Page 20 of Royal Captive
Outside, a storm raged on. They seemed to occur nightly, or frequently. Was that normal in the fae realm?
The carriage eventually came to a stop. I wished I’d at least had a window to look out of, but the fancy box was just the same as the iron prison cage we’d ridden in; only more claustrophobic since we couldn’t see out.
A fist pounded on the outside of the door, startling us.
“Let’s go. Out and show yourselves.” The voice was female and without the lilting accent most of the fae had. Seeing none ofthe others were about to move, I bit my lip and reached for the door, clasping the cool crystal doorknob in my hand and turning it.
Clearly, we had traveled all night, since pink dawn filtered into our tiny little prison.
“There you are. I haven’t got all day. Out in a line,” the woman ordered.
Cramped and trying to stretch out aching muscles, we carefully descended the carriage steps. A handsome man (not fae) was at the side of the carriage with one hand ready, chivalrously helping us down the stairs and safely to the ground. We nervously stood in a line as ordered. I studied the blonde woman in front of us. She had attractive streaks of gray in her hair and a few wrinkles at the corners of her eyes.
Another human. Curious.
“You’re the special one, aren’t you?” she asked.
After an awkward beat of silence, I realized the woman was talking to me. I raised my chin and spoke confidently. “The king said I was to be treated just like everyone else.”
My stoic expression faltered at the woman’s nasty grin. Surely, she’d been on my side as a fellow human, right?
Right?
“Oh ho, I don’t think so. I’ve had special orders regarding you, little royal. Come inside and see what we’ve prepared.”
That was a hard pass, but more handsome men had circled behind us and to the side, leaving us nowhere to run. The blonde seemed oblivious to our predicament, instead eyeing the men around us and licking her lips.
No help from that quarter, then.
“I’m … I wasn’t crowned,” I protested vaguely.
The woman ignored me and gestured with a fingertip that we should follow her. The guards following closely behind left meno choice. I turned to study the five men, but their faces were set, expressions unreadable.
The manor in front of us looked just as grand as the first one I’d seen, though a bit more garish. And huge! The house sprawled out on both sides of me, as massive as a castle! The outside walls gleamed with gold paint, and the steps were smooth marble underneath my feet. As we passed under the archway into the main foyer, candelabras were everywhere, as was a heavy layer of perfume. It stuck under my nose, cloying and suffocating. Heavy velvet covered every window; now I knew why there were so many candelabras.
Human women stood here and there in immaculate (yet scantily clad) dresses and intricate hairdos, just as much works of art as the statues and paintings that surrounded them. Men sporadically weaved between them and paused next to the open archways. They wore light, gauzy tunics that bared their chests and stopped mid-thigh. The garments seemed so strange and foreign that I temporarily forgot my anxieties. These were clearly human men; the rounded shapes of their ears confirmed that much. And yet—
“Fresh meat, then?”
A lyrical voice addressed the woman in charge, and my head turned so fast something cracked in my neck. This female had blonde hair the color of corn, with eyes an ethereal green. Her eyes flicked over to us with disappointment.
“Oh perfect, a new male,” she breathed us in, her nostrils flared. The poor man grouped with us backed away, eyes wide.
“Apologies, Toria, but this one is a special order,” our woman said, giving a slight bow before snapping at our guards to hurry us along.
The female fae huffed and watched us go, her lips curling predatorily as she hungrily watched our guards behind us. The man in our group looked both relieved and terrified about theexchange that had just happened. Not that I blamed him—what the fuck did a special order mean?
As I looked around me, it came together.
Oh.Oh.
Pleasure houses weren’t just for men.
Not that it made it any better, I supposed. But it sort of did. Now that I was looking properly, it all made sense. Human women and men were on display here equally, with male and female fae weaving in between each other indiscriminately.
I mean, the women draped across the furniture and up against the walls here didn’t look afraid or coerced … but that didn’t mean they weren’t.
This entire society put me on edge. The only fearful humans were us—the ones just brought in. And even most of that fear had faded with food, baths, and medical attention.
