Page 86 of Demure
Her eyes reamined focused on Kaye. She winced as a punch landed on her left cheek at the same time that Kaye was kicked. Sierra’s vision swam, though the punch didn’t hurt as much as it might have had she been human. When the moisture cleared fromher eyes, she watched as the guard lifted one of Kaye’s legs, only for it to fall lifelessly to the floor. Sierra had to hand it to her; Kaye looked close to dead, her head hanging at an angle that did not look comfortable in the slightest.
The guard said something, and immediately, the rest of the guards stopped their attacks and headed over to see what he was speaking about. Sierra watched quietly, unable to see what was going on with the six Fae guards crowded around Kaye, blocking her view.
Sierra couldn’t follow their conversation, but she figured that Braan and Aislan would alert her if something went wrong.
It took a few minutes, but finally, the men shifted, revealing a Kaye slumped over, her arms detached from the wall manacles.
Four men each took a limb, another opening the door so they could carry Kaye through. The one remaining guard said something to Braan, to which he began begging in Gaelic. Sierra held her tongue, trying to stop the twist of fear wrenching through her gut. Was their plan going horribly wrong?
Braan continued his pleading in Gaelic, the guard saying things in response, until he, too, exited the room, the metal door closing behind him and the lock slipping into place. As soon as Sierra was reasonably sure he was not coming back, her question burst forth. “What are they going to do?”
“I’m not sure,” Braan replied. “They did think she was close to death, and I begged them to take her to a healer, saying I would do anything.”
Sierra gulped, but she knew Braan had done the right thing; the guards would have been suspicious if he hadn’t reacted in response to his wife being nearly dead.
“We need to think of some fake information for you to reveal if they come back,” Aislan said. “Since I doubt they will reveal what they’re going to do to her.”
Sierra swallowed. This was part of the plan she hadn’t considered, the fact that they wouldn’t really know what was going on beyond the confines of the cell until much later.
“I could tell them Aodhan went to Fia’s, but clearly they already know,” Braan suggested.
“I think it’s better if you just tell them the truth,” Sierra interjected. “Honestly, our original plan is shot anyway. Just say you came here and that the plan was for Aodhan to meet you here in a few days.”
“But that would alert them to up the guards on watch.”
“I agree with Sierra. At this point, they are likely on the lookout for him anyway, if he isn’t here,” Aislan replied. “If we say he is coming here, they might even pull some guards off the search, which could make things easier for Kaye to escape.”
Sierra could tell that Braan didn’t like the idea of betraying his friend, but she knew they didn’t have any better ideas, and there was too much at stake.
“Plus,” Aislan added, “if I know my brother, and I do, he will already know to be careful, so we won’t be changing anything by revealing that he is headed this way. I also assume they are keeping Sierra as bait, so it won’t really matter in the end.”
“You’re right,” Braan agreed.
“We should focus on the next part of our plan,” Sierra suggested. “I can’t tell if it’s night or day, but Braan, what do you have to do to influence dreams?” She looked around the darkened room, but there was no window, nor even a crack in the stone revealing light.
Braan sighed. “It would help if we knew if it was night or day, as I have to cast a mental net to see who is dreaming in the vicinity. I can start casting at random and see if I can get a general idea. More people will be dreaming when it is actually night. I assume Slaine keeps a more regular schedule, though healers that work in private residences like this can be called for at any time.”
That left Sierra’s part of the plan. She looked at Aislan. “Do you think there is a way I could cast my communication abilities?”
Aislan thought for a moment. “I don’t know anyone else with this type of magic, but I’m sure you could. I just wish you hadmore experience with magic; this may be hard since you’ve only used it once before.”
“Twice,” Sierra corrected.
“Like it makes a difference,” Aislan snapped back. “But let’s stay focused. Maybe take yourself back to how you were feeling and what you were doing when the elipags helped you in the forest.”
Sierra closed her eyes, mentally turning back time to the moment she was sitting in the field. She hadn’t been actively thinking of how she needed a ride; the elipags had just known. They had also just known where she needed to go. But that entire day, she had been thinking about how she needed guidance or a plan. Maybe she had been projecting those emotions?
Sierra decided it was worth a shot, and tilted her head back, trying to clear it of all the noise.I need help. We need to get out of here; we don’t know how to escape. She thought these few thoughts over and over, willing the feeling to flow through her body. She wished she was on the dirt floor rather than the stone, as she had a nagging sensation that her connection to nature via her transformation had played an essential role in her communication with the elipags.
Then again, maybe her need would transit through the stone to any animals touching the stone in the same way? Realizing that her thoughts of ‘how’ were distracting her from her need, she quickly pushed them away, putting her trust in the creatures of this strange world to answer her call.
Thoughts whirling, Sierra drifted off to sleep.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Sierra was having a strange dream in which she was watching herself from across a dark stone room where she was being held prisoner as a small mouse was investigating one of her legs, its whiskers tickling her skin, but when she tried to move her arm to scratch, she couldn’t, because her arms were bound.
Sierra’s eyes flew open as the sensation increased, her eyes searching the stone floor for the mouse, which was indeed by the side of her leg. Sierra had always been averse to rodents, and it took everything in her to tromp down the scream that crawled up her throat. This mouse was clearly friend, not foe, and she needed to remain calm.
