Page 101 of Trapped to Tame
He conjured a small orb of light that hung in the air between them and then fell silent. Their pace continued, constant and unending, for so long that Eve began to doze in her seat despite her fears.
Then the carriage jolted to a stop, and she was wide awake in an instant. The door opened and her father alighted first.
‘Come,’ he said, taking her hand and helping her down the steps as if he hadn’t basically brought his own daughter to sell in matrimony.
Still unable to see anything around them, she stayed close to him, much closer than she would have normally. His soldiers surrounded them, and they made their way on foot in silence. The only sounds were their boots crunching over what Eve hoped was simply gravel.
The men stopped and a door appeared in front of them, glowing with symbols that she didn't recognize.
The guards in front of them parted and Gerling took her arm, opening the door and pulling her through with him into a dome-ceilinged stone building. A grand staircase coiled up in front of them, the sides of the hall opened into other rooms and alcoves via simple stone archways. There was no furniture, no decor of any kind.
Gerling led her up the stairs to a lone, wooden door at the top and pushed her over the threshold. Inside was yet another sparsely furnished room that her father looked around with distaste.
‘One could easily mistake you for a lesser lord, Ceres,’ he scorned.
Eve caught sight of a large male sitting in a chair in front of a small desk across the room. Was this Ceres?
‘Luckily, I don't give a fuck what one thinks,’ the male countered with a languid smile, his eyes falling on her. ‘So, this is the daughter that you enslave to me,’ he said, confirming his identity.
Eve’s eyes widened. Her father had said marriage before, but he didn’t gainsay Ceres as their host stood up and walked towards them.
‘Very small for a fae,’ he commented, his eyes flicking up and down her body impersonally, ‘but if she truly has your blood in her veins, she'll do nicely.’
‘She does and you can have her. Do with her what you will,’ Gerling said, ‘but that concludes our business. My debt to you is repaid in full.’
‘Done,’ Ceres said with a finality that chilled Eve to the core, ‘but there's one more matter to discuss before you depart.’
‘And what's that?’ Gerling sneered.
‘Your incompetence.’
Her father spluttered in anger. ‘My what?’
‘It was your alliance with the First Scholar that left my plans in ruins and allowed my wayward property to escape me to the Light Realm, a place Istillcannot set foot in because of you.’
‘It wasn’t my fault Nixus took the magick for himself and then lost it! That was his foolishness, not mine!’
‘Unfortunately for you, he’s already dead and the only one left to sate my fury is you.’
‘You can't do anything to me without the retribution from the Council Five!’ Gerling sneered, but his eyes widened, his bravado rabidly being replaced by fear.
A bridge opened behind him, and Eve jumped back as her father screamed, trying to scramble away as a black tentacle reached through the opening and wrapped itself around his neck, hauling him off his feet and pulling him through the breach. He kicked and struggled, his eyes pleading, but Ceres had already forgotten him.
Eve simply stared as the portal disappeared. Gerling was gone. She looked up at the imposing fae in front of her. Was he about to do the same to her?
‘What do you want from me?’ she asked, finding her voice somehow.
‘It’s not a question of want, female. It’s a question of need.’
‘I don't understand,’ she said drawing back as if that not being too close to him would save her from whatever he was going to do.
‘It’s so simple that even a creature like yourself will understand, halfling.’
He towered over her looking equal parts benevolent and wicked as he grabbed her chin and forced her to meet his own fathomless eyes.
‘Youarea little thing, aren't you?’ he mused aloud. ‘How amusing that such a tiny being is the only creature in all the realms who has the power to help me.’
‘I don't understand,’ she said again, and he chuckled.
