Page 72 of Royal Captive
Not to mention the overall resemblance to Fennis and Ellis.
He looks like the king Fennis wishes he was,I thought wryly.
Either way, if Ellis and I were going to survive this, we needed him on our side. I didn’t care what it took.
I reached out toward him.
“Hey. I wasn’t done.” Hayida went still, turning around so fast I didn’t actually see him do so. One moment he was facing away from me, and the next his eyes went roving up anddown my body while one hand held out his pipe as he puffed thoughtfully.
My lips pursed in irritation. Unlike Shyllon and Alihandro, who I at least felt had cared for me somewhat, even if one of them turned out to be a narcissistic lapdog to the king, I could feel that Hayida was different. There were no allegiances, and no need to please or pacify. He simplywas.
He didn’t give a shit about me or Ellis. Or maybe even anything, including himself.
Hayida wasn’t attractive in the conventional sense, like Shyllon, Alihandro, Ellis, and even Gregory had been once upon a time. His face was ageless, as was typical of the fae, but his mismatched eyes and gritty exterior were as intriguing as his attitude was off-putting. His hair was black and long, just like Fennis.
Would I fuck him for protection for Ellis and I?
Didn’t you just give Ellis a hard time about Fallon?
I told my brain to shut up. This wasn’t any time for logic and common sense.
And I wasn’t sure what the answer would be. I hoped I wouldn’t have to find out just how far I’d go to bargain for favors.
“Were you raised in a barn?” Hayida asked abruptly, blowing another smoke out toward me while glaring at my outstretched hand with disdain.
I drew it back, wondering how he knew. “Well, sort of. My estate was a farm, and—”
Hayida pressed his fingers down to his thumb, and my lips shut with his fingertips. “Never mind. What will make you go away, since I can’t do what I would like.”
“And what would you like to do?” I asked before I could help myself.
“Tie you to a roasting spike and slowly turn it over a large fire,” he answered nonchalantly, picking a stray leaf off his shoulder.
My lips parted in shock. Surely he was joking.
“I’d like answers,” I prompted instead, but he only groaned.
“No wonder they picked you. Fine. What do you want to know?” He puffed excessively on the pipe, the only outward sign I was irritating him.
Picked me? I shook my head. “Tell me about the society here. I don’t understand it. Humans are slaves, but they are cared for and content. And yet, there is talk of rebellion.”
Hayida waved one hand dismissively in front of his face. Faint scars and traces of old injuries ran up and down his wrists, and even between his fingers.
“The royals and the ruling class are out of touch and do not understand what the common fae values. Most of them are half-bloods anyway, and those that aren’t still work hand in hand with humans every day. Slavery only gets enforced in the pleasure houses and at court. It’s a meaningless word that’s more of a mindset than a reality for a majority of the kingdom.”
I buried my hands in the fabric of my dress to warm them. Though the sun was creeping high in the pink-hued sky, the chill was still more than was comfortable. At least I couldn’t see my breath steaming in front of my face any longer.
“You seem well-informed for someone who’s been in prison for centuries,” I remarked.
His answering smirk was vicious.
“The time is coming, Princess. It is soon. Now, why don’t you go rescue your boyfriend?”
I whipped around just in time to see a man punch Ellis in the face as his two friends held him down. He and his friends looked human, but the surrounding fae only laughed and egged him on.
“You think you can come in here and strut around like you own the place? There’s an order to things. You’re the bottom rung!”
The man saw me coming, a small twitch of his head in my direction the only clue. Cleary, he decided I wasn’t a threat. That was a mistake he wouldn’t make again. Especially after I kneed him directly in the groin and left him in a wheezing, gasping pile on the ground.
