Free Web NovelChapter 197: Episode 197.
Aire sat with her back against the wall of the cell, with her knees drawn loosely toward her chest.
Mud coated the floor, the butt of her dress, and the hem of her dress.
The cell remained silent. She had been seated in that position for hours now, or even days.
She had lost track of time since she left the garden.
Aire slowly wrapped a silver lock of hair around her index finger. She unwound it, and then wrapped it again around her finger.
The repetitive motion occupied her hands while her thoughts wandered somewhere far away.
She hummed softly. The silence felt too large that she had to start humming. The sound bounced off stone walls and returned to her.
For a moment it almost sounded like somebody else was humming with her.
Aire immediately stopped.
The illusion vanished, and she began again. Her voice sounded rusty.
She stared at the opposite wall, and the wall stared back. She had been abducted across realms by a woman who had spent years pretending to be a child.
Aire pressed her fingers against her eyes.
Every time she remembered it, her brain rejected the memory.
Marsili wasn’t real, and Marsili had never existed.
The little girl who followed her around, asked her questions, and climbed unto her lap wasn’t real.
Aire’s throat tightened.
She looked up immediately.
Thinking about it always led back to Nate, and Nate led to the bond. Meanwhile, the bond led to silence.
So she refused to dwell in her thought.
Instead she looked around the cell. She still couldn’t believe they had thrown her into mud. Out of everything.
Aire snorted.
She wrapped her hair around her finger again, then unwound it, and wrapped it again.
Time passed. Or maybe it didn’t. She genuinely couldn’t tell anymore.
Her thoughts drifted anyway.
Xanden was probably angry.
Aire could practically picture him pacing somewhere, unable to sit still. He would be demanding answers from everyone around him, demanding plans, and demanding action.
Xanden hated helplessness, and right now, there was nothing he could do.
The realization hurt her.
Aire lowered her eyes.
Alaric would be worse. He would blame himself and he would replay every conversation, every decision, every moment leading up to this, wondering what he missed, and wondering what he should have seen.
Aire swallowed.
Her chest tightened.
Those boys had already lost their mother to the faes. The thought struck her harder than she expected.
Their mother had vanished because of the fae, and now she had too.
Aire closed her eyes.
How cruel was that?
How unfair?
For years they had lived with questions nobody could answer. Then they finally found someone who loved them, and now she was gone too.
Aire pressed her forehead against the cold stone wall.
"I’m sorry," she whispered.
Aire closed her eyes tightly at the realization that she loved them. She had loved them. Not out of duty, pity, or obligation, but truly loved them.
Every laugh, every question, every arguments every small hand reaching for hers had carved a place inside her heart before she even realized it was happening.
The thought made her throat burn. She pressed a trembling hand against her chest, as though she could hold together the ache threatening to split her apart. They had become hers, and now they were gone.
She felt sorry for all of them.
Her fingers stilled around her hair again, and then another thought surfaced.
Aire slowly straightened.
Beatrice.
The woman the fae had taken years ago, and she had seen in her vision. The alphas mother.
Aire frowned.
What happened to her? Did the faes keep her, or did they kill her?
The cell suddenly felt colder.
Aire stared into the darkness beyond the bars.
For the first time since arriving, she realized something terrifying.
If Beatrice had once stood exactly where she stood now, then maybe the answer to what happened to Beatrice was somewhere in this realm.
Eventually footsteps echoed through the corridor, pulling her out of her thoughts.
Aire didn’t move. She lifted her head, and two figures emerged from the darkness.
The first one immediately made her sit up straighter.
He had purple hair. Dark purple that was the color of twilight moments before night swallowed the sky.
It fell neatly to his shoulders.
Unlike most fae she had encountered so far, this one didn’t look interested in intimidation.
He looked interested in books.
His robes were dark silver and black. He looked elegant, and precised. Not a single wrinkle existed anywhere.
Thin spectacles rested on the bridge of his nose.
His eyes were violet.
The second fae looked bored.
Without a word, he tossed something through the bars.
The object struck Aire’s leg, and pain flared through her.
Aire hissed.
The plate landed in the mud.
The second fae immediately turned around and walked away.
Apparently his role in the conversation had ended.
Aire stared after him. "...thank you." She mumured, her voice rapsy. She haven’t spoken to anyone in days now.
The purple-haired fae watched her. He observed her like she was an unusual creature.
Aire hated him instantly. She hated everyone in this realm.
Slowly she looked down at the plate. She hadn’t eaten since she arrived here, but she hadn’t expected much.
Perhaps stale bread, and perhaps thin soup.
Instead she found rot.
Actual rotten meal. The meat was darkened with molds, and the vegetableslooked partially liquified.
A cup of gray water sat beside it.
The water contained things floating inside.
Aire stared at the meal before her. She stared harder, then looked at the purple-haired man. She looked back at the plate, then back at him.
"What is this?"
His eyebrow lifted. "A meal." He replied, like she was a bug to be caused but he didn’t have the power for it yet.
Aire pulled away from the plate, and folded into herself.
"You are smaller than I expected." He said suddenly.
He looked directly at her silver hair, and that made cold to crawl down her spine.
