Chapter 3 #2
I leave the room, keeping my gaze up when I enter the street past the yard through the archway and find residents of the city going about their business.
Pixies, orcs, goblins, a smattering of fae who are mostly dressed the same as I am.
I now also see some human slaves as well who I ignore for the most part.
Instead, I watch the freefolk, mimicking their purposeful strides, watching how they speak to each other.
I traverse the streets for long enough to ensure that I know my way around.
I even find the location of the stone Ring itself and I make doubly sure I can find my way there reliably in a pinch.
Only then do I locate vendors of food, haggling the way I see the other freefolk doing. I buy fruit and the ingredients for a hearty stew, one I made at The Barrack more than once when the healer commanded it. Perhaps that will be enough to get the fae male well enough to take me where he promised.
I make my way back toward the room, finding the right street easily now that I’m learning my way around.
But before I get there, I’m stopped by two fae.
They’re in my path. I move to go around them without a word, but they bar my way.
I have to force myself to look up into their eyes. Two sets which bore into me in the most unsettling manner.
They know you aren’t what you seem. Run!
But I don’t give in. I hold my ground, and my nerve.
Neither of them speaks. They seem puzzled. Dismayed. Angry.
They let me pass after a few tense seconds and I stride away with an annoyed sound that they waylaid me, just as I imagine a true fae female would do.
I make sure they aren’t following me though, meandering around the busy streets until I’m confident they aren’t behind me, before I find the yard again and climb the steep wooden steps.
In the fae’s room, it’s darker now that the sun is setting.
I light a lamp and then a fire in the hearth before cutting up the vegetables and meat with a blade from a tiny drawer in the table.
I mix it all in the pot, adding spices by smell from a small box I find tucked away in a small corner of the trunk.
The fae remains unconscious the entire time.
I eat my fill of the stew, moaning a little when I taste a real, hot meal that I haven’t sneaked or stolen from Ogdan or the healer. It fills me with warmth. Heat prickles my skin. My body feels alive with it at first.
But then I begin to feel something else.
There’s a clawing sensation deep in my gut that turns into a need I don’t understand. I shuck the tunic I’m wearing and pull the shirt out from where I tucked it into the trousers, panting a little.
I gulp some water, but it does little. I take off my boots and walk the boards of the floor slowly, wondering if the food here is meant only for the masters, if there’s a conjure on it to stop humans from stealing from their betters.
What will happen to me if that’s so?
I go to the fae still on the bed where I left him earlier.
‘Wake up,’ I say, shaking him. ‘Wake, I say! I need your help.’
But he doesn’t stir.
‘Fucking useless fae cunt,’ I snarl at him.
My heart is beating erratically. There’s a hollow feeling I don’t understand, and yet I know with a certainty that I’ve felt it before.
Why can’t I remember? My lip wobbles.
And then there’s a knock at the door.
I don’t move from where I’m sitting on the bed. Maybe they’ll go away if I pretend no one’s in.
‘We know you’re in there, Locke,’ calls a low voice from the other side. ‘We can see the light. Open the fucking door.’
Locke? I glance at the sleeping fae. Is that his name?
The door is banged on much more loudly this time and I wince at the sound. They’ll draw attention and that’s the last thing I need. I cross the room and make sure I still look like a fae. I try to stop my quick breaths before I pull the bolt back and crack it open just enough.
It’s the two fae from the street. One is much bigger than I realized. They glance at each other, something passing between them.
‘Is Locke here?’ the large one asks in a gentle tone.
I relax marginally, trusting my disguise. He and the other one would just burst in if they knew I was human, and I wouldn’t be spoken to with care.
‘He’s… He slumbers,’ I say quietly, though it comes out a breathy whisper that makes me cringe.
They give each other another look.
‘Can you wake him? It’s…urgent.’
I don’t take my eyes off them.
‘You’re the two who stopped me in the street,’ I accuse. ‘What do you want of me? Of…Locke?’
‘We’re sorry if we scared you,’ the smaller one begins and I scoff, cutting off his words.
‘Why would I be scared?’ I practically snarl, not liking the turn of this conversation, not liking the heat that’s creeping up my body, making my nipples tighten, making my thighs clench.
What is happening to me?
The larger one looks at his friend in question. The smaller one gives the barest nod. And the huge one lunges forward before I can shut the door. He pushes his way in and I can do nothing but let go and skitter backward. I grab the poker from the fire and wield it in front of me like a sword.
‘Get out!’ I snarl.
‘Bryn, we aren’t going to hurt you.’
‘How do you know my name?’ I gasp, grasping the poker more tightly and clawing at the neck of my shirt with my other hand.
I feel as if I can’t breathe.
‘We mean you no harm. We know you, Bryn, and you know us,’ the smaller one says to me and then turns to his friend. ‘We should never have approached her on the street when we saw her. We should have just come straight here to the safe house as we planned.’
‘What’s done is done,’ the larger one practically growls, setting me even more on edge.
‘I don’t know you!’ I say adamantly. ‘No tricks and I want you both to leave. Now!’
‘We can’t do that,’ the huge one says. ‘Locke made you forget, but you know us.’ He taps his chest. ‘Morgan, remember?’ He points at his friend. ‘And that’s Jak.’
I shake my head, beginning to panic. ‘I don’t know you.’
They’re trying to deceive me.
My eyes narrow. ‘And you don’t know me!’
‘We do,’ the smaller one insists, ‘and you might as well take off the bracelet. We know you’re human.’
My eyes widen, flying from one to the other. ‘Who are you?’
I sound close to tears. The larger one steps forward and I flinch back.
‘Don’t!’
But he’s already in front of me, taking the poker gently from my grasp and easing the bracelet from my wrist. I let him because how can I fight them both?
I know when he can see me because his eyes roam my face. He looks thunderous.
‘What the fuck has he done to her?’ he snarls, and my eyes instinctively find the ground.
‘Please don’t tell anyone,’ I beg. ‘Please don’t tell anyone I’m not fae.’
His fingers find my chin and he raises my head. ‘You’re safe with us, little human,’ he rumbles.
Gods. I want to believe him. But he’s a master. Just like all the rest. My kind can’t put their faith in any of them. And yet my traitorous body leans into his touch as if it does know him, as if he and I are equals, and the hollow feeling recedes just a little.
With a small cry, I push myself back, falling into the wall.
‘I’m sorry, my lord,’ I whisper.
‘Jak?’ the huge one snarls.
‘Aye, Morgan?’
‘Wake that cunt, Locke. It’s time we had a reckoning.’
MORGAN
Bryn continues to watch us as if we’re her enemies. She’s thin and hurt. There are bruises on her neck and face, and she looks exhausted.
‘I can’t wake him,’ Jak mutters from the bed and I give my unconscious former friend a sneer.
‘He’s covered in iron burns,’ Jak says a moment later.
‘Good,’ I snarl and the woman in front of me sinks further into the wall, flattening herself against it as if hoping it will swallow her.
‘He won’t wake tonight.’
‘Fine,’ I say, attempting to temper my tone so that Bryn isn’t so frightened.
But her eyes still dart from me to Jak as if she believes we’re going to turn on her at any moment.
‘Gods,’ I say quietly. ‘It’s as if the journey to the First Circle never even happened. You don’t remember us at all, do you, little human? He made us forget as well, you know.’
‘I don’t understand,’ she says, her eyes wild.
She dances in place a little, her eyes darting around the room. My nostrils flare as I get a scent from her that I recognize and my eyes widen. I take a step back and survey her more closely. The pupils of her eyes are huge and black. She’s panting and her cheeks are flushed.
‘Jak?’ I ask, not taking my eyes from Bryn.
‘What is it?’
‘I think we have a bit of a problem.’
Jak snorts. ‘Another? Already?’
I see him come to stand beside me in my periphery and I glance at him.
‘What now?’
‘It’s Bryn,’ I say very quietly.
‘What about her?’
‘Look at her. Closely.’
‘All right.’
‘What do you notice?’ I question.
‘I notice a scared human who has been deprived of proper food since we saw her last and is covered in wounds,’ he answers readily, his voice clipped.
I roll my eyes. ‘Look closer. Do you not also notice that she appears…much as she looked that night in the cave?
Jak’s head turns sharply to look at me, and then he stares at Bryn again, this time much more carefully.
‘Fuck,’ he mutters when he sees what I do.
She’s breathing quickly through her mouth as if she’s trying to hide the mounting need she’s feeling from us.
But of course she is. She doesn’t know us. She may have no recollection of what she needs. The cave was the first time, she said, and she doesn’t remember it.
I’d be as scared as she is.
I’d also try to escape from here while I could.
I see her looking past me, eyeing the door.
‘She’ll need it soon,’ I mutter, wondering how this situation could get any more dire.
He nods and closes his eyes for a moment, letting out a small sigh.
‘Which of us will… It’s worse this time than it was that night. She doesn’t know us, Morgan. How can we even think to…’
‘Bryn,’ I say to the scared human in front of us, ignoring Jak’s words.
I already know what he thinks and feels about this abhorrent turn of events. Same as me. I don’t need to hear it aloud.