The Beastkeeper's Bride

20: Bloodlust

20: Bloodlust

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .*:☆ﾟ. ───

Now would be a really good time to answer me, husband!

Her wrists were hoisted above her head, bound by vines covered with tiny thorns that pricked into her skin with the slightest of movements, twisting tightly into her flesh as the bonds were secured to the tree her back was pressed against. The two fae males who had escorted her into what she could only assume to be some sort of enclosure gave an assessing tug of the vines before departing in haste, leaving her alone to survey her surroundings.

She hadn't gotten much of a chance to gauge where she had been taken to, the forest deepening with shadows as the sun began to dip below the canopy of the trees, but as her eyes adjusted presently she was able to ascertain that she appeared to be secured against the perimeter of a ring of looming trees.

It was a small clearing and judging from the cleaved trunks in the centre, it had been done so deliberately. She was pinned and confined against a tree along the perimeter- one of several that formed a circle several yards wide in diameter- and she glanced up. Branches and leaves knotted intricately to form an arched, impenetrable natural ceiling. After studying the boughs and the vines for several moments, a sickening feeling lay heavily in her stomach as she realized what sort of edifice she had been confined to.

It was a cage- a leafy, webbed cage grown by the trees themselves- and she scanned the perimeter quickly, knowing even before her eyes located the evidence that the same intricate network of knots and webbing would traverse the entirety of the structure- floor to canopy.

Regardless, a small inkling of hope took root- if the webbing were wood and vines, she could hopefully find the strength to break through it, if she were given the chance and the freedom to do so.

"Don't worry, my dear," Aëghan said cheerfully, his voice originating from above her, and Millie craned her neck. He leaned negligently against the uppermost convolution of knotted wood, grinning down at her almost benignly. "She doesn't often play with her food before consuming it. This should be rather quick."

There were other creatures, faeborn men and women, draped against the "cage", their faces ranging from curious to concerned, excited to terrified, and she couldn't count how many had gathered to watch what she was sure was soon to be her demise. Where they had all come from, she couldn't be certain, since her time in Aëghan's property had been limited to her concise interactions with Enorae and the man himself once she had been dressed and primed to become some creature's dinner, it seemed.

The gown covering her body was of similar design to the one she wore the first day she had been cognizant at Blayne's cottage and the styling must be familiar to the fae. Its low-cut neckline was all too revealing, cleaving between her breasts so that an expanse of her chest was left bare and she soon discovered why. Enorae used a kohl-like substance to paint indecipherable symbols against her skin, trailing from her collarbone in a line between her breasts. Her limbs were rubbed in oil-based scents and her hair braided and knotted away from her face. Other than these elements, her arms and legs were left largely uncovered, and once Aëghan found her palatable to his sight she had been brought into the cage.

The trees at the opposite side of the enclosure trembled suddenly, the rustling of the leaves and the audible bending of the boughs loud to her ears, drawing her attention so suddenly she thought her neck may snap for it.

Blayne! she cried fiercely within her mind, her wrists pulling against the painful bindings in desperation. The vines seemed to tighten and pull her against the tree effortlessly and she could feel her heart triple in panic at the notion. She was trapped- trapped with who knew what.