I am sitting in the dawn court forests. Happy thirty sixth birthday to me. I think and roll my eyes. I have been looking for rhys and Amaratha. I promised myself i would never stop looking until i found him. I promised myself. So i keep looking. Ten years strong. The only place i haven't been in that time is the night court. I know that they would look for me. But for how long would they look for one female who could be dead? I have had no luck anywhere else. I have looked in all the seasonal courts, the dawn and say courts, the human realms, hybern, even a continent past hybern. They are nowhere to be found. So today i will go to the Night court.
I walk in the forest. Careful to Avoid any fae. Over the years I have heard stories about Amaratha and Rhys. Fae going missing then coming back with no memories. I know Rhys is being forced to do things he doesn't want to do. I get lost in my train of thought.
About an hour of walking later I am jumped by twelve highly trained fae. I fight my way out until there is just one. I dodge and slash the attackers and just as I swing in for a punch I feel the hilt of a sword hit my temple. I crumple to the floor. Darkness claiming me.
I wake in a tunnel next to a pickaxe. I look around. There are many lesser fae and humans working here. i feel my ears and realise I am in human form. Where am I.
"Where am I?" I ask a human woman.
"Endovier" she says sadly
My heart stops. The slave camps. No one has ever survived for longer than three months here. And no one has ever escaped.
I will never save my family. Never apologise to Cass or Rhys or mor or az or am. I fight back the tears. I have to survive. I will be the first to escape. I will be the first to survive.
"Hey!" calls a guard gruffly "human girl. Pick up the axe and start or suffer the consequences"
I stand with my head held high. I do nothing.
"Girl pick it up" he growls
"No" i say.
He walks up to my and spits in my face. I punch him in the jaw. He curses and punches the shit out of me. He then drags me out of the tunnel. We get to a main area of the mining. There are whipping posts. The male ties me up and rips open the back of my shirt. He then looks to thew crowd.
"Let this be a lesson" he booms and brings out a whip. "For what happens if you do not work" he whips me once "we will not tolerate it" he whips me twice more "we will not accept violence" he whips me three times " we will not be kind" he whips me hard another ten times. "Long live Amaratha Queen of pyrithian"
"Amaratha is a stone cold bitch who deserves to die" i yell despite the looming pain.
He takes of my shirt completely. And pulls out a dagger. He carves eight letters into my stomach A-M-A-R-A-T-H-A.
"Glory to the Queen!" he yells. No one replies "praise the queen or end up like her" he yells
There is a chime of half hearted "glory to the queen" going around. He then throws me to the ground and rubs salt into my wounds.
"Long live the queen" he spits in my ear. I say nothing. "Say it" he snarls.
"Never" i spit and he pounds my face into the floor. Maybe i wont survive here.
YOU ARE READING
Child of Night and Fire
Fantasywhen ten year old Aelin escaped after her parents were killed she falls into the rivver. only to be saved by elena. but to save the young fire-bringer she has to send her to another realm. there she meets the inncercirlce. her memories of her family...
