Page 31 of How Does It Feel?

He stepped closer than he already was and gripped the hair at the back of my head, painfully twisting my head as he hovered to look down at me. I could feel the anger rippling off him as he glared.

“So we play this game again, huh?” he growled angrily as he wrenched my head farther back like a rag doll.

“I’m not playing a game!” I cried, finally having snapped completely.

What did it matter? I was almost certain I was delusional and dreaming all of this in some weird mental break anyway. The pain was probably from falling from my tractor and giving myself a concussion. I needed to talk with Earl. What if this was a wild side effect of the mushrooms? Had I accidentally ingested them somehow? The sample we had collected was still in my refrigerator, right?

“Prince Mendax is something—”

A large, round man in dark armor stopped abruptly after seeing the aforementioned man fisting my hair.

What the hell had my brain created? A prince? How very damsel-in-distress of my mind.

“Everything is fine, Dirac,” the prince said, never once taking his deranged blue eyes from mine.

“Everything is not fine, Dirac!” I shouted at the brown-haired man that stood to my left. I couldn’t tell much more about him as it was still dark, but I could feel him gawking at us. “Tell your vile boss to stop throwing me around like a dog and let me free. I’m not an assassin! I wouldn’t hurt a fly!” I screamed and immediately began to flail my arms and legs at the man they called Prince Mendax.

The vile prince looked to his comrade and grinned.

“How did she—how is she alive, sir?” The unhelpful man named Dirac asked.

“It seems she’s had help. Why they would help her and how they would have healed her is beyond me. In fact, I’m not certain I even believe her. She also says she doesn’t know who I am,” he said, turning back to me with a grin.

The line of his smile creased so hard that one dimple popped out, causing him to look disarmingly boyish despite the rest of his cold features.

“So what do you want to do with her? Kill or keep?” stupid Dirac asked, sounding bored.

“Killing her so quickly was a rash decision on my part. The humans somehow surprised me. Look at it, Dirac,” he said, shoving me over and pushing my head down slightly so the other man could look at me. “If the humans were so stupid to send such a . . .”—his face wrinkled in disgust, but his pale eyes still lingered on my body—“foul and disgusting creature to kill me, surely it’d be a waste for someone not to use her before she goes back.”

He smiled again, but this time, his eyes darkened before he dropped his grip on me, and I fell against the ground with a grunt.

“You’re-you’re going to send me back? Back home?” I clamored on the ground, trying desperately to regain my stance.

“Of course,” the terrifying prince said as he stepped back, beginning to walk away. “Dead, obviously. You’ll be returned to the humans broken and used beyond anyone’s recognition. A symbol of what will happen to their entire realm once we gain access. I’m sure there are a few kitchen ogres that wouldn’t mind running you through before the forest bogs obliterate you,” his deep voice muttered darkly as his eyes twinkled with the glow of menace.

“You will not touch me!” I shrieked.

The thought of anyone, especially him, touching me made me frantic with fear.

He smiled wide at my horror. His white teeth flashed, but his eyes, like before, never shared the sentiment. Black swirls of smoke continued to flow from behind his back in oversized wings, now seeming to emulate the shape of segmented butterfly wings.

“Pet, I would never debase myself enough to touch you, a human. The royals would rather burn than sacrifice our dignity by touching you. Others may find humans a rare delicacy, but the Shadow Slayers, we would forfeit our reign over the entire realm before we desecrated our lineage with the tarnished touch of a human. Don’t worry, there are plenty of other creatures that I’m sure will ignore your species . . . if not, we will throw a bag over your head or something.” He smiled eerily, obviously satisfied with my terror as he began to walk away. “Dirac, take her to the tower dungeon with the rest of the rats and vermin. I’m sure the queen will be quite pleased, no one despises humans more than Mother.”

His frame faded into the darkness of the forest as he left.

“Please, I beg you! Let me go, I do not belong here! Please!” I pleaded to the man named Dirac. I continued backing away from him as he stalked forward, clearly annoyed at my attempts to flee.

“Well, you’re right about that, you do not belong here. Now come here or I will hurt you, and I give you my word that no fox will be able to save you where we go.” He lunged and caught me with ease, throwing me over his shoulder as I kicked and flailed.

“Stop this, please! I meant him no harm! Please let me go!” I shouted and kicked at his armored body as my head rapt roughly against the armored back of Dirac. Like his prince, he was much larger and stronger than any human man.

“Please just stop, you know I can’t let you go,” he mumbled impatiently as he walked out from the circle in the forest and farther into the dark woods.

“Where are we going? Why wouldn’t the foxes go there?”

“Because you are going to the dungeon of the Unseelie court,” he mumbled, “and nothing can save you there.”

Chapter 9