Page 13 of Mountain of Dragons and Sacrifice

As soon as I glanced down, however, my stomach gave a different kind of clenching flip.

The breakfast was porridge. Probably. But it was pink. Bright, vibrant pink. Porridge was supposed to be cream colored. Not pink.

Then there were the fuchsia berries sprinkled on top. Food was not supposed to be those colors.

“Don’t worry. It’s safe for you to eat.” Daphne pointed at the bowl. “Phoebe would never use anything that would harm a human. She’s human herself, after all.”

That was true, but I couldn’t trust Phoebe. Not fully. She worked for the dragon. They all did. They might seem nice and friendly, but I’d have to keep up my guard around them. I still didn’t know what the dragon wanted from me or why he demanded a maiden sacrifice in the first place. He’d sounded reluctant to eat me. Did that mean he had a different purpose for me?

I’d eaten the stew last night without any ill effects. Hopefully the same would hold true of this porridge.

And if it didn’t, well, hopefully death by strange food was less painful than being eaten.

I dipped my spoon in, blew on the bite, then popped it into my mouth. Flavors of rich berry and sweetest sugar burst across my tongue. It was almost too sweet, but not in a gagging sort of way. I swallowed it down and dug in. At least the food here was good. That was a bonus.

While I was eating, most of the others had cleared out, as if to give us a bit of privacy while I ate. I was thankful for that. Everything was already strange enough without going through an exhausting introduction session with all of them.

As soon as I gulped down my final bite, I spun on the bench so that I could face Phoebe, Evander, and Daphne at the same time. “So what was it that you needed to explain to me?”

Phoebe perched on a bench across from me, her dark brown eyes soft. “Do you know where you are?”

“The dragon’s castle?” I couldn’t help that the answer came out more a question than a statement.

Evander crossed his arms and leaned against the table next to Phoebe. “Yes, we are in the dragon’s castle. But his castle is on a mountain that is at the very edge of the Court of Stone in the Fae Realm. Or the Greater Realm, as you call it.”

I froze, gaping first at him, then at Daphne and Phoebe. Hoping one of them would contradict him. Dread settled deep in the pit of my stomach when they didn’t.

I had been right. I wasn’t in my olive grove anymore. Nor on the mountain of sacrifice.

No, I was somewhere else entirely. A whole new realm.

How? When? Had I actually died on that stone on the mountain, and I hadn’t even realized it? I slid my hands over myself. I still felt very real. Very alive. Not like a soul wandering about while my body lay frozen to death somewhere far away. “Am I dead?”

“Oh, don’t worry. You aren’t dead.” Daphne gave a little bounce on the bench beside me, shedding another leaf.

Good to know. I didn’t feel dead, but I wasn’t sure what dead would feel like. Swallowing, I tried to keep my tone level instead of hysterically panicking like I felt. “Greater Realm? How?”

Phoebe heaved another sigh, speaking as if she’d had this conversation many times before. “Here at the edge of the Court of Stone, the distinction between the realms gets muddy. Kind of like the spot where a river mouth pours into the sea. Salt water and fresh water combine until the water is brackish and both river and sea, depending on how the tides are turning. When you were brought up the mountain, you were left in one of the places that exists in both the dragon’s mountain and the mountain you can see on the human side of the realms. You are now fully in the Fae Realm.”

I was still reeling from the news that I was in a different realm. Until I’d seen Daphne, the gnomes, and the others, I’d thought I was at least in the same realm as my village and parents. That I would be able to peer out a window and see the tiny speck that was my home if I looked hard enough.

Some of my thoughts must have shown on my face because Evander’s smile dimmed into something almost stern. “Don’t try to find your way back home on your own. You’d get yourself lost in the Fae Realm if you tried.”

For a moment, the thought of escaping, going home, and hugging my mama and bapi again, swelled inside me.

But I couldn’t go home, could I? I was the sacrifice. A sacrifice didn’t just return home as if nothing had happened. I had been given to the dragon, so here I must stay to serve whatever purpose he had for the sacrifices he demanded from the village. For the wellbeing of my family and village, I had no choice but to be a good sacrificial maiden and stay here.

I clenched my fists and faced Evander. “I won’t try to leave.”

“You aren’t a prisoner.” Phoebe leaned forward, as if she was about to reach to pat my arm but she halted short.

“It would just be safer if you didn’t leave,” Evander added, never changing his stance or expression.

Daphne nudged me with an elbow. “It’s the Fae Realm. It isn’t exactly safe for any of us to just wander around. The dragon keeps all of us safe.”

Not a prisoner? Safe?

Ha. As if.

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