The Offering

Chapter Fifty Nine - Daella

I feel a feather like touch on the back of my shoulder and turn around suddenly, it's too dark to see clearly but I recognize the walls, the high ceiling above, I'm in the grand hall, it must be another event.

Another touch at my elbow has me turning but no one is there. Am I meant to be dancing with someone? I can't hear any music.

"What a pretty pet you are." I hear Aeris' voice, only it isn't the voice he uses with me, it's not his real voice. "You're learning your steps so well."

I turn again looking for him as I move but don't see him. My dress grows heavier with each turn, like I am drowning in layers of gold satin and silk.

"Of course she is, all that reading had to do some good." Alvaryn says, his voice is different as well, cold and removed. "And practice makes perfect."

"Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a perfect pet?" Aeris says, I can hear the smile in his voice and I turn again, spinning and stepping through the darkness as I struggle to stay on my feet. My breath comes out in short gasps and my heart hammers in my chest.

"We could keep her right here." Alvaryn says as I feel a shove at my back. I stumble forward and hear the clink of a lock falling into place.

I turn around to find gold bars in front of me, I turn again and see them surrounding me, like a cage.

"There she is, our pretty little pet." I see Aeris walking towards the cage, then Alvaryn step up beside him.

"Well done brother, now we will have her exactly where we want her." Alvaryn smiles.

I grip the cage bars, shaking them with all my strength but they don't move. Aeris and Alvaryn only laugh and I feel like I can't breathe.

"Why are you doing this?!" I scream at them.

They step closer, their smiles gone, their faces stone like and impossibly beautiful.

"Because you are a human, you are here to serve us, and this is what we desire." Alvaryn answers, his dark silver eyes boring into mine.

"We want a perfect pet and every pet needs a cage, this will be yours." Aeris says running a finger along the smooth gold bar.

"You can't keep me here! You said you loved me!" Tears track down my cheeks as I grip the bars to keep myself standing.

They look down at me with pity and disdain.

"Oh Dearest, it was too easy to make you fall for us, too easy to have you abandon your family and your home, it was becoming boring. So we decided it would be much more fun to keep you here." Aeris replies, his black eyes soulless and void of anything but condescension.

"Alvaryn please, please don't do this, don't keep me locked in this cage!" I beg, willing him to hear me, the real him, he has to be in there somewhere, it can't all have been a trick.

"Dae we chose you out of all the other human women that were offered to us. You should be thanking us for this great privilege, to have the honour of serving us." Alvaryn replies, stepping closer to the cage, his tall imposing frame covering me in dark shadow.

"This isn't what I want! I don't want to be caged like a slave!" I scream, the bars becoming cold under my touch.

They both laugh at me, their voices wrapping around me and sinking into my skin.

"But you have always been caged Daella, and you always will be." Their voices echo as they fade into the darkness.

The cage tightens around me, the gold bars are freezing to the touch and I shrink back, pulling away from them. I can't breathe as the darkness spreads further, becoming darker and thicker until I am choking on it.