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“What?”
I was quite confused. I’d studied dark fae culture for many years, and all the accounts of Mizrah was that she was the earth god’s chief concubine, giving him four sons, the demons of earth, fire, beast, and shadow. The wraith fae were descended from the fire demon. The shadow fae mostly dwelled in the east. And the beast fae were said to be a cursed race, part animal and fae. I could find nothing at all on the earth fae. As if they never existed.
But Vix was a promiscuous god, well-known for his sexual prowess and manipulative escapades.
“You must be mistaken,” I told Ferryn. “The tales of Vix are some of the most entertaining, if a bit diabolical. I remember the one where he disguised himself as a water serpent and tricked a pool of wood nymphs to ride on his back. He then carried them to a lone island and forced them all to copulate with him as the toll to return back to the mainland.”
Meck’s brow shot up, stretching his runes into his hairline. “That”—he shook his head—“is not a tale of our god Vix.”
Confused, I asked, “You’ve never heard that one?”
“That is a fable,” Ferryn declared emphatically. He did some sort of sign with his hand, touching his forehead, his chin, and then his chest, then stretched his long fingers toward the ground, palm up. He looked back at me. I took his ritual as a religious gesture to his god Vix. “The reason we call you Mizrah is because that is your title. It is what we call the king’s chosen female to bear his heir.”
“I see.” I swallowed hard against the bitter gall trying to rise up my throat. Yet again the reminder that I’m no more than a sold sow, waiting to be mounted and bred.
“I don’t think you do, my mizrah.” Ferryn frowned.
Loud laughter suddenly bellowed through the trees and someone played a flute of some sort.
Meck opened the tent flap, “Please, Mizrah. It would be better if you stayed in your tent. There will be celebrating now.”
I walked through the opening while he held the flap aside. He glanced past me to the untouched tray of food on the bed. “Is the meal not to your liking?”
It was prepared rather plainly compared to what I was used to. Roast eskel with the starchy purple vegetable, delly root. Though I enjoyed venison very much and was used to eating delly root since it was prevalent in Lumeria, I was more accustomed to spicy sauces and caramelized onions and sugared vegetables. But even if the meal had been prepared by the best cooks of Issos, I could not have eaten.
“I’m not hungry,” I stated simply.
“You must eat, Mizrah. And rest.”
I simply nodded, knowing I’d never sleep tonight. He smiled and let the flap fall shut. While the laughter and music continued, I realized how truly alone I was.
Chapter 13
UNA
I’d triedto sleep and failed. Once I was changed into my nightdress and covered in my green velvet robe, I’d been pacing the room, trying to wear myself out.
The coals had burned down, but there was still an ethereal blue glow barely lighting the room. It should’ve been soothing, but there was simply no way to calm my nerves.
I’d taken off my velvet robe so that I could climb into bed, only to realize my chemise revealed my body quite clearly. I then slipped my robe back on and slid beneath the white Meer-wolf fur atop King Goll’s bed.
As soon as I laid my head on a down-stuffed pillow, my senses were assaulted with the heady scent of Goll beneath these covers, on this pillow. I pulled another pillow from the pile, but they all smelled like him.
Eyes squeezed shut, I attempted to block out his distinct scent that seemed to wrap around me as tightly as the furs. My mind went directly to our ride into the night sky, his entire bodysurrounding me, his arms holding me against his hard chest, between his thick thighs.
“Ugh,” I protested to no one, throwing off the fur because now I was sweating. “I can’t sleep in this robe.”
I rose, tore off the robe, and tossed it over the closed trunk. That’s when I first heard a new sound among the drunken revelry outside. Feminine laughter.
“What in all the heavens?”
I crept to the tent flap and opened it the tiniest bit. From here, I could clearly see one of the many campfires the wraith fae caroused around. I recognized one or two from the Culled sitting around the fire as well as Soryn. And upon their laps were light fae women!
It couldn’t be!
But there was no mistaking their opalescent wings shining by the firelight, almost as brightly as the wraiths’ silver-ornamented horns. It was the women’s scantily clad dresses, dipping low at their breasts and slitting high upon their thighs that told me where they’d come from.
I was no fool. There were many brothels in Issos these women could’ve come from, but I’d never in all my life thought they’d betray their own people and sell their bodies to our enemies. The enemy who’d just beaten us in the war.
