Page 9 of The Wild Hunt (Sold to the Fae Duet #1)

We are led to one of the circus tents I had spotted earlier, but whereas Jasmin had entered the red, we entered the purple one. Purple like the portal. Purple like his damn eyes. I furiously banish my thoughts and take in our surroundings.

Many Chosen cram the tent, like sardines in a tin can. Thankfully, it doesn’t smell like fish. In fact… I inhale deeply. Gods, yes! Food!

I make a beeline for the buffet-style table along one wall of the tent, Akari hot on my heels.

“What is that?” she asks, nose high in the air as we get closer.

“I don’t know, but it smells fucking divine!”

We stop at the edge of the table, salivating as we cast our hungry eyes over the selection of foods, trying to pinpoint the exact cause of the intoxicating smell. I blink as I realize it’s coming from a fruit, of all things. A golden apple-like bulb that glints in the flickering light of the tent.

I pick up one of them and twirl it curiously in my hands.

“I have never smelled an apple like this before,” I say, my eyes not once leaving the fruit. I’m completely mesmerized by it. From the corner of my eye, I see Akari lifting her own golden apple to her eagerly opening mouth.

“I wouldn’t. ”

I blink as if coming down from a marijuana high. What the fuck? I glance at Akari and hastily smack the apple out of her hand. She berates me before she, too, is blinking rapidly.

“What just happened?” she asks nervously.

I glance across the table and into the tent’s shadows, where a slim, feminine figure stands.

“Who are you?” I demand.

The woman steps into the light, and I gasp as I take in the fine lines of her face and the graying hair at her temples.

This woman, a human , was so much older than the Chosen who surrounded us.

There was no doubt in my mind that she was one of the original Chosen.

From the time of the Fae’s first invasion. From when my mother disappeared.

I search her features desperately for some familiar feature or another, but find my shoulders slumping when I come up blank. She was not my mother.

“I am one of the First,” she confirms sagely, but a small and friendly smile lightens her tired features. “My name is Anya.”

“I’m Akari,” Akari says, completely in awe of the older woman.

“Delta,” I say, more reserved. “I… have so many questions.”

Anya chuckles, “Of that, I have no doubt. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to answer a lot of them.

The Faerie oath forbids me, and I have sworn to it.

” At our blank looks, she explains, “The Faerie oath is unbreakable. Unless you seek to be cursed for centuries, that is. And a Faerie’s curse is not something I would wish upon my worst enemy. ”

Akari and I both gulp as we glance at one another quickly.

“Right,” I say, “do not get cursed. Got it. ”

Akari raises her hand as if in class at school, then blushes and lowers it as she realizes what she’s doing.

“I have a question,” she says. “What the hell is that fruit, and why did I want to eat it so bad?”

Anya looks towards Akari’s fallen fruit, and I gasp when I look too and see it has completely rotted in the few moments since it had left her hand.

In trepidation, I look down at the apple still clutched in my hand and shriek when I see mine is just as festered.

I drop it hastily and rub my palms over my dress. Ich !

“Faerie fruit,” Anya explains. “While just a sweet treat for the fae, faerie fruit can be dangerous and addictive to humans. It has a magnetic aura to it that most humans find almost impossible to resist unless they know what it is. From the moment you take your first bite, it’s very hard to stop.

I don’t mean you’ll be stuffing one after the other into your mouth for the rest of your life, but as its poisons fade from your body after a day or 2, you will crave them desperately and won’t be satisfied until you have your next bite.

It is extremely difficult to wean off of. I should know.”

Anya gives us a meaningful look, and we both nod. She knows from experience.

“Faerie fruit, faerie oaths, and faerie curses; all on the list of bad dojo. Got it. But, seriously, Anya, I am starving and I won’t be able to focus on anything else you say unless I have a full belly. What is safe to eat?” I practically plead. Akari nods eagerly beside me.

“I wouldn’t still be alive if there was nothing safe to eat in Faezgard.”

Fae-what-a? I give my head a little shake. Fucking feed me .

Anya notices our confused looks. “It’s what the fae call their land. You’ll get used to the faerie language in time. But for now, eat. Everything besides the faerie fruit is human-friendly.”

She doesn’t need to say so twice. Akari and I practically pounce at the table and each pick up a piece of food that is closest to us.

Akari chooses what looks like a slice of cheese, while I nab a chunk of cold, brown meat.

It looks like a tiny slice of steak, but as it practically melts on my tongue, I know instantly it is not from any animal on earth.

It’s gamey yet flaky, slightly salty but sweet, and leaves a tantalizing tingle on my tongue as I swallow it down.

“Mmmm,” I moan, pointing out the meat to Akari. “Mmhmm! S’good!”

Akari tries a piece too, and I laugh as her eyes roll back in pleasure.

“Wow!” she gasps as she swallows her piece, too. “Try the cheese! It’s divine!”

I do, and it is. We fill our bellies quickly as Anya, who had returned to the tent wall, watches on from the shadows. I spy a pitcher of water and pour cups for both Akari and me. Even the water is different. It has a slight, citrusy tang to it that leaves me feeling all kinds of refreshed.

“Maybe being sold to the fae will be worth it after all,” I suggest casually. “If we get to eat like this for the rest of our lives, I will die a lucky woman. A very large one at that.”

Akari giggles, and I’m sure I hear a sound of amusement from Anya’s shadowy corner, too. With my belly full, I find I have more pressing and urgent matters to attend to.

“Uh, Anya? Any chance there is a bush I can squat behind? Or a bucket I can hover over? ”

Anya flat-out laughs at that.

“We have toilets here,” she assures me, gesturing towards a row of porta-loos on the other side of the tent. “You’ll find we Firsts have introduced many human inventions to Faezgard.”

We take barely a second to process this before we make a mad dash towards them. My bladder, the traitorous bitch, knows where we are headed and makes its insistence known tenfold. But fuck if I’m about to piss myself with fae present.

I open the closest porta-loo and don ’t even bother to lock it as it automatically swings closed behind me. I lift the skirts of my dress and pull my knickers down in an urgent dance, and then finally, blissful release. I fucking moan as my bladder empties. Gods, it’s such a relief.

After, I wash my hands in the small basin provided.

As I’m drying my hands and absent-mindedly perusing my reflection in the mirror, the door opens and I meet the desperate eyes of Platinum.

She recoils as our eyes meet, then scowls before letting the door swing closed and scuttles off to find an empty loo.

I huff out a laugh and pray like fuck she pees herself.

Am I cruel for the thought? Absolutely. But if anyone could take going down a peg, it was the perfectly pretty and petite blonde.

I realize there are probably a dozen more women in desperate need of the toilet, so I finish drying my hands quickly and step out. I almost slam the door into another woman’s face as she reaches for the handle of my porta-loo.

“Sorry!” I squeak, but she completely ignores me as she dashes inside. “Ok, then. ”

As I wait for Akari to finish up, Platinum exits her loo… completely dry and poised. Oh well. Her eyes thin as she looks at me, and I smile and twinkle my fingers in a mocking wave right back. She tosses her ponytail over her shoulder and walks away without a second glance.

Akari finally exits her loo. She frowns at my grin.

“What’s got you in such good spirits?” she asks.

I can’t help but huff out a laugh. “Well, my bladder is empty and I feel so light I could float to the roof of this tent.” Akari snorts but nods, as if she understands the feeling.

We head back towards Anya’s shadows, and I notice she’s nicked some beanbags from somewhere and has them laid at her feet.

I fall ungracefully into one of them.

“Where’s yours?” I ask, indicating the seat that has sucked me down like quicksand.

“We are not permitted to sit,” Anya replies.

I look around curiously and spy other women dressed similarly to Anya’s loose, nondescript clothes, though some dresses are black, like hers, and others are white. I wonder what the difference in color means.

“That’s… unfair,” I say, tempted to get off my beanbag so she doesn’t feel left out.

Is if sensing my thoughts, Anya quickly says, “Don’t lose your comfort on my account. Rest while you can. Your trials have just begun.”

“Trials?” Akari asks. “Like whatever that was out on the stage?”

Anya nods sagely. “The Culling.” At our expectant looks, Anya continues.

“When they separate the weak and infertile from the strong. Any Chosen not able to bear children or are sickly and likely to die before their fae owner gets their worth from them are discarded and divided among the Courts for the more basic duties.”

My mind reels.

“Childbirth? Do the fae expect us to… have sex with them? Akari is pale and wide-eyed at the prospect.

My mind, however, is conflicted over something else.

“Hang on, let’s go back to the whole infertile and weak thing. I know one of the women who was… culled ,” I practically spit the word, “and I know for a fact that she is a mother. She also isn’t weak. The callouses on her hands prove that. Why was she rejected?”

Pity fills Anya’s face. “Some illnesses are not apparent to the human eye. That’s where the fae with medical inSight come into play. They can determine sicknesses before they’ve even formed. It is likely your friend has, or will have, some form of cancer or disease. I am sorry.”

My stomach sinks, and my eyes water. Stupid, really.

There was no guarantee on any of our lives the minute we awoke in the Hotel, but it was still gut-wrenching to know for sure that Jabira would pass before her time.

I notice Akari wiping away her own tears and I reach for her foot, the only body part I can touch from the position this damned bean bag has me in.

I give it a firm squeeze, which earns me a brief, trembling smile.

I take a deep breath. “So what’s next, then? What can you tell us about these trials?”