Page 1 of Bound By Darkness

Chapter 1

The Prison

THALIA

I hadn’tplannedto be soaked in her blood.

The warm liquid trickled down my chin as it splattered against the cobblestone flooring. The same cobblestone flooring my cheek pressed against as the guard dug her knee into my spine. The air was hot, muggy, and too little of it was available as my chest rose with labored breaths.

“You’ll pay for that bite!” she yelled, the sound shattering the empty cell like broken shards of glass. She cradled her ruined forearm against her broad chest as blood slowly dripped from her fingers.

My crimson teeth flashed triumphantly as I observed the chunk of flesh missing from the area. She clenched her fingers together, the punch landing against the soft hollow of my cheek.

Spitting out red saliva, the iron taste lingered in my mouth—a mixture of mine and hers coating my tongue.

I steadied myself for another blow, but it never came as she stepped back, her eyes glaring in the dim lighting. “Double duty again,” she said before stalkingaway, the iron bars slamming shut.

Even from this distance, her displeasure reverberated in the hallways, echoing the triumph I’d engaged in.

Laying against the cool stone flooring, I focused on the oil lamp across the cell block, the flame sputtering.

Oxygen lacked in the depths of the prison catacombs as it rested well below the castle grounds. Far enough His Majesty didn’t have to smell the rot or see the trophies he’d collected.

Pain laced my cheek as I winced.

My fingers grazed the start of a lovely bruise, and the split between my lip stung with each movement. She deserved the bite and chunk of flesh my teeth had claimed when she’d brought the whip out.

I was not cattle, even if the guards viewed me as such. Anythingwas better than being whipped.

My fingers flitted over my brown tunic, stained with years of dirt and blood, as I thumbed the golden emblem of Armas.

Stamped onto the fabric, the symbol served as a reminder the prison owned my life until I either collapsed from starvation, or they hauled me to Galar, where no one ever returned alive.

A half-breed sentenced to a life of toil and decay, because my father was human, my mother a Fae, and because I’d fulfilled the decree known throughout all of Cethales?—

If a half-breed is ever born with casting, they are immediately to be turned in to one of the four High Fae Kings. If one does not, anyone held liable will be extinguished as ordered by High King Hywell of House Armas.

Hay poked my head and neck as I settled into the stack, the needles still slightly warm from my body heat. My family had protected me, and yet, I’d still wound up capturedto His Majesty. A slave in the Fae lands. A land ruled by horrid High Kings and Queens, casting remaining in their bloodline for centuries while the rest of the Fae were powerless.

It was illegal for humans to roam Cethales without permit, my father one of them. Constantly hiding in the shadows while he flitted over the land to provide for us. They had said it was for protection for the curse, but all the Fae knew it was something to do with greed—to maintain an unbalanced power system.

My thoughts dwindled as my green eyes lingered on the dark splotches behind the iron chains that dangled from the corner of my cell. Those were stains from my blood eleven years ago. Markings from the first night they’d arrested me as a young child. They hadn’t held back as their fists pummeled into me.

“For once, can you not cause trouble for yourself?” A pair of beady eyes peered through the adjacent cell bars.

“Where’s the fun if I don’t?” I said, shaking the vivid memory away. She constantly interrupted me when I crawled too far into the back of my mind.

Her silhouette shook violently as the oil lamp flickered and sputtered, the wick nearly encased in melted oil. “I don’t see how defying orders is fun.”

“It’s better than being whipped.”

Pieces of rock crumbled from the prison walls. It was an older fortress hand-carved from prisoners before me… frommypeople.

Moria peered back at me, the golden flecks of her eyes reflecting from the flame. “Did you steal again?”

I shook my head. “No. They put me on garden duty and doubled my quota.”

“Because you stole?—”

---