Page 23 of Marked By the Dark Lord
“Behind? Your behind is your ass? And you emerge from a crack in the cliffs? Aka, your asscra—”
“Okay, I get it now,” I said, waving a hand.
“More specifically, you are currently in jail at the Northern Lakes Magical Enforcement Court.”
“That’s quite the mouthful,” I observed.
“Yeah. Most of us just call it The Twisted Court.”
The lights went out in the hallway, followed by a voice echoing down the hallway. “Silence and sleep! No noise.”
The wraith sighed as I fumbled for the rungs to the upper bed.
“The Twisted Court?” I whispered, hanging my head over the edge. “Why call it that?”
She rolled over, presenting her back to me. “With what you’re in here for, you’ll find out soon enough.”
Chapter Eleven
Mila
Iawoke with a start, yanked from a warm, cozy dream about a man with red eyes and a tender touch. I was covered in a thin layer of sweat and blood in places it shouldn’t have been. It took several long breaths to get myself back under control.
Just a dream. It was just a dream.
From below came the sound of someone sniffing the air. “Someone been dreamin’ the good dreams,” my cellmate drawled with a low chuckle. “Mmm, tasty.”
I fought back a retch. She could smell my arousal? Great. Just great.
“Come on,” the wraith added, moving to stand in front of the cell door. “It’s breakfast time.”
That was the last bit of advice she gave me. Once the doors opened, we walked out and formed a line with the other prisoners. There were all sorts in with us. I saw more wraiths, but also some small creatures like me, with goat-like legs and curled horns on their human heads. A couple of what looked like dwarves. Two huge flabby human-esque women. They were fartoo large and rotund tobehumans, but I didn’t know what else to call them. The tusks jutting from their lower jaws confirmed that they were something else.
There were more, including what looked like an elf to my untrained eyes. Numerous human-looking beings as well, but I was beginning to know better than to judge only by what parts I could see.
We filed forward into a mess hall, where we waited our turn, slowly shuffling ahead as the people in front of us were served what looked like a piece of bread, some scrambled eggs, and slop. I didn’t hold out hope that it was oatmeal. Nobody in there was that lucky.
“Hey!” I exclaimed as someone cut in line in front of me without a word. “Excuse me, but you just—”
The creature turned around with an angry hiss, and I gasped, stepping back from the feline face.
“You know what,” I said, waving a hand. “Never mind.”
The last thing I wanted to contend with was a literal catwoman. She had human proportions but was covered in fur from head to toe and sported a forward-facing cat … well, face.
“You should deal with that smell if you want to survive.”
I glanced over my shoulder at the woman who had spoken. Other than her eyes, which were far too bright a green to be normal, she looked perfectly human. Long black hair braided tightly down her back, and a long, diamond face with a sharp jaw and tiny pert lips that were incredibly mobile, practically dancing with emotion themselves.
“How am I supposed to do that without a shower?” I asked.
The woman laughed, silky and seductive. “You can’t wash off the scent of fear, little human.”
Fuck. First, I reeked of arousal, and now, fear? I looked around anew, realizing for the first time just what position I was in, and it wasn’t good.
I was the newbie in jail, and more than a few people were looking at me with a mixture of hunger and hatred. Some threw covert glances my way as if watching, waiting to see what would happen to me, while the rest ignored me.
“Good luck,” the green-eyed woman said dryly, then pushed past me to advance her own place in line.
