But perhaps I don’t need him as much as he’d have me believe.
Eyes narrowing as I look down at him, my fingers go to his belt, the one he made sure to steal from Bere. I unbuckle it and draw it off him slowly, taking it back to the table where I go through each pouch, pocket, and purse systematically.
I find a small leather bag of gold bits, some everyday objects like gambling dice, twine, and a yellow bracelet made from somekind of cloudy crystal. It’s smooth and delicate, circular and smooth.
I’ve seen it before, haven’t I?
I stare at it, my mind trying to getsomewhere. But it’s as if my memories are steppingstones in a turbulent sea and I’ve reached the end of the line.
Letting out an annoyed and weary sigh, I put my findings back in the pouches on the belt. Should I try to put it back on the unconscious fae so that he doesn’t know I went through his things? He might be angry if he knows. He might work some conjure on me, or beat me. Even with Fate’s penalty, I’ll still be worse off.
I get up and, working my hands under the giant oaf, I slip the belt back around him and buckle it together. When I turn back to the table, I realize I’ve forgotten to put the yellow bracelet back.
What does the fae need this for anyway?
Survive.
I look over at him. He didn’t have a chance to go through the pouches once he took it off that other fae. He doesn’t know it was in there. It could be mine.
I pick it up and examine it. I might be able to sell it in the Light Realm. Putting it on my wrist, I find that the sleeves of the dress I’m wearing hide it nicely, or I can always tie it to the laces of the bodice and hide it beneath next to my skin. He need not know it even exists.
I walk to the casement and peek out at the small yard below. There’s a well and I wonder if I can chance going out there for water. I haven’t seen any other human slaves since we got here, bar a couple of elderly males. I don’t want to be stolen while this prick is dead to the world.
I turn away and happen to see myself in the small looking glass on the wall. I freeze, staring at the fae female in front of me,not understanding at first what I’m looking at, the dark hair and luminous violet eyes that I know they hide under their glamours.
When I move, she moves. She looks like me in many ways. But she is clearly a fae.
What is happening?
I peer down at the bracelet that’s currently around my wrist with a frown, and I slip it off. At once, I change, appearing like myself again.
My eyes widen. With this, I could be free. I could go anywhere. Do anything.
But if I was discovered pretending to be one of them, the punishment would be swift and awful. They’d make a spectacle of me, the kind that would carry tales through the human slaves to every Circle. I’d suffer much before the end.
I swallow hard, too scared of being caught to chance it.
But I could use it here. Now. Just for a bit. And keep it with me in case I have need of it should this fae try to swindle me, or not live up to his vow to take me to the Light Realm.
Something in me aches for it, some phantom sensation…as if I’ve tasted freedom before though I know that isn’t so.
It changes my appearance but not my clothes, I notice, my eyes falling on the trunk.
The clothes in it will be too big, but so long as they don’t mark me a slave, it doesn’t matter how they fit.
I divest myself of the old slave’s dress and open the trunk, finding the smallest of the clothes to be a set of black trousers and a matching shirt, tunic, and even boots that fit me so well I’d have said they were made for me. But that’s impossible. Why would this fae have clothes for a slave girl? They must be for some fae female he knows well.
Some odd sensation pools in my stomach, as if I don’t like the idea of him being with another, but I give myself a shake and astern look in the mirroras a humanto remind myself that slaves falling for masters never works out well for the slave.
Besides, I barely know him. I have no business feeling anything for him at all.
I put on the clothes, and even comb the tangles from my matted hair, though it takes a good while. I plait it as best I can and tie off the end before I grab the water jug from the table and leave the room.
Outside, on the high platform at the top of the wooden steps, I hesitate. What if someone can see through the bracelet’s magick? What if I’m discovered?
I breathe through the fear. Fear will not help me to survive. I go down the steps gingerly, and approach the well with caution.
But there’s no one around. The yard is deserted at least for now.
