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“And if I do not wish to stay?” Farra pushed. “Have you forgotten to tie me to it? Or do you intend to guard me day and night?”

The Glacian smirked in his small way, scrubbing his face tiredly. “You won’t venture far in this place, should you make your bid for escape without my help.”

“And why would you help me,” she said impatiently, her voice unsteady. “You brought me here, did you not?”

Mesrich stared at her and in his eyes, she thought she detected anguish, indecision. Some turmoil that couldn’t be voiced. He nodded. “I did,” he said. “But it was not by choice.”

Farra contemplated his words but could find no meaning in them. Instead, she simply watched him, unwilling to take her eyes from his while he remained so close.

He grinned again, despite himself, his eyes locked to hers. “Your eyes,” he said. “I’ve never felt quite so eviscerated as when you set them upon me in that hall.” He shook his head. “You have no fear, do you?”

Farra jutted her chin, preparing to lie. “No.”

“You should,” he said, finally wrenching his gaze from hers. “You will not survive here.”

“I should think you care little for my survival, Glacian.”

“Thaddius,” he said. “My name is Thaddius.”

“I do not care to know the name of my captor,” Farra spat.

“I saved you from the pool,” he reminded her, though even he did not sound convinced. “That surely grants me your name.”

“Fuck you.”

“Fearless,” he chuckled darkly, looking skyward. “Mother help me.”

“The Mother will spit on your sorry soul should you ever find yourself at Her gate.”

Thaddius Mesrich turned to her once more. “I’ve come to believe the same.” He stood then, and for the first time, Farra noticed the absence of his wings. Without them, he looked oddly… human. Large and hauntingly pale, but human. “The bath is drawn,” he said, gesturing toward a brass tub in the corner. “You should wash before the water turns cold.”

And then the Glacian left the room, closing a heavy wooden door behind him.

Farra waited a beat, then another, and then flung the covers from her body. She lurched unsteadily toward the door, but when she pulled on the handle, she found it locked. The hinges clattered but did not give and she hit it with her fist, letting loose a shriek of frustration.

She turned and let her back rest against the frame, panting from the exertion. She tried to find reason, sense. She needed to think.

She looked around the sparse room. The ceiling was adorned with an intricate candelabra she’d never seen the likes of. There was an armoire she did not recognise, and a bathtub, steam rising invitingly from its depths.

There was no escaping, it seemed. She could not break her way out of this room without causing considerable noise. Even if she could, she did not know the way, and this palace was crawling with Glacians. Thaddius was right, she would not venture far.

She shuddered at the thought of his name. She hung her head to her chest and let more tears fall. It did not seem the Glacian would kill her himself. At least, not yet. Every cryptic reply led her to believe that he was remorseful, despite the improbability of it. Whatever threat lay ahead, it no longer appeared to be imminent. She had time. With time, came opportunity.

She shuffled toward the ridiculous tub, too big for anything but a castle. The waterdidlook inviting. Her feet ached with the cold of the stone floor.

Ridding herself of the ragged garb she’d been vested in upon her arrival to Glacia, she let the rough, thin fabric fall to the ground, and stepped carefully into the water. A hiss escaped her teeth as she lowered her body beneath the surface. The heat stung, so at odds with her icy skin, but moments later, she was groaning with deep satisfaction. Never had she felt the luxury of being fully submerged.

That is, of course, except for the magical pool she had thrown herself into.

Farra kept her ruined shoulders propped up out of the water but found they did not ache quite as badly as before, wrapped tightly in their clean bandaging. The Glacian had obviously taken measures to ensure the job was done properly. Farra looked down at her breasts and wondered if Thaddius had disrobed her in the process. She blanched.

Was it merely her body, he wanted? He had told his King as much, hadn’t he?It has been an age since I had a servant to tend to me.Is that what he intended to do with her? Keep her locked away in this room and fuck her when it pleased him?

And if she refused? What would he do with her then?

Farra thought of the pool and the inhabitants that were fished out. All except her had been docile, empty. Was that the alternative, should Thaddius Mesrich find no use for her?

Farra snarled and sank lower into the tub. There was an escape somewhere. There had to be. A way out, all she needed was time to find it.