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“Now, before the steam fades,” Fovea commanded the other women in the cave. I hadn’t looked around, but the room felt wide and open.
Three women surged toward me, catching me off guard so I didn’t have time to fight, or move.
Two of the woman grabbed me—one harshly taking my arms and pinning them behind me. The other grabbed my face, gripping my hair and chin as she held my head still.
The third woman kneeled in front of me, a dagger in one hand and a small bowl of blood-like liquid in the other.
My head was held firmly in place as the fae woman dipped the tip of the dagger in the liquid before lifting it to my face.
She dragged that knife over my flesh, cutting and tracing an intricate pattern of some kind over my face.
The sting made my eyes water, but I didn’t let myself move. Not while the knife was so close to my face, to my eyes and nose.
One final, slow drag of the knife over my bottom lip was the last of the markings.
The woman finally lowered the dagger.
Those holding me didn’t release me.
A small surge of power rolled through me, and then into the room.
Fovea’s face darkened. “Another harsh. Put her with the others.”
I was yanked to my feet and then dragged across the room and deposited on the opposite side of the row from North and January.
My eyes landed on another, much smaller row.
One consisting of only five women.
Sunny and Dots were among them.
If I was harsh, and the others were too, then the five of them had been declared life-bringers.
But…
I tried to look down the row, to see January.
She was pregnant. Her abdomen had rounded slightly, and the other symptoms were present too.
The harsh women weren’t supposed to be able to grow babies, though.
Right?
“We have no need of harsh females who cannot obey orders,” Fovea said coldly to the rest of the female fae in the room. “We take our life-bringers, and go.”
My eyes collided with Sunny’s.
Despite her usual feigned confidence, she looked terrified.
If I were facing the forced breeding process the same way she was, then I would be terrified too.
The female fae began to move.
Three of them grabbed Dots, Sunny, and the other new life-bringers.
So many others surrounded those five.
“Stop,” North said, nearly snarling the words. “If I’m harsh, then I can challenge you for leadership.”
