Page 50 of Terragnata and the Heir of the Earth

And on top of all of that, why didn’t I remember the Rexi if she was my mother?

“Olea.” I nearly growled at her, fighting to keep the tears back. “Where stays the green-eyed Fae, the tall warrior called Ezren? I owe him a sharp punch to the gut, or perhaps the groin, depending on how he grovels when I see him.”

Her eyes widened at my question. “Dinna worry, m’lady, he es taken care of. Ye dinna have te worry about hem ever again,” she said hurriedly.

“I’m not worried abouthim! In fact, you should be worried aboutmehurting him!” I snapped.

She looked frightened now. “Mess, I canna even imagine what me’d wanna do te me captors. Ye lekely wanna kell ‘em all. But ye canna do that, ye see, they are the keng’s property now. Take heart, me lady, Hes Majesty well seek justice.” She said the last part so reassuring in tone, laying a comforting hand on my arm.

I looked at her, a slow realization dawning on me. We were having two different conversations.

“Captors?” I wanted to punch Ezren’s teeth in for lying to me, absolutely, but…kidnapping?

“Yes, m’lady. An’ the prince nearly beat the male te hes death, the one ye spoke a’, when he scented hem all oer’ ye. But they’ve all been charged weth treason an’ threatenin’ the crown. Dinna worry, mess. The keng well try ‘em as traitors. They’ll likely lose their heads for et, an’ ye’ll never have te see them folk again.”

A pit formed in my stomach, imagining Cas laying a hand on Ezren. And then frustration flooded my gut.Traitors?I knew they lied to me, but they’d returned me to Viribrum, they’d righted Fayzien’s wrong. How could Cas not know Fayzien’s evil, thathetook me away in the first place?

I stilled.Did they lie about that, too?

“Olea,” I breathed. “I still need to see Ezren. Can you take me to him?”

“Naye, I dinna know where he es. And even ef I ded, I’d not take ye to a’ dungeon. They ain’t no place for a princess. But I can take ye te see yer friend.”

“My friend?” I cocked my head in confusion, but then I gasped in understanding. “Gia?” I breathed. “She’s here?”

Olea nodded, excitement opening her face. “Aye, an’ she’s the ferst ‘uman me seen up close!”

Fayzien had not been bluffingabout his possession of Gia in the Nameless Valley. And while I knew her presence at the palace could only mean one thing—they would use my dear friend to control me somehow—I refused to see another soul until I laid eyes on the woman and confirmed her well-being.

Olea promised to take me to Gia, on the condition that I ate and bathed first. Those were certainly not my priorities, but my stomach wouldn’t stop grumbling, and Olea said she’d be beaten if I were seen leaving my room looking anything less than a princess. So, I ate by the fire and then let her wash me, let her work through the knots in my hair as my thoughts swirled.

I didn’t know how I felt. I was angry and hurt, confused and with no faith in any truth.

And I worried. What had happened to the Casmerre? Had Fayzien been bluffing when he’d said he’d ‘taken care of’ the ship? I imagined Leuffen and Sanah struggling amongst rolling waves, Leiya flying high above, unable to do anything to save them.

I imagined seeing Ezren’s head rolling away from his body, severed by the executioner’s blade, his green eyes devoid of life.

The images sent tremors of terror through my body. I might not have been able to do anything about the Casmerre and her passengers, but I couldn’t let Ezren die.

When Olea finished, I was sparkling clean, and my incredibly long, sandy hair fell in waves around me. It seemed my new Fae body affected even the rate at which my hair grew.

If she saw the bruises on my abdomen, she said nothing while forcing me into a corset. I realized how unaccustomed I’d become to wearing them, after nearly a month in breeches and a simple brassiere. She bound the strings as tight as bows, and pulled my breasts toward each other in the front so they sat upright and full, close to touching my chin.

Olea painted my face, put ash on my lids, and stained my lips. She let my hair dry around me. For a wilder effect, she said.

I tried to object when she pulled out an extravagant gown, but she only clucked her tongue at me, saying this was appropriate princess daywear. She chose red, she said, because I should seem as ripe as an apple when I saw my betrothed for the first time again. The comment made me grimace.

The dress consisted first of a ‘corset cover,’ red lace that fit snug around my breasts and mid-section, extending down, buttons fastening between my thighs. It covered very little of my rear, matching the lines of my undergarments. Then came the red sheer slip. It was sleeveless but cuffed at the neck with a band of gold, and the hem touched the stone floor. Finally came what I prayed was an actual dress, but it was merely an open, sleeveless robe of layers of red chiffon that she belted at my midsection. When I stepped into the heeled slippers Olea placed in front of me, I had the bizarre feeling that all of this was just to prevent me from running away.

Finally, she adorned my wrists with matching golden cuffs and snapped dangling gold chains onto the lobes of my ears.

I examined her work in the mirror. One could see all the way down to my lace undergarments, and when I walked, the chiffon layer fell to the side, revealing the outlines of my full legs. Only the sheer slip covered my chest, which meant at each rise and fall of my breath, my breasts replicated the movement. My drying hair fell in waves around me, blonde whorls that neared my abdomen. All of this, paired with the dark paint on my eyes and the red stain on my lips, made me an image of sex incarnate.

“Olea, this is absolutely ridiculous. I look like I am soliciting invitations for something I am mostcertainlynot.”

But she responded with some rambling that the prince’s betrothed must look like a goddess, for that is what I had to be: formidable and fertile to warn other courtiers away from him. She pushed me out the door, leading me to Gia. The thought of anyone seeing me so scantily clad was horrifying. In fact, I could have sworn the guards posted outside my door blushed when I passed, but the promise of seeing my friend outweighed my shyness.

Olea led me through winding stone halls, and I did my best to be alert, to let the layout of the palace return to my memory. I made note of small details or abnormalities in the stone and cracks on the floor, marking each turn we made. Finally, when it felt like we had traveled at least a mile of winding passageways, we arrived at another large room. A different wing for guests. They must have housed me either in the wing for dignitaries or family of the crown. Which one they considered me I did not yet know.

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