We’d see.
Saldrea turned to me the instant we were safely inside her residence.
“Defenses down, titan scum.”
I ground my teeth and obeyed… to a point. I’d never fully submit to this woman, but I could play the roll of her punching bag, make it seem like she was hurting me. If I didn’t, my sister would take the beating instead and I couldn’t allow that.
I nodded, then knelt, lowering my physical durability somewhat, so the princess would draw blood, elicit a few groans and cries from me, that’s what she really wanted.
And she laid into me hard that afternoon, venting all her pent-up fury at Izzy in a prolonged beating. Saldrea had stamina for days when it came to hurting others.
I took it all, making all the right reactions and noises, till I truly was a bleeding mess, face and body swollen from bruises on top of bruises. I could heal myself quick enough, but I’d wait till Saldrea was finished and had moved on to other things.
And as I took that beating, my fury rose. How could my parents have allied with this madwoman and her mother? How could they have handed Wensuria — their own daughter — over to them? Saldrea was truly mad, insane. I needed to get myself and my sister away from her, but my friends still hadn’t found Saldrea’s secret dungeon. They’d searched everywhere on campus, using their earth-sense to feel through the ground for any hidden rooms, and found nothing. That told me Wensuria had to be off campus somewhere, but where?
Once I found her, I’d free her and escape this hellish place. If I got a chance to repay Saldrea’s debt of pain, I would, but if I couldn’t, I’d just flee, my sister’s safety more important than my own vengeance.
Yet… where could we go?
I couldn’t take Wensuria back to our family. They’d already betrayed her, betrayed us. And we wouldn’t be safe anywhere in elf-controlled lands. There was the Deepwilds, but that wasn’t safe for anyone, and building a new life there would be hard as hell. The human realm was a possibility,ifI could get some rogue dragon to take us, but my sister and I would stand out. From everything I’d heard, our size — I was over seven and a half feet tall and Wensuria was just under seven feet — even in these miniaturized bodies, would make us giants in that world, towering over others. That didn’t seem like the best place to hide… but that might be our best option.
It wasn’t like this world was going to change and accept titans anytime soon. Especially not after Saldrea and her mother’s plan to have us wreak havoc amongst the population after we’d been accepted into elven society as “friends.”
“Ah… mistress?” The tiny voice of Fini, Saldrea’s mouse-shifter servant, only just managed to reach us. Saldrea paused her beating.
“What?” Saldrea snapped and Fini flinched.
“There is a wolf shifter here to see you?—”
“Not now!”
“—with information on the woman you fought today,” Fini rushed to finish, voice just a squeak.
Saldrea’s head snapped around. “Say that again?”
“He says he knows something about the woman you fought today, something… juicy?”
“Show him in!” Saldrea snapped. She spun to me, “Get up.”
I healed myself and rose as her attention turned to the wolf shifter being shown into the room.
Long ago, therianthropes had been minions of the titans.We’d created the beastfolk through years of experimentation with animals, mixing them with our own blood, to create a strong and adaptable front line fighting force. They’d served us well, till the day the titans had surrendered to the elves after The Great War. The elves had taken the beastfolk and made them their minions, but the lowest of the low. The elves brutally pitted the shifters against each other with little care for who lived, so that only the strong survived to “protect the realm.” But we all knew it was a farce. The dragons were the true protectors of Seial. The shifters’ entire existence was an object lesson for all to see. The message was clear: side against us and we won’t just kill off your race, we’ll have you kill yourselves.
And this idiot of a wolf-shifter didn’t seem to understand he was nothing but a pawn. It had been so long since The Great War that the shifters, with their short lives, had forgotten what they represented. This one probably thought he was getting ahead by giving Saldrea something she wanted, and that might be true, but he wouldn’t gain any real power and Saldrea would dispose of him eventually. She, like most elves, hated shifters.
Yet she put on a bright smile to greet this one.
“Yes, welcome,” she purred. “Come in and sit. Tell us what you know of the half-breed whore.”
The wolf didn’t sit, he stood respectfully and gave his tale.
“I’m in a cohort with a bat shifter.”
“Bats!” Hana hissed. “Disgusting!”
“Exactly,” the wolf agreed. “And today I learned something interesting. He was desperate to go see your match. He seemed… worried. Now, meaning no disrespect, but I don’t think he was worried for you. So… maybe he was worried for your opponent, the half-breed.”
I could see the wolf was losing Saldrea. A shifter worried for Izzy wasn’t all that interesting.
