Page 47 of Cold Hearted
Dawn
The sun beat down on my back as I labored, my nails cracked and bloody from digging with little more than my bare hands. I used to love the feel of the warm rays as they heated my skin and rejuvenated my powers, but with the magic-dampening collar circling my neck, the sun’s intensity was no longer restorative, it was just scorching. But today I didn’t even feel the burn of the sun or the sting of my wounds. Today I was numb.
No one talked to me as we worked. Not the guards who’d beat me within an inch of my life, nor the girls I’d let down through our failed escape. Occasionally, I’d catch the eye of one of the women, but most looked away quickly or openly sneered. Only Alexandria was brave enough to offer me a small smile of encouragement, but her shoulders sagged, and her wings hung limply behind her in despair.
I didn’t blame the other women for the way they treated me now. It was my fault Sabine hadn’t made it. My fault she was dead.And because we failed to escape, we’d all be sold off to the highest bidder that afternoon. The only good thing about today was that we only had to dig for gold in the morning. Come midday, we were told we would bathe and then wait our turn to be auctioned off like livestock.
My healing abilities were slowed due to the neck collar, and so through twin swollen eyes I looked over at the sparse platform the guards were constructing for the auction. Little more than nailed together flimsy beams of wood, it was where we would all stand this afternoon to be purchased—the spot where the Summer princess of Faerie would be sold to a simple fae citizen of Ethereum. If my mother could see me now she would probably disown me.
Or kill everyone in anger.
Hopelessness like I’d never felt before weighed me down, making my movements sluggish and uncoordinated. One of the guards shouted at me to get moving, and I did. I was scared he’d take out any insubordination from me on one of the other girls because they weren’t allowed to rough me up anymore today.
The head honcho had arrived this morning, an overweight fae with a bad combover and worse breath. He’d inspected every one of us, and when he’d gotten a look at me he chewed out his guards for damaging the merchandise. Apparently, he felt I wouldn’t fetch as much coin in my current state, and hearing that had made the beating almost feel worth it. I was covered in bruises, walking with a limp, and my face was so swollen I didn’t even recognize my own reflection in the water bucket.
“She’s useless today,” one of the guards grumbled, obviously talking about me. “She’s too weak to dig.”
I pressed my lips together, keeping myself from spouting off an insult about how it was their fault I was like this. At that point I cared more about the other girls than I did about my pride.
“Send her over to help with the stage,” another guard said, and so the first guard stomped over and yanked me up. I smothered a whimper as he squeezed my arm I thought could be broken. Then he roughly dragged me over to where the other guards were working. “Fetch the guards some water and supplies,” he ordered me, and then released my arm.
I kept my gaze down. I knew if I looked at him he’d see the hatred in my eyes. Over the next hour I brought cups of water to the guards, pulled boards over to them, and endured a slew of innuendos from the vile fae who used their words to attack me rather than their fists. More than once I had to lock my jaw to keep quiet, reminding myself that the other girls would suffer their wrath if I broke.
After an eternity under the blistering sun, a guard shouted that it was midday and called for us to stop working. As I sagged in relief, I noticed something glinting in the light and looked down to see a slim nail resting at my feet. I wasn’t allowed to touch any of the tools the guards used to construct the stage because they could be used as weapons, but as I stared at the thin piece of metal an idea popped into my head. As quick as my battered body could move, I snatched up the nail and tucked it into my waistband, praying none of the guards noticed.
A bead of sweat rolled down my back that had nothing to do with the heat as I shuffled with the other girls toward the water. Part of my training over the years included some questionable skills,such as pickpocketing and lock-picking. The only thing holding me captive in this valley of torture was that my powers were out of reach, but if I could get this blasted collar off of my neck, I could easily overtake the guards, even in my weakened state. I didn’t want to get my hopes up; a nail was thicker than the tools I was taught to pick locks with.
But it might just work.
We stood in a line in front of the river, ready to bathe as the guards connected us together with a long chain at our ankles.
One of our captors sneered at me. “Which of your little friends will you kill today?” he joked.
My heart tore open at his cruel comment. I didn’t let it show, but the barb stung.
The girls all gave me as wide a berth as possible as they rinsed off the morning dust and grime. No one moved farther into the water than a foot, probably because they were either now scared of the river or didn’t want to give the guards an excuse to loose their arrows on them, so bathing was slower than usual. I kept the nail hidden in my waistband as I washed up, watching the clear water around me turn rust colored whenever I dunked a limb or rinsed my hair.
After we cleaned up, stacks of clean plum-colored clothes were thrust at us, and we were told to strip and change. My face burned with indignation. The last thing I wanted to do was give these guards a show. They’d already stolen so much from us. Now they wanted to take whatever shred of dignity we had left. But I couldn’t afford another beating, and I needed to get away from their prying eyes to get this blasted collar off, so I didn’t have a choice but to comply.
One by one, they unhooked us from the chain and watched as we disrobed and put on the simple shift dress they provided each of us.My fury rose with each girl who was forced to bare herself in front of these pitiful excuses for men. The women’s eyes remained downcast as they shouldered the guards’ catcalls and filthy innuendos.
When it was Alexandria’s turn to change, the men hurled insults and barbs about how she was so thin she barely looked female. Her body shook so much that it took her three tries to get the dress over her head. One of the guards had to come forward and cut two slices in the back of her dress for her wings, and his hand roamed her front before he released her with tears glistening down her cheeks.
A red-hot, murderous rage washed over me then as I pulled for my power, to no avail. I ground my teeth so hard I expected one to crack and vowed that when I was free these guards would pay for their cruelty.
As they watched the girl in front of me change, I covertly slipped the nail into my palm, pinning it with my thumb. When it was my turn to strip, I looked each of the guards in the eye as I peeled off every piece of clothing, taking care to hide my prize. They started their taunts like they had with each of the other girls, but when I reacted only with coldness and an unyielding stare, their jeers started to taper off. By the time I’d shed my torn and somewhat threadbare clothes and slipped the rough shift over my body, half of the guards couldn’t look me in the eye and the other half had looked away altogether. My body was filled with blue and yellow bruises, cuts and bumps from their beating. I slipped my hands in the pockets of my dress and dropped the nail inside.
They didn’t seem to enjoy the show anymore after that and rushed the rest of the girls through the process before locking us back in our cell.The second they locked us in and left, I moved to the back wall and into the shadows. Then I pulled out the nail I had smuggled, inserting the thin piece of metal into the lock at my neck, feeling for the hole at the back.
Fae, arriving for the auction, milled around the open space outside our cell, occasionally coming forward to get a look at the “merchandise.” I kept one eye on the space beyond our bars to make sure no one outside saw what I was doing as I gently moved the nail around inside the lock, trying to catch the release. To anyone glancing quickly at me it might look like I was massaging the sore muscles at the back of my neck. Twice I thought I had it, only to feel the nail slip out of position.
“What are you doing?” Alexandria asked softly, coming up next to me. The girl’s face was pale and drawn, and I noticed not for the first time how much weight she’d lost in the short time we’d been imprisoned. The neck of her shift hung wide enough to clearly see the definition of her clavicle. She was gaunt, physically and mentally weak. I knew she wouldn’t survive whatever fate awaited her if I didn’t break us free.
“I’m getting us out of here,” I said as I continued to work the lock with the nail.
Alarm splashed across her face. “No, Dawn. Please don’t. It will only make things worse. They’ll kill you this time.” She tried to reach up to stop me, but I twisted away from her.
I stopped what I was doing and looked into her brown eyes, willing her to believe in me when I knew she had every reason not to. She wrung her hands, tears welling in her eyes, and that gutted me.
