I let out a harsh breath.
‘How foolish I was to think that it was an isolated incident, that my family was the only one taken. I had no idea back then how many there were. How many families were beingand have beentorn to pieces for the greed of the few.’
Morgan and Jak say nothing, so I continue.
‘In the Dark Realms, we saw many things. Injustices of all kinds, the treatment of the humans, the laws that keep them subjugated, the casual cruelty meted out to them. I steeled myself to it. I had to or I wouldn’t have been able to do what I was tasked to do by the Underhill.’
‘As we all did,’ Morgan says, eyes narrow.
Jak nods. ‘But Bryn…’
‘I steeled myself to her as well,’ I admit. ‘Perhaps more so. The way you both were with her… I feared for the mission. I feared for my vow when we were so close to the finish line. I had Bere’s full loyalty for the first time. He was letting me in. I didn’t want your feelings for her to jeopardize it all, not when we had only two avenues open to us to find out about Fiana’s operation.’
‘We have Tori and Soreno,’ Jak says. ‘They’re perfectly placed to find out more.’
‘They’re a gamble at best,’ I hiss. ‘And you know it! I needed Bere to take me to the pits, to speak freely in my presence.’
I look away. ‘And Bryn was always going to be the sacrificial lamb as much as I didn’t wish for it to be true. As soon as Bere told us where he was thinking of selling her, we knew it. She became part of the plan.’
Jak opens his mouth to speak but I cut him off.
‘No, Jak. We knew it!’ I say again ‘I speak the truth.’
Jak concedes, nodding. ‘Butwecouldn’t do it.’
‘No. You couldn’t do it,’ I echo. ‘It’s why I was chosen to lead. Remember? To bear the worst. To make the difficult decisions.’
I stand, pacing the room. ‘In Merediea, after I sent you both home, I tried to keep my distance from her.’
I stare at the floor. ‘But I couldn’t. Every time one of Bere’s men laid a finger on her, I wanted to cut it off. I worked a conjure on them all to ignore her. But then she…escaped the paddockand went wandering. She was…how she was at the cave. I took her to my room and I…did what she needed.’
Closing my eyes, I heave a breath. ‘Afterward, she was upset. She hated that she’d succumbed, that she’d had to askme.’
I look up and stare into their eyes properly. ‘So I took the memory of it from her. I knew the pits would not serve her well if she was carrying recollections of something better, her time dressed as a fae, the happiness we saw in her. So, I took those weeks we traveled together too.’
‘Was it right? No. Was it necessary?’ I sit down heavily. ‘As a fae loyal to the Underhill, I still consider it so, yes. As a fae that was close to being her friend? No.’
‘But you?—’
I hold up my hand.
‘Let me finish. I knew the pits would be… Humans barely survive and she was being sold as a pleasure slave. But we were only going to be there for a few hours at most, so I hoped to spare her being thrown in a cell toentertain. I knew that if she was sold as a fighter herself, she’d have more time. They do nothing but train them for weeks at first.’
‘The night before, I spoke to Bere. I told him I saw spirit in her over the weeks we traveled with her. That she was formidable, that he was wasting his coin selling her for sex when he could get more for her if they could see that she would be a champion in the arenas. He listened. I worked another conjure on her to ensure her survival. I made certain she would do whatever it took to live. But that was the last thing that went to plan.’
I take a long gulp and I peer across at the sleeping woman in my room. I pour myself yet another rum when I reach the bottom of my cup.
‘Go on then,’ Morgan mutters derisively. ‘Don’t leave us in suspense. Tell us what befell our little human. Tell us what scarsshe bears that we must heal. Tell us the reasons for the changes in her that we see. What happened to her in that place?’
‘I don’t know the specifics,’ I admit. ‘Not yet. But, as I say, we were meant to be there for hours, a day at most, before I escaped with her. I was intending to bring her here directly. You must know that. I was never going to leave her in the pits to die. I just needed to get the information. But, then, the orcs believed her to be too slight for winning and Bere made a deal that she would be put in the lowest pit, a trial to see if she was what Bere said. They took her somewhere I couldn’t follow. It was done quickly, without my knowledge. I was trying to work out how I was going to get her back up to escape with her when Warrior appeared.’
Morgan’s eyes narrow. ‘I thought I misheard you in Merediea. That’s impossible. I practically twisted the cunt’s head off in Dead City.’
I glance at him. ‘I do not lie. He’s not fae, at least not all fae. He’s Dark Realm through and through. Half his face and head was burned to shit, but he was very much alive.’ I snort. ‘So, you can guess how that went.’
‘You were caught.’
I push the hazy memories of my weeks of torment in the pits that begin to surface away. I’ll deal with them in due course.
