No Longer Our Sea (Book 1)

20

I sniffed it at first, searching for that strange smell that was the poison, but it didn't smell like anything of the sort. Instead, it smelled...fresh. If I took another whiff I might even have been considered delicious.

The food before me was a simple meal of bread and soup but was cooked with tenderness to benefit me. I looked to the slide of the plate, and a spoon had accompanied the food they'd given me. I took the spoon in my hand and placed the plate in my lap. Stirring it gently, I saw the vegetables and meat hidden beneath the tasty substance. My mouth watered with hunger. I couldn't believe my eyes.

Despite everything else, they were feeding me with such care and affection. I looked around at my cell. With the food along with living space, the conditions were survivable and more than enough to keep me breathing. The humans wanted me alive, I realized. They wanted me for the value and information I held in my head. They weren't planning to kill me...yet. At that realization, a string of relief ran through me and I began to eat the food in front of my face, satisfying the hunger that had begun to inflame my stomach.

~

For the first time in two days, I'm taken out of my cell and allowed to walk the hallway I'd seen so many others pass. Even out of my prison, the chains are never taken off me and reside on my wrists and neck. Of course, I'm not walking freely and instead I'm being guided by the same two guards from earlier. They have my arms in a steady lock, pressing them against one another until I can no longer feel them.

They push me into a room in a deep part of the castle dungeon. To my surprise, it isn't another cell. Instead, it's a room filled with tapestries, a desk, chairs, and writing utensils. It must be someone's workplace.

The guards sat me down in a chair on the other side of the desk, facing the wall. "Hands on the table," the guard commands. I do as I'm told and my chained wrists find residence on the wooden surface. They watch them intently, expecting me to do something. When I don't live up to their expectations, they send a signal and the Prince comes in through an opposite door I assume leads to the rest of the castle.

Immediately, I saw Josson's copper eyes glitter with interest. He sees me nothing more than a creature to study and learn rather than a person. That very thought worried me even before my interrogation began.

Josson doesn't dare sit down. Instead, he circles me, studying me attentively before coming to stand before me. He stares me up and down again, I have to wonder if he doesn't know where to begin. "What's your name, siren?" he finally says.

I almost want to lie again and the words almost slip from my tongue. I would have said Arya if I didn't stop myself but I didn't want to bring my late cousin into any more of these games, she didn't deserve to be involved. Instead, I began to ponder what would happen if I did tell him my name. No title attached to it or anything, just my name. It might not have been as bad as I thought, but I stay silent.

Josson smirked, amused by my stubbornness. "I see," he utters and bits his lip. "I'll ask you again. What is your name? Your real  name."

I don't even mutter a word.

"Surely," Josson begins to say and nods to the guards who exit immediately, "This wouldn't be easy. Not for me," he pauses again, coming around from the desk to meet me by my side. I only watch him as he gawks at me. "And definitely not for you." He turns my chair to face him directly, my chains dangling from the desk.

Josson gets closer to me, staring into my eyes with a certain emotion I don't quite understand. He's trying to intimidate me, make me frightened of his very presence but he hasn't quite mastered that skill, and I've faced greater beasts. I don't flinch.