Page 40 of Captured By the Fae

Besides, it was out of line.

I was a mere human, here at the mercy of the Fae king. I was anasset. Nothing more.

Thinking about him the way I did, the feelings I harbored…

It was wrong.

Rainier was spoken for. He was with Lucia, ready to create a future together for the sake of Jasfin.

Nylah and the King were good friends, too. I couldn’t talk to her about this. I knew whose side she would take, and with good reason. It was better to let it all go and forget.

I wanted to forget all of it. The fight today. The connection. The attraction I felt when I was around him.

I just wasn’t sure I could forget about something that had been so powerful.

15

Iwas here for a reason—to become a warrior. Rainier himself had said that I was an asset. I had to get used to the idea of being a warrior and all that it implied. That included fighting, harming, killing if the need arose.

It took me a short while to wrap my mind around it.

“These aren’t innocent beings who don’t know what hit them,” Nylah explained to me. “They know full well what they’re getting themselves into. You’re not shedding innocent blood. It’s kill or be killed. This is exactly what they mean when they say, ‘all is fair in love and war.’”

When she put it that way, I understood. They hadn’t forced me to be here. I could leave and choose not to kill, but so could the others. I could die just as easily as the rest of them. I wasn’t here to stay alive. That might have been the case when I’d arrived. I’d chosen to stay because life here was better than what I’d had back at Steepholde. Now, it wasn’t about my survival. It was about the King.

Whenever I looked at him, I felt a strong connection. I was tied to him in a way I didn’t understand, and I fiercely needed to protect him.

I didn’t understand it; we were nothing to each other. I was a mere human, and he was the Fae king. He had his elite guard to look out for him, too, but I couldn’t walk away. I wanted to be there for him, even when the feeling wasn’t mutual.

I’d started looking out for him, rather than myself. It made no sense. I was the only one in my life I’d had to look out for all these years.

Everything had changed when they’d brought me here.

When I understood the concept, when I wrapped my mind around what it really meant, it all became clear to me. The guilt of taking lives fell away.

The door to my room opened after I climbed out of the shower, and Bessie came in.

“The meal you sent for, my lady,” she said.

“Thank you, Bessie. I’ll have it in a moment.”

“I don’t think there’s enough salt. Would you let me add some more?”

“Please, do what you think is right,” I said.

Another servant arrived, and I turned to give him my attention. He delivered a new training schedule. Until now, I’d worked only in the mornings, taking part in private sessions with Nylah and Dex. Now, I was going to join the afternoon sessions with the rest of the warriors. It was time to prepare for war.

The idea sent a thrill of excitement through me, paired with a sense of dread.

“Dex asked me to tell you—”

A strange gurgling sound interrupted the messenger’s words, and Bessie fell to the floor. She clutched her throat.

“Bessie!” I shouted and fell to my knees at her side. “What’s happening? Is she choking?” Panic tightened my chest, and I lowered my ear to her mouth.

I tried to listen to her breathing, but her airways didn’t seem obstructed.

“Bessie!” I cried out.

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