I took a deep breath.
“It’s fine. Whatever happens, it’s going to be fine.”
“Elle.”
“What, Annie? You want me to feel defeated? They can only make you feel that if you let them. It’s the one thing I’ve learned the past couple of years, and I wish that I’d learned it sooner.” I looked at her again. “Don’t let them make you feel that, Annie.”
She nodded and got up. “I have to go, lots of floors and toilets to scrub.”
“I’m sorry.”
She turned around and took both my hands in hers. “Don’t you ever say that! A cleaner is a kindness. Thank you, Elle.”
I smiled at her and hugged her again.
“Seymour is coming today. He was the idiot that you had that thing with. Be careful Elle, I didn’t like the way he called you a bird.”
“Me neither,” I admitted. Just thinking about it made me feel chilly.
“Whatever you do, don’t be alone in a room with him.”
“Who is he? I mean, what is his place here.”
“Lord Creptone’s son. And yes, he is as sadistic as they come. Be careful Elle.”
I nodded and she left the tray of food and exited the door.
Something told me that Annie knew a lot about all these people. Especially the bad ones.
After breakfast, another lady walked in and poured me a bath. She wasn’t kind at all. She was unfriendly and I could understand her cold shoulder. She had no hope, just like Annie.
She didn’t even bother to introduce herself to me or show any kind of interest in having a conversation but she was a great help.
I took the bath and when I was finished, my bed was made just like it had looked the night before.
I got dressed in a long summer dress that showed a lot of cleavage. It had bright colors and a pair of slip-ons waited too.
This entire world was so messed up.
I found a library and hid in a corner trying to read. I didn’t know what else to do.
The reading didn’t help much as my mind was so distracted from the conversation with Annie this morning.
I wasn’t looking forward to seeing Seymour again.
“I will keep you safe.” Those were Lord Creptone’s words if I kept my promise.
He better just keep his.
I STAYED IN the library until lunchtime. Annie found me and announced that lunch was served on the terrace.
“He’s here, just ignore him.”
“Calm down, Annie.”
She eyed my dress. “You had to wear that.”
I gave her the raised eyebrow. “Do you honestly think that I would wear this if there were choices?”
“No.” She sighed. “Men.”
“I’ll be fine. How has your day been? Mine is so freaking boring.”
“You should’ve just stayed in your room, Elle. Sleep, as you are going to need all your strength tonight.”
“Okay, way too much information, thank you.”
She led me through huge open doors that lead to a verandah. It looked upon land but it wasn’t as beautiful as I’d hoped it would be. Too many trees – the creepy kind.
It reminded me of the dream I’d had about my mom, before I knew she was my mom.
I wished all of a sudden that I could just be that Elena again.
“Lord, Miss Elle.” Annie bowed, looked at the ground and turned around. She walked away quickly back into the house.
“Good afternoon Elle, did you have a good night’s rest?” Lord Creptone got up, kissed me full on the lips, which I hadn’t expected, but to my own surprise pulled me into my role.
“I did, thank you.” I smiled at him and sat down in the chair.
I saw a figure sitting in one of the chairs nearby but I didn’t pay him any attention. Although I could feel his eyes were on me the whole time.
“Seymour,” Lord Creptone said. “This is Elle.”
“The girl from the farm. The little wingless bird,” he joked, but I knew what he meant by that. He didn’t care that I was supposed to belong to his father.
Annie was right, everything about him was screaming pig, and sadistic. I could practically see the things that he wanted to do to me playing in his mind.
I dug into my cold meat sandwich and ate while the two of them started to chat about a feast that was coming up. I didn’t pay any attention to the feast, although I was sure that I had to be there, playing my part next to Lord Creptone.
After lunch I excused myself and gave Lord Creptone a kiss on his cheek and went back into the house.
“Isn’t she a bit too young for you, Father?”
“Seymour, she is off limits. She is mine and I don’t want you or any of the men near her.”
“Seriously, it’s going to be like that?”
“I mean it. Don’t forget what happened to Mark.”
Whatever happened to this Mark, well, it had to have been bad because Seymour didn’t reply.
Sometimes I hated my enhanced hearing, and this was one of those times.
I just hoped that Seymour listened.
I OPENED MY eyes and found myself in the hospital. I felt drained, as if I could sleep for another week, but then Elena jumped into my mind and I jolted up.
“Easy,” a nurse next to me said.
“Where am I?” I asked, clawing at an IV that was inserted on top of my hand. I was the Rubicon. What was I doing here? I didn’t need stupid medical assistance.
The last thing I remembered was crashing down. I couldn’t fly anymore. In fact, my body didn’t want to do anything else either.
“Dents,” was all the nurse said. “You act like you are machines. You are not, Blake. You need food and you need rest, just like all the other living creatures God bestowed on this earth.”
“I need to find the Princess,” I said through gritted teeth.
“You need to rest, and eat, Blake.” a male voice came from the door. Emanual. What was he doing here?
“I’m fine.” I started to get out of bed and when I stood up, the same dizziness from when I woke up after I kissed her returned. Emanual caught me and placed me gently back on the bed.
“Far from fine. You can’t find the Princess if you are not well. Rest. I beg of you, and when you are better, I’ll search with you.”
“How long have I been out?”
He just stared at me. I knew he cared for her too. A fact I didn’t like at all. He sighed. “Five days.”
My eyes rose. “Five…f-f….five days.” I did the sums quickly in my head. Almost six weeks. Six weeks and no sign of Elena.
I grunted and stroked my face hard. I was never going to find her.
“You need to take care of yourself.”
“I’ve searched everywhere. It’s like she just vanished.”
“Have you searched the Wyvern cities?”
I looked at him and a new fear clawed at my gut. Paul. “She will not be alive if she is in one of them.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do. Paul is… If he finds her before I do, then he will…” I couldn’t say it.
Emanual froze. “What do you mean by if Paul finds her first? He’s dead Blake.”
Shit, fuck. There was no way to lie to him. I’d known him a long time through Lucian. “There might be a way the hippogriff gave him the Calypso potion before he died.”
“The Calypso potion? Why didn’t any of you think to tell King Helmut about this?”
“’Cause you know what he is like, Emanual. He will go on another killing spree. The only problem is, we don’t know what Paul looks like now.”
“This just gets worse.”
“Then don’t tell him. We’re not even sure about that yet.”
“You want me to lie to my rider?”
“Not lie, just keep it from him until we are sure. Keep him safe.” I knew he would do that if he thought his safety was being jeopardized.
“There is not much difference between keeping something back and lying to some
one.”
“Please Emanual. He can’t know. Not with Elena still missing.”
Emanual pinched his nose and stared at my bed. I could tell by the expression on his face he didn’t like that at all. Then he looked up. “Fine, I’ll try to not say anything.”
“Thank you.”
“She’s not stupid, you know. In fact, she can do quite a lot of spells; ones she’s not even supposed to know. So, she has an advantage. She will be fine. Just don’t lose hope, please.”
I nodded.
“Now rest. When you are better, I’ll help you as long as you need me.”
I lay my head back on the pillow and stared at the fan. I’ve searched everywhere, as in everywhere. I knew where I was heading to when my body just gave up and I didn’t know if that part scared me or if it was showing me mercy. If I didn’t crash, I would’ve been dead as I was heading straight for the Creepers.
Elena, where the hell are you?
Month two
T WAS LATE when he came to my room through a private section that I didn’t even know was a door, with another man. I just looked at both of them.
“Hi,” I said. I knew it was stupid greeting this man, whoever he was, but what else could I do?
“Elle, this is James. He is my lover.”
I squinted. “Haven’t I seen you around?” I remembered his face.
James smiled. “I’m one of the servants. Clive likes to keep me close to his side.”
Lord Creptone smiled.
“So how do we do this? You need me to leave?”
“No, Elle. If you leave, well,” he sighed. “This is the complicated part and the one you have to play for your role.”
“Okay.” I didn’t quite understand what he wanted me to do.
“You need to stay.”
My eyes rose. “Stay!”
“At the fire place, read a book or something but you need to make it sound like the noises coming from this room are yours and not his.”
I gulped hard. Was he serious? I looked at both of them. Neither of them was laughing. This was so fucked up.
What choice did I have? Pretend to be his mistress or become someone else’s for real. “Okay, whatever you need.”
Lord Creptone smiled.
I walked over to the fireplace and moved the chair to face the fire that was crackling in my room and away from my bed.
I wished that I could just wield a shield around myself so I could not hear the sounds of them making love. I felt like such a peeping tom, but there was no other way.
This was going to be very hard as I had no experience with this. The times I’d shared myself with Lucian were not enough to know how a woman should sound.
I blew out a gush of air as the two of them talked softly to one another. I tried to tune it out, but it was so close. I couldn’t.
Then they started kissing.
Another deep breath and when things heated up, noises came from my mouth. I had no idea whether they were loud enough or even the right kind of noises.
I knew this was hopeless, but nevertheless I tried to play my part, conjuring up memories of the movies my father used to watch when he thought I was in bed, using the sounds of the sex scenes that came on to play my part.
It didn’t last long and when they were finally done, I could breathe again.
I was flaming hot from embarrassment but if this was what I had to do to be safe from other men, then this was what I would do.
I just prayed that Lord Creptone didn’t have a huge sex drive.
James left after they had some wine and something to eat.
“Thanks, Elle.” He smiled at me. “You are a natural.”
I smiled, as being a natural in this department was so far from the truth. James kissed Lord Creptone one more time and then he left.
He just had a robe around him and he came to sit with me on the rug.
“Now it’s your turn,” he said and I froze. This wasn’t part of the deal.
He threw his head back and gave a heart-warming laugh. “I’m just joking, but that look on your face, it sure is something to remember.”
I laughed with him, a relieved kind of laugh. He had a sense of humor, even if it was sort of sick.
“So, Elle, tell me your story.”
“My story?”
“I’m not your enemy here. We have a lot of time to kill before I need to go back to my room.”
“Well there isn’t much to say. I didn’t have a good life, not that it’s surprising around here.”
“But you came from up North, things not great there?”
“No.” I squinted. Shit. What have I done? “I wasn’t always living up North. In fact, I’d only lived with them for a month.”
“They are taking people in.”
I remembered what August said about the treaty.
“The treaty is already broken, Clive. You know where you get the girls from and they don’t leave willingly.”
“I’m sorry, Elle. Their secret is safe with me, I promise.”
He was so different from the rest.
“Then where are you from? You don’t have the barcode.”
“I know, my dragon and I…” I froze. Another slip up.
“You had a dragon?” Lord Creptone squinted.
“He’s dead. He died saving my life.” The biggest lie there was.
Lord Creptone closed his eyes. “I’m so sorry, Elle.”
I looked at him.
“I had a dragon too, a long time ago.”
A sad smile emerged as a huff escaped his lips. “I didn’t want to become like this, so they killed my dragon to show me if I didn’t follow the King of the Wyverns, they would do the same to me.”
“You loved life?”
He laughed. “No, I had a son and a daughter to take care of.”
“So you weren’t always into men?”
“No, I guess I was, but tried to fight against it. I was a noble – nobles have a wife and children.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean…”
“You don’t, Elle. You just sat there and did exactly what I needed from you earlier on. You are not like anyone I’ve ever met before.”
“I’m not a saint, if that is what you’re referring to.”
“None of us are saints. Just it’s rare that someone actually gives us what we need. That type of compassion is hard to find around here.”
I smiled again. He was easy to talk to.
“So, I need to speak to you about something else.”
“Sure, what?”
“The feast.”
“What about it?”
“Have you ever been to one?”
I couldn’t lie this time. I couldn’t even remember if I’d ever been to a feast before in my life so I did not know what to expect.
I shook my head.
He squinted again. “Okay, it’s one thing to hear about what is going on there, but another to actually be there. If you show that any of it is bothering you, Elle, they will chuck you in the pits.”
I gulped. What sort of a feast was this, and what were the pits?
“Do you understand what it is I’m saying?”
“No, not really.”
“We nobles get front seats to the harvesting. It’s not kind to watch. Some of them are only children, but rather cheer for the ones that are older, and try not to do anything if a child gets picked. A lot of people have fallen in despair so they fall into this sick game. Laugh, be merry, try not to see what is going on. There is no way around it Elle, and I just found someone that is willing to do whatever it takes for me to see James on a regular basis, so I beg of you, don’t show any emotion. I’ll give you whatever you need afterward. But be strong during the harvesting. And cheer when the Wyverns shred them to pieces.”
Shred whom to pieces? I couldn’t ask, as I knew that I was supposed to know this. My mind was raging with thoughts of some sort of a sacrifice, but it wasn’t a sacrifice at all.
“The only emotion you
can show at the feast is to pretend you are having the time of your life.”
I nodded. Still the inside of me was raging with confusion about kids being slaughtered by Wyverns. This was sick and something I was going to have to watch.
“I’m not a fan of these feasts either and have tried many things to get some of the little ones out of the pit, but it’s no use. They refuse each and every time.”
“How do the kids end up there?”
“Stupid reasons: parents die and they start to steal to stay fed. There are not a lot of options for survival around here. If you want to have a full belly, then you become someone’s mistress, or work in one of the noble’s houses, or you become one of the Council members: do evil on a daily basis, take what’s not yours, enforce the law – which is quite messed up – or you become a thief – steal, kill, and end up in the pits.”
He explained it to me as if he knew I wasn’t from here at all. I was grateful for that.
“I know it’s not fair, but it’s how it is here. Anyone who has tried to stand up to them has died. I’ve seen it a million times. It’s no use trying to change it. The dragons that are left refuse to be dragons and some can’t even transform into their true self anymore. Like your friend.”
“You knew about her?”
He smiled. “She was forced to change a couple of times through the years. Her father was a brave dragon, tried to change things around, but he was no match against the Wyvern King.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It’s how things are, Elle. How they have been for a long time. There is no escape, believe me, we’ve tried.”
I nodded again. I felt so, so sorry for them. Lord Creptone, or Clive, like James called him, was a good man pretending to be bad.
He smiled at me. “You have really beautiful eyes, you know. It reminds me of the Greatest King that ever lived.”
It was the first time since I’d gotten here that anyone had picked up on that.
“Yes, I’ve heard that a lot of times.”
“I’m sure they almost got you killed a couple of times too.”
I just nodded. I didn’t want to speak about my father or let him know that I was the princess, but something told me that nobody knew that around here. They didn’t get the newspapers. This city was not part of Paegeia; it was part of the Wyverns.