[THIS STORY WILL BECOME FREE ON THE 5th OCTOBER 2023]
Fara's husband, the Prince of Azura, is murdered and she's enslaved by his killer, Theodan, a warrior fighting a war he doesn't believe in - until her.
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The soup tasted odd but she slurped it hungrily all the same. An earthy, plant-like taste that was gritty on the palate and grainy on the tongue. Only when the bowl was finished and the Leoth maid moved to refill it did she start to wonder what might be in it. Some of the trees natural to this land can be poisonous to your kind.. Were they trying to poison her?
No. Of course not. What in the gods purpose would that serve?
Her mind was merely exhausted, stoking frenzy and over suspicion like flames licking at the inside of her skull. Nothing the Leoth had done to her thus far had been covert. If he wanted her dead he would use his sword. He would open her throat as easily as he had opened Galyn's. Why order his maid to do it through a soup? Had she the energy she would have laughed at the idea.
She did not know what had passed between him and his maid in their salient, Leoth tongue, but she was certain it was not an instruction to poison her the moment he was out of sight.
She thought of her own illicit motive. So quickly considered and all but forgotten now. Had she the energy she would have laughed at this too. Had she really thought to seduce him? Had she really thought to gain his trust, to somehow trick him? Him; the commander of the Leoth and Zybar armies?
Had her mind always been so utterly and hopelessly foolish? A little girl playing in a dangerous world of men.
Oh, but of course it had. Had not she seduced Galyn with similar folly? Had not she brought forth the war and destruction of Azura because of her own selfishness? Had not she lied to the king of Zybar and signed Arielle's fate because she thought only of herself and her own survival? Not only had she always been foolish, but she had also always been selfish. And fate had seen fit to deliver her punishment for it.
A prisoner here. His prisoner. A collared possession with no chance at all of saving Azura or Arielle.
She wondered if Arielle lived still. Or whether she was at this moment within The Great Palace of Hellaphinia with Galyn and Sylvan, where the truth what Fara had done would be apparent to all.
She would never be allowed through the hallowed gates of Hellaphinia - this much was known. Sin upon sin upon sin would ensure her own fate when she left this living realm. She would never get the chance to explain to them, to beg their forgiveness. To make them understand why she had chosen the path of darkness over light. Would never get to explain to Galyn that yes she had used dark, forbidden magic to capture his heart - but she had loved him all the same. To tell him that she had loved him more than any living soul since Cassie. And that she had loved him because he had saved her.
'Rest, that is what you need, makya,' The Leoth woman said, cutting through her dreary exhausted thoughts. 'Now, since he did not tell me where you are to sleep, I will take you to the lower keep. It is much warmer down there and you still shake like a newborn.'
