Ilyas
After his footsteps had left, I slumped against the wall again. If Mehdi knew how I was being treated, he’d wank himself off to it. But I would get the last laugh in the end and he would beg me to forgive him, tears streaking down his cheeks. Begging and begging and begging. Then finally, with the miserable sight of Mehdi to warn them, my brothers and cousins might leave me alone and just let me get on with the business of ruling.
Minutes later, echoing footsteps approached, and not footsteps carrying the weight of a mattress. Good, then he’d found me a proper room, with windows and open doors and every chance of escape.
A flicker of light entered the cell, buzzing around the ceiling. No, not a flicker, some sort of flame. A blue flame barely the size of a star in the sky bobbed and flew at me, stopping to hover over my nose.
The footsteps ended at the door, and with my eyes still pinned to the little light, I started to say, “Finally. It had better be a good room, with a view.”
“I doubt Prince Hemi will have you moved,” a new voice said. A female voice.
The little light dashed to the grate. A beautiful woman stared down at me with doe-like brown eyes. Her skin was as fair as Jem’s, but dark-brown curls framed her gaunt face. She couldn’t have been more than eighteen.
“And you are?” I demanded.
“The Sentei Ambassador Dajana.” She didn’t ask who I was.
Sentei. My new future owners. I narrowed my eyes. “Come to check the merchandise?”
She fell out of view, as if she was so surprised. I rolled my eyes. After a moment, she reappeared, wobbling as if she had to stand on her tiptoes to see through. A small, petite woman with finely carved cheekbones and breasts straining her dull robes. Exactly my type of woman. But she was probably as backstabbing and manipulative as a Nuriyite lady. She wasn’t Jem. Both of those thoughts suffocated any rising desire like sand on a bonfire.
“You may leave now.” I waved my dismissal.
“You don’t even want to hear what I have to say?”
“What could my future purchasers possibly say that I would care to hear?” I shrugged, pretending disinterest even as I focused on her reply.
“Future purchasers?” Her brow knit together.
“Jem already told me his plans to sell me to the Sentei monarchy. I promise you, you will have one hell of a time attempting to train me.”
Her lips pursed together, before mouthing out the word, ‘slave’. Didn’t anyone speak properly around here?
“Slave,” I repeated. “It means a human that you own.”
“Why would we want to own you?”
I gaped at her. “Why wouldn’t you? I’m the prince heir of Nuriya.”
“Nuriya?” She fell out of view again, but not before I glimpsed her look of dread. She reappeared. “The mythical Land of Fire.”
Was her ignorance a ruse or the truth? “Sure.”
“You know, it would be much easier to hold this conversation if you came here.”
I made no move to rise. “And again, why should I care what you have to say?”
“Because you’re in grave danger.”
I laughed at her, openly and mockingly. An old court trick of mine. I’d pretend to doubt them, and they’d fall over themselves to prove they spoke the truth. The more they talked, the more I learned, and the easier it was to spot a lie.
Besides, her warning was so obvious that she deserved to be mocked.
“My queen has no reason to buy you, as you say,” she said. “You’ll only be another mouth to feed, and if you’re a foreign prince, probably not even an adequate labourer.”
I glowered at her.
“Well, actually, I think given the circumstances, we would buy you if we could afford it,” she said. “But the prince regent would never sell you. You’re too valuable.”
I arched an eyebrow. “So you think they lied so I’d be grateful to serve them instead of you?”
“Oh, you’re not going to serve.” She tilted her head. “Well, not them. You will serve. The Dark God is coming, and they need you to serve Him as His sacrifice.”
I clenched my jaw to prevent it from dropping. Sacrificing me to their stupidly named god? “Ha, you’re throwing cream in my eyes.”
She cocked her head, again confused.
“The gods don’t interfere with humans.” Everyone knew that. All right, everyone in civilised kingdoms knew that.
“The compassionate gods do not, for their absence is a kindness. The Dark God is not kind.”
I rolled my eyes.
“You must believe me,” she said. “Your life is in danger.”
“I’m about to be sold as a slave,” I snapped back. “Of course my life is in danger.”
“We don’t keep slaves.” Her voice grew shriller. “No one on this peninsula keeps slaves.”
Impossible. Every kingdom Nuriya traded with owned and sold slaves. “Then why would Jem claim that?”
“To keep you placid. If you knew his true plans, you’d cut your own wrists on the grate.”
I turned my head away. Superstitious nonsense. They probably ate their young too.
“Believe me, or don’t,” she said. “It’s your life. You must escape.”
“Thank you for this thrilling recount of what I already know. Is there anything else you’d like to enlighten me about?”
“The ascension approaches. You only have days to escape.”
She dipped out of view before I could snap at her again. The blue light vanished.
Sacrifice me to a Dark God. It was a ridiculous notion. Risible, even. And now Jem would know exactly the word to describe it.
But I wouldn’t be the first to die for superstitious nonsense.
I shook my head. The claim could all be a ploy on the Sentei side. Make me eager to escape with them, feel indebted to them, so I’d take to my new position easier.
So either Jem lied, Dajana lied, or they both did. And I knew little about Jem and nothing about the Sentei, not enough to guess at their real agendas. Trusting another’s word had made me a fool once already. I wouldn’t make that mistake again.
I would escape, but only on my own terms.
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