Chapter 7 #2
The smaller male vorpyr said something to them sharply, but Emerald Eyes used a softer tone and rubbed a hand affectionately over the stubby horns on the little ones’ heads as they darted past. Were they his children?
Alryv paused in the doorway long enough to give me a smile and a flap of his right wing before scurrying after the other.
My captor watched with an unreadable expression.
The other male left with the children and when Emerald Eyes stepped close, I pressed back, entirely too aware that I had been stripped of my clothes and now only wore a soft gown with nothing underneath.
At least now I would find out why I was here.
“You should have said you’d die in the heat without water.”
Heatstroke. I’d been so focused on everything else it hadn’t even occurred to me.
“Are my companions ok?” I stared up into his face, as if his expression would tell me the truth no matter his words.
“They are fine.” He stepped closer. His powerful thighs, clad in fitted black pants, were at the level of the bed and he seemed to take up all the space in the room as he towered over me. “They need to be around to keep you from lying to me further.”
I steadied my breathing and kept my voice calm.
“Why not let me die? You know I’m not military.
” I needed the brute to realize that I wasn’t a fighter.
I was a civilian caught up in all of this.
I didn’t know if that mattered to them, but I had to try.
Jaron and Tatiana were here because of me, I couldn’t give up.
“What lies were you spitting to the small ones?”
I kept my scoff internal. “We don’t speak the same language, male.”
He leaned down and I tilted my head up, meeting his gaze firmly. If I was going to die, I didn’t want to go out giving him the satisfaction of seeing my terror.
“You dare to call me male?” His voice was deceptively soft and the hair on the back of my neck stood up, a shiver tracing its icy finger down my spine. “You think I will allow disrespect from you?”
“You refuse to tell me your name or what to call you.” I responded. As his intense gaze pinned me I dropped my eyes down to his throat and had to force them back up. “I study other cultures in order to facilitate communication, never have I meant to be impolite.”
Our gazes locked, and he slowly stood back up to his full height, allowing me to breathe again. “You didn’t tell me what interaction you had with the small ones.”
“They were curious about my hair and lack of fangs and we exchanged names.” Exhaustion was eating at me, no doubt a result of the painful flushes of adrenaline I’d experienced today and then the heatstroke, and all I wanted was to lie back and close my eyes. Block him out.
Without warning he leaned over me and I sucked in a sharp breath, pressing back into the pillow to get away from his intimidating bulk.
A slow smirk curved his lips. He held my gaze as he extended his claws.
I’d noticed vorpyr claws seemed to extend and retract, but now they were so long I wondered if he could tear out a human’s heart with them. If he had.
I was hoping to reason with him, but maybe I should focus my energy on trying to think of a way out of here instead.
He sliced through the rope binding me and gripped my bicep, tugging me.
I scooted to the edge of the bed and stood, feeling small and vulnerable as a breeze coming in through the open doorways stirred the white dress that sheathed me.
He led me out of the small room and I gazed around, taking everything in as quickly as I could.
The main room had light wood floors and open windows and double sliding doors.
Multiple doors were open, showing rooms similar to the one I was in, or closed with shadows outlined behind them.
On one side of the room sleek floor to ceiling doors, the same light wood as the beams and floor, hid what I imagined were medicines and other supplies.
At the open sliding doors, he turned to me and I tensed, afraid of what was to come.
Would he take me back to the ledge? Would he interrogate me?
I feared all the outcomes. I wasn’t strong, like our spies or military.
My gaze roved over his sharp horns, wings tipped with razor-sharp claws at the top and sharp black spikes at intervals around the rest of his wing. What this big male could do to me…
“Vorazyr.” I blinked. He tilted his head. “My title. You may call me Vorazyr.”
A small breath left me and I nodded once. I didn’t let myself hope that this was progress.
This time he didn’t force me into his arms and fly me anywhere, he guided me down the steep staircase in front of him.
The stairs were carved out of the cliff and I pressed my side to it, afraid of the sheer drop.
The sun was dipping in the sky and it reflected against the gold of the cliffs and the brightly colored homes, creating funnels of color almost like rainbows all across the canyon. I stopped to gaze at it in wonder.
“This place is beautiful.” When I glanced back, I found him staring at me, face hard.
He pushed my shoulder none too gently and I started forward again.
We passed archways and entrances to larger buildings.
Some I got a glimpse of inside and could pick out grocery items, a tailor shop, and a shop that had bejeweled daggers and jewelry.
How interesting it would be to speak to them.
Yes, I should definitely make time for cultural immersion in between all the running and screaming. I forced my gaze away.
We were about two-thirds of the way down the cliff and still dozens of feet above the ground when he prodded me over a walkway and into the only building that was shuttered.
When I stepped inside and he slid the door closed behind us I had to blink a few times before my eyes adjusted.
An orb on the wall provided soft light. My throat constricted as reality crashed down on me.
Chains came up from the floor and dropped from the ceiling.
The smell was clean, almost like antiseptic, but not as potent.
The horrible, invasive thought that it would have been better if I’d stepped off the stairs ran through my mind.
“Put her in the chair. Do not start without me.”
I had seen nothing but the chains that I kept my gaze fixed on, so movement deeper in the room made me jump.
It was the other vorpyr, the one with red eyes.
The one who’d been kinder to Tatiana. This one might be reasoned with.
He came up to me and blinding light filtered in for a second as the Vorazyr left.
“Come.” he ordered. He didn’t touch me but gestured to a chair toward the back of the room.
“Wait.” I faced him. “Are they ok? Tatiana and Jaron?”
He barely spared me a glance. “Prisoners do not have the privilege of getting their questions answered.”
I curled my hands into fists until my nails bit into my palms, grounding me.
“If they’re already hurt or…” I could barely get the words out, “or worse, then there’s no reason for me to cooperate with you.
I need to know they’re ok.” I tried to keep my tone reasonable and calm, but a tremor belied me.
“Sit, we will know soon enough what the Vorazyr desires to tell you.”
I walked to the chair slowly, looking around for anything that I might be able to use to escape. The whisper of his movements made my stomach tighten as he followed me.
“Who are you in all of this? Are you royalty?” Any tidbit of information, including their hierarchy, could be useful, and I guessed he would be more accommodating than the harsh Vorazyr.
His red eyes, made even more eerie by the deep shadows in the room, flashed to me. “You are not the one asking the questions.” Despite his words, his voice was calm.
“I am only trying to understand. That’s my job, I learn about different cultures, and I teach others about them as well.
” Knowing it was no use, I sat in the strange chair.
It had a normal seat, but the back was thin and tall, located directly in the middle, supporting the spine but giving enough room for large wings on either side.
The door slid open and closed and I had to blink as flashes of light in my vision swam against the darkness of the room.
The low voice of the Vorazyr announced it was him before I could see normally again.
He spoke rapidly with the other, and I strained to catch the words, to see if there were any I would recognize.
Axar. He said the name twice in the conversation.
Worry made my chest ache. Had the young vorpyr gotten into trouble by being near me?
What did this Vorazyr do to his own that angered him?
Or were the children his and I would be punished worse for interacting with them?
The male in questioned stepped over to me.
I licked my dry lips and instantly regretted it as his gaze tracked the motion.
It was possible that lips weren’t sexual to the vorpyr like they were to humans, but I didn’t want to do anything that even got near that line.
He braced his hands on the wall on either side of my head and crouched so our eyes were level.
When he said nothing, the words tumbled from me. “You didn’t…” I took a breath and steadied myself. “You didn’t do anything to the little vorpyr, did you? They didn’t know any better.”
His eyes narrowed dangerously. “You think I would harm a small one?”
My first impression of you makes me think you’re a sadistic bully. “I don’t know you.”
“Is this a thing humans would do?”
“No. Abusing children isn’t allowed.” But it still happened, more than one would think. Despite biting my tongue, he seemed to hear what went unsaid.
“We do not harm our own,” he snapped. “You would do well to worry about yourself right now.”
“Are my companions safe?” I asked, again.