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It was earlier that day that I told Savia the only happiness for her was in a fantasy. Let there be some waiting in mine.
Closing my eyes, I drifted off into darkness.
I WOKE UP.
As simply and abruptly, one moment my eyes were closed, then they were open.
My vision cleared on a figure standing above me. He bent down, beaming his crooked smile directly in my eyes.
“Oh yes. I knew you were perfect,” he whispered. “Come with me.”
I kicked off the blanket and stood, following him without a word. A calmness settled over my mind. The part of me shouting and screaming not to go with him. Screaming to call for help, was getting quieter and quieter.
Kaelan Moontreader led me out into the hallway and ordered me to shut the door. Then, he started talking.
“You don’t know how glad I am to see you, sweetling.” He stroked my cheek, his fingers gliding down to take my hand. “All those other hags were useless to me. Too old, too fat, too scarred, too tall, too short. I almost gave up... then you walked in.”
We left the abandoned quarters and turned right instead of left down the only familiar path I knew. A narrow staircase invited me up, its walls hugging my shoulders imparting thecoolness of its stone—a final kind embrace before he took me somewhere I knew I would not want to go.
“It’s a disgrace,” Kaelan spat. “That it took me this long to find someone suitable is unacceptable. The king himself sounds the call for you whores to serve your kingdom, and barely any answer. It’s our duty—nay, our privilege to do our part to end this war and the threat of the curse.
“Today, you are given that privilege. You will do more for Lyrica and the war effort than anyone in this kingdom. Be proud of that, girl.”
A stray thought floated through my head that this faeman was insane. What kind of addled, self-important lunatic believed taking me away to do whatever he was going to do to me, was a grand act in service of the war and kingdom?
The thought crossed my mind and evaporated, unable to summon the shouts, biting retorts, or kicking and slaps that it would if he hadn’t bound my free will as easily as they did my magic, all those years ago.
The staircase released us into a space grander than Kirwan’s home could ever boast. Tinkling chandeliers reflected dancing rainbows on crème walls flecked with gold. Portraits gazed down on me, the borrowed images of queens past who couldn’t help me, and a grave and disapproving look as though they wouldn’t even if they could.
Kaelan stopped before double doors and knocked.
“Enter.”
Fear and disgust tried to push through. He brought me here for someone... or he brought me to share. Why couldn’t I run? How would I get away?
Kaelan got behind and shoved me inside. I tripped over the corner of a rug and dropped to my knees where I stayed, my body refusing the command to stand up.
My eyes rolled in my head, taking in as much as my stiff neck would allow.
We were in a room the likes of which was ten times the size of our modest hut in Gutter Galley.
The finest of furniture stood upon ancient and expensive rugs. I felt their history pressing into my knees. Tapestries climbed the grand windows, allowing the barest sliver of moonlight to grace a bed of silks and downy pillows.
A figure rose from the blankets, concealed in shadows.
“I found her, my love.” Kaelan dropped beside me and bowed low till his forehead touched the rug. “The right height and build. Even better, she’s a nobody. Nothing. Just another war wife desperate for some coin, and not the child of anyone important. No one will notice her absence.”
“Is that so?” A light, almost musical voice floated out of the shadows. “How did such a perfect find land in your lap?”
“It is Meya,” he breathed, raising his head. “She sent her to us. Just when we’d begun to lose hope. Our actions are blessed by the All Mother herself. I know it.”
“As do I, my love. It is as you say. This meaningless waif was sent to me in my time of need by Meya herself. This is her will.”
She stepped out of the shadows, and not a speck of recognition lit in my eyes.
No, wait...
It came to me. Painted flyers in the square. Model figurines in the shops. A name on everyone’s lips.
