Page 140 of Mated to Monsters
I remember the days when he’d snap at me to just eat, but by now, Kha’zeth knows that I don’t do things without reason. “I- just can’t.”
Valindra, who is seated across from me, pauses in her eating. “Is there something wrong with the food?”
The other two freeze, and Elincia nearly shrieks. “Is there something wrong with you?”
I shake my head, my eyes still on their uncle. I can see in his expression that he’s begging me not to start this up again, but I can’t stop myself. I pull away from him, laying my hands flat on the table as I look at Valindra.
“I asked Kha’zeth if I could take food to the other human women. They are starving there, and I can’t eat if I know they’re hungry.”
Immediately, Tanulia leans forward and stares Kha’zeth down. “Why can’t she?”
He runs his hand down his face. “Natalie,” he groans.
“Well, I’m not eating if the other women can’t!” Elincia announces, shoving her plate back.
Kha’zeth throws me a glare. “Do you see what you’ve done? You’ve started a hunger strike when there’s perfectly good food here that’s going to waste.”
“Then let Natalie take it to those that need it.” Valindra’s voice is steady. She’s always the most level-headed one. “We could never eat it all, and if none of us will eat until those starving do, we might as well give them the food here.”
“It won’t go to waste!” Tanulia chimes in.
“Unless you don’t let her take it.”
“Just let her! Please, please, please, please!” Elincia has thrown herself onto the table, craning around to stare at her uncle. “They need food!”
Kha’zeth looks around the table, at my sullen face and Valindra’s stern expression, and Tanulia’s arms crossed over her chest and Elincia’s pleading eyes, and sighs. “I don’t have a choice, do I?” he mutters, shaking his head.
Finally, he lifts his head to look at me. “Pack it up, and I’ll escort you.”
Excitement flutters in me, and the girls and I scramble forward to start packing it up. In a matter of minutes, it’s all ready to go, and Kha’zeth scoops up the baskets I’m unable to carry.
I’m practically vibrating in my seat as we leave the manor by carriage, equal parts excitement and fear rush through me. I worry about facing the trolvor again, but I care more about feeding the other women.
As if he can tell what I’m thinking, Kha’zeth reaches out to grasp my hand. “No one is going to hurt you while we are there. You are mine now.”
A thrill shoots through me when he says ‘mine,’ though it shouldn’t. I am his possession, nothing more in the eyes of his kind, so I force myself to nod. “I know.”
That doesn’t slow my heart, though as we arrive. I can see the looming figures of the trolvor guards, their skulls jutting out with snarls plastered on their muzzles. I lean into Kha’zeth as we approach them, keeping my head held high, and he runs a hand down my spine for support.
No one stops us as we approach, and with Kha’zeth’s warm hand on my back, I manage past the guards without more than a shudder. I keep my shoulders back and my spine straight as I descend to where the cells are, feeling proud at how well I’m holding myself – and surprisingly safe.
But as we reach the cold floor that I spent many nights on, I spot the cells that once held the women from my camp on Protheka.
They’re all empty.
I still, tipping my head up to look at Kha’zeth. “Where are they?”
My heart squeezes painfully. Have they all been given out already? Did the King decide to scrap his pet project? What is going on?
Kha’zeth turns around, striding toward the guard at the base of the steps. “The women,” he barks in a tone that makes even me cringe. Blue sparks dance around his fingertips as if he needs to remind these demons what he can do if they don’t tell him what he wants to know. “Where are they?”
“The King has given them other accommodations.”
My skin crawls at the way he says it, and before I can stop myself, I blurt out, “Can we visit them there?”
The trolvor’s eyes slide slowly from Kha’zeth to me, and the amusement that dances in his eyes makes me nauseous. “No.”
“Well, why not–”