Page 14 of The Wild Hunt (Sold to the Fae Duet #1)

Anya wakes us early, and despite my hours of tossing and turning before my encounter with Lord Draekoh, I feel well rested. Impossibly well rested. I wonder vaguely if the High Lord’s powers had anything to do with it.

“Quickly, now,” Anya ushers us to our feet. “You need to eat as much as you can before—” she cuts herself off, blushing. “Before today’s trials,” she finishes.

She turns and hurries to the tables and loads two plates to the brim with pastries, fruits (ignoring the faerie fruit), stacks of bacon, some toast, and a good scoop of what I can only assume is scrambled eggs.

I briefly wonder at the type of eggs used, but quickly dismiss the thought.

If it wasn’t chicken eggs, I really didn’t want to know.

We head back to our little area and dig in.

We aren’t the only ones awake, but many still sleep, and those who are awake are slow and unhurried.

Anya fiddles nervously, and I want to reach out, grab hold of her hand, and comfort her.

Stupid really, as it was us she was worrying about.

So I keep my hands to myself and keep stuffing my face until I’m a bloated and gluttonous balloon.

“So good,” Akari moans. She hasn’t quite managed to clear her own plate, but she’s had a good go at it. I eye a piece of bacon she has left on her discarded plate, and despite my own swollen stomach, I snatch it off her plate and nibble on it .

“You can say that again,” I say between chews. “Please tell me meals are always like this in Faezgard, Anya.”

“In the Royal Courts, yes. Everywhere else? It depends on your owner.”

I simmer at her words. Owner. No one was going to fucking own me. Especially not a fucking Lord of Faerie.

“Tell me, Anya, is there any way around this whole claiming thing?”

Anya hesitates. “This next trial is going to test you. A lot of the Chosen will not survive to see the sunset, let alone the night that is to follow. However, there is a clause that would allow you freedom. But the likelihood of achieving it… is near on impossible. No Chosen ever has. I’m sorry, I wish I could give you more hope, but I am a realist. And I think you are, too.

Both of you. I can’t give you false hope. ”

“Thank you for your honesty, Anya,” Akari says with a sad but frank smile.

Before Anya can respond, a horrendous gong sounds. It reverberates painfully through my very bones and rouses those who were catching up on some extra z’s. More than a few Chosen scream, but it’s drowned out by a second gong that follows the first in just as horrible a sound.

“You best relieve yourselves now,” Anya says loudly to be heard over the noise. “It’s almost time.”

We do as she says, the gong ringing ten more times before the last thrums into an almost haunting silence. The women are all awake now, eating, toileting, and whispering amongst themselves.

I grab Akari’s hands and turn to face her.

“Whatever happens today-” I start, but she cuts me off .

“I know.” Her lips tremble as she forces herself to smile. “And the same goes for you.”

I smile back and tighten my grip. If what Anya said is true, and I have no reason to doubt her, this could be the last time we were together.

If we didn’t die, our lives would be forfeit to whichever fae male claims us.

Although a big part of me strived for that minuscule hope of freedom, the realistic part of me knew it was hopeless.

It wouldn’t stop me from trying, of course.

I was no pushover. But I was also only human.

And this was Faerie. The rules of survival were unfamiliar and, apparently, near-impossible.

“Chosen!” A female fae sweeps through the tent flap like an avenging goddess of death.

The wicked grin she wears only adds to the effect.

Her eyes travel over the miserable lot of us, and she sneers.

“It’s time for Hunting!” A chorus of hoots and cheers echo from outside the tent as if the entire clearing heard her announcement.

I guess, with their superior hearing, they probably did. “Line up!”

More fae file into the tent and start shoving us towards the opening.

Their energy is wild, euphoric even; their movements are almost too quick to follow.

I’m pushed not so gently towards the front of the tent before tripping over my feet as I am ushered out.

We walk quickly back towards the field we had stood in the previous day when the male fae had walked amongst us.

I turn to find Akari, but realize with a sinking heart that I have lost her in the crowds.

We are herded into a stumbling mass of terrified women that never seems to stop moving, as if we are the ocean’s waves .

“Chosen!” A booming and commanding voice sounds throughout the clearing.

We all seem to turn as one, but I can’t pick out the speaker from the line of fae surrounding us.

“Those of you who received no stones need to make their way towards the front.” The front?

Where the hell was that? We were faced in all different directions with fae crowding us in on all sides.

As if realizing the confusion, the speaker tries again in an exasperated tone.

“Can someone with visual powers please-” A plume of blue flames shoots into the air from my right.

A dozen women scream, and I’m pushed to the left as those closest rear back.

“Thank you, Garza. Now, could the Chosen with zero stones head towards the flame? That’s it. Come now, we don’t have all day.”

Separating us takes an age, and I find myself at the front of the line for those who received stones. Our group is much larger than theirs, yet nearly a thousand women remained unchosen by any of the males. They are forced to line up in rows of trembling women.

“Alright, alright, simmer down! Simmer down!” The commanding voice from earlier has piped up again, and I spy the speaker from my new vantage point at the front of the queue.

He’s not the most striking fae, but his beauty was undeniable.

His ears were quite tall, and his hair was an odd neon green, while his eyes were a citrus yellow.

“It’s time to introduce the Chosen to the Wild Hunt! ”