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Hopping around in the human realm is easy—I could do it several times without tiring. But traveling to the Lost Land uses significantly more energy because I have to break through to a completely different plane.
Doesn’t help that this place sucks the life out of everything and everyone, and the familiar weight of dread is unwelcoming as I blink against the dust pelting my face.
I glance around at the bleak landscape.
This place is death. It’s worse than death, because at least in death there might be peace. Here, there’s only unrest and torment.
Hannah doesn’t belong in this hell.
I can’t let the Lost Land rob her of everything I admire about her. And it would. It would drain the vibrancy from her.
Plus, I have my own selfish reason for hoping she never has to come here: when Hannah looks at me, she sees a simple man. She doesn’t know about all the atrocities I’ve carried out, and I want to keep it that way.
I certainly never want her to find out I kidnapped Faith—Vaeront’s second-place offering.
As the disorientation of entering the Lost Land clears, my eyes find the annoying girl.
Faith is a few feet away, lying on her side and taking in her new surroundings.
Not much to see.
Gray skies. Spindly, leafless trees. Dried-up grass. Sand and dust covering everything, including the crumbling structure looming ahead that can barely be called a castle.
“What—what’s going on?” Faith gasps, her hair a mess, her black leggings and T-shirt already covered in a fine layer of filth.
“Welcome to your new home,” I say, standing to brush myself off. “Word of advice: it would be better if you hold your tongue for the foreseeable future. Vaeront doesn’t like a lot of noise.”
Since Faith hasn’t moved from where she landed, I extend a hand to help her up. When she doesn’t take it, I grab her underneath the arms and set her on her feet. Then I wrap my fingers around her wrist and start dragging her up the cracked stone walkway to the castle.
“Stop manhandling me!” Faith shrieks as she violently tries to free her arm from my grasp. “You have no right to treat me this way.”
She’s not wrong about that. I have no claim on her. What I’m doing is illegal in my society and hers.
But she’s aesthetically pleasing, even by fae standards. Her outward beauty could rival that of any royal, and she has a cut-throat ruthlessness about her—a quality someone needs to survive in a dark fae society. She might even thrive in it.
I look down at Faith as she struggles against my hold. She looks very different from when I met her, with her hair pulled back and her casual clothes. The worn shirt is oversized, the frayed neck stretched enough that her shoulder peeks out.
Still, she’s attractive.
Despite Hannah’s suspicions, I have no romantic feelings for this female. At all.
I almost wish I did. It would be easier for me to understand my draw to Hannah if I felt a pull to all women. After going so long without companionship, a man could assume he’d find himself wanting a physical relationship with someone.
Anyone.
However, I’ve seen many females since my arrival in the Earth realm, and Hannah’s the only person who’s piqued my interest.
She’s special to me, and I don’t think it’s because of the link we share through the bargain. No, it’s something else. Something I can’t name.
As I tug Faith closer to the entrance, I’m reminded of the last time I took someone who wasn’t part of a bargain—the Empath princess and her friends. That didn’t end well for me.
I’m hoping the outcome will be more favorable this time. It has to. I’m desperate.
“Ellister, what are you doing?” Faith speaks my name as if she knows me. As if she and I have some kind of connection.
We don’t. She’s just a means to an end.
When I’d asked for her information last night, I wasn’t sure if I planned to use it. Trading her for Hannah was merely a possibility.
