Page 9 of Dark Prince's Mate

Fuck.It’s freezing cold.The muddy sand pushes between my toes.Something slimy brushes against my calf.I yelp and jump to the side, only to almost pass out again.

“Stay in front of me so they can’t see you’re not working,” Alexa says through the side of her mouth.“I’ll fill your bucket.”

Fill my bucket?What she means becomes clear when I look at Eucabeth.She’s not scooping up water but digging with sticks in the sand.Every now and then, she throws down her stick and dunks her arms up to the elbows into the water before pulling out one of those giant sperm tadpoles that Betty had caught.It takes both Alexa and Eucabeth to lift the tadpole out of the water.One holds it around the middle and the other grabs its tail, preventing it from lashing out or biting them.

When the buckets are full, we drag them out of the water onto the shore.I’m dismayed to find my boots gone.Our guards must’ve confiscated them.Damn.I really liked those boots.

The buckets are too heavy for even two of us to carry, so the Phaelix take the buckets while we gather firewood on the way back.

When we return, the clearing is swept, and a huge cauldron of water is boiling over the fire.The Phaelix dump the buckets on the ground and shout more demands.

Moving closer to Sandy, I ask, “What are they saying?”

“They’re planning on feeding us,” she says with a concerned expression.

“That’s good, right?”

“Not necessarily,” she whispers.“They never do anything without a good reason.They’ve got something up their sleeves.”

“Why do they starve you?”I ask, suddenly furious, which also doesn’t help to diminish the pulsing pain in my skull.

“I don’t think they do it intentionally.The food they eat doesn’t always agree with our stomachs, and sometimes, we get sick from it.They mostly give us fruit and roots that we dig up and boil in water, but they keep the meat for themselves.Unless…” She bites off the rest of her sentence as she glances at Maeva, who’s kneeling next to the fire.

Unless they’re selling us today.They want to make sure we’re not going to faint from hunger.That’s why they fed me when they first brought me here.

My stomach roils at the thought.And now my power is useless.I won’t even be able to save us.For all I know, I’ve sustained brain damage, and my power is permanently gone.

A Phaelix pushes me roughly, causing me to fall to my knees.He dumps a bucket full of wiggling tadpoles in front of me and screams loud enough to make my ears ring.Wiping away his spittle that landed on my face, I look at the other women for a clue of what I’m supposed to do, and then I almost vomit again.

They’re using flat stones to crush the heads of the tadpoles before gripping the top and bottom jaws and turning them inside out.The thick leathery skin of the tadpole detaches easily from the slippery body, allowing the women to skin the fishy sperm effortlessly.

I watch in horror as a Phaelix rips the skinned tadpoles into pieces between his sharp teeth before spitting the morsels into a bucket.Karl takes the pieces from the bucket and skewers the meat onto a stick that he hands to a trembling Maeva who roasts the meat over the fire.

Soon, the smell of barbecued chicken fills the air.

Oh, my god.

That’s what they fed me on the night they abducted me?Giant sperm toads?

The Phaelix eat first.When Sandy hands out the leftover meat to the humans, I consider giving my ration a pass, but I need my strength.Only, when I swallow my first bite of juicy meat, it comes straight up again.

The Phaelix sitting closest to me isn’t happy.He waves the pointed stick in his hand at the undigested meat on the ground and throws what sounds like a string of accusations at me.I pick up the meat, dust it off, and pretend to eat, but when he’s not looking, I throw it in the fire.

As soon as breakfast is over, we’re shooed into the bushes to relieve ourselves while two Phaelix stand guard.The fire is quickly put out and the clearing covered with branches, presumably to hide it.Then we take off along the same path to the lake.

Instead of crossing the water in a barge as I was expecting, we walk along the shore to the other side before cutting through the jungle.Yellow, red, and blue flowers with glittery anthers grow everywhere, competing for space with black, spongy ferns.

A rocky mountain leers up in front of us.A broad river divides the landscape.A barge similar to the one from before waits in the water.Once we’re all inside, two Phaelix row us downstream with paddles.At the mouth of the river, we enter a lake.The mountain rises from the water with a halo of smoke hanging over the top.

Holy cow.

It’s a live volcano.

At the foot of the mountain, we enter a cave with a ceiling that’s so low we have to lie flat in the barge to prevent our heads from bumping on the rock ceiling.

On the other side, the cave opens onto a tropical beach in the middle of the mountain.Cliff walls surround the beach from all sides, cutting us off from visibility.It’s a brilliant hideout.Under different circumstances, I’d call this secret beach in the hollow of a volcano paradise.

A big wooden platform stands in the middle of the beach.The circular stone benches surrounding the stage are packed with Phaelix.

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