Shadowsinger

Chapter One-Cages

*TRIGGER WARNING*

There are depictions of rape, sexual assault, death, violence, blood, PTSD, and many other things in this book. If any of this bothers you or would harm your health, please do not read.

*     *     *

As if the metal bars and disgusting stone floors covered with shit and gods know what else didn't already make this place worse than a hole in the ground, the fact that it's also freezing makes hell seem like a better residence. Still, it's slightly better than the snowy ground outside. If it is still winter in the human realm. I've no clue how much time has passed since I've been here. I tug my feet closer to my body and try to blow hot air over my toes, but I'm afraid I'm about to lose my right pinky soon. The rest will follow if something doesn't happen soon. That something is why I'm here, the bargain I struck while I was covered in my family's blood as their still-warm bodies melted the cold snow around me. It had actually steamed slightly when the red hit the white.

Metal clangs and I melt back into the shadows with my thin cloak wrapped tight around me. I've become so thin I could be a mere skeleton-like on the far wall of my cage. The cold is bad enough, but the fire is worse. Fire and light mean guards and they're almost always bored. I've become their favorite form of entertainment whether it's beating me, taunting me, or fucking me on the cold stones. A small mercy is that I'm so thin that my cycle has stopped, so at least I don't have to worry about getting pregnant. It isn't much, but what I have is barely anything at all. The darkness is my only salve since the light has become so dangerous. The dark is the only thing that is safe.

Guards pass and shove a tray of bread with some thick stew that I don't dare wonder about before stuffing both down my throat. "Nothing but a pig in a stye." The guard spits with a shake of his head before he continues down the hall taking his cursed light with him. I savor every drop of warmth that the food gives me and after I've licked the bowl clean, I press my feet into it to soak up any leftover heat. Warmth was all my family had been looking for when we came to the wall separating the human lands from the faerie. Our house had been taken since we could no longer pay rent, so we were kicked out onto the streets in the dead of winter.

With nothing to eat, drink, or do to remedy either of those things, my father pushed us towards the wall. "The Spring Court lies just on the other side." He told us fervently with dark eyes shining. "It will be warm there. You'll see." I knew him the least being the youngest of four, but I knew what he was truly trying to do. He only wanted a peaceful death for us all somewhere warm. A mercy, he no doubt thought, at least until the fae stepped through the rift to slaughter him, his wife, and all his children. All but one.

The man who slaughtered my family offered me only one other option. Come with him and be a part of something to change everything, or die with my family. I didn't care what he offered me and maybe it makes me a dishonorable coward for accepting, but all I could think of was my family's blood on the snow. They never got to be warm again and now their bodies are cold. Perhaps even within the stomach of some beast that came upon them in the wood.

I push the thought out of my head so I can keep my food down before returning to my corner. I will survive. I will make it long enough to be warm again no matter what it takes.

* * *

Fire comes the next day and I prepare myself for whatever assault the guards have planned this time, but instead, they heave me onto my feet. They drag me out of my cell and have to carry me up all the stairs because I can barely feel my feet anymore, but when we reach the top, I see the man who killed my family. "It's time." He says simply as his lip curls. "Clean her, then bring her." The guards nod and obey. My skin is scrubbed raw by two women who are clearly servants and I'm so shocked at the kindness that I say nothing. Do nothing. At least if I'm to die I will be clean on the outside.