Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 81261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Will gives a mirthless laugh. “I was dating a woman who said she was into Wicca. I thought it was cool and all. Turns out she was into a little darker stuff, and I was a sacrifice.”
“Oh my fucking God,” I mutter as I amble along. “So you weren’t killed but… sent down here to what…?”
“It was an exchange. She got power, I got sent here.” Will’s voice is flat. I guess that’s the only way to be when all your joy has been stolen. “I’m the guy in the cell next to yours.”
“I’m Nyssa, by the way.”
“I know. Word spread quickly that King Amell kept you. It’s not really done anymore.”
“Anymore?” I prod.
We head down the spiral staircase that leads to our cells. “When Queen Kymaris ruled, she kept the worst of the souls and forged them into demons. I’ve heard that’s not being done anymore, and the castle does seem to be purged of them, from what I can tell.”
A shudder ripples up my spine. I absolutely don’t want to know what those demons might have been created to do.
“So, Amell is like a benevolent ruler?”
Will turns around on me as we reach the bottom of the stairs. “Listen to me, Nyssa. No one here is benevolent. Everyone here is evil. Don’t undertake a single action or utter one word before you remind yourself of that fact. If you keep that in mind, temper your behavior, you can live relatively easy under the radar. And by easy, I mean working your body to the bone every day, and sleeping on a hard floor at night. That’s the best your life—or rather, your dead life—will ever be.”
I’m stunned by his words. Despite how fantastical all of this has been so far—the Underworld, the Crimson River, a crazy king who might throw me in it on a whim, the monsters I’ve seen—none of it truly seemed real until right now.
“I understand,” I murmur.
Will leads us down the corridor to our cells. I take the time to scan left and right. Most of the cells are empty, but a few hold people. Everyone sits or lies on the hard stone floor looking bored and defeated.
When we reach our prison abodes, I glance around for a guard. The iron-bar doors are open, and Will walks through his, pulling it shut behind him.
“When do they lock us in?” I ask before heading into mine.
“They don’t,” he says, sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall.
“Aren’t they afraid we’ll escape?” I ask in disbelief, looking around again as my mind churns with a potential plan to get out of here.
“Where would you go, Nyssa? The Underworld doesn’t have a front door you can come in and out of. It’s sealed off. The most you can hope for is to escape into Otaxis, but the first fae or daemon who finds you will either turn you back over to Amell, or worse, keep you for themselves to brutalize and torture. Humans—dead or alive—are hated and lowest on the food chain. It’s safer to stay here.”
For the first time in years, I feel like crying. I suck it up, though, moving to my cell and pulling the door shut. I see my new home has been furnished in my absence. A single bucket sits in the corner, apparently a place to relieve myself.
I feel so defeated, I can’t even bother to be horrified. Placing my back against the stone wall that separates my cell from Will’s, I slide down with a heavy sigh. Leaning my head back, I try to reconcile this as my life.
Or rather, my undead life.
Something strikes me, though. “You said a fae or daemon might find me. What is that?”
Sitting just on the other side of the stone wall and near the barred doors, I hear Will clearly as he answers. “The Underworld was established and is populated by Dark Fae. That’s what King Amell is. Daemons are the product of Light and Dark Fae, and a few reside down here with their dark parent. Daemons are different from demons. Demons are created by magic and using dark souls that are sent to the Underworld.”
“I don’t understand a thing you just said.”
“We have nothing but time, so I might as well fill you in on everything.”
I pull my legs up and wrap my arms around my shins, curling in for warmth against the chill down here. I settle in to learn more about my new home.
Will tells me an incredible story about an angelic rebellion in Heaven, after which God cast out those traitors. The worst of the fallen angels were banished to the Underworld and sealed within, stripped of their wings and most powers. They were called Dark Fae. The fallen angels who didn’t actively participate but did sympathize were cast down to Earth, also stripped of wings and most powers. They were called Light Fae.