Are you in the servants’ room?a voice demands, and I flinch, dread mixing with acute pain. The King. Blue eyes, blue skin, silvery white hair, needle-sharp teeth. He made the cave shake.
Thick, hot liquid runs down the back of my mother’s dress. My legs are covered in sticky blood and urine, and the carpet below me is damp. Humiliation makes my skin burn, but my defiant spirit flares at the voice's return.
Get out of my head, you monster.I squeeze my eyes shut, this is all a part of what Keksej told me. They would lure and manipulate me. If I can keep him away, I will be free.
I am coming to you.Every syllable has fierce finality, and I don't understand why he is looking for me. All I can think about is angering Keksej further. My master cleans the blood-drenched whip and looks over at me. His look is familiar—I’ve stopped crying, and he wants to know why. If he thinks my punishment hasn't been severe enough, then he will call for Mikal. The image of my brother beaten to death fills my head, and my stomach heaves.
Stay the hell away from me,I hiss back, watching the cracks in the walls as if that could prevent more destruction.
You are in pain, I will tear—
Leave me be, you foul creature! You already killed a slave.
I did not. But I will kill that giant.
I don't want you to come.My words should've sounded strong, but they come out pathetic, obscured by the agony from my whipping. Why would he try to come to my room? Why save a woman he wants to eat? It doesn't make sense.
“You see, Estela? You see what they are capable of?" the prince says. For a second, I think I see fear in his eyes, but he looks at me with disgust. I wonder if he worries that they are luring me away to be stolen as we speak.
If I kill them, would you trust me?
My eyes widen. How could more death make up for what happened in the tunnel?
"Remember what happened here while you clean this up. I won't sleep tonight with the smell of human piss in the air,” the First Prince orders. Then, as if remembering that we still had the feast, he says, “It’s time to wash yourself, too. I’m tired of your stench, and the open wounds will make you extra appetizing—and if you survive the night, you'll have learned your lesson for good.”
His words are taunting, like usual, but I see the worry on his face. These walls are no longer safe for him after the shakes. Without another word, I duck into the bathroom to get some soap.
I feel the same terror I have the whole day. All the more reason to leave tonight before they try to take me. I haven't been able to speak with anyone else, so I don't know if I'm the only one experiencing these strange sensations. The King of the Enduares is not a man to be taken lightly, and I don't want to be his meal.
He looks me up and down and makes a displeased sound when I bend down and scrub.He doesn't comment on pain, lessons, or even the Enduares. He touches on a subject much more abhorrent.
“I don’t understand what my brother sees in you.”
I freeze in the middle of working soap into the urine-soaked spot. Here we go. I bit my tongue so hard it bleeds. King Erdaraj made me into forbidden fruit, and Rholker became obsessed with making me his comfort woman. Members of the Giant Court are all allowed one side slave for their personal pleasure.
I doubted the Second Prince’s desire had anything to do with my looks, my size, or anything besides that mandate from his father. Keksej is harder to figure out, though my suspicion is sibling rivalry.
The prince starts up again. “But, I didn’t understand why my father took your mother either. She gave him a bastard son, and he forbid us from touching you. What magical honey pot do you human women have to make powerful men, great warriors, lose their minds?”
I continued scrubbing, my skin burning.No thoughts. No voices.
“I’m nearly drunk enough to demand a taste.”
My whole body locks up, and my gaze stays fixed on the stone floor. His words shock and terrify me so much that I forget how to run. This isn’t how I should act. I should fight, make it stop.
Someone knocks on the door, and the tense muscles in my back relax a fraction while I sense Keksej tense. “Milord?” one of the giants says.
The First Prince relaxes at the sound of one of his own men, but I’m on my feet in a second, ready to find a way out.
“Enter," the prince calls, his voice magically clear again.
“There is someone to see you,” the warrior continues and Keksej curses at the realization as the door opens to reveal the Enduar King. Time stops. I suck in a breath.
He still wears armor from neck to toe, and that long, feline tail flicks behind him as he holds up a large jug of mead. The monster doesn't smile. His nose wrinkles as he looks at me with more disdain than the warrior—the giants hate me, but the look of unfiltered rage at my presence here, with the prince, terrifies me. Blood is drying on my skin, and the concentrated smell of piss and soap burns my eyes.
"King Teo," Keksej says, still fully nude. “What do you want?”
"I'm sorry, my Lord. He insisted," the warrior fumbles, looking between me and the prince. “I can see him out if you are indisposed.”