“That’s not normal,” Cassius says immediately. Flat. Final. “It isn’t.”
I hesitate, then add, “This wasn’t all from one punishment. He did it again later.”
That gets their full attention.
“Why?” Oberon asks, his voice going dangerously quiet.
“Mr. Clay came by, an older neighbor of ours,” I say, trying and failing to hide my disturbance at just his name. “A young farm hand got mud on his clothes. He was going to hurt the boy.” My fingers tighten slightly around the sticks. “I stopped him from hitting him.” I pause. “Mr. Clay didn’t like that. See, he had just worked out a deal with my grandparents to buy me. To marry me, though I try not to think about it. After I upset him, he told my grandparents he’d pay less for me. My grandfather was upset with me for ruining their deal,” I finish simply.
Oberon goes completely still. “That’s not happening.”
I blink at him. “What?”
“You’re not marrying him,” Oberon says, like it’s already decided. Like it’s not even a question.
Ashton lets out a low, humorless laugh. “Gods, I’d like to see him try that kind of shit right now. I’dloveto see him try to get through us.” And there’s a challenge in his voice. Almost a threat.
“Can you picture that?” Cassius asks, voice lethal.
“I can definitely imagine that,” Oberon says, cracking his knuckles.
“And I’ve never hit an old man before,” Sylvian adds, “but I think I could beat the shit out of her grandfather, you know,over several days. Make the whole thing as slow and painful as possible. Let him know that I have my own way of ‘punishing’ people for hurting the people I care about.”
“You’d have to share him with us,” Ashton says with a sparkle in his eye, almost like he’s enjoying thinking about hurting my grandfather.
I feel strange. Overwhelmed. “I don’t want to think about any of that.” The quiet place in my mind tugs at me. The place I go to when I feel afraid, out of control. The place I’ve, strangely, rarely thought about since being with the fae kings. “When I get back– no, I don’t want to think about that because I know that I’ll do whatever my grandparents ask, and I know they’re going to ask me to do things I don’t want to do.”
If I had clothes on, I’d be tugging at the material, using the sensation to calm myself down. Too many emotions are rising up. Thoughts are battering at the edge of my mind. Thoughts that just might drown me. Images of what my life might be like when I go back.
I can’t handle this. Any of this. Going back is my own path forward. There’s no life for me here. So why does it feel like there’s no life for me there either?
No, I can’t think about that.
Sylvian’s hand hovers near my arm, not quite touching me. “Alette… you think this is all normal? The life you lived back home?”
I frown, heart battering against my ribs. “Isn’t it?”
Cassius studies me, something sharp behind his pale eyes. “It’s not. But, luckily for you, you have other options than that. We would give you the world, if you only asked. But when you had a chance to ask for anything, you wanted to return home. Why would you go back when that’s what’s waiting for you? Don’t you think you could have a better life here?”
The questions catch me off guard. “I…” Nothing else comes out. Because I don’t have an answer. Because it’s just… home. Because it’s the only thing I know.
I look away, suddenly uncomfortable. “Can we just… forget about this? All of this?” I say quietly. “It’s not a big deal.”
The reaction is immediate.
“No,” Oberon says.
“Absolutely not,” Ashton adds.
If anything, they look more upset.
“Please,” I whisper.
There’s a tense moment. I feel my body shaking. Sylvian kneels down and pulls my blanket back up around me, tucking the blanket gently around me. His touch is so feather-light and gentle that I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding.I miss being touched gently. I didn’t even realize how much.
Sylvian sighs, studying me like he just doesn’t know what to do with me. “We can drop it for tonight.”
Cassius’s voice is calm, but there’s no give in it. “But we’re not forgetting.”
