Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 131875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
* * *
“You’re sure? No family by that name at all? No runaway daughters avoiding an arranged marriage?”
“Nothing at all.”
“She looks like a full-blooded Doma.”
“I know. I know. But no one can answer for her.”
“I’ll take her with me then.”
“You sure you don’t want to wait a few days?”
“She has no idea who she is. Felix couldn’t even get anything out of her. I came for the one girl, and I’ll leave with two.”
“Good doing business with you.”
* * *
Kerrigan lifted her head, trying to push past the delirium rising to the surface. To fight back against whatever was dragging her down. “Wha—” she managed to get out.
“A strong one,” Flavia said, laying a hand on her head. “Sleep, child. Tomorrow will be a new day.”
“But maybe not a better one,” Felix whispered.
“Not for you.”
Then, Kerrigan could fight no longer. She slipped heavily into unconsciousness.
2
The Cart
Wheels rattled noisily on a dirt road.
Kerrigan’s head bounced against a wooden slat before she jerked upright with a groan. She immediately regretted the action, crumpling back into a ball against the hard flooring. Her head felt like it had been cleaved in two. Her stomach was an empty pit. Her skin felt like a thousand pinpricks. If she took any sudden movement, the feeling came back stronger than ever.
“Oh gods,” she groaned.
“Shh,” a woman whispered somewhere nearby. “Don’t let them hear you’re awake.”
“Pain,” she hissed out. “Whole … body.”
“Yes. It’s the magic,” she said, barely louder than a breath. “Give it time. It’ll wear off.”
Kerrigan forced back tears as the pinpricks continued up her arms, across her collarbone, and traced the line of her neck. She felt them from her toes, up her legs, and into her stomach. Everything was a trail of fire. What kind of magic could do this?
At least the girl was right. Already, the pain was receding. Kerrigan gasped as the last of it disappeared, and the full sensation of her limbs return to her.
“What … was that?” she gasped.
“Shh,” the girl repeated.
Kerrigan took in her surroundings. It was worse than she had anticipated. She was in a cart with hard slats along the bottom and sides. Wire had been added crudely to the top with holes large enough to stick her hand through, but nothing else. A large lock held the back gate firmly closed.
It was a cage.
She was in a cage attached to the back of a two-seater carriage and hitched to horses. Felix was driving the horses down the rocky road, and a cloud of dirt kicked up behind them for ages on the otherwise desolate landscape. All she saw were yellowing grass fields as far as the eye could see. And maybe, if she squinted, some distant mountains. Very distant.
Flavia was nowhere to be seen, which probably meant she was out of the dust in the small carriage. The weather was sticky and hot. Kerrigan couldn’t imagine being closed in with all of that moisture. Not that it was better to be coated in the red dust. And coated she was.
She slid her clammy hands down her arms, but all it did was make the fine dust a rusty-brown smear. So much for her bath.
She assessed the lock to see how the mechanism worked. Not that she had anything to pick it with, and she didn’t have her magic to do it for her. No one in the entire world knew where she was. She was still cursing herself for taking the stranger’s help, but she’d never expected … whatever this was.
Which meant she needed answers.
Kerrigan vaguely remembered Flavia saying that she had come for one girl and was leaving with two. This must be the other girl.
“Where are we?” Kerrigan asked, barely above a whisper.
The girl whipped her face toward Kerrigan. She had tanned skin, as if the sun had turned it copper from labor. Her hair was a rich dark brown, hanging limp nearly to her waist. Her eyes were small and a washed-out brown. The only distinct feature on her was the dimple in her chin. She wore a similar-style dress to Kerrigan, except dirtier and ragged on the edges.
She put her finger to her mouth.
Kerrigan nodded and scooted across the rocking cart. “Where are we?”
“I don’ know,” she whispered.
“How long was I asleep?”
“All nigh’. We’ve been traveling ha’ the day.” The girl glanced up at the carriage again. “Though they say you should have been out a whole ’nother day. They won’ like it.”
Kerrigan considered that. So, they’d dosed her with some sort of magic, and she’d woken up a day early. Was that because she’d previously had magic?
“What’s your name?”
“Nella.”
“I’m Felicity,” Kerrigan said. “Do you know where they’re taking us?”
Nella shook her head. “Just know what they told my mam.”
Kerrigan waited, but when Nella said no more, she prompted, “What did they tell her?”