Page 32 of Royal Captive
I flushed red, anger burning in my veins. Only Shyllon could call me a horse and get away with it. Barely.
Turning away, I stomped out of line and tore through the house. Most people were sitting on the couches and the floor in the parlor, eating their meals. I didn’t care about them. I was looking for one man in particular.
“You piece of shit.”
His nose was busted, with black and blue rings already lining the bags of his eyes, but I had no problem making it darker. He stood so quickly when he spotted me coming that he spilled his soup into another woman’s lap. Her shrieks drew everyone’s attention.
This was probably a terrible idea.
But I was hungry. So hungry.
I lunged, but so did others.
Arms and hands grabbed me, larger and stronger than me. Fae men.
Unfair.
“No fighting!” they called out gruffly, yanking me back. I lost my goddamn mind. Fear, anxiety, anger, and hunger combined into a powerful cocktail fueling my adrenaline.
I fought.
I kicked.
I screamed.
Until they dragged me up the stairs and threw me into a room devoid of anything—no curtains, no bed, no window, and no hope.
There was nothing to take my anger and my hopelessness out on. It drained out of me in one fell swoop, my knees giving out asI collapsed to the floor. My knees came to my chest as I hugged them hard to me, fighting to keep the tears back.
I wouldn’t cry. I wouldn’t give them that power.
Some time later, a knock sounded at my door.
I opened it, Annie standing there with half her lunch. She thrust it forward.
Sighing, I took it and stood aside and let her in.
She sat on the floor.
“You’re going to get us both into trouble, you know,” she said quietly, taking in the empty room.
“You don’t have to hang out with me, then,” I grit out, but with no real venom. I wasn’t even sure who I was still mad at, to be honest.
“Well, I didn’t come only to feed you,” she continued, her tone worried. “They’re talking downstairs—everyone. You’re being labeled as a danger and volatile by Giselle and the others in charge. They’re plotting something. The other humans think you’re amazing, though,” she finished with a grin. “One of them gave me this tray for you specifically, hope you don’t mind if we share.”
I quelled the urge to laugh again. People had been plotting against me my entire life, it felt. My father, Lord Cadgan, the fae, and even Ellis, in the beginning. A sandwich didn’t make up for all of it, but it was a start.
“Thanks,” I said. I took half of the sandwich and saluted her with it, leaving the rest for her. Quickly I ate it.
“Don’t worry about me. Northern Realm girls are tough. They won’t break me.”
Annie didn’t look comforted, but left me to my half meal.
Cassus’s cold stare from earlier went through my mind, and I shivered again.
Eleven
ELLIS
