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“No,” I reply. “After my first meeting, I started sneaking into human villages and watching them. I wanted to know everything about humans and their ways. I built the house to replicate a human dwelling. It is not quite the same. Humans have sawmills and other construction tools that were simply not available to me.”
“I can’t believe you built that on your own,” she says with awe. “It was such a beautiful little cottage. It is the cottage I always dreamed of calling my home one day.”
“When we are safe, I will build one even better,” I tell her. “And you can decide exactly how you want it.”
“Oh, Zephiro, thank you so much. All I have ever known are the slave quarters, and they are not friendly.”
“You must have suffered so much,” I say, anger rising like bile in my throat at the thought of the filthy elves mistreating my woman.
“It was vile,” she says with feeling. “We were trained from an early age what would please a dark elf. There was never any pleasure in it. I knew that my only role was to serve their depraved lusts.”
I feel the heat rise in my chest. “I promise I will never let them get you back,” I say. The thought of their hands touching her makes me mad.
She clings to me, and I can feel my chest becoming damp with her tears. I must protect her at all costs. I wrap my arms around her and let her cry. I want to destroy every dark elf on the planet. The repulsive creatures do not deserve to live.
“I never knew my parents,” she tells me when her crying subsides. “We had a dorm madame that guided us and taught us what was required. She was human, but she was bitter and nasty. I think she hated us. We reminded her of how she used to be before the dark elves corrupted her. Her sole aim was to make our lives as miserable as possible.”
“Did you have any friends there?” I ask, hoping she had at least one person in her life to show her compassion.
“There was Doreen when I was little, but she didn’t make the grade and was sent off to one of the auction houses. I had to stay with Madame and get trained for the elite. She used to tell me how privileged I was, but I didn’t feel it. I guess Doreen would have had it worse wherever she ended up, but I was jealous as hell when she escaped the clutches of Madame.”
My heart is tight with anger as I listen to her story. How could another human be so wicked to one of her own kind?
“The elves had provided Madame with an enchanted stick. When she beat me with it, it left no mark, but the pain was excruciating. It felt like it bit deep into my soul. I would feel hollow and empty for days after. That scourge was worse than the touch of the dark elves.”
I silently add this Madame to the list of people I want to destroy on Sierra’s behalf.
“The only other person I became close to was a stable hand called Philip. He would always have time to listen to my woes. He was like a brother to me.”
I feel a prickling in my chest at her words. I know I should be grateful that this boy had bought her a modicum of joy and hope in her bleak world, but I’m also upset that anyone else had any claim to her.
“But one day an elf heard him talk,” she goes on, heedless of my discomfort. “They dragged him away screaming. I never saw him again. After that, I was locked in my own room and only brought out when they wanted to use me. It was months later that I heard Madame was killed alongside Philip for allowing me too much freedom.”
“What happened after that? Were you allowed out again?”
“I was there for another two years before I went to the club I worked at. There, I was sold to a khuzuth by the name of Elijayur. I was being shipped to him when I saw my opportunity to escape and met you,” she says. “That’s why I was so livid that you kept me tied to the bed at first.”
“I’m sorry,” I tell her. “You were afraid of me and would have run away. It would have gotten you killed if you had managed it. These woods are not friendly to the unwary.”
“I know that now,” she says, gently stroking my chest.
“You are free. You know that, don’t you? I will never hold you captive again.”
“You will never need to,” she assures me.
“When I’m well, I will take you wherever you want to go. We can travel if you like, see the world. Whatever you want.”
“That would be amazing,” she says happily.
A wave of exhaustion hits me. “I need to sleep,” I tell her. “Promise me you won’t leave me?”
“I promise,” I hear her say as my mind drifts away. “I will be by your side forever.” I don’t know if she actually says the last words, or if I dream them, but they make me feel content inside.
21
SIERRA
As I lie there, trying to fight the conscious part of my brain that wants me to wake up, all I want to do is stay right here in this moment. If I open my eyes, I’ll be reminded of the cold reality that is my life right now.
