Page 40 of Royal Captive
My fingers twisted further in the sheets.
“Calten, be nice. She is a guest here.”
The man (Calten) had short, dirty blonde hair and green eyes that rolled at me. His build was much slighter than Shyllon.
“You bought another charity case. And you wonder why the females hang onto you. Honestly, it’s like feeding wild animals.” He grinned nastily at me. “He doesn’t even like women.”
Charity case. I flinched back. Out of all the insults I’d endured so far here that one hurt the most. It suddenly didn’t matter that I was bruised and half-clothed, the ripped remnants of my shift barely clinging to my body. I grasped the sheets to my chest and ran.
“Princess. Don’t—”
Shyllon pushed the man off his lap and rose, but I didn’t give a shit. I ran across the room as heads turned in my direction. I kept my eyes on the long hall, and my feet moving forward. If he came after me, I’d just keep running.
I wasn’t a charity case. I was thankful to Shyllon for getting me out of there, but not if it was because of pity. I’d rather have stayed and taken my licks if that were the case.
Even though doors passed me on either side of the hallway, I was afraid of what I’d find behind them—couples perhaps, doing what I was supposed to be doing, and what Shyllon had bought me for.
Except he hadn’t, had he?
The end of the hallway ended in a balcony and I sprinted toward it, pushing dramatically through the double doors and collapsing dramatically before the railing. A beautiful garden glowed in front of me under the night sky, a fountain in the shape of a fae woman shooting water from her open palms down into the pool below.
It was so eerily similar to the night I first met Ellis that it stole my breath.
Gathering the sheets around me, I huddled into a small ball and cried. Months later and the feeling of desperation and hopelessness was just the same. The stakes, however, were so much higher.
Yes, a marriage to Lord Cadgan had seemed like the end of the world then, but was it? Surely, it would be preferable to this—sold to the highest bidder, and expected to pleasure any fae who came my way, be they male or female.
I tried to find something to fight for. I tried to envision a way out.
Nothing came.
You don’t even know where Ellis is.He could be dead or living it up with the king.
Not knowing was worse. What had happened to him after we’d been separated? Was he in another pleasure house somewhere, or had he been assigned for something else?
You need to stop thinking about him and focus on your own survival.
That’s how I’d even met him and saved his sorry ass, by constantly thinking ahead to the next step.
And yet, my brain was sludge. I couldn’t think of a reason to fight. Where had it all gone wrong? Sobbing into the silk sheets certainly wouldn’t get me anywhere, but damn, it felt good.
The air was cold, and eventually even the sheets weren’t enough to keep the chill from creeping across my skin and settling into my bones. But the skies were at least clear, for a change. Bright stars twinkled above me. If I closed my eyes, I could almost pretend I was back on the balcony in the Northern Ream.
Almost.
“Princess.”
I hated that term.Hatedit. But none of the fae liked to use my name, did they?
And no one was going to ask, because no one cared.
A presence loomed behind me with dark hair, but it wasn’t Shyllon.
Praise the gods for small mercies.
“Shall I leave you here to sulk all night when there is hot food and warmth back in the house? Seems like an odd way to celebrate.”
Alihandro’s tone was incredulous. It was like he truly didn’t understand why someone would be out here in the cold when a sea of warm bodies awaited inside.
