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“Can’t sleep?” His voice was rough with exhaustion, but the concern lacing his words was unmistakable.
I shook my head, unable to form the words that would betray how much the nightmares had taken hold of me. My gaze darted to the cell door, half-expecting it to burst open at any moment. The guards’ cruel laughter, followed by their screams, still echoed in my mind.
“Tell me about your world,” Than whispered, his hand finding mine beneath our tattered clothes. “About the sunsets and the flowers. Anything but this place.”
“Alright,” I agreed softly, forcing my mind away from our reality. “Back home, we’ve got fields full of wildflowers. In the springtime, they bloom in a riot of colors. Poppies, daisies, buttercups. It’s like a living painting.”
“Sounds beautiful,” Than murmured, his thumb stroking the back of my hand. I could feel the tension in his grip, the weight of his own terror and helplessness. But he held on, desperate to protect not only me but himself as well.
“Keep going,’ he urged, his brown eyes heavy-lidded as he fought off the pull of sleep. “What else?”
“Sunsets,” I continued, allowing the balm of my memories to wash over me. “They’re like nothing you’ve ever seen. The sky lights up in shades of red, orange, and pink—the colors bleeding together like spilled ink. And for a moment, everything is perfect.”
“Perfect,” Than echoed, his voice barely audible as sleep claimed him.
I sighed, envious of the oblivion he’d found. But as I lay in the dark, listening to the familiar sounds in the cell, a tiny spark of hope blossomed inside of me.
Somebody had saved me from being gang raped. Maybe the same person who’d fed me drops of water during my first night here. Plus, I now had Than by my side. Prys and his assholes might return and not bother with a trial. Maybe tomorrow, Than and I would both be dead. But at least I wouldn’t die alone.
And yet, I didn’t know things would get much, much worse. Because the guards didn’t forget what had happened to their comrades. They didn’t kill us outright, but they decided to let hunger and the frost take us instead.
Chapter eight
BETH
Theguardshadcreptinto the cell to remove the bodies as we slept. They hadn’t woken us—maybe they thought Than had been responsible for the deadly water column. But I knew it hadn’t been him, and it sure as hell hadn’t been me.
The days blurred in the stone confines of the Fae dungeon. When I licked Than’s skin during sex, it smelled faintly of sweet, musty earth, a comforting scent that mingled with the dank air. It reminded me of playing in the dirt back in the human world, and I sniffed his skin whenever despair threatened to overwhelm me.
Every morning, we found the bowls filled with fresh water, allowing us to wash away the stink of our bodies. We’d taken to using a far corner of the cell to do what had to be done, but our invisible friend removed any waste before it turned nasty. Correct that. Nastier.
There was no more food, not even dry bread. At first, it wasn’t so bad. Than and I spent hours talking, touching, and more often than not, those touches turned into mad monkey sex. I’d gone from not getting any and not missing it, to needing my daily quota of orgasms. It distracted me from the hunger pangs.
Once, I’d raised the specter of pregnancy, but Than reassured me. “You won’t get pregnant. I learned some spell craft to control my...”
His voice petered off, and he looked flustered.
“Fertility?” I hazarded a guess, biting down on a smile. How cute that he’d be shy about that after everything we’d already done.
“Yeah, that.” He pulled me tighter against him.
“Could you teach me?” That seemed to be something worth knowing in this world.
“Sure. But it requires some herbs and rituals we can’t do in here. When we’re free, I’ll show you.”
I loved his positivity. Pressed against him, I inhaled his earthy sweetness, the hint of smoky leather emanating from his skin that made my blood pump faster. He turned his head, grinning at the hungry look on my face, and soon I was coming, riding his hand.
When I was done, I listened to his groans and admired the blissed out expression on his face as he shot his load into his other hand. I hoped he was right, and we’d get out of here.
The constant trickling of water grew stronger, as if it approved of what we were doing.
“Yes, I’m happy I have you, too, whoever you are,” I said, addressing the invisible presence.
The icy walls of the cell pressed against my back as Than wrapped his arms around me. My stomach ached with emptiness, and I pressed my fist against it. I’d lost count of how many days we’d already been without anything to eat. Shouldn’t fasting get easier with time?
“Tell me about this world?” I asked, hoping for a distraction.
Than’s breath brushed against my ear. I shivered under the damp warmth and settled closer against him.
