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Hooking my hand around Faith’s elbow, I pull her to the left toward the throne room, hoping Vaeront will be there.
Luckily, he is.
Cloaked in his brown robe, he’s sitting on his throne of twigs and bones as he studies one of his hanging cages with an amused smirk.
It’s occupied.
By his wife, who’s gagged and bound.
The circle of iron bars imprisons Gia, the banished former princess of the Night Realm. A couple decades ago, she joined us through a treaty agreement with the Night Realm king in Valora, but it’s my understanding that she deserves to be here. After committing unspeakable crimes against Valora and its people, she should’ve been executed.
Apparently, her brother had mercy on her. Instead of sentencing her to death, he trapped her in a pitch-black place called The Shadowlands for years just to contain her.
Now, she’s part of an arranged marriage to keep the peace with the dark fae.
A marriage I don’t understand.
Vaeront and Gia alternate between fucking each other’s brains out and attempted murder. One minute, they can’t keep their hands off each other. In the next breath, those wandering touches go from pleasure to pain. Gentle caresses can quickly change to strangulation. I’ve seen it happen.
No matter to me. The sick, twisted games they play are none of my business.
Without sparing Gia another glance, I raise Faith’s arm like she’s a champion who just won a fighting round. “Vaeront, I have a gift for you.”
“You’ve completed the bargain already? She’s unkempt but pretty enough. She doesn’t even look close to death. Did you take her early?” He gets out his enchanted magnifying glass and peers through it at us. When he clearly sees Faith isn’t the one meant to be here, he frowns. “Who is this and why have you brought her to me?”
“You want a human to add to your collection, and I’m giving you one.” I motion to a suddenly stiff and still Faith, who seems frozen by fear. “A good one.”
“But not the right one. She isn’t attached to my magic.” Vaeront sneers at her with distaste. “And she’s soalive. This is all wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.”
“The whole bargain went wrong, Vaeront,” I try to explain. “Since we were stuck here for so long, the illness skipped an entire generation.”
“And who does it claim now?”
“A grown woman who wasn’t supposed to be affected by it.”
Vaeront shrugs. “If it landed on someone else, I’m amenable to that. As long as the bargain still exists, I will have it.”
“Take this girl instead,” I insist.
“She’s not part of the deal.”
“Does it matter? It’s one human for another. What’s the difference?”
“I can’tstealher soul,” Vaeront says as if accepting Faith in Hannah’s place is beneath him. “My magic doesn’t work like that.”
“So leave her soul be. What good is someone’s soul to you in a soulless universe anyway?” I wave my hand around at the crumbling castle walls and the cracked ceiling above us.
Pompous as ever, Vaeront looks down his nose at me. “We might not be good men, but we still abide by rules. Without rules, we’d have total chaos. We’re not like the barbarians.”
So that’s his issue. The men outside the castle grounds are lawless, uncivilized, and brutal. They wander from one enchanted bubble to the next, taking their chances with the unpredictable atmosphere and the way the Lost Land muddles minds.
At one time, the barbarians weren’t barbarians at all. They were part of our group. Before our banishment, we all had the same goal of creating our own kingdom where we would be free to toss morality and honor aside.
Unfortunately, by the time we were rescued, some of the men were already insane from their time here. Or, if not insane, then at least changed.
Changed enough to reject the idea of kneeling to one man. They wanted to maintain their nomadic way of life, unprotected but free, and they refused to accept Vaeront as their overlord.
“Like you said, she’s an attractive female.” I make my unarguable case. “She’s cunning, and her moral compass is broken.”
