Page 16 of Denied

They went through, and he closed the door behind them. The cottage appeared empty except for a pile of blankets on the floor, and a tray of untouched, congealing food. Kayla heard the rattle of heavy chains from under the pile as a head of snarled ash blonde hair appeared.

Tara shrugged off the blankets and sat up, watching them without blinking.

“We’re not going to hurt you,” Kayla said. “We just want to talk.”

“I don’t,” Christine muttered, and folded her arms as she watched the changeling.

The teenager smirked at her before shifting her gaze to Kayla’s face.

Feeling this might go better if she showed some trust, Kayla walked over to Tara and crouched down at her eye level.

“You said a lot of awful things to me the last time we talked. You did a terrible thing, too.” She saw the dried bloodstains on the neck of Tara’s blouse and frowned. “Did someone hurt you?”

The changeling’s thin shoulders hunched, and she looked away.

“Colm said she got hurt going through the portal,” Christine said. “Jannon healed her.”

“I didn’t know,” Kayla said, but Tara only glared at her. “If I had, I would have come sooner. I’m sorry. Is there anything you need?”

The chains clinked as Tara crawled around to turn her back on Kayla. She hugged her knees and stared at the wall.

Seeing the teenager’s hunched spine should have felt like a rejection to Kayla. Instead it made her think of all the nights she had woken to find Tara sitting by the window in their room, rocking herself as she stared out at the moon. At the time Kayla had simply assumed she was depressed again. Now she knew better.

“Dirk’s dragon came back with me,” she told Tara. “I can read his mind, just like horses. He showed me how the Blackstones treated you when you were a baby. How they beat you–”

“You don’t know anything,” Tara growled, as the teenager lunged at her. But she abruptly came up short as Christine stepped on her chains. Tara seemed not to notice. “I’m nothing to you. Get out of here. Get out.”

As Kayla rose and backed away, Christine stood her ground, keeping the chains tight.

“If that’s how you treat the only person on this earth who ever loved you,” the dancer said, “then you deserve to be chained like a rabid dog.”

Tara turned her head to look up at Christine. “You think being burned to death was bad? Wait until my brother comes for me, you slut. He’ll take his time with you.”

“Yeah, I think we’re done here,” Christine said, stepping around Tara and taking Kayla by the arm. “Let’s go, sweetie. I need a bath. In Lysol.”

Kayla almost made it to the door before she looked back at the teenager.

“I’ll promise you this much,” Kayla said. “He’ll never touch you again.”

Tara began to laugh, but when they closed the door behind them, Kayla thought she heard her sobbing.

Christine heard it, too, but steered her past Donal and away from the cottage. “She’s faking it.”

“She’s scared and alone.” Kayla took in a deep breath. “She thinks I hate her.”

The dancer made an incredulous sound. “And you don’t?”

“Remember when Colm told you that he didn’t love you? That his heart still belonged to the Fae Queen?” Kayla stopped to face her friend. “You knew he meant every word he said. Did you give up on him after that?”

“Yes.” Christine’s mouth twisted. “No. But I wanted to, really bad.”

Kayla pointed back at the cottage. “That girl has been doing whatever it takes to survive since she was a baby. She’s been beaten, tormented, threatened and mentally abused. She was taken from her mother, and dumped with strangers. Her brother has been using her dreams to molest her for six years. We were her family, and we never had a clue. I can’t even imagine how hard it’s been for her just to get out of bed every day.”

“But somehow she managed,” the dancer countered.

“What was the alternative? Kill herself?” Kayla shook her head. “She could have dropped me in her brother’s lap, and her nightmare would have finally ended. But that’s not what she did. I think when she opened the portal without telling Dirk first, she was obeying him—but giving me a chance to escape, too.”

“She didn’t try to defend herself when I clobbered her before I jumped in after you.” Christine agreed, although she grimaced. “So what do you want to do? Make friends with her? I don’t think that’s going to happen.”