Captive of the Shadows (The Fairy Code Book #1) by Kaitlyn Weiss

CHAPTER TWO

I was incapable of jumping to my feet, and so I slowly sat up. Someone had transferred me to the bed. Probably the same someone who sat opposite me now, in a dark armchair of a strange shape. He sat with folded arms, gazing into space. I remembered his dark, swirling eyes, and lowered my gaze.

"What on earth..." I said involuntarily. Around my aching wrist burned a bracelet. Thin, ornate and bright red.

"That bracelet branded into your flesh indicates that you belong to me." The voice of the speaker was deep, and penetrated the very depths of my soul. It suited him, in terms of his appearance. Pale skin, short dark hair, a straight nose and thin, well-defined lips. He sat wearing only black pants tucked into high boots, as if he wanted me to see that every inch of his body was chiseled as if by Michelangelo: Wide shoulders and narrow hips, a six-pack abdomen and armor-plated chest. My heart was pounding, but certainly not in admiration.

The stranger filled me with an instinctive horror.

"I'm no one's property."

"In this world you are. I bought you from your master."

Ah, it seems the chatter about a sale and a master had ceased being fun and had morphed into a real problem.

I took a deep breath and, as calmly as I could, said, "Until right now, I always thought of myself as a contemporary kind of person, you know, free."

As I spoke, I felt the fine hairs rising on my arms. I mean, how to act around someone who thinks he bought me? What I wanted most of all was to get as far away as possible. But, remembering the force that threw me against the wall, I did not dare risk flight.

The man finally deigned to look at his 'property.' And I blinked, trying not to gasp. The darkness no longer filled his eyes. Instead, I saw a dark golden iris with a narrow cat-like pupil. The man grinned, and the pupil became ordinary.

What was going on? Was it some kind of trick?

"You signed a contract at work. According to our laws, your employer is your master. I bought you from him."

"They will be looking for me."

It was good we were talking. The longer we talked, the longer I put off the possibility of being raped.

The man's narrow lips twitched slightly, as if my response amused him. "But of course, they look for everybody. Especially people who were brought up in an orphanage and favored books over friends. Aurora Black, I spent days learning all about you."

His nostrils flared, as if he had caught a scent. "I'll call you Rory."

"And I'm supposed to call you what, 'master'?" I asked sarcastically. "What the hell am I here for?"

"Good, you're not hysterical. You have a strong psyche ... almost like ours. Let's talk, you must have a lot of questions, right Rory?"

"Aurora," I said through clenched teeth, "I'm not a dog whose name you can change on a whim."

"No, you're not. You are my property."

I made a mental note to myself to stay calm — anger is not the way to respond to someone who was clearly insane. And it's obvious that this was the case. Although his tones were measured, he seemed to be barely contained, like a dam about to burst.

"My name is Doran. I am the Leader of the Wild Hunt, the Judge of the Three Courts and the Lord of Shadows."

Alright then, at least he's not Napoleon. I silently hid my face in my hands and laughed. I laughed about the situation I found myself in, about my own foolishness, about everything. Where had I gone so wrong as to end up who-knows-where in the company of crazies?