AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As much as I wanted to fight back, I knew I was outnumbered, and against weapons that could inflict more serious damage than a few fists.
I stilled and the guards holding me loosened their grip slightly. Not enough for me to run, but enough to walk without my arms screaming in pain from the tightness of their grasp.
As we moved around the wagon, one of the guards snorted. "Feisty for a palace feeder. You don't think they made a mistake, do you?"
Feeder? What the hell was a feeder?
I didn’t care about the sword any more. The word feeder was too bizarre and terrifying. I resumed my fit, yanking my arms hard as I attempted to twist and pull from their clutches. I’d never go willingly toward death. And I’d fight till the end.
The castle I’d seen when I first came into this town, village, whatever it was, loomed in front of me as we moved around the wagon. I inhaled raggedly and did everything in my power to keep the men from pulling me toward the double wooden doors at the end of the drive we’d pulled into.
Said doors opened and I turned my head, growling as I tried to escape. This was my final chance.
A throat clearing halted me and I looked up.
And up some more.
A commanding man wearing a look of disdain crossed his arms in front of us. His tree trunk-sized biceps bulged with muscles that looked too perfectly airbrushed to be real. But they flexed slightly as he moved closer to the guards.
“Is there a problem here?” His voice was so deep that it was oddly comforting, while at the same time being absolutely intimidating. But that sudden minimal comfort faded fast. As I looked him over, scars marring his beautiful face and neck, I started to believe he was some sort of mythical warrior man who’d fought a major battle…or two…hundred.
I observed his stern face trained on the guards and immediately hid my eyes. I would take the three guards with a sword between them over getting on this warrior’s bad side.
The guard who’d made the feeder comment earlier spoke up. “She’s a feeder sent by the lottery.”
He let go of me and I stood my ground, hoping that the new man could somehow set everyone straight. After all, he didn’t look like he liked what the man had to say, which had to be good because I surely didn’t like it either.
He ran his tongue over his teeth and narrowed his stony gaze at the guard. “We’re not on the schedule to receive new feeders this week.”
One of the other guards pushed my back, sending me a few paces forward and almost directly into the chest of the warrior. “We don’t assign the feeders, Captain Coltrain. We just cart ’em around and deliver them.”
The guards abruptly whipped around one by one and walked away, not sparing a single glance over their shoulders.
I removed my gaze from their backs and met the fierce green eyes of the captain. At least I had the warrior part right.
After a beat more of silence, I glanced around, wondering if maybe I could try to run again.
Proving he was a man worthy of his post, he reached out and took my hand in his in a shake, successfully keeping me in place and unable to run away.
“The guards can be callous at times. They have no jurisdiction on palace grounds, though, if that provides comfort,” he added. “What’s your name?”
I snuck a glance up at him through my eyelashes. He was studying me, but the large and in charge thing he had going on with the guards had faded away a little bit now that they’d left.
“Coraline Fray.”
He moved, shaking my hand once more before releasing it. “Captain Aron Coltrain.”
I glanced over my shoulder and with a quick movement, and the captain blocked my last hopes of running by pressing me to walk in front of him, his hand steadied at my back. His gentle treatment of me since the guards left took me by surprise, but I couldn’t let my guard down. Not when my sole purpose in being here was to be a feeder. Oh my gosh if this was some Hannibal Lecter shit, I wasn’t sure I could stomach much more of the waiting.
I pursed my lips. “Look, Captain, there’s been a huge mistake. I’m not supposed to be here. I don’t even know where here is.” I paused, looking toward the warrior to see if he was even listening.
He wasn’t. His gaze was set forward and he kept squinting his eyes.
“Captain?” I asked as he moved me into the palace.
He ignored me, but just for a moment. “Apologies, Ms. Fray. We weren’t expecting any additional feeders, I was simply determining the best course of action.”
“Right, but if I could just…” I shuffled, struggling to keep up with his long strides that had been setting our pace.
