his reign of terror.
In an odd twist, the memory of him gently holding her hand returned.
She gave herself a mental shake to dislodge it.
He was good at pretending, and she could never allow herself to forget that.
The moment he was able, he would do with her what he had done to countless other humans.
So, no matter how deeply she feared him, she had to do this.
She rolled onto her back and stared at the canopy, wondering what Manu was doing at that moment.
Had he left the city to go find others to abduct?
There were rumors that those taken were killed.
Others said they were enslaved. It didn’t matter what was being done.
The elves were disrupting the people’s lives.
But elves had begun to vanish, too. Did that make what Manu did even worse if he were going after his own kind? She wanted to feel sorry for the elves who had been kidnapped, but she could only dredge up a little pity. It was about time the elves felt some of what the humans did on a daily basis.