Page 163 of A Fate so Cruel

“Children?” he questioned.

She shook her head. “I was . . . permitted to marry, although we’ve been,” she chewed her bottom lip, “hesitant to have children. But I have two sisters and three nephews. I could never abandon them.”

“And if I said you wouldn’t have to?”

She looked up then, daring to meet the blazing gaze of The Demon of Alastríona. “What do you want in exchange?”

“Nothing.”

Her lips parted again, but no sound emerged. She looked back at her hands, to the chains around her wrists. “I don’t understand.”

“I’m offering you freedom. There’s nothing to understand.”

“But why?”

He sighed and looked toward the closed window. To the gray sky beyond. “I’ve never owned a slave.” He felt her gaze on him again. “And maybe I’m just tired of the concept.”

“Won’t the High Lord be angry?”

A smirk played on his lips. “That’s part of the fun.”

“But he’ll figure it out, won’t he?”

Rion shrugged. “Eventually.”

“What will you tell him?”

“You ask a lot of unimportant questions for someone being offered the chance at a new life.”

She straightened, that fear returning, but something else lined the scent, too. Something like excitement.

“I don’t want the others punished.”

Rion clenched his jaw. It was a valid worry, especially with what he’d seen in the past. It was one of the many ways owners kept their slaves in check, using their friends and family against them.

“I’ll tell them you annoyed me enough that I took it out on your family.”

Her voice was too soft again. “Many believe you would.”

“Many believe a lie.” She shifted, uncomfortable, yet curious enough to keep listening. Most slaves had never known freedom. “The choice is yours.”

She chewed her lip again, thinking, likely running scenarios through her head and remembering the consequences of those who had tried and failed in the past.

“Where would we go?”

“To Móirín. Levea is lovely in the spring.”

Chapter Three

The female, Cara, had asked a hundred questions and apologized a hundred times. How long would the journey take? How would they obtain provisions? Where would they sleep on the journey, and how would they sneak past the guards? Would Levea welcome them in or turn them over to be tried as runaways?

Rion found himself impressed with her attention to details. Cara was a planner, able to think through serious situations carefully. She’d help the others adjust and steer them all toward a better life in Levea.

He understood her need for information. The slaves didn’t trust anyone, least of all the Fae. Their lives would be in his hands. He was a Lord. If he was caught stealing slaves, the punishment would be minimal. But runaways and their families would be put to death. Most were tortured in front of their peers, just to reiterate the consequences of trying to escape.

She needed time. Rion gave her a month. By then, the snow would have melted along the mountain pass and the journey wouldn’t be as treacherous.

It also afforded Cara enough time to convince her family of his sincerity. He could only imagine what her husband would think. He’d be the first to find out and would probably look at his wife as if she’d lost her mind.

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