Earthbound

Chapter 2

Ezran blinked.

Once. Twice.

"Ezran Galtier-Zynthe."

The townsfolk who not only knew her, but had seen her before her name was called turned to face her direction. No less than two minutes later, nearly every face in town was looking at her. Ezran's amber eyes twitched, then glanced at Vincent to her side.

She couldn't breathe. This wasn't meant to happen. Something was not right.

And yet somehow, any coherent sentence she could have possibly formed dried from her tongue and evaporated from her mouth. Ezran felt Vincent's hand on her back, lightly pushing her forwards.

"Ezran Galtier-Zynthe, please come to the dais immediately." It seemed even the mayor's eyes knew where she was.

Ezran was frozen, until she felt a gust of hot air against her right ear. "Go Ezra," Vince muttered, quiet enough so only she could hear. His mildly comforting words pushed her forward, and she took one heavy step forward.

Then another. And another.

The sound of steel-toed boots clattered on the granite stones of the plaza. Ezran was incredibly unsure of her footing, and was feeling increasingly nauseous as the seconds ticked past.

There were so many eyes. So many angry female gazes were on her; watching; scrutinizing. She was beyond positive that at least three females were plotting her death at this very moment.

How did this happen? Ezran could have sworn her entire life was flashing in front of her eyes: married at nineteen, forced to be a breeding mare and producing an onslaught of awful children; growing old and dying miserable and alone, shackled to a man.

By the time Ezran got through the crowd and to the dais, she was convinced she looked sick.

A dark-skinned lackey guided her to a set of stairs on the right, onto the dais. With every creak of the wooden planks beneath her feet, Ezran wanted to cry. Scream. Puke. Dying in a hole seemed like the best option.

The same boy brought her to the mayor's left side, and she felt petrified, wide eyed, staring back into the crowd.

So this was her life now. Standing next to an overly pudgy, old man who had more children than brain cells, being presented to her little town like she was to be martyred.

"Everyone else is dismissed." The mayor coughed out the last two words, and as if they were specters, the Fae soldiers blocking all of the streets out of the plaza disappeared from sight, as quickly as they came.

Ezran watched as Vincent's sandy brown hair disappeared from her sight. Now she was alone. Her head was screaming for her to 'get the hell out of there', yet it seemed all rational thought died inside her the moment she heard her name read off that damned little piece of paper.

Wait a minute.

That slip of brown parchment.

Ezran's hands trembled as she glanced at the mayor's mottled hands, at that little piece of paper. Despite the size of the mayor's fingers, she could scarcely make out the handwriting on it.

Handwriting that was distinctly not her own.

The frowning face doodle she had added to her slip wasn't there either.