Page 10 of Facade

“What’s going on here?” Another male’s voice cut through the pounding of blood in my ears. I still lay frozen on the ground from the pain, but managed to look over my shoulder—it was the male from earlier. The male who spoke to the Queen was standing right behind the guard.

“This bitch attacked me!” The grizzly guard answered, with one hand over his eye, the other checking that his balls were still intact.

I fought a smirk, keeping my expression carefully blank. This situation was dire. No one would believe the word of a human, no matter how despicable another being had acted.

A pulse of pain rippled down my spine, stealing my breath. The younger male’s attention flicked to me, and panic made my skin clammy. His stare was intense—I wanted to buckle beneath it. Instead, I straightened, holding my head high. He looked back at my attacker, and I let out a shaky breath.

“I see,” he said, his tone threatening.

He clasped his hands behind his back and slowly circled the seething guard until he stopped at my side. My jaw worked as he towered over me. I braced for more physical pain. Finally done it now.

The male didn’t inflict any pain, physical or verbal, but instead extended a pale hand to me, his gray eyes bright in the dark.

I just stared at it. This… offering he was making.

“I won’t harm you,” he said firmly.

Trust was not something I knew how to give, even for such a small gesture. But I tentatively let him help me up, gritting through the pain in my back. What kind of sadistic game is this?

“Are you okay? Can you walk?” he asked, something like worry in his expression, which didn’t make sense. I nodded slowly, brows drawn—

“Captain, she attacked me! A royal guard. It’s treasonous! That whore—”

One moment, the captain looked at me with concern.

The next, icy rage settled over his features as his hand shot out and wrapped around the guard’s throat. Black talons tore from his fingertips as his lip curled back, revealing sharp, elongated canines. I stumbled back a step, the hair on my arms standing on end.

Whatever he was, he wasn’t Fae.

He slowly turned his head toward the older male, the latter’s feet now dangling above the ground. Blood dribbled where talons pierced flesh, the guard frantically clawing at the captain’s hand.

“You should go back to your quarters, miss.”

The words were guttural.

Dangerous.

I didn’t thank him. I didn’t say anything as I turned and ran without looking back.

I’d never seen a being who transformed like that. I’d heard of Dragon Shifters that make up the Southern Realm, but they didn’t come here. Sarah said they closed their borders when the Western Realm fell. Could he be one? Is that how he ended up as captain? Maybe a Shadow Stalker? Whatever he was, I needed to stay far away.

I took gulping breaths as I reached the doors to my quarters. Raucous laughter rang out from within. Great. The only way to the stairs was through the tiny dining area, where it sounded like everyone was currently gathered. I opened the door slowly and stepped in.

“—and I told the old crone if she expected me to empty chamber pots in the servants’ quarters, then I would rather go take my chance with the skurs,” Lyra said animatedly, her laugh similar to a donkey.

Her brown hair stuck out beneath her bonnet in every direction, brown eyes scanning the table until the other girls laughed in response.

“It’s not fair they won’t put working toilets out here!” she whined, bouncing in her chair, making her tits jiggle. She refused to wear corsets, always walking about the room with her breasts on display, saying her ladies preferred freedom.

She kept at it until she saw me, then froze.

Everyone quieted.

“What happened to you?” Clara—one of the youngest at ten—asked me with wide eyes. I could only imagine what I looked like.

“You look like shit,” Lyra cackled. “Maybe they’ll finally put you with the pigs where you belong.”

The other girls laughed. The pain in my back had grown worse, and it was an effort to stay upright in their presence. I didn’t have the energy to do this.