Page 27 of Seized to Sacrifice
Breathing hard, she scrambled to her feet and looked down at her hands. There was nothing there. Yet she had felt something come from her.
Staggering across the room on wobbly legs, she went to investigate, gasping sharply as she drew closer.
He was dead. There was no doubt about that. The whole front of him was singed black and covered with odd symbols. He smelled of cooked meat and, to her horror, her stomach rumbled. What had she done?
She opened the door and fled into the main kitchen, turning this way and that in hysteria, not knowing where to go.
Nyx.
He’d helped her. It no longer mattered what she’d seen. He was safe. She ran from the kitchens and down the hallways, hoping against hope that none of the guards found her first, took her back to the kitchens, and discovered the man she’d killed.
She remembered Eruk’s words. No one would believe her.
Up the steps and along the landing to his door.
She opened it carefully, slowly and softly, padding in and shutting it silently.
He was in his bed asleep in his human form. She noticed an empty jug on the side. Hopefully the wine would aid him in sleeping deeply so she could spend another night here in the safety of his room.
Elle curled up on the chair and tried not to think about what she’d done or how she was going to explain it on the morrow.
What would they do when they found his body? Would they know it was her? Would she be punished? She’d heard people in the town talking about magick. There had been a place where they burned witches in the middle of the square. What if they thought that was what she was? What if shewasa witch?
A laugh bubbled up from somewhere deep inside. She wouldn’t have to worry about punishment for the broken eggs after this.
Shaking, she drew herself into a tighter ball, wishing for the thousandth time that she could remember who she was, where she was from. The niggling feeling was getting worse. There was danger in not knowing. She was sure.
She should try again to escape, but how and go where, a voice in her head asked?
She knew little about this world. She had no friends, no coin, no way of surviving. She didn’t have any idea how to get her memory back. She would die out on the roads or be collected by another slaver and sold again before she could blink. Better the beasts she knew … better the beasts who thoughttheyknewher.
She stared at Nyx’s form in the bed across the room. Her body no longer felt fatigued. The bite on her shoulder was gone completely as was the pain of Eruk’s slap as if the injuries had never been there. She felt more alive, stronger, and something else as well, though she didn’t understand it.
She shifted in the chair. There was an ache between her legs. It wasn’t a pain, but she yearned for something, and she didn’t know what.
Elle closed her eyes and tried not to think about it, pressing her thighs together.
She didn't think she'd be able to sleep, but she tried anyway, knowing that tomorrow she’d either be put back in the kitchens to work or the dungeon to await her burning as a witch.
The next morning, she opened her eyes with the realization that she’d overslept. She was wide awake immediately and jumping from the chair, hoping to dart from the room before Nyx—
She looked at the bed and found him sitting up, watching her and it looked like he had been for some time.
His eyes moved over her, and he looked equal parts amused and concerned.
‘Why are you sleeping in my chair?’
She opened her mouth and then closed it again. Her voice, though gruff, had returned, but she had no idea what to say. She simply looked at him with wide eyes. How could she tell him that this was the only place in the keep where she felt safe?
‘I know you're not much of a conversationalist,’ he commented wryly, ‘but it seems as if there's a commotion downstairs and I would wager that you're at the center of it.’
He got up slowly from the bed and, seeing that he wore no clothes, she averted her eyes, her cheeks heating.
He laughed. ‘I never thought I’d see you blush.’
‘I don’t understand,’ she said, still looking away.
‘That remains to be seen … but perhaps you really don’t knowanything.’
