I drew in a shaky breath, taking a slow step back from him. Just as slowly, his chair moved forward, after me.
“You don’t have a choice, Joy Vessel,” he said, his words sounding like a threat.
What could I do now?
I could run. But his magical chair was fast. Chances were, he’d catch me quickly.
I could scream for help. But who would help me here?
“If I didn’t buy you, someone else would have,”he’d said.
There’d likely be plenty of fae rushing to me if I screamed. Only they wouldn’t come here to help me. They’d be here to fight Timur for me. And what would I gain at the end? Another master, probably just as bad or even worse.
Maybe I could fight him myself? I knew his weakness now. If I kicked him again…
The memory of his tortured screams echoed through my mind with a cold shiver running down my spine again. The very idea of causing someone—anyone—that much pain repulsed me. Yet if that was my only choice…
“There is always a choice,” I said grimly.
He turned his face skywards, as if calling on his gods to grant him enough patience to deal with me.
“Our other option,” he said slowly, “would be to go back to the shack over there and sit inside it until we both starve. Is that what you prefer?”
He waited for my answer, as if genuinely interested in my opinion. Obtaining my consent might help him sleep better at night, but I wasn’t going to give him my blessing to abuse me.
He huffed, annoyed. Clearly his request to the gods didn’t result in any more patience.
“Look, you’re not a fae,” he said. “Without food and water, you won’t last long. I need to feed you, and this is the only place I know where I can get food suitable for humans. It also helps that instead of me paying for it, you will get paid for eating it.”
“Wait, what? Are you taking me for breakfast?” That came as a shock.
“Dinner,” he corrected. “It’s dinner time for humans, isn’t it? Though by the time we get there, it’d be closer to a midday meal already, since you’re clearly not in the mood to hurry.”
“Is that all I’ll have to do? Just eat?” I clarified, afraid to trust him.
He nodded. “Drink too. In fact, I’d ask you to drink as much water as you can since it’ll take me some time to get more. Fresh water is scarce around here and extremely expensive. There is a source of it in the caves of the Wall, I’ve heard, but it’s controlled by Ray.”
“Wait…” I still struggled to wrap my mind around it. “I’ll drink and eat. And…that’s it?”
“What else would you expect?” he sounded confused.
After witnessing the effects of the golden hyacinth on humans, I expected the worst. But I wasn’t going to tell him about that of course. If he didn’t have that scenario in his head, I sure wasn’t going to put it there.
“Never mind.” I took a step closer to him before I even realized what I was doing. “So, we’re going to this place where they will feed me and give me water, then we’ll come back here, right? Nothing else will happen?”
“The highborn fae who pays for your joy tonight will understandably want to experience it too,” he replied.
That meant I’d be eating with someone’s tendrils connected to me, which wasn’t unusual for me. Back in Teneris, I would often take meals with Dawn, Prince Rha, and members of his court. While the prince had developed a strong preference for Dawn early on, other nobles sometimes shared our joy of food with us. I’d have a general’s or a minister’s tendrils attached to myleilathasbefore. It wasn’t new to me and didn’t feel particularly invasive or wrong.
“Alright,” I said tentatively. “Just promise me it’s only the joy of food we’re talking about here.”
“That’s what we’re being paid for,” he confirmed with a tired sigh.
I noticed his use of “we” instead of “me.” As if he wasn’t the one pimping my joy out and collecting money for it. As if these decisions and actions were not just his, but mine too.
“Fine. Let’s go then. I’m starving.” I took my place beside him as he moved toward the path on the side of the cliff again.
It was a long path, longer than the height of the cliff because it ran at an incline.
