Chapter 5
Five
Elaine
Illuminated by torches, the sprawling tent of gold, orange, and green silk sparkled with light and color like a fairy tale palace among the black sand dunes.
“Wait,” I stopped Timur as we approached. “I should get off now.”
I climbed from his lap. Standing on my own two feet made me feel more prepared to deal with whatever waited for me inside.
Four guards exited the tent. I noted the multiple swords and daggers on each of them and glanced at Timur.
“It’s just dinner, right?” I confirmed once again.
“Yes. That’s the agreement. Nothing else beyond that is allowed,” he said firmly, as if he had the power to enforce this agreement with someone who had armed guards at their disposal.
Still, the unshakable confidence in his voice made me feel a little better as I crossed the threshold and entered the tent.
The most wonderful, magical scents hit my nostrils—the smell of coffee and food.
My gaze immediately found the source of all that goodness.
A wide, low table stood on the rug in the middle of the spacious tent.
Some of the dishes were covered with brass domes that glimmered in the candlelight of a gold candelabrum.
Others remained uncovered, beguiling me with the sight of ripe fruit and golden-crusted pastries.
Two shadow fae women stood on each side of the table, with the top layer of their shimmering gossamer skirts pinned to their long hair as per the desert fashion.
The third woman reclined in the colorful silk cushions placed on the floor between me and the table. She gave me a quick glance, then wrinkled her nose, and brought the end of her black-and-orange skirt to her nose.
“Human smell can be so overwhelming,” she murmured to herself, but it came out loud enough for me to hear.
I couldn’t argue with her. She was right.
I hadn’t bathed since Teneris. After five days of sweating in the heat, sleeping in cages, and wearing the same clothes, I could smell myself, and it was far from pleasant.
But right now, even the shame couldn’t stop me.
All I could think about was that this woman sat in my path to the food, and my biggest fear was that she might change her mind about feeding me.
“You’re late,” the woman said curtly. “The food might not be sufficiently warm for your full enjoyment now.”
I loved food even back in my world where it was plenty and of wide variety. Now when I was starving, I’d eat anything, and I had no doubt I would enjoy it all, cold or hot.
“Oh, it’ll be fine. Let’s do this.” I promptly took my sweater off, exposing the black ribbons of my leilatha harness.
My empty stomach spasmed, urging me to devour all that goodness on the table as soon as possible. I was so hungry, I felt I could eat every single side dish and condiment on that table.
The woman’s sky-blue eyes lit up with interest. She moved her bejeweled hand away from her nose. The wispy ends of her tendrils drifted out of her upper arms.
“Do you like coffee?” she asked. “That’s what they serve to the Joy Vessels in the royal sarai for dinner.
Or is it for breakfast?” She wrinkled her forehead in thought, then waved her hand.
The candlelight caught in the many rings on her fingers, making the stones sparkle.
“Human meals are so many, I can never remember the names of them all.”
“I’d like some coffee. Yes. And a glass of water please,” I added quickly.
Staring at the dishes on the table behind her, I tried not to drown in my own saliva that I didn’t even know my dehydrated body could produce.
One of the women in the diaphanous skirts brought me a tiny cup made from hammered gold. The other then filled the cup with black-as-tar coffee from a metal carafe with a long, curved spout.
“Please take a seat.” The woman on the cushions gestured over her shoulder for me. “But make sure you don’t eat anything until I tell you.”
I nodded. She was paying to feed me for a reason, and I did my best not to pounce on the table before her tendrils would connect to me.
The other two women, who I assumed were her servants, finally led me to the table.
They helped me sit down onto a cushion positioned behind their lady.
Crisscrossing my legs under me, I sat down and clenched my skirt in both hands to stop them from grabbing food from the table before her signal.
“Bring me a glass of water too,” the lady requested.
Her tendrils grew longer, appearing from behind me on both sides.
I felt a slight prodding against my back, too, where the tendrils from her spine slipped through the long slit of my dress that had been cut like that specifically for this purpose.
The clothes worn by the Joy Vessels in Prince Rha’s sarai often had an open back and no sleeves to ensure easy access for shadow fae’s tendrils.
A whiff of trepidation fluttered over me, as it always did when a stranger accessed my emotions. Thoughts rushed me.
I could stop this. I always had that power, regardless of who owned me or who connected to me. I could let my unease grow. I could call on my fear or on my anger. I could spoil this experience for anyone who used me for my joy or who claimed to own me.
But then what? What would I gain by disappointing the woman who fed me? She would get angry. Timur would most definitely not get paid. But most importantly, I likely wouldn’t get to eat a single thing from that table.
So I sat still, allowing the tendrils to slip inside all my leilathas—two on each arm, one on the back of my neck and one on my spine just below my shoulder blades. The intrusion wasn’t painful. It was prodding but subtle enough for me to completely ignore it after a moment or two.
“You may eat,” the lady allowed.
I heard her laying down into the cushions with a soft sigh in anticipation of the joy I was about to give her.
I didn’t know this woman, and I had a feeling that wouldn’t change by the time the meal was over.
She didn’t invite me here for a friendly chat over a meal.
She didn’t care about me beyond the joy I could give her.
She used me. But I was using her too, for the food she brought here for me.
From that point of view, it was a fair exchange.
I sat up straighter and exhaled deeply. Determined to give the woman what she came here for, I took a small sip of coffee, savoring the rich, fragrant taste.
It was stronger than I normally drank, with no milk or sugar that I usually took with my coffee.
But it was my first drink of coffee in many days, and I focused on the joy it gave me.
One of the servants brought me a tall metal tumbler of cool water next, and I emptied it in seconds. The water spread through me, refreshing and rejuvenating.
A soft sigh of appreciation came from behind me. The noble fae lady was experiencing the enormous relief from a torturous thirst probably for the first time in her pampered life at that very moment.
“You’re so hungry,” she complained. “Please eat something soon.”
I didn’t need to be asked twice. The servants raised the brass domes from the dishes, and I lifted my plate for them to fill it up with everything.
The variety of foods on the table made no sense in terms of breakfast or dinner or even in terms of savory and sweet.
Cured meats sat next to honeyed fruit. Pickled vegetables were served next to whipped cream and berries, and sweet pasties shared a basket with ham and sausage.
The meal was not organized into courses, and everything was served at once.
But it didn’t concern me in the slightest.
I ate it all in whatever order it came to me. My ravenous hunger urged me to stuff my face without thinking. It took a tremendous effort to pause after each bite to actually notice and appreciate the taste of each piece and every dish for the sake of the lady’s enjoyment.
“Would you like some wine?” a woman servant inquired, holding up a crystal carafe with dark burgundy liquid inside.
“Sure. Thanks.” I nodded quickly, accepting a cone-shaped, long-stemmed glass of wine from her.
Alcohol warmed my stomach, spreading with languid relaxation through the rest of my body. I exhaled slowly with a rush of pleasure tingling over my skin. From behind me, the lady’s contented sigh echoed mine.
“It’s so good, my lady,” I gushed, a little giddily.
Was it too early for alcohol since I’d just woken up a little while ago?
Maybe. But I didn’t care. The fragrant fumes clouded my brain, making me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
For the first time since I was taken by the traders, I didn’t worry about my life or my future.
I was able to relax. Tension drained from my mind and my muscles, and that was a wondrous thing.
With my belly finally full, I looked around the tent, noticing other things beside the food and the table.
It was a lavishly furnished space with thick rugs on the floor, carved wood stands by the walls, and gold-framed pictures of intricate mosaics on almost every surface.
Glowing coals in the shiny brass braziers kept the place toasty warm, and the dense tent walls kept the ocean breeze out.
“How long are you staying here, my lady?” I asked.
“Oh, not for a moment longer than necessary,” she replied. “This area is not a fashionable place to visit. We arrived about two hours ago, and we’ll be tearing the camp down the minute our meeting is over.”
“Did you come here all this way just for me? All this setup for a dinner you didn’t even eat?” I glanced over my shoulder.
She was sitting with her back to me. Her long, straight hair streamed down the cushions she was leaning on. The strands on the very top of her head were woven into an intricate crown decorated with precious beads and golden chains.