Page 199 of A Lord of Snow and Greed

She twisted to take in what I referred to and nodded. So at least two fae remained down here to keep track of the humans working the mines. How could they live with themselves? Slavery was permitted in the kingdom, butthese conditions . . . well, they were exactly the reason the law stated that slaves had to be kept in noble homes, the House of Wisdom, or the Tower of the Living and the Dead. No one should have to live like this.

My fists clenched, but I said nothing more, just followed the human. Finally, we reached the end of the little city and approached another circular tunnel, delved deeper into the mountain.

“How much longer?” I asked.

She held up a finger, which I took to mean one minute. Soon I’d see Roar, and this would be over. I’d have the answers I needed.

“Don’t let him manipulate you,” Vale whispered.

“Never again,” I agreed.

We entered the tunnel, and voices drifted over from the other end. The woman was correct in that wherever she was taking us had people, hopefully, Roar was still there too.

Faelights flickered on in waves as we walked. I both appreciated their illumination and wished they were not there. I’d much rather surprise Roar. That way, he had less of a chance to get his story straight and figure out ways to twist the truth, as he was so adept at doing.

The end of the tunnel came into sight. The sound of people speaking intensified, but there was no echo of hammers. Wherever we were going, the miners must not be working.

When the tunnel opened, a stench assaulted me. It smelled like piss and shit. Before I inquired about the stench, the woman stopped and pointed down.

The scene before me froze my blood.

Near a hundred humans languished in cages. Some stood there, quiet. Others pleaded with some unseen figure; their palms pressed together. Faelights were not used here, but rather flickering torch lights illuminated their faces, dirty and miserable.

“What in the nine kingdoms?” I whispered, pulse quickening as I took in cage after cage after cage. “Isthiswhere you live? I thought . . . the homes we passed . . .” I trailed off at a loss. The homes were still awful, but this was worse. Far, far worse.

The woman twisted, eyes wide, and shook her head. I wanted answers, so I reached out and extracted her gag.

“Idon’t live here. I work the mines and earn my keep!”

“Does he pay you?”

“My lord feeds and clothes us.”

So that was a no. Just as I’d suspected. Roar was blatantly breaking the law for his own gain.

But that still didn’t explain the caged people. My eyebrows pulled together. “Why the difference in their treatment?”

“Theycame in through the portal recently. Within the last moon or two.” She pointed to the far end of the rooms. Far away and beyond the masses of bodies, a faint light glowed. “Fae who work for the lord take them and cage them until the vampires come.”

I stiffened. “Vampires?”

The woman nodded. “They buy them.” She paused, fear flickering across her face momentarily before shedonned a mask of steel once more. “I suppose that could be me. One day. If we don’t mine enough gold, the vampires buy us too. But that hasn’t happened in many turns. We always try to mine enough gold to keep our lord happy.”

My vision dimmed. The mine disappeared, and I was transported back in Frostveil, the vampire prince cornering me, taunting me.

Prince Gervais had been so smug when he’d told me Roar had been duplicitous. What exactly had he said? I thought back, ripping at my memory until I reached that day and that terrible moment. He had said the Lisika mines produced gold for centuries and that one would think they’d need to diversify.

Diversify . . . My stomach dropped.

Can you think of nothing as valuable as gold, wildcat?

People. Human life.Any life. That was more valuable than gold.

Roar didn’t just use humans to dig and labor in his mines. He sold lives,human slaves, to the Vampire Kingdom for gold. I swallowed. Did he really even need the mines? Or were they simply a cover for more nefarious purposes?

“Burning moon!” Vale hissed, putting things together, even without the thinly veiled hint I’d received from Prince Gervais. “He sells slaves!”

My body tightened as the horrible truth washed through me again, colder, harder this time. Roar, the male I’d once put my faith in, was a true monster.

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