Fey by Kylie Quillinan

Author:Kylie Quillinan
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780994331533
Publisher: Kylie Quillinan

28

EITHNE

Grainne and I curled up together in the hay. We left our boots on for fear that we would not be given time to put them on when the fey returned and might lose them forever. With both our coats draped over us, we huddled close together for warmth.

I dozed for a while, but mostly I lay awake, cursing myself for getting us into this mess. If only I hadn’t allowed Grainne to come with me. If only I had been more specific when I agreed to Titania’s offer. I should have stipulated that Grainne was to be returned safely home immediately.

I went over and over everything that had been said, both my words and Titania’s. What else had I missed? The wording of the pledge seemed simple enough: The agreement is that I will serve as your slave for one hundred years, after which time I will be able to speak to Kalen, and then you will allow me to go home. No matter how I picked and prodded, I could find no loophole Titania might exploit, except perhaps that I had agreed to speaking to Kalen instead of with him. My words indicated clearly that I spoke only for myself and not Grainne.

But as Grainne said, what was done was done. I couldn’t blame her if she was furious with me. If she refused to speak to me for the next hundred years, that would be no more than I deserved. I could see why Caedmon chose her. A soldier needed a wife who was strong and composed and not given to fits of hysteria. And that was Grainne. He would be proud of her. Tears pricked my eyes again. I could not afford to think about Caedmon. I would likely never learn his fate now, not if I was kept here for a hundred years.

Hours passed — certainly longer than a single night — before the tree silently cracked open and light flooded our prison. Grainne and I sat up, arms shielding our eyes from the sudden brightness. A draught flowed in and it was only now that I realised how stale the air had become. Hay stuck to my skin, making it itch, but before I could brush it away, a woman spoke.

“Get up,” she said. Something landed on the dirt floor with a thud. “Eat and make yourselves respectable. It is time for you to work.”

Still mostly blind, we scrabbled around in the dirt. I found it first, my fingers closing around a half loaf of bread. I tried to tear it in two, but it was stale and hard.

“Here, let me.”

Grainne took the bread from my hand and ripped it apart. She handed me half and started nibbling on hers. I gnawed ravenously, hungry enough to ignore its strange taste and odour. As my eyes adjusted, I finally saw what we were eating. The bread was not only stale, it was covered in large blotches of moss-green mould. I gagged, spitting out the mouthful I had yet to swallow.

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