Page 43 of Trapped to Tame
‘No. My mother and father are … they live their own privileged lives in the fae courts. We rarely speak since I joined the Dark Army. They didn’t approve.’ He was quiet for a moment. ‘My younger sister is there. She’ll be old enough to leave the Underhill by the summer.’
Eve nodded and they lapsed again into silence as they trudged down the slope into the valley before them. Small shrubs and leggy plants were growing in patches, more of them as they descended.
‘You spent all your life in that town?’ Priest asked.
She nodded, surprised that he was keeping the conversation going.
‘I grew up on the streets with the other orphaned children. I was stronger than them, but I tried to keep it hidden. I aligned myself with the strongest gang when I was old enough.’
‘You have to join, or you die,’ she explained at his questioning look. ‘But, in truth, their leader had always looked out for me, so it was an easy decision. They decided I was pretty enough to make money for them on my back, but then there was an accident, a foolish thing and I ended up saving someone’s life. Talik saw my strength and decided I’d earn my keep another way. I was grateful he didn’t kill me for being Dark Realm.’
‘How old were you when you began to fight for them?’ he asked, not looking at her.
‘I was taken to the rings when I was about twelve or thirteen.’
Priest’s tone was neutral. ‘Did you always win for them?’
She snorted. ‘I could have, but I won when I was told to win, and I lost when I was told to lose.’
‘Ah,’ he said with a nod. ‘No doubt you made your gang much coin in the rigged fights.’
She nodded her assent. ‘Probably.’
They were getting dangerously close to things she didn’t want to discuss as they made their way across the landscape, and she hoped his line of questioning was at an end. She decided to change the subject to ensure that it was.
‘Why doesn't it get dark here?’ she asked, looking up at the two suns that were low in the sky. They hadn't moved since they'd been here.
‘The days and the nights can vary in different realms,’ he stated. ‘The day here might last several of the ones you're used to in the light realm. The nights as well.’
‘How many Dark Realms have you been to?’ she asked him.
He shrugged. ‘Many. The fae aren't so afraid of them as the humans are and we can navigate them better. We have magick for it. The fae can still die, but it's more likely that we'll survive a Dark Realm than a human will.’ He chuckled. ‘Less likely we will shit ourselves when we see a Dark Realm beast.’
‘Come,’ he said. ‘My amulet is warm to the touch. That means we’re close.’
‘Would it not be faster if I tried …’ she trailed off.
‘To open another portal yourself?’
She nodded; a bit embarrassed that she hadn’t thought of doing so before. They could be back in the Light Realm by now.
‘No,’ he said simply. ‘You’re a novice. Gods only know where we'd end up. If we are where I think we are, the nearest bridge will take us to a main trade route anyway. That's typically how these things work.’
He turned towards her seriously. ‘You must do as you are told, female. Humans are coveted in this place. If I tell you to put your hood up, you put your fucking hood up. Understand?’
She nodded.
‘Do you understand? Say it aloud.’
‘Yes.’
‘Good girl,’ he said, and though she wanted to bristle at his condescension, she found that those words did something else to her entirely just as they had last night when he’d touched her.
Surely, she could not want this patronizing fae male as well. It had to be this realm playing tricks on her mind as Priest had warned her it might.
The object of her thoughts stopped in front of her, making her bang into him.
‘There,’ he said, pointing at the air a few paces away.
