Page 77 of Trapped to Tame
He looked back at the female, sleeping soundly on her bedroll. He’d misjudged her since the beginning. In truth, he had no idea what her life had been like before them except for what he’d made her tell him about the Bull … and what he’d seen with his own eyes, of course.
Human females being mistreated was not uncommon in this realm and in the others. It was simply their lot and never had he felt any particular sympathy towards them. But when she had told him of how she had suffered, he had been angry that their Fourth had been treated thus. He’d wished that they had met her sooner so that they could have saved her from the torments that she had endured.
It was clear that her father had orchestrated all of this, though Priest wasn't sure what his game was. Surely there must be one, however, for Gerling was not known to do things in half measures, nor did he typically make rash decisions without having an airtight plan.
He had given his halfling daughter to humans in the Light Realm to be used as they saw fit. That was not normal behavior for a fae, even a ruthless lord like him. The halflings were treasured in the fae lands now. Though many full-bloods might look down on the half-breeds, the Council’s law was clear where the children were concerned. Many inherited the magicks of their fae parent’s bloodline. They were as important as the scarce, fully fae children and all of them were coddled in the Underhill until they were old enough for full fae mates to be found for them. That Gerling had not given her to the Underhill was a punishable crime and it wasn’t the only one he’d committed if only they could find proof that it had been him who had been behind the Underhill’s downfall.
He gazed at the flames for a long time, sometimes staring at the female while she slept. She looked pale and fatigued from her courses. One of his sisters had suffered in such a way as well, so Priest could guess at how she was feeling.
He lay down in his bedroll after ensuring that their circle was still strong and he fell asleep, wondering how he was going to teach the female to control her magick before they found the children of the Underhill and she needed to create a bridge to take them to the fae court.
* * *
Eve
They were riding again,and Eve's back was starting to feel a little bit easier thanks to another hot waterskin that was currently sitting on her tummy under her cloak that Priest had made for her this morning. She didn't know what to make of his kindness. He was nothing like the man who had coerced her into telling him about the Bull only weeks ago … or was it days?
Time was mashing together, days and nights slipping by, and she no longer knew how long she'd been with the Brothers. The Army Camp seemed so long ago now, a distant memory from another life. It surely could only be a few days since they’d been there but so much had happened since then.
She glanced at Priest again. No. She didn't know what to make of him at all. Perhaps it was a trick. Perhaps he was trying to get her to lower her guard for some nefarious reason, but she didn't care. She decided if that was the price she had to pay for having a hot waterskin to ease the pain of these ‘monthly courses’, then so be it. He had given her more rags as well and she was grateful he hadn't made any of his typical cutting comments to her about any of it, not even about her not being able to read.
He'd even sat with her more than once since that night and read to her from his book, showing her what the words meant, how to say them, having her repeat them back to him. And although she had no idea still what any of the symbols meant, she was at least starting to recognize them. They weren't as jumbled as they had been before. She was starting to believe that being able to read wasn't an impossible dream, maybe she could do more than fight … maybe she wasn't too stupid to learn as she had always thought.
She kept her eyes sharp, watching for movement. They were well into the mountains now and she wasn't sure how long it would take to get to the temple where they hoped to find their missing kin, but by the way the Brothers had been talking, it was a treacherous journey at the best of times and fortune wasn’t on their side. Besides the Dark Realm creatures roaming the roads, it was the wrong time of year to be heading for the high passes. Even Eve knew that. The Brothers had also mentioned something about secret doors being the only ways in and out of the temple itself, or so the First Scholar had told them.
But if they found the children, any danger they faced would be worth it. The Brothers believed that, and Eve had realized that she did as well. The fae children, and even the halflings, were seen as precious treasures. Eve liked that. It was so far removed from her own youth where lives were cheap and young bodies in the gutter was a daily sight. More than one night before her strength had appeared, she’d thought she’d be among them come morning.
She shook herself from unpleasant thoughts.
There were no inns this far up in the ranges and they camped out under the stars at night where they could, Eve usually sandwiched between Fie and Drax for warmth when it had become apparent that her body became much colder, much more quickly than theirs’ did.
They’d been travelling endlessly, the bitter cold seeping into Eve’s very being. She wasn’t dying from it – at least, she didn’t think she was – but it was so, so cold all the time that she was afraid she’d never feel warm again.
That afternoon, they found a spot under the trees where there wasn't as much snow on the ground and set about moving what snow there was, banking it around them and forming a circle, a kind of pit that was slightly sheltered from the whipping winds. This was their routine. Then one of them would make a fire in the middle. Today it was Drax while she and Fie unloaded their supplies and Priest went to hunt alone. He and Fie had had words about this as Fie was adamant that no one should go anywhere by themselves, but, in the end, Priest had murmured something to Fie that had had his eyes flitting to her and, finally, he assented, and Priest had left them.
Priest liked to go off by himself she'd noticed and, since Kitore, though he interacted with her and his Brothers, he and Drax were no longer at each other's throats all the time. They were cold with each other as if there was no love lost between them, but no more altercations. There was a stillness around them when they were together, much like there was in these mountains, and Eve wondered if they would mend whatever rift still lay between them.
As soon as Priest was gone, Fie and Drax practically pounced on her, sandwiching her between them and making her sit with them by the fire. They said it was important to stay very close in this colder weather and she found herself grinning at their ploy. She knew they simply wanted to be close to her. They’d both become more tactile; innocuous touches, helping her with her clothes when her fingers were numb, or rubbing her extremities if she complained she was cold. She secretly liked their hands on her. Something inside of her was telling her that she wanted, nay needed, to be as close to them as possible, and when she was, she felt warm and whole for the first time in her life. Was this what happiness felt like?
Eve wasn’t quite sure she understood any of it. Perhaps it was a trick of the bond.
Fie’s arm draped around her shoulders carelessly while Drax’s fingers made lazy circles on her thigh. Neither of them seemed to realize what they were doing and neither of them touched her any further.
‘Are you feeling all right, Eve?’ Drax asked.
She nodded, giving a small sigh between them.
He frowned slightly, his nostrils flaring.
‘Are you still bleeding?’ he asked.
She wrinkled her nose at him, bothered that they could smell such a thing.
‘Does it still pain you?’ Fie asked and she shook her head.
The blood had mostly stopped so the rags still had some rust-colored stains, but that was all. Priest had told her that it wouldn't last more than a few days, so she hoped it would be finished by the morrow.
‘Priest said you’d never had one before,’ Fie fished and she frowned.
