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I couldn’t breathe, or move or even open my mouth to warn the others. I was frozen in place, slowly realizing that this was it. There was no running, there was no pleading. The creatures that rose from the surface of the marsh were death incarnate. Impossible to mistake for anything but the Sluagh.
They were nightmarish, living up to their legend. Creatures who were long dead, driven by the insatiable need to destroy and consume. The stories said that the Sluagh was composed of the ghosts of dead faeries who’d fallen in battle and refused to cross over into death. They traveled the realms of man and faerie, hunting for more souls to add to their ranks.
Their faces were flaky with decaying skin and their eyes appeared inky black with no whites to be seen. My stomach lurched at the horror of them. I couldn’t count how many gnarled forms were headed our way, but it had to be dozens. Some had broken wings hanging from their backs, others were missing limbs or half of their faces. They traveled through the water swiftly on the backs of their war beasts.
Sabers, only more monstrous with their long, scaled bodies, sharp teeth, webbed feet, and no eyes. Their forked tongues slithered in and out of their mouths as they smelled their way toward us. The Sluagh was an army charging into some unseen battle, always ready to kill, always ready to consume.
Dane and Drystan stood apart now, swords drawn and ready to do as much damage as they could before they were inevitably ripped to shreds. I met Dane’s eyes from a brief moment, trying to convey every ounce of thanks I could, hoping he understood.
The Sluagh closed in, surrounding us on every side, grendels leaping and dodging between their beasts. The sounds that fell from their cracking lips were more like snarls and growls…the gurgling of the dead.
One of them in particular stood out from the rest. My eyes widened as the others parted for her. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and everything inside of me wanted to reject it. Her flaming-copper hair was the only color in the marsh against a backdrop of rotten grays and blacks. Her eyes were not black gouges like the rest, but pure white, and they seemed to glow in the darkness.
Beside me, Drystan gasped, moving through the water faster than he’d been able to move before. I reached out to stop him, but he shook me off, pushing past Zephyr who attempted to block him from getting any closer to the Sluagh.
“Ky?!” he shouted, tripping as he hurried through the muck. He barely even held onto his sword. “Kyre!" he said louder, desperation and disbelief in his voice.
My body unlocked and I lunged for him, my fear for him overpowering any sense of self-preservation I still had in me. Dane did the same, reaching him before I could and hauling him back by the collar of his shirt.
I gripped his arm and turned him to face me, capturing his scruffy cheeks with my palms. “Look at me,” I snapped, leaving no room for argument. His eyes flitted toward the red-haired Sluagh faerie again, but I tapped his face before he could try to run again. “That’s not your sister, do you hear me? It looks like Kyre, but I promise you, it’s not.”
I understood what he was feeling. The Sluagh faerie had her face and her hair, but it wasn’t her. If I let Drystan go to this…thing, it would destroy him. It could consume him and add him to their ranks. As they came closer, the smell of dead things permeating the air made me gag. I knew it would stay with me for a long time…if I lived through this.
Maybe if I begged them, they'd spare our lives. Maybe if I made it out, I could finally find Kyre and save her from those wicked princes. Maybe I could reason with this dead faerie who looked like my best friend. My home was gone, the queen wanted me captured, and Drystan was spiraling out of control. Kyre needed to know that this wasn't over.
As they closed in, leaving no room for escape, I silently swore to any gods who were listening that I wouldn't turn my back on her again. I'd find her, or I'd burn the world down trying. Starting with the Sluagh.
Kyre
Another week passed slowly, and today was the first time I was allowed to see the inside of the bidding hall. It was luxurious and opulent, with golden cages that hung from the vaulted ceilings, each one holding one or two naked or scantily-clad concubines in them.
The concubines danced to faerie music that floated through the hall, intoxicating all who heard it. Wine was shared between Sidhe faeries visiting from all walks of life. Bidding day wasn’t for another week, but faeries and travelers were already arriving, sampling the merchandise, as Cadoc had called them.
I learned that most of the buyers were royals or wealthy faeries. The Wild Hunt was something of a spectacle even in Faerie, so all sorts jumped at the chance to take a peek inside the treetop city. Any other month out of the year, a trip to Void Wood would be a death sentence.
Faeries and concubines were fucking on every available surface, out in the open for all to spectate and enjoy. Erix guided me through the room with his hand on my lower back as we weaved around writhing, moaning bodies. There were several beautiful pixies who reached out as Erix passed them, but he simply brushed them off with barely a glance their way. There was no logical reason for me to feel smug about it, but something in me tingled every time he snubbed them.
There was a stage at the very front of the room with one giant golden cage in the very center of it. I gaped at the sight of it, and at the concubine inside, dangling from vines that wrapped around her wrists and her ankles, suspending her in the air. Several faeries surrounded her outside of the cage, talking amongst each other, pointing vaguely in her direction as if they were discussing whether or not she was worth purchasing.
I would have been furious at the display had it not been for the moans of pleasure falling from her parted lips. A female faerie was perched between the concubines legs, her face buried in her wetness, lapping her up like delicious honey. The concubine squirmed and writhed, her legs shaking with pleasure as she threw her head back in bliss.
I hadn’t realized I’d paused to watch until Erix cleared his throat. I startled, looking up at him from over my shoulder. His face was as stoic as always, but not cruel like some of the others in the room who watched me with hungry eyes. The lightning-bright tattoos that snaked over his skin were beautiful, undulating like liquid, constantly moving and changing shape. I wanted to ask him how they worked, but he spoke before I could work up the nerve.
“You surprise me, Princess.” He nodded toward them. “I never would have taken you for a voyeur.” His lips pulled up on one side, and I couldn't help but smirk back at him. He didn’t talk much, but when he did, I realized I enjoyed what he had to say.
I shrugged, turning back to face the spectacle. “Why, because royals aren’t supposed to enjoy sex?” It came out more bitter than I’d intended. “I was raised by human standards with human rules. I was told to keep my legs closed or else nobody would ever respect me. The slums didn't have the same rules.”
Erix gave an amused huff, shaking his head as he stood there with his muscled arms crossed over his chest. “Humans and their fucking rules. I don’t know how you managed to live with them for so long. I would have escaped to Faerie the first opportunity I had.”
“It was never that simple.”
If it had been, I would have left years ago. But I always stayed because I had Drystan and my father. He wasn’t a bad man or a bad king. Absent sometimes and willful, yes, but not cruel. He loved me as much as a king who had an empire to run could love their daughter, and that’s all I ever asked of him.
Leaving the bidding hall behind, Erix guided me out a set of doors, down a dark corridor that I’d never seen before. They kept me on one side of the auction house, close to the princes’ quarters where they could snap their fingers and have me at their beck and call.
The sound of moans filtered under the crack of every door that lined the stone walls. Slapping skin, roars, and shrieks followed, heating my cheeks and causing sweat to bead on the nape of my neck. None of the princes had laid a hand on me since that night on my knees with Haelo, which surprised me. I would have thought that four virile, faerie males would have been leaping at the chance to fuck a new concubine.
Erix stopped at the last door before a dead end and pushed it open. The sweet scent of roses and jasmine wafted out, a cool breeze blowing my hair over my bare shoulders. The sheer dress I wore turned silver in the moonlight that entered in through a window on the far wall. I stepped into a beautiful bedroom furnished with a large round bed in the very center. But that wasn’t what caught and held my attention. That wasn’t what had me gaping, unable to form a single coherent thought.
